2014-Oct NPDES Report.Pdf
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North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources Pat McCrory John E. Skvarla, III Governor Secretary October 1, 2014 MEMORANDUM TO: ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW COMMISSION The Honorable Mike Hager The Honorable Ruth Samuelson The Honorable Brent Jackson FISCAL RESEARCH DIVISION FROM: Neal Robbins, Director of Legislative Affairs SUBJECT: Report on Individually Permitted Discharging Systems Beginning July 1, 2013, and Ending June 30, 2014 Fiscal Year 2013-2014 DATE: October 1, 2014 Pursuant to 143-215.9A, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources shall submit to the Environmental Review Commission and the Fiscal Research Division a report on the status of facilities discharging into surface waters during the previous fiscal year by October 1st of each year. Please consider the 2013 Individually Permitted Discharging Systems Report attached as the formal submission of this report. If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact me by phone at (919) 707-8618 or via e-mail at [email protected]. cc: Mitch Gillespie, Assistant Secretary for Environment, NCDENR Thomas A Reeder, Director, DWR, NCDENR Kristin Walker, Fiscal Research Division, NC General Assembly Mariah Matheson, Research Division, NC General Assembly Lanier McRee, Fiscal Research Division, NC General Assembly 1601 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699-1601 Phone: 919-707-8600 \ Internet: www.ncdenr.gov An Equal Opportunity \ Affirmative Action Employer – 50% Recycled \ 10% Post Consumer Paper Department of Environment and Natural Resources Annual Status Report on Individually Permitted Discharging Systems per N.C.G.S. 143-215.9A For the Period Beginning July 1, 2013 and Ending June 30, 2014. Summary North Carolina General Statute (G.S.) 143-215.9A requires the Department of Environment and Natural Resources to report to the Environmental Review Commission and the Fiscal Research Division on the status of facilities discharging into surface waters during the previous fiscal year. Facilities discharging into surface waters are required by G.S. 143-215.1 to first apply for and secure a permit from the Environmental Management Commission. As a result, the data provided within this fiscal report is captured for those state facilities individually permitted with federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits. The following tables are enclosed summarizing activities for July 1, 2013 through June 30, 2014 per the general statute: • Table 1. Status of Civil Penalty Assessments. A summary of the number of enforcement actions taken, civil penalties assessed and collected, and remissions requested. Due to the lengthy assessment process, total civil penalties assessed and total civil penalties collected will not coincide in the same fiscal year. The Division of Water Resources’ current data management system cannot track information on the number of violations found during each inspection, the date of the violation, nor the nature of the violation. Funding has been allocated for the initial development phase to allow entry and summarization of this information; completion of the update will require further planning. Since July 1, 1998, each regional office water quality supervisor has had the authority, through delegation by the director of the Division of Water Quality (now the Division of Water Resources) to sign all civil penalty assessments for fast-track enforcement actions for violations of NPDES permit effluent limits and/or monitoring frequencies in accordance with G.S. 143-215.6A . Most enforcement actions are based on violations of permit limits or monitoring requirements. However, there are other enforcement actions that may be generated due to other permit condition violations including, but not limited to, discharge violations (resulting from collection system overflows), late submission of discharge monitoring reports, late submission of toxicity test results, violations of pre-treatment program requirements, improper operation & maintenance of treatment works, or by-pass of treatment works. • Table 2. Status of Individually Permitted Facilities. A summary of the number and types of permits issued by each regional office along with the numbers of compliance and other inspections. Other inspections include: • Audit inspections: a comprehensive review of all elements of a municipality’s pretreatment program including a records review and an inspection of an industrial facility conducted once every five years; • Bioassay compliance inspections: evaluates the biological effect of a permittee’s effluent discharge on test organisms using acute and chronic toxicity testing; • Compliance sampling inspections: a sampling inspection designed to verify the permittee’s