Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Reduction Program and Enforcement. State Water Resources Control Board 1001 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

Transcription

1 Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO) Reduction Program and Enforcement State Water Resources Control Board 1001 I Street, Sacramento, CA 95814

2 Overview 1. Sanitary Sewer Systems WDR Basic Requirements, 2. Statewide Compliance Data Summary, 3. Statewide Compliance and Enforcement Activities, 4. Sanitary Sewer Systems WDR Review and Update Process.

3 Sanitary Sewer Systems WDR Basic Requirements 1. Enrollment and establishment of Legally Responsible Official (LRO), 2. Maintain compliance with SSO MRP (2/20/2008 version posted on web), 3. Complete mandatory Collection System Questionnaire and update e annually, 4. Electronically report any SSO(s) or do monthly No-Spill Certification if no SSOs for any individual calendar month, 5. Develop, Implement, and Certify Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP): - Ensures proper management, operation and maintenance of collection on systems. - Provides an effective tool for state/regional boards to determine efficacy of local agency collection system management activities. - Provides additional transparency to reveal individual agency collection lection system operations, maintenance, and best management activities.

4 Spill Notification & Reporting Terminology Category 1 SSO: 1) Discharge to drainage channel or surface water (any volume); OR 2) Entered storm drain pipe not fully captured/returned to sewer (any volume); OR 3) Equals or exceeds 1,000 gallons in total spill volume from collection ction system. Category 2 SSO: 1) Any other SSO not meeting the definition of Category 1 SSO. Private Lateral Sewage Discharge (PLSD): 1) A sewage spill resulting from a failure or blockage in collection system piping owned by a private entity. If appearance point is a private sewer lateral, enrollee must determine if failure/blockage is in the private or public portion of collection system piping.

5 Spill Notification NOTIFICATION: 2hrs after aware: ONLY REQUIRED FOR CAT 1 SSO Notifies CalEMA, local Health Department, and Regional Water Board. 24hrs after aware: Certifies to Regional Board that CalEMA and local Health Department notification was completed.

6 Spill Reporting REPORTING: Required for all SSOs - performed online via State Board s s CIWQS system, PLSD reporting is voluntary. Category 1 SSO: 3 business days to Submit Draft after become aware of SSO. 15 calendar days to fully Certify each spill report after SSO response conclusion. Category 2 SSO: 30 Calendar days after end of calendar month which SSO occurred to Certify.

7 SSO Compliance Data Summary 1,110 Active Enrollees (As of June 30, 2010) 90% have reported spill/no-spill at least once 70% have completed and certified some elements of the SSMP 49% Have completed, Certified, and Implemented their SSMP 89% have completed their Collection System questionnaire 86%completed their Collection System Questionnaire and have updated it annually

8 SSO Compliance Data Spill/No-SpillCompliance Performance Have Reporting Errors, 62, 6% Missed All Reporting, 122, 11% In Compliance, 34, 3% Missed Some, 892, 80% 8

9 SSO Compliance Data (continued) SSMP Compliance Performance No Elements Certified, 333, 30% All Elements Certified, 538, 49% Certified Less Than 6 Elements, 134, 12% Certified 6 Elements or More, 105, 9%

10 SSO Compliance Data (continued) Questionnaire Compliance Performance Questionairre Not Completed, 119, 11% Questionairre Completed But Not Annually Updated, 28, 3% Questionairre Completed & Annually Updated, 963, 86%

11 Statewide Implementation Activities Initial areas of focus: Enrollment for Coverage Online SSO Data System Development & Improvements Outreach and Education Current areas of focus: Compliance and Enforcement Collection System Audits (targeted and random)

12 Target Areas for Compliance Evaluations Enrollment for Coverage: Applicable dischargers failing to enroll for coverage under the SSO General Order. SSO Monthly Reporting: Enrollees failing to report monthly SSOs or execute required monthly No Spill Certifications & Suspect Reporting. SSMP CIWQS Certification (Time Schedule): Enrollees failing to Comply with the CIWQS certification for all SSMP elements. Collection System Questionnaire: Enrollees failing to Complete and annually update their Collection System Questionnaire. SSMP Completeness: Completeness of Individual SSMP Elements. Reporting Accuracy: Evaluating accuracy of Enrollee s reporting. SSO Spill Enforcement: Continue assisting Regional Water Board staff with spill enforcement actions and investigations.

13 Compliance & Enforcement Activities Notices of Violation / Water Code Orders 119 Notices of Notices of Violation Sent to on July 20, % Response 70% Already working to get into compliance Non-Responsive Enrollees will be referred to the Enforcement unit

14 Compliance & Enforcement Activities (continued) Notices of Violation to be sent to all agencies that should but have Not enrolled in The General WDR. One-Time Compliance to be sent to all enrollees with reporting issues identified in CIWQS. Notices of Violation or ACLs to be sent to enrollees failing to meet SSO Reporting Requirements. Targeted and random collection system compliance audits now underway.

15 Formal Enforcement Actions Notice to Comply Technical Reports and Investigations 13267, Time Schedule Order (TSO) Regular TSO TSO with stipulated penalties Cleanup and Abatement Order (CAO) Cease and Desist Order (CDO) Administrative Civil Liability (ACL/penalty) Referral to District Attorney or Attorney General

16 Administrative Civil Liability under the General WDR Special Considerations (see Order, page 8) the Water Boards must consider the Enrollee s s efforts to contain, control, and mitigate SSOs including whether: 1) The Enrollee has complied with the requirements of this Order, including requirements for reporting, developing and implementing a SSMP. 2) The Enrollee can identify the cause or likely cause of the discharge event. 3) There were no feasible alternatives to the discharge (see order for specifics). 4) The discharge was exceptional, unintentional, temporary, and caused by factors beyond the reasonable control of the Enrollee.

