Ventura County Municipal Code Art. 15 Industrial Discharge Permit System

No person shall connect any property with any County sewer or other facility of the County's sewerage system without first obtaining a "Will Serve" letter issued by the Airports Administrator or without first paying to the County the connection and conveyance fee required thereof.

All persons proposing to connect and/or discharge industrial wastewater into any part of the County's sewerage system must first apply for and if required by the Airports Administrator obtain an industrial wastewater discharge permit. The County will deny or condition new or increased contributions of pollutants or changes in the nature of pollutants from industrial users based on industry's violations of applicable pretreatment standards or the limitations imposed by this ordinance or where such contributions could cause the wastewater treatment plant to violate its NPDES permit (Federal Pretreatment Regulations 40 CFR 403.8(f)(1)(iii)). In addition each permit upon renewal or each application for a permit shall be accompanied by the fees as required by this ordinance and the schedule of fees adopted by Board of Supervisors.

The user seeking an industrial wastewater discharge permit shall complete an application form provided by the Airports Administrator and file it with the Airports Administrator accompanied by the required fee. In support of this application, the applicant shall supply the following information:

A. Name and address of applicant and Standard Industrial Classification (S.I.C.) number of the operations to be carried out by user.

B. The location of the discharge.

C. Time and duration of discharge.

D. Estimated average and peak flow rates including any expected daily, monthly and seasonal variations.

E. Major constituents and characteristics including but not limited to those regulated by this ordinance and the applicable categorical standards as determined by a certified analytical laboratory.

F. Site plans, floor plans, plumbing plans and details to show all public sewers and appurtenances by size, location and elevation.

G. Description of toxic or hazardous materials stored/or used on the premises which are or could be discharged to the County's sewerage system.

H. Each product by type and production process.

I. Identification of applicable regulating pretreatment standards.

J. Number of employees and normal hours of operation of the facility.

K. Any other information which may be deemed necessary by the Airports Administrator to evaluate the permit application.

The industrial wastewater discharge permit shall constitute the performance specification to which each industrial user must conform in order to maintain authorization to use the County's sewerage system. Industrial wastewater discharge permits shall be expressly subject to all provisions of this ordinance, Federal Pretreatment Standards, Requirements and regulations pursuant to Section 307 et seq. of the Clean Water Act and all other regulations, user charges and fees established by the County. Permit conditions shall be uniformly enforced in accordance with this ordinance and applicable State and Federal regulations. Permit conditions may include but are not limited to the following: (Federal Pretreatment Regulations 40 CFR 403.8(f)(1)(i)-(vi)):

A. Limits on the average and/or maximum wastewater constituent concentrations and other relevant qualitative characteristics. (See Article 13.)

B. Mass emission discharge rates or any more stringent Federal Pretreatment Standards and user's average daily wastewater discharge for the past three years. When not available, data for a year or that which is mutually acceptable to the user and the County will be used.

C. Limits on rate and time of discharge or requirements for flow regulations and equalization. (See Section 6512-4).

D. Requirements for installation of inspection and sampling facilities and specifications for monitoring programs.

E. Requirements for maintaining and submitting technical self-monitoring reports and plant records relating to industrial wastewater discharges.

F. Compliance schedules. (See Section 6515-4).

G. Applicable Federal Pretreatment Standards which are more stringent than local limitations. (See Article 13. and 14.).

H. Other conditions to ensure compliance with this ordinance.

A compliance schedule required as a result of an industrial user's non-compliance with applicable Federal and/or local Pretreatment Standards or Requirements, or for the installation of technology required to meet applicable Standards or Requirements, shall be based on the following:

A. A list of the expected increments of progress in the form of dates for the commencement and completion of major events leading to consistent compliance with applicable Federal and/or local Pretreatment Standards.