compliance with applicable permit self-monitoring requirements - analytical results from representative samples collected during the inspection are used to evaluate the permittee’s compliance; • Diagnostic inspections: focuses on publicly owned treatment works that have not achieved permit compliance – the purpose is to identify the causes of noncompliance, suggest immediate remedies, and support current or future enforcement action; • Operation and maintenance inspections: focuses on the operation and maintenance aspect of a facility; • Performance audit inspections: inspections that include actual observation of the permittee performing the self-monitoring process from sample collection and flow measurements through laboratory analyses, data work-up and reporting; • Pre-treatment inspections: an annual inspection of a municipality’s pretreatment program; and • Toxicity Sampling Inspections: same as compliance sampling inspections – however, increased emphasis is placed on toxic substances regulated by the NPDES permit. • Table 3. Status of special orders by consent (SOCs). Special Orders by Consent are a mutually (between the state and the permittee) agreed order that establishes timelines and relaxed permit limits to correct a problem of noncompliance while minimizing costs and damage to human health and the environment. • Table 4. Names and locations of individually permitted discharging systems. The names and locations of the individually permitted discharging facilities by regional office. Table 1 Status of Civil Penalty Assessments For the Period Beginning July 1, 2013, and Ending June 30, 2014* ARO FRO MRO RRO WARO WIRO WSRO State Totals Total Number Of Enforcement + Actions Assessed 51 13 47 34 2 70 29 246 Total Number Of Enforcement Actions Assessed In The Central Office++ 2 1 1 3 2 2 1 12 Total Number Of Enforcement Actions Assessed By The Regional Supervisors 49 12 46 31 0 68 28 234 Enforcement Actions Generated From Limit &/or Monitoring Violations 44 12 44 29 0 68 28 225 Enforcement Actions Generated From Other Permit Condition Violations 7 1 3 5 2 2 1 21 Total Civil Penalties Assessed $64,479.08 $11,820.26 $46,211.94 $18,130.46 $1,700.00 $76,905.63 $26,909.89 $246,157.26 Total Civil Penalties Collected+++ $36,341.50 $23,041.84 $41,510.46 $24,018.36 $4,701.34 $69,097.44 $14,004.69 $212,715.63 Remission & Contested Case Responses to Enforcement Actions Total Number Of Remission Requests 16 2 0 2 0 7 10 37 Total Number Of Enforcement Actions With Partial Or Full Remission By The Director 13 3 0 15 2 2 10 45 Total Number Of Remission Requests Pending The Director's Decision 37 3 1 15 3 5 12 76 Total Number Of Remission Requests Pending The EMC's Final Agency Decision 39 2 1 19 3 4 14 82 Total Number Of Contested Cases (known at this time) 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 * Fiscal year numbers are reported as of 08/04/2014 and may vary from actual due to delays in data entry. + Data based on penalty assessment approved date; violations assessed may have occurred outside of the fiscal year period. ++ Includes assessments by the Environmental Sciences Section. +++ Penalties collected may not include penalties assessed during this reporting fiscal year and may include penalties assessed outside this fiscal year period. ERC Annual Rpt FY14_FINAL.xlsx; Tables 1-3 Table 2 Status of Individually Permitted Facilities For the Period Beginning July 1, 2013, and Ending June 30, 2014* ARO FRO MRO RRO WARO WIRO WSRO State Totals Total Number Of Individually Permitted Facilities 256 73 196 185 121 114 248 1193 Major Municipal Permitted Facilities 22 21 29 32 16 10 25 155 Major Non-Municipal Permitted Facilities 7 6 17 8 7 10 5 60 Minor Municipal Permitted Facilities 24 17 19 15 19 18 19 131 Minor Non-Municipal Permitted Facilities 203 29 131 130 79 76 199 847 Number Of NPDES Permits Issued 28 7 59 49 32 8 81 264 Major Municipal Permits Issued 3 0 5 9 3 1 7 28 Major Non-Municipal Permits Issued 0 0 4 1 2 2 2 11 Minor Municipal Permits Issued 4 1 7 2 7 1 5 27 Minor Non-Municipal Permits Issued 21 6 43 37 20 4 67 198 Total Number Of Compliance Evaluation Inspections Completed 59 50 73 78 65 41 202 568 Total Number Of Other Inspections Completed 26 21 25 21 16 19 46 174 Table 3 Status of Special Orders By Consent (SOCs) For the Period Beginning July 1, 2013, and Ending June 30, 2014* ARO FRO MRO RRO WARO WIRO WSRO State Totals Total Number of Individually Permitted Facilities With Active SOCs 2 1 2 1 2 3 0 11 Total Number of Individually Permitted Facilities Requesting New or Amended SOCs 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 * Fiscal year numbers are reported as of 08/04/2014 and may vary from actual due to delays in data entry. ERC Annual Rpt FY14_FINAL.xlsx; Tables 1-3 Table 4. Names and Locations of Individually Permitted Discharging Systems Admin Region Permit Number