(a) Applicability. This section applies to all facilities that have storm water discharges associated with industrial, residential, institutional, or commercial activity, including construction activity.
(b) Access to Facilities.
(1) The County Engineer shall be permitted to enter and inspect facilities subject to regulation under this Chapter as often as may be necessary to determine compliance with this Chapter. If a discharger has security measures in force which require proper identification and clearance before entry into its premises, the discharger shall make the necessary arrangements to allow access to representatives of the authorized enforcement agency.
(2) Facility operators shall allow the County Engineer ready access to all parts of the premises for the purposes of inspection, sampling, examination and copying of records that must be kept under the conditions of an NPDES permit to discharge storm water, and the performance of any additional duties as defined by state and federal law.
(3) The County Engineer shall have the right to set up on any permitted facility such devices as are necessary in the opinion of the County Engineer to conduct monitoring and/or sampling of the facility’s storm water discharge.
(4) The County Engineer shall have the right to require the discharger to install monitoring equipment as necessary. The facility’s sampling and monitoring equipment shall be maintained at all times in a safe and proper operating condition by the discharger at its own expense. All devices used to measure storm water flow and quality shall be calibrated to ensure their accuracy.
(5) Any temporary or permanent obstruction to safe and easy access to the facility to be inspected and/or sampled shall promptly be removed by the operator at the written or oral request of the authorized enforcement agency and shall not be replaced. The costs of clearing such access shall be borne by the operator.
(6) Unreasonable delays in allowing the County Engineer access to a permitted facility is in violation of a storm water discharge permit and this Chapter. A person who is the operator of a facility with a SWPPP or NPDES permit to discharge storm water associated with industrial activity commits an offense if the person denies the County Engineer reasonable access to the permitted facility for the purpose of conducting any activity authorized or required by this Chapter.
(7) If the County Engineer has been refused access to any part of the premises from which storm water is discharged, and the County Engineer is able to demonstrate probable cause to believe that there has been a violation of this Chapter, or that there is a need to inspect and/or sample as part of a routine inspection and sampling program designed to verify compliance with this Chapter or any order issued hereunder, or to protect the overall public health, safety and welfare of the community, then the County Engineer may, through the County Prosecutor, seek issuance of a search warrant from any court of competent jurisdiction.
(Ord. 2021-347. Adopted 11-22-21.)