17 Administrative Civil Liability under the General WDR (continued) Special Considerations continued: 5) Whether the discharge could have been prevented by the exercise of reasonable control described in a certified SSMP 6) The sanitary sewer system design capacity is appropriate to reasonably prevent SSOs 7) The Enrollee took all reasonable steps to stop and mitigate the impact of the discharge as soon as possible

18 Compliance Audits Example selection criteria includes: Poor performance based on SSOs per population served, SSO volume spilled per volume sewage transported, etc. Reporting violations. Enrollees reporting low numbers/volume of sewage spilled based on statewide comparison of spills reported since statewide reporting was mandated on September 2, Example: Enrollees that have never reported an SSO reaching a surface water, a storm drain, a drainage channel, etc., with consideration given to system size and operational characteristics cs Complaints from outside sources.

19 Example Compliance Checks during an Audit Verify enrollment, SSO records, operational procedures, SSO phone complaint logs, admin files, etc. Check Legally Responsible Official(s) and documentation are appropriately in place to notify/report/certify SSOs and certify SSMP SSMP Review: determine adequacy of elements/procedures, including planning efficacy to reduce/prevent future SSOs Proper notification for Cal/EMA, Regional Boards, and local health Departments for historical SSOs requiring these notifications Review of facility/equipment logbooks, standard operating procedures in place, training records, equipment manuals, etc. Review of documented spill response and mitigation procedures and compare to SSMP

20 Example Compliance Checks during an Audit (continued) Comparison of records against CIWQS information to evaluate the accuracy for SSOs reported. Audit of Computerized Maintenance Management System (CMMS) (if available); compare data harvested with CIWQS to verify accuracy of SSO data reported into CIWQS. Check for design capacity related SSOs during wet weather events.

21 Example Compliance Checks during an Audit (continued) Physical inspection and review of collection system assets, facilities & equipment Review of standard operating procedures (SOPs) Review of historic SSO sites Example audit activities: Inspection of Lift/pump station maintenance status and procedures implemented for periodic inspections, alarm testing, etc Inspection of mainlines, laterals, or problem locations Inspection of vehicles, backup equipment in place, and SSO response and mitigation procedures employed Review of resource allocations to support maintenance, operations, rehab and emergency response activities Review of SSO Hot Spots and/or former SSO locations, including interviews with reporting parties as necessary Other inspections and interviews deemed necessary to complete the compliance audit

22 Example Potential Violation Areas Failure to enroll for coverage under the Order Failure to report SSOs or do monthly No-Spill Certification Failure to meet MRP SSO Notification/Reporting timelines Failure to maintain & retain SSO records per MRP Failure to adequately provide mandated information per MRP (estimated SSO start time, agency notification time, SSO volume spilled, etc) Discrepancies between agency SSO records and CIWQS reports as certified by the Enrollee under penalty of law Failure to adequately and/or properly address Sewer System Management Plan tasks/elements Violation(s) of Provision # 8 in the Order ( properly( manage, operate, and maintain all parts of the sanitary sewer system ) ) identified as part of the audit

23 What to Expect Next Statewide SSO General Order Compliance and Enforcement Plan To be released soon NOVs / Orders systems with violations of all SSMP/MRP requirements Review underway for systems with violations of some SSMP/MRP requirements Compliance Audits: (mostly unannounced) Now underway statewide (State Board and/or Regional Water Board staff)

24 Sanitary Sewer Systems WDR Review and Update Improve performance of statewide SSO Reduction Program. Improve existing SSO General Order. Accurately capture stakeholder experiences and comments in a transparent manner to help shape future General WDR.

25 Next Steps 1. Comments solicited from staff workshops and comment letters are posted on SSO website, 2. Staff have met with individual Regional Board staff to solicit comments and draft new Order that will be circulated for public comment (est. late 2010), 3. State Water Board will hold public workshop to solicit comment on staff proposal (est. December 2010), 4. Final staff proposal will be submitted to the State Water Board for adoption (est. February 2011).

26 Review Spill Notification & Reporting Terminology Category 1 SSO: 1) Discharge to drainage channel or surface water (any volume); OR 2) Entered storm drain pipe not fully captured/returned to sewer (any volume); OR 3) Equals or exceeds 1,000 gallons in total spill volume from collection system. Category 2 SSO: 1) Any other SSO not meeting the definition of Category 1 SSO.

27 Review Spill Notification NOTIFICATION: 2hrs after aware: ONLY REQUIRED FOR CAT 1 SSO Notifies CalEMA, local Health Department, and Regional Water Board. 24hrs after aware: Certifies to Regional Board that CalEMA and local Health Department notification was completed.

28 Review Spill Reporting REPORTING: Required for all SSOs - must be performed online via State Board s CIWQS system, PLSD reporting is voluntary. Category 1 SSO: 3 business days to Submit Draft after become aware of SSO. 15 calendar days to fully Certify each spill report after SSO response conclusion. Category 2 SSO: 30 Calendar days after end of calendar month which SSO occurred to Certify.

29 Program Contacts & Info. Russell Norman, P.E. SSO Program Lead State Water Resources Control Board (916) Jim Fischer, P.E. Office of Enforcement State Water Resources Control Board (916) Victor Lopez SSO Program Lead State Water Resources Control Board (916) SSO Main Website: List Serve Sign-Up: