[HISTORY: Adopted by the Special Town Meeting of the Town
of Griswold as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where
applicable.]
[Adopted 5-12-2009]
This article shall be titled "Illicit Discharge and Connection
to Stormwater Drainage Systems."
Connecticut General Statutes § 7-148(c)(6)(B) specifically
authorizes towns to regulate sewers, drainage and public utilities.
A.
The Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has
issued to the Town of Griswold a General Permit for the Discharge
of Stormwater from Small Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems. As
a condition of the issuance of this permit, the DEP requires that
the Town of Griswold implement and enforce a regulatory mechanism
to prohibit non-stormwater discharges into storm drainage systems
within the Town of Griswold.
B.
A further purpose of this article is to provide for the health, safety,
and general welfare of the citizens of The Town of Griswold, Connecticut
through the regulation of non-stormwater discharges to the storm drainage
system to the maximum extent practicable as required by federal and
state law. This article establishes methods for controlling the introduction
of pollutants into the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4)
in order to comply with requirements of the National Pollutant Discharge
Elimination System (NPDES) permit process and the laws of the State
of Connecticut. The objectives of this article are:
(1)
To regulate the contribution of pollutants to the municipal separate
storm sewer system (MS4) by illicit stormwater discharges by any user.
(2)
To prohibit illicit connections and discharges to the municipal separate
storm sewer system.
(3)
To establish legal authority to carry out all inspection, surveillance
and monitoring procedures necessary to ensure compliance with this
article.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The authorized agent of the authorized enforcement agency
is the Highway Department Supervisor. The First Selectmen or the Board
of Selectmen may, in writing, designate other employees and designees
as deputy authorized agents to act through the authorized agent. The
authorized agent could include but not be limited to the Town Sanitarian,
the contracted Town Engineer, the Town Planner, the Zoning and Wetlands
Enforcement Officer, and the Town Attorney as well as appropriate
boards or commissions.
The Town of Griswold Board of Selectmen.
Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, general
good housekeeping practices, pollution prevention and educational
practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices
to prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants directly or indirectly
to stormwater, receiving waters, or stormwater conveyance systems.
BMPs also include treatment practices, operating procedures, and practices
to control site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or water disposal,
or drainage from raw materials storage.
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251
et seq.), and any subsequent amendments thereto.
Activities subject to NPDES construction permits/general
permits. These include construction projects resulting in land disturbance
of one acre or more. Such activities include but are not limited to
clearing and grubbing, grading, excavating, and demolition.
Any material, including any substance, waste, or combination
thereof, which because of its quantity, concentration, or 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 improperly treated,
stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed.
Any direct or indirect non-stormwater discharge to the storm drain system, except as exempted in § 200-9 of this article.
An illicit connection is defined as either of the following:
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, processed or domestic wastewater to enter
the storm drain system and any connections to the storm drain system
from indoor drains and sinks, regardless of whether said drain or
conveyance had been previously allowed, permitted, or approved by
an authorized enforcement agency; or
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 an authorized enforcement
agency.
Activities subject to NPDES industrial permits as defined
in 40 CFR 122.26(b)(14).
A permit issued by EPA [or by the State of Connecticut DEP
under authority delegated pursuant to 33 USC § 1342(b)]
that authorizes the discharge of pollutants to waters of the United
States, whether the permit is applicable to an individual, group,
or on a general area-wide basis.
Any discharge to the storm drain system that is not composed
entirely of stormwater.
Any individual, association, organization, partnership, firm,
corporation or other entity recognized by law and acting as either
the owner of a premises or as the owner's agent.
Anything that causes or contributes to pollution. Pollutants
may include, but are not limited to: paints, varnishes, and solvents;
oil and other automotive fluids; nonhazardous liquid and solid wastes
and yard wastes; refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter, or other discarded
or abandoned objects, ordinance, and accumulations, so that same 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;
and noxious or offensive matter of any kind.
