Mountain House Municipal Code Ch. 1 General Provisions

This Division is known as "Stormwater Management and Discharge Control Ordinance" and may be so cited.

(Ord. 2024-23, § 1(Exh. A), 2024)

The purpose of this Division is to establish minimum stormwater management requirements and controls to protect and safeguard the general health, safety, and welfare of the public residing in watersheds within the City, pursuant to and consistent with the Federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq.) and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Act (California Water Code Section 13000 et seq.). This Division seeks to meet that purpose through the following objectives:

(a) To comply with all federal and state laws, lawful standards and orders applicable to stormwater and urban runoff pollution control;

(b) To prohibit any discharge which may interfere with the operation of, or cause any damage to the storm drain system or impair the beneficial use of the receiving waters;

(c) To prohibit illicit discharges into the storm drain system;

(d) To reduce non-stormwater discharge to the storm drain system to the maximum extent practicable;

(e) Minimize increases in stormwater and runoff from any development in order to reduce flooding, siltation, and streambank erosion and maintain the integrity of drainage channels;

(f) Minimize nonpoint source pollution caused by stormwater runoff from development that would otherwise degrade local water quality; and

(g) Minimize the total annual volume of surface water runoff that flows from any specific site during and following development.

(Ord. 2024-23, § 1(Exh. A), 2024)

(a) This Division shall be construed to assure consistency with the requirements of the Federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq.) and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (California Water Code Section 13000 et seq.), and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, applicable implementing regulations, and NPDES General Permit No. CAS000004 and any amendment, revision, or reissue thereof.

(b) This Division shall apply to all water entering the storm drain system generated on any developed and undeveloped lands lying within the City.

(Ord. 2024-23, § 1(Exh. A), 2024)

Any person who violates any provision of this Division or any provision of any requirement issued pursuant to this Division, may also be in violation of the Clean Water Act and/or the Porter-Cologne Act and may be subject to the sanctions of those acts including civil and criminal penalties.

(Ord. 2024-23, § 1(Exh. A), 2024)

Any terms defined in the Federal Clean Water Act and acts amendatory thereof of supplementary thereto, and/or defined in the regulations for the stormwater discharge permitting program issued by the Environmental Protection Agency on November 16, 1990 (as from time to time be amended) as used in this Chapter shall have the same meaning as in that statute or regulations. Specifically, the definition of the following terms included in that statute or regulations are hereby incorporated by reference, as now applicable or as may hereafter be amended: discharge, illicit discharge, pollutant, and stormwater. These terms and other terms presently are defined as follows.

For purposes of this Chapter, the following terms have the following meanings:

"Accelerated erosion" means erosion caused by development activities that exceeds the natural processes by which the surface of the land is worn away by the action of water, wind, or chemical action.

"Authorized enforcement official" means the Stormwater Management and Discharge Control Officer, or respective designee(s), that is/are authorized to enforce the provisions of this Chapter.

"Best management practices" ("BMPs") means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, general housekeeping practices, pollution prevention and education practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices found in the SWPPP to prevent or reduce, to the maximum extent practicable, the discharge of pollutants directly or indirectly to the municipal storm drain system and waters of the United States (33 C.F.R. Section 328.3). Best management practices include, but are not limited to: treatment facilities to remove pollutants from stormwater; operating and maintenance procedures; facility management practices to control runoff, spillage or leaks of non-storm-water, waste disposal, and drainage from materials storage; erosion and sediment control practices; and the prohibition of specific activities, practices, and procedures and such other provisions as the District determines appropriate for the control of pollutants. BMPs are required to be implemented and maintained in a manner that is consistent with the California Stormwater Quality Association (CASQA) Best Management Practice Handbook or equivalent guidelines.

"Building" means any structure, either temporary or permanent, having walls and a roof, designed for the shelter of any person, animal, or property, and occupying more than one hundred (100) square feet of area.

"Channel" means a natural or artificial watercourse with a definite bed and banks that conducts continuously or periodically flowing water.

