(a) Administrative Remedies - General.
The City may suspend wastewater treatment services to any User when such suspension is necessary, in the opinion of the City, in order to stop an actual or threatened discharge which presents or may present an imminent or substantial endangerment to the health or welfare of persons or the environment, causes or may cause interference to the POTW, or causes or may cause the City to violate any condition of its NPDES Permit.
(b) Notification of Violation.
When the Control Authority finds that a User has violated, or continues to violate, any provision of this chapter, an individual wastewater discharge permit, an order issued hereunder, or any other Pretreatment Standard or Requirement, the Control Authority may serve upon that User a written Notice of Violation (NOV). Within ten (10) days of the receipt of such notice, an explanation of the violation and a plan for the satisfactory correction and prevention thereof, to include specific required actions, shall be submitted by the User to the Control Authority. Submission of such a plan in no way relieves the User of liability for any violations occurring before or after receipt of the Notice of Violation. Nothing in this Section shall limit the authority of the Control Authority to take any action, including emergency actions or any other enforcement action, without first issuing a Notice of Violation.
(c) Findings and Orders.
The Control Authority may enter into Findings and Orders (F & O's), assurances of compliance, or other similar documents establishing an agreement with any User responsible for noncompliance. Such documents shall include specific actions to be taken by the User to correct the noncompliance within a time period specified by the document. Such documents shall have the same force and effect as the administrative orders issued pursuant to paragraphs (d) and (e) of this Section and shall be judicially enforceable.
(d) Compliance Orders.
When the Control Authority finds that a User has violated, or continues to violate, any provision of this chapter, an individual wastewater discharge permit, an order issued hereunder, or any other Pretreatment Standard or Requirement, the Control Authority may issue Compliance Orders, including a Compliance Time Schedule, to the User directing that the User come into compliance within a specified time. If the User does not come into compliance within the time provided, sewer service may be discontinued unless adequate treatment facilities, devices, or other related appurtenances are installed and properly operated. Compliance Orders may also contain other requirements to address the noncompliance, including additional self-monitoring and management practices designed to minimize the amount of pollutants discharged to the sewer. A Compliance Order may not extend the deadline for compliance established for a Pretreatment Standard or Requirement, nor does a Compliance Order relieve the User of liability for any violation, including any continuing violation. Issuance of a Compliance Order shall not be a bar against, or a prerequisite for, taking any other action against the User.
(e) Cease and Desist Orders.
When the Control Authority finds that a User has violated, or continues to violate, any provision of this chapter, an individual wastewater discharge permit, an order issued hereunder, or any other Pretreatment Standard or Requirement, or that the User's past violations are likely to recur, the Control Authority may issue an order to the User directing it to cease and desist all such violations and directing the User to:
(1) Immediately comply with all requirements; and
(2) Take such appropriate remedial or preventive action as may be needed to properly address a continuing or threatened violation, including halting operations and/or terminating the discharge. Issuance of a cease and desist order shall not be a bar against, or a prerequisite for, taking any other action against the User.
(f) Annual Publication.
At least annually, the City shall publish in the largest daily newspaper published in the City a list of all Industrial Users, which at any time during the previous twelve (12) months were in significant noncompliance with applicable Pretreatment Standards or Requirements. For the purposes of this provision, an Industrial User is in Significant Noncompliance (SNC) if its violations meet one or more of the following criteria:
(1) Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined here as those in which sixty-six percent (66%) or more of all of the measurements taken during a six (6) month period exceed, by any magnitude, the instantaneous limit, the daily maximum limit or the average limit for the same pollutant parameter;
(2) Technical Review Criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which thirty-three percent (33%) or more of all of the measurements for each pollutant parameter taken during a six (6) month period equal or exceed the product of the instantaneous limit, the daily maximum limit or the average limits multiplied by the applicable TRC (1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH);
(3) Any other violation of a pretreatment effluent limit (instantaneous limit, daily maximum or longer term average) that the Director determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass through (including endangering the health of POTW personnel or the general public);
(4) Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment of human health, welfare or to the environment or has resulted in the POTW's exercise of emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge;
(5) Failure to meet, within ninety (90) days after the schedule date, a compliance schedule increment of progress contained in a wastewater discharge permit or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction or attaining final compliance;
(6) Failure to provide, within forty-five (45) days after the due date, required reports such as Baseline Monitoring Reports, Compliance Date Reports, Periodic Compliance Reports and reports on compliance with Compliance Time Schedules;
(7) Failure to accurately report noncompliance;
(8) Any other violation or group of violations, which the Director determines, will or has adversely affected the operation or implementation of the City's pretreatment program including, but not limited to, the violation of required Best Management Practices.
(g) [Repealed]
(h) Penalty Assessment.