Any building, lot, parcel of land, or portion of land whether
improved or unimproved, including adjacent sidewalks and parking strips.
Publicly owned facilities 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, retention and detention basins, natural and human-made
or altered drainage channels, reservoirs, and other drainage structures.
Any surface flow, runoff, and drainage consisting entirely
of water from any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from
such precipitation.
A document which describes the best management practices
and activities to be implemented by a person or business to identify
sources of pollution or contamination at a site and the actions to
eliminate or reduce pollutant discharges to stormwater, stormwater
conveyance systems, and/or receiving waters to the maximum extent
practicable.
Any water or other liquid, other than uncontaminated stormwater,
discharged from a facility.
Surface watercourses and water bodies as defined in Title
40, Part 122.1, of the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), as amended,
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.
This article shall apply to all water entering the storm drain
system generated on any developed and undeveloped lands unless explicitly
exempted by an authorized enforcement agency.
The authorized agent shall administer, implement, and enforce
the provisions of this article as the primary agent for the Board
of Selectmen, as the authorized enforcement agency. Any powers granted
or duties imposed upon the authorized agent may be delegated in writing
by the First Selectman or by action of the Board of Selectmen as the
authorized enforcement agency to persons or entities acting in the
beneficial interest of or in the employ of the Town of Griswold as
deputy authorized agents to act through and under the direction of
the authorized agent.
The provisions of this article are hereby declared to be severable.
If any provision, clause, sentence, or paragraph of this article or
the application thereof to any person, establishment, or circumstances
shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not affect the other
provisions or application of this article.
The standards set forth herein and promulgated pursuant to this
article are minimum standards; therefore, this article does not intend
nor imply that compliance by any person will ensure that there will
be no contamination, pollution, nor unauthorized discharge of pollutants.
A.
Illegal discharges prohibited.
(1)
No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged into the municipal
storm drain system or watercourses any materials, including but not
limited to pollutants or liquids containing any pollutants that cause
or contribute to a violation of applicable water quality standards,
other than stormwater.
(2)
The commencement, conduct or continuance of any illegal discharge
to the storm drain system is prohibited except as described as follows
as per Section 3(a)(2) of the General Permit for the Discharge of
Stormwater to MS4, as amended from time to time.
(3)
The following discharges are exempt from discharge prohibitions established
by this article, providing they contain no pollutants:
(a)
Landscape irrigation;
(b)
Uncontaminated groundwater discharges such as pumped groundwater,
foundation drains, water from crawl space pumps and footing drains;
(c)
Irrigation water;
(d)
Lawn watering runoff;
(e)
Residual street wash water;
(f)
Discharges or flows from fire-fighting activities (except training);
and
(g)
Naturally occurring discharges such as rising groundwaters,
uncontaminated groundwater infiltration [as defined at 40 CFR 35.2005(20)],
springs, diverted stream flows and flows from riparian habitats and
wetlands.
(4)
The prohibition shall not apply to any non-stormwater discharge permitted
under an NPDES permit, waiver, or waste discharge order issued to
the discharger and administered under the authority of the Federal
Environmental Protection Agency or the Connecticut Department of Environmental
Protection.
B.
Illicit connections prohibited.
(1)
The construction, use, maintenance or continued existence of illicit
connections to the storm drain system is prohibited.
(2)
This prohibition expressly includes, without limitation, illicit
connections made in the past, regardless of whether the connection
was permissible under law or practices applicable or prevailing at
the time of connection.
(3)
A person is considered to be in violation of this article if the
person connects a line conveying sewage to the MS4, or allows such
a connection to continue.
A.
Suspension due to illicit discharges in emergency situations. The
authorized agent as agent for the Board of Selectmen, the authorized
enforcement agency, may, without prior notice, suspend MS4 discharge
access to a person when such suspension is necessary to stop an actual
or threatened discharge which presents or may present imminent and
substantial danger to the environment, or to the health or welfare
of persons, or to the MS4 or waters of the United States. If the violator
fails to comply with a suspension order issued in an emergency, the
authorized enforcement agency may take such steps as deemed necessary
to prevent or minimize damage to the MS4 or waters of the United States,
or to minimize danger to persons.
B.
Suspension due to the detection of illicit discharge. Any person
discharging to the MS4 in violation of this article may have its MS4
access terminated if such termination would abate or reduce an illicit
discharge. The authorized enforcement agency will notify a violator
of the proposed termination of its MS4 access. The violator may petition
the authorized enforcement agency for a reconsideration and hearing.
C.
A person commits an offense if the person reinstates MS4 access to
premises terminated pursuant to this section, without the prior approval
of the authorized enforcement agency.
Any person subject to an industrial, commercial or construction
activity NPDES stormwater discharge permit shall comply with all provisions
of such permit.
A.
Applicability. This section applies to all facilities that have stormwater
discharges associated with industrial, commercial or construction
activity.
B.
Access to facilities.
(1)
The authorized agent shall be permitted to enter and inspect facilities
subject to regulation under this article as often as may be necessary
to determine compliance with this article. If a discharger has security
measures in force that require proper identification and clearance
before entry into its premises, the discharger shall make the necessary
arrangements to allow access to representatives of the authorized
enforcement agency.
(2)
Facility operators shall allow the authorized agent ready access
to all parts of the premises for the purposes of inspection, sampling,
and the examination and copying of records that must be kept under
the conditions of an NPDES permit to discharge stormwater, and the
performance of any additional duties as defined by state and federal
law.
(3)
The authorized agent shall have the right to set up on any permitted
facility such devices as are necessary, in the opinion of the authorized
enforcement agency, to conduct monitoring and/or sampling of the facility's
stormwater discharge.
(4)
The authorized agent has the right to require the discharger to install
monitoring equipment as necessary. The facility's sampling and
monitoring equipment shall be maintained at all times in a safe and
proper operating condition by the discharger at its own expense. All
devices used to measure stormwater flow and quality shall be calibrated
to ensure their accuracy.
(5)
Any temporary or permanent obstruction to safe and easy access to
the facility to be inspected and/or sampled shall be promptly removed
by the operator at the written or oral request of the authorized agent
and shall not be replaced. The costs of clearing such access shall
be borne by the operator.
(6)
Unreasonable delays in allowing the authorized agent access to a
permitted facility is a violation of a stormwater discharge permit
and of this article. A person who is the operator of a facility with
a NPDES permit to discharge stormwater associated with industrial,
commercial or construction activity commits an offense if the person
denies the authorized enforcement agency reasonable access to the
permitted facility for the purpose of conducting any activity authorized
or required by this article.
(7)
If the authorized agent has been refused access to any part of the
premises from which stormwater is discharged, and he/she is able to
demonstrate probable cause to believe that there may be a violation
of this article, or that there is a need to inspect and/or sample
as part of a routine inspection and sampling program designed to verify
compliance with this article or any order issued hereunder, or to
protect the overall public health, safety, and welfare of the community,
then the authorized enforcement agency may seek issuance of a search
warrant from any court of competent jurisdiction.
Every person owning property through which a watercourse passes,
or such person's lessee, shall keep and maintain that part of
the watercourse within the property free of trash, debris, and other
obstacles that would pollute, contaminate, or significantly retard
the flow of water through the watercourse. In addition, the owner
or lessee shall maintain existing privately owned structures within
or adjacent to a watercourse, so that such structures will not become
a hazard to the use, function, or physical integrity of the watercourse.
Notwithstanding other requirements of law, as soon as any person
responsible for a facility or operation, or responsible for emergency
response for a facility or operation, has information of any known
or suspected release of materials which is resulting or may result
in illegal discharges or pollutants discharging into stormwater, the
storm drain system, or waters of the State of Connecticut, said person
