(A) (1) The city, through the Superintendent or his or her designee, to insure compliance with this chapter, and as permitted through 40 CFR Subchapter N, 401 through 471, and 401 KAR 5:055, Section 9, may take the following enforcement steps against users in non-compliance with this chapter. The remedies available to the Superintendent include injunctive relief, civil and criminal penalties, immediate discontinuance of discharges and/or water service and the publishing of the list of significant violators annually. The enforcement authority shall be vested in the Superintendent of the POTW or his or her designee. The Superintendent may suspend the wastewater treatment service and/or industrial user discharge permit when such suspension is necessary, in the opinion of the Superintendent, 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, to the environment, causes interference to the POTW or causes the POTW to violate any condition of its NPDES/KPDES permit.
(2) Any user notified of a suspension of the wastewater treatment service and/or the industrial user discharge permit shall immediately stop or eliminate the wastewater discharge. In the event of a failure of the user to comply voluntarily with the suspension order, the city shall take such steps as deemed necessary including immediate severance of the sewer connection and/or water service to prevent or minimize damage to the POTW system or endangerment to any individuals. The city may reinstate the industrial user discharge permit and/or the wastewater treatment service upon proof of the elimination of the non-complying discharge. A detailed written statement submitted by the user describing the causes of the harmful contribution and the measures taken to prevent any future occurrence shall be submitted to the city within fifteen (15) days of the date of occurrence.
(B) All violations of requirements of this chapter must be reviewed and responded to by the Superintendent or his or her representative. In general, the Superintendent shall notify the industrial user when a violation occurs. For all violations, the Superintendent shall receive an explanation and, as appropriate, a plan from the industrial user to correct the violation within a specific time period. If the violation(s) persist or the explanation and/or plan are not adequate, the Superintendent's response shall be more formal and commitments or schedules, as appropriate, for compliance will be established in an enforceable document. The enforcement response selected will be related to the seriousness of the violation. Enforcement responses will be escalated if compliance is not achieved expeditiously after the initial action. A significant violation will require a formal enforcement action. The full scale of enforcement actions will be as detailed in the city's pretreatment program enforcement response plan. The enforcement actions and remedies provided for in this chapter are not exclusive. The Superintendent may take any, all, or combination of these actions against a noncompliant user. However, the Superintendent may take other action against any user when the circumstances warrant. Further the Superintendent is empowered to take more than one enforcement action against any noncompliant user.
(Ord., passed 8-20-91; Am. Ord. 2011-35, passed 1-3-12)