The amount of a penalty to be included in the Findings and Orders shall be determined in accordance with the factors outlined in Section 930.21(e)(1)-(5) and the guidance provided by the Enforcement Response Plan in paragraph (i) below. The factors may augment or mitigate the penalty amount based on the existence and severity of the factor.
(i) Enforcement Guidance.
When the Control Authority finds that a User has violated, or continues to violate, any provision of this chapter, an individual wastewater discharge permit, an order issued hereunder, or any other Pretreatment Standard or Requirement, the Control Authority may fine such User. Penalties, as outlined in the Enforcement Response Plan below, shall be assessed on a per-violation, per-day basis. In the case of monthly or other long-term average discharge limits, fines shall be assessed for each day during the period of violation. Issuance of an administrative fine shall not be a bar against, or a prerequisite for, taking any other action against the User.
INCIDENCE OF NONCOMPLIANCE | CIRCUMSTANCES | RANGE OF RESPONSE | RANGE OF PENALTIES |
INCIDENCE OF NONCOMPLIANCE | CIRCUMSTANCES | RANGE OF RESPONSE | RANGE OF PENALTIES |
Failure to sample, monitor, or report as required by the Control Authority | Isolated / infrequent incident. | Phone call & NOV requiring a written response in ten (10) working days; IU placed in SNC. | $500 Fine |
IU fails to adequately respond to phone call and NOV, or repeat violation. | IU placed in SNC; Compliance Meeting; F&O's - including penalty; Criminal Investigation. | Up to $1,000 Fine | |
Multiple violations & recalcitrance. | Possible Termination of Service. | Up to $5,000 Fine | |
Failure to notify the Control Authority in case of: Effluent Limit Violation | Isolated / infrequent incident. | Phone call & NOV requiring a written response in ten (10) working days; F&O's - possibly including penalty; IU placed in SNC. | $500 Fine |
IU fails to adequately respond to phone call and NOV, or repeat violation. | IU placed in SNC; Compliance Meeting; F&O's - including penalty; Criminal Investigation. | Up to $1,000 Fine | |
Multiple violations. | Possible Termination of Service. | $5,000 Fine | |
Exceeding discharge limit(s) for regulated pollutant(s) | Isolated; Easily correctable. | Phone call & NOV requiring a written response in ten (10) working days; Resample. | Up to $500 Fine F&O's and $500 is required for first pH violation* |
Repeat violations; Easily correctable. | Phone call & NOV requiring a written response in ten (10) working days; Resample; Compliance Meeting; F&O's - including penalty; IU placed in SNC, if applicable. | Up to $1,000 Fine $1,000 is required for second pH violation (the fines double with each repeat violation)* | |
Repeat violations; Significant time and expenditures needed to correct problem. | F&O's - including penalty; Resample; Compliance Time Schedule. | $1,000 up to $5,000 Fine $2,000 is required for third pH violation (the fines double with each repeat violation)* | |
Reporting false information to Control Authority Tampering with monitoring equipment | Any instance. | F&O's - including penalty; Criminal Investigation; Possible Termination of Service. | $5,000 Fine |
GREASE PLUG Grease discharge causes sewer plug or flow obstruction | Any incidence. | NOV requiring a written response within ten (10) working days; Compliance Meeting; F&O's - including penalty; Cost recovery for sewer cleaning; Possible Termination of Service. | Up to $5,000 |
INCIDENCE OF NONCOMPLIANCE | CIRCUMSTANCES | RANGE OF RESPONSE | RANGE OF PENALTIES |
SLUG DISCHARGES Slug Load | Reported & isolated; Immediately corrected; No evidence of intent or negligence; No known damage to POTW or environment. | NOV requiring a written response within 10 working days; Compliance Meeting. | Up to $5,000 |
Unreported; Repeat violation; Evidence of intent or negligence; Known damage or interference to POTW or environment, including pass through; Violation to POTW's NPDES Permit. | NOV requiring a written response within ten (10) working days; IU placed in SNC; Compliance Meeting; F&O's - including penalty and damage recovery; Criminal charges; Possible Termination of Service. | $5,000 and penalty of $27,500 per day, per violation for POTW's NPDES permit. | |
Compliance Time Schedule (CTS) Unable to reach compliance during and/or unable to attain compliance after expiration of CTS. | IU provides evidence that extraordinary, uncontrollable circumstances are delaying compliance but will not affect final compliance date. | Compliance Meeting; NOV requiring written response within ten (10) working days; POTW may grant extension of CTS. | Up to $500 |
IU negligent in completion of CTS progress reports; IU unable to attain compliance after expiration of CTS. | F&Os- including penalty; Possible Termination of Service. | $500 - $5,000 $100 penalty per day for late progress reports. | |
* Amount assessed will double for recurring violation within the same twelve (12)-month, rolling period. | |||
(Ord. 210-12. Passed 5-8-12.)