"City storm drain system" means and includes, but is not limited to, any of those facilities within the City by which stormwater may be conveyed to waters of the United States, including any roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels or storm drains, which is not part of a publicly owned treatment works ("POTW") as defined at 40 CFR, Section 122.2.

"Clean Water Act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq.), and any subsequent amendments thereto.

"Construction activity" means activities subject to NPDES construction permits. These include construction projects resulting in land disturbance five (5) acres or more. Such activities include, but are not limited to, clearing and grubbing, grading, excavating, and demolition.

"Detention" means the temporary storage of storm runoff in a stormwater management practice with the goals of controlling peak discharge rates and providing gravity settling of pollutants.

"Detention facility" means a detention basin or alternative structure designed for the purpose of temporary storage of stream flow or surface runoff and gradual release of stored water at controlled rates.

"Developer" means a person who undertakes land disturbance activities.

"Discharge" means any addition of any pollutant to the City storm drain system, including creeks, ditches, culverts and gutters, from any point source.

"Erosion and sediment control plan" means a plan that is designed to minimize the accelerated erosion and sediment runoff at a site during construction activities.

"Hazardous materials" means any material, including any substance, waste, or combination thereof, which because of its quantity, concentration of physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may cause, or significantly contribute to, a substantial present or potential hazard to human health, safety, property, or the environment when properly treated, stored, transported, disposed of or otherwise managed (California Health and Safety Code Section 25117).

"Illegal discharge" means any discharge, direct or indirect, to the City storm drain system that is not composed entirely of stormwater, except discharges pursuant to an NPDES permit and discharge resulting from firefighting activities.

"Illicit connection" means either:

1. Any drain or conveyance, whether on the surface or subsurface, which allows an illegal discharge to enter the storm drain system, including, but not limited to, any conveyances which allow any non-stormwater discharge including sewage, process wastewater, and wash water to enter the storm drain system from indoor drains and sinks, regardless of whether such drain or connection had been previously allowed, permitted, or approved by a government agency; or

2. Any drain or conveyance connected from a commercial or industrial land use to the storm drain system which has not been documented in plans, maps, or equivalent records and approved by the City.

"Industrial activity" means any activity subject to an NPDES Industrial Permit, as defined in 40 CFR, Section 122.26(b)(14).

"Infiltration" means the process of percolating stormwater into the subsoil.

"Infiltration facility" means any structure or device designed to infiltrate retained water to the subsurface. These facilities may be above grade or below grade.

"Land disturbance activity" means any activity that changes the volume or peak flow discharge rate of rainfall runoff from the land surface. This may include the grading, digging, cutting, scraping, or excavating of soil, placement of fill materials, paving, construction, substantial removal of vegetation, or any activity which bares soil or rock or involves the diversion or piping of any natural or man-made watercourse.

"Maintenance agreement" means a legally recorded document that acts as a property deed restriction, and which provides for long-term maintenance of stormwater management practices.

"Non-point source pollution" means pollution from any source other than from any discernible, confined, and discrete source, and shall include, but not be limited to, pollutants from agricultural, mining, construction, subsurface disposal and urban runoff sources.

"Non-stormwater discharge" means any discharge that is not entirely composed of stormwater except those exemptions noted within an NPDES permit and this Division.

"Notice of intent" ("NOI") means a document filed with the State Water Resources Control Board which can be used to clearly identify the responsible parties, locations, and scope of operations of dischargers covered by the general NPDES permit and to document the discharger's knowledge of the requirements for a SWPPP.

"NPDES permit" means a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) stormwater discharge permit administered by the State of California Regional Water Quality Control Board. General, group, and individual stormwater discharge permits regulate facilities defined in the federal NPDES regulations pursuant to the Clean Water Act.

"Person" means any natural person, corporation, association, partnership, or other entity.

"Pollutant" means anything which causes or contributes to pollution. Pollutants may include, but are not limited to: paints, varnishes, and solvents; oil and other automotive fluids; non-hazardous liquid and solid wastes and yard wastes; refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter, or other discarded or abandoned objects, articles and accumulations that may cause or contribute to pollution; floatables; pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers; hazardous substances and wastes; sewage, fecal coliform and pathogens; dissolved and particulate metals; animal wastes; wastes and residues that result from constructing a building or structure (including, but not limited to, sediments, slurries, and concrete rinsates); and noxious or offensive matter of any kind. The term "pollutant" shall also include any increment of increase in the total volume or rate of stormwater runoff resulting from any activity or development occurring after the effective date of the Division codified in this Division.

