1 South Carolina General Assembly 2 118th Session, 2009-2010 3 4 S. 1170 5 6 STATUS INFORMATION 7 8 General Bill 9 Sponsors: Senators Campbell, Alexander and Rose 10 Document Path: l:\s-res\pgc\004comp.kmm.pgc.docx 11 12 Introduced in the Senate on February 11, 2010 13 Currently residing in the Senate Committee on Medical Affairs 14 15 Summary: Pollution Control Act 16 17 18 HISTORY OF LEGISLATIVE ACTIONS 19 20 Date Body Action Description with journal page number 21 2/11/2010 Senate Introduced and read first time SJ4 22 2/11/2010 Senate Referred to Committee on Medical Affairs SJ4 23 24 25 VERSIONS OF THIS BILL 26 27 2/11/2010 28 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 A BILL 10 11 TO AMEND CHAPTER 1, TITLE 48 OF THE 1976 CODE, 12 RELATING TO THE POLLUTION CONTROL ACT, BY 13 ADDING SECTION 48195 TO PROVIDE THAT ALL SEWAGE 14 SYSTEMS AND TREATMENT WORKS TREATING 15 DOMESTIC SEWAGE THAT HAVE HAD THREE OR MORE 16 SPILLS IN ANY TWELVEMONTH PERIOD MUST 17 COMPLETE A COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW OF THEIR 18 OPERATIONS, TO PROVIDE FOR THE COMPREHENSIVE 19 REVIEW, TO PROVIDE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT AND 20 IMPLEMENTATION OF AN ACTION PLAN TO ADDRESS 21 ISSUES RAISED IN THE COMPREHENSIVE REVIEW, TO 22 PROVIDE SPENDING PRIORITIES FOR WASTEWATER 23 UTILITIES THAT LACK FUNDS FOR IMPLEMENTING AN 24 ACTION PLAN, TO PROVIDE THAT WASTEWATER 25 UTILITIES THAT DEVELOP AN ACTION PLAN HAVE 26 PRIORITY FOR STATE DIRECTED FEDERAL AND STATE 27 FUNDS, TO PROVIDE THAT OWNER ERRORS THAT 28 RESULT IN A SPILL MUST BE RECORDED ON THE 29 OWNER’S LICENSE, AND TO PROVIDE NECESSARY 30 DEFINITIONS. 31 32 Be it enacted by the General Assembly of the State of South 33 Carolina: 34 35 SECTION 1. Chapter 1, Title 48 of the 1976 Code is amended by 36 adding: 37 38 “Section 48195. (A) For the purposes of this section: 39 (1) ‘Comprehensive review’ or ‘review’ means a complete 40 technical assessment of the components and operation of a sewage 41 system or its treatment works that are contributing to, or may be

[1170] 2 1 contributing to, repetitive significant spills of untreated or partially 2 treated domestic sewage. 3 (2) ‘Action plan’ or ‘plan’ means a schedule for 4 implementing and completing repairs, upgrades, and 5 improvements needed to prevent future repetitive significant spills 6 of untreated or partially treated domestic sewage. 7 (3) ‘Wastewater utility’ or ‘utility’ means the operator or 8 owner of a sewage system or its treatment works. 9 (4) ‘Significant spill’ means a spill that is large enough, 10 taking into account the volume of the spill in relation to the 11 average volume discharged by the utility during the previous 12 twentyfour months, to cause a serious adverse impact on the 13 environment or public health. 14 (5) ‘Spill’ means the discharge of at least five thousand 15 gallons, or any other amount that threatens public health, of 16 untreated or partially treated sewage from a sewage system into the 17 environment; except those caused by a natural disaster, severe 18 weather event, or other act of God. 19 (B) Upon receiving notice of a spill, the department must 20 investigate and make a determination concerning the cause of the 21 spill, identify the particular sewage system or treatment works 22 facility that contributed to, or may have contributed to, the spill 23 and the utility that owns or operates it, and whether the spill is a 24 significant spill. The department must then determine whether any 25 of the identified facilities have had three or more significant spills 26 during any twelvemonth period. 27 (C)(1) The department must enter an order directing a 28 wastewater utility that owns or operates a facility that contributed 29 to, or may have contributed to, three or more significant spills in 30 any twelvemonth period to complete a comprehensive review of 31 the sewage system and treatment works facility identified pursuant 32 to subsection (B). The order must be transmitted to the utility as 33 soon as practicable. 34 (2) The comprehensive review must be performed by a 35 qualified professional engineer approved by the department. All 36 reports compiled by the engineer performing the review must be 37 submitted to the department. 38 (3) The comprehensive review must be initiated by the 39 wastewater utility’s owner within three months of receiving an 40 order from the department. 41 (D) Upon completion of the review, the wastewater utility must 42 present the findings of the review to the department. The 43 department must, within sixty days, provide guidance to the utility

[1170] 3 1 concerning the development of an action plan to address the causes 2 of the repetitive spills and system upgrades. 3 (E) The wastewater utility must fully implement the action plan 4 no later than one year after the plan is completed. The utility may 5 request additional time to implement the plan, no longer than one 6 year, from the department. The department must approve or 7 disapprove this request within sixty days. 8 (F) A wastewater utility that lacks funds necessary to complete 9 and implement an action plan ordered by the department may only 10 utilize available funds for the operation and maintenance of the 11 utility and servicing any outstanding debt. The remaining funds 12 must be dedicated to completing and implementing the plan. 13 (G) Utilities that have a complete action plan approved by the 14 department have priority for any state directed federal or state 15 funds for construction, refurbishment, upgrading, or reconstruction 16 of water infrastructure facilities. 17 (H) When repetitive spills occur that meet the threshold 18 established in subsection (B), a record of the significant spill shall 19 be forwarded to the South Carolina Environmental Certification 20 Board to be included in the file of the operator on duty and the 21 operator in charge of the system at the time of the spill.” 22 23 SECTION 2. This act takes effect upon approval by the 24 Governor. 25 XX 26

[1170] 4