B. No increment referred to above shall exceed three months.

C. Not later than 14 days following each date in the schedule and the final date for compliance, the industrial user shall submit a progress report to the Airports Administrator including as a minimum, whether or not the user complied with the latest increment of progress and, if not, the date on which the user expects to comply with this increment of progress, the reason for the delay, and the steps taken by the user to return to the schedule established.

A. Permits shall be issued for a period of one year or less. The terms and conditions of the permit may be subject to modification as limitations or requirements in Section 6514-4 and 6514-5 are modified or as a result of pretreatment standards and/or requirements promulgated pursuant to Section 307 et seq. of the Clean Water Act. The user shall be informed of the proposed changes in his permit 30 days prior to the effective date of the change. Any new conditions in the permit shall include a reasonable compliance schedule to be proposed by the industrial user and approved by the Airports Administrator. Such compliance schedule will allow the user time to modify the industrial process sufficiently to comply with the new permit changes.

B. Permits issued to each industrial user shall be based on the user's typical discharge rate, peak discharge rate and wastewater constituents and characteristics as described in the user's permit application or through the County Manager's knowledge of the history of the user's discharge. The user is required to promptly notify the Airports Administrator of any significant changes in the user's operation that may affect his discharge rate, peak flow rate, wastewater constituents or characteristics. (Federal Pretreatment Regulations 40 CFR 403.12(j)).

Industrial wastewater discharge permits are issued to a specific user for a specific operation. A permit shall not be reassigned or transferred or sold to a new owner, new user, different premises or a new or changed operation.

When the Airports Administrator determines that a specific condition and/or discharge is in violation of any provision of this ordinance or in violation of any permit condition or limitation imposed, the industrial user shall be issued a Notice of Violation (See Section 6518-3 (A)) by the Airports Administrator which shall specify the violation or designate the deficiencies and shall specify a period of time within which the discharge shall be brought into conformity with all requirements. The period of time specified by the Airports Administrator shall be reasonably related to the character of the violation, to the quality and quantity of the discharge and to the risk imposed upon the County's sewerage system or threatened to the public health, safety and welfare. The discharger shall submit in writing, to the Airports Administrator, the following:

A. An explanation as to the cause of violation.

B. A compliance schedule which outlines the methods undertaken to remedy the violation and to assure a repetition of the violation does not occur.

A. The Airports Administrator may suspend a permit if the suspension is necessary to terminate a discharge which is in violation of any provision of this ordinance provided that a Notice of Violation has been served on the user and the time designated therein to correct the violation has transpired.

B. The Airports Administrator may suspend a permit, upon informal notice only, if suspension is necessary to terminate a discharge which presents an imminent hazard to the local environment and/or public health, to the County's sewerage system or to County personnel or the termination of which is reasonably required to preserve the public health, safety or welfare (See Section 6518-3(D)).

C. Any person notified of the suspension of the industrial wastewater discharge permit shall immediately stop or eliminate the discharge of the specified wastewater or other material into the County's sewerage system. In the event of a failure of the person to comply voluntarily with the suspension order, the County shall take such steps as deemed necessary, including, but not limited to, immediate severance of the sewer connection, to prevent or minimize damage to the County's sewerage system or endangerment of any individuals.

D. The Airports Administrator shall reinstate a permit suspended hereunder upon proof of the user's compliance with the Notice of Violation and with the requirements of this ordinance. 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 County within 15 days of the date of occurrence.

Any industrial user who violates the conditions of his permit or provisions of this ordinance or applicable Federal and State regulations is subject to having its permit revoked. Violations subjecting a user to possible revocation of the permit include, but are not limited to, the following:

A. Failure of a user to factually report its wastewater constituents or concentrations or to comply with its self-monitoring requirements;

B. Failure of the user to report significant changes in operations or wastewater constituents and characteristics;

C. Refusal of reasonable access to the user's premises for the purpose of inspection or monitoring;

D. Violation of conditions of the user's permits; or

E. Failure of the user to comply with the terms of its compliance schedule.