"Porter-Cologne Act" means the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act (California Water Code Section 13000 et seq.) and any subsequent amendments thereto.

"Premises" means any building, lot, parcel of land or portion of land whether improved or unimproved, including adjacent sidewalks and parking strips.

"Redevelopment" means any land disturbing activity occurring on existing developed property.

"Regional board" means the State of California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region or as specified per California Water Code Section 13200.

"Storm drain system" means publicly owned facilities operated by the City by which stormwater is collected and/or conveyed, including, but not limited to, any roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, gutters, curbs, inlets, piped storm drains, pumping facilities, watercourses, retention and detention basins, natural and human-made or altered drainage channels, reservoirs, and other drainage structures which are within the City and are not part of a publicly owned treatment works as defined at 40 CFR Section 122.2.

"Stormwater" means any surface flow, runoff, and drainage consisting entirely of water from rain or other precipitation events.

"Stormwater management" means the use of structural or nonstructural practices that are designed to reduce stormwater runoff pollutant loads, discharge volumes, and/or peak flow discharge rates.

"Stormwater Management and Discharge Control Officer" means authorized enforcement official appointed by the City Manager.

"Stormwater pollution prevention plan" ("SWPPP") means a document submitted to the State Water Resources Control Board that must assess the site conditions, sources of sediment and other pollutants in stormwater and non-stormwater discharges, identify the BMPs that will best suit construction activities and meet the Clean Water Act and Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act pollution control objectives.

"Stormwater treatment facility" means a device installed or constructed to reduce or control stormwater peak runoff rates or to reduce stormwater contaminants, including, but not limited to, the construction of vegetated channels, grass filter strips, detention ponds, retention and percolation ponds, infiltration devices, wetlands, oil/water separators, catch basin screens or filters, and proprietary stormwater treatment devices.

"Stormwater Treatment System Access and Maintenance Agreement" means a legally recorded document that acts as a property deed restriction and which provides for long-term maintenance of the stormwater management device and grants District a right of access easement to allow the City to inspect and perform routine maintenance of Owner's stormwater device.

"Urban runoff" means any flow of water originating from urban areas, including, but not limited to, rain, irrigation, wash water, and air conditioning condensate.

"Watercourse" means a permanent, temporary or intermittent stream or other body of water, either natural or man-made, which gathers or carries surface water.

"Waters of the United States" means surface watercourses and water bodies as defined in 40 CFR, Section 122.2, including all natural waterways and definite channels and depressions in the earth that may carry water, even though such waterways may only carry water during rains and storms and may not carry stormwater at and during all times and seasons.

(Ord. 2024-23, § 1(Exh. A), 2024)

The degree of protection required by this Division is considered for regulatory purposes and is based upon scientific, engineering and other relevant technical considerations. The standards set forth are minimum standards and this Division does not imply that compliance will ensure that there will be no unauthorized discharge into the waters of the United States. This Division shall not create liability on the part of the City, any officer or employee thereof for any damages that result from reliance on this Division or any administrative decision lawfully made thereunder. The ultimate responsibility and liability lies with the discharger.

The provisions hereof shall not be constituted to relieve from or lessen the responsibility of any person of the damages to life or property in the discharge of stormwater discharge nor shall the City, not any agent thereof, be held assuming any liability by reason of performance of duties hereunder.

(Ord. 2024-23, § 1(Exh. A), 2024)

Any time limits provided herein may be extended in writing by the City Manager.

(Ord. 2024-23, § 1(Exh. A), 2024)

The City Manager may implement, administer and enforce this Division regarding Stormwater Management and Discharge Control to be consistently in compliance with current application of State and Federal Law and updates to the conditions of the General Permit.

(Ord. 2024-23, § 1(Exh. A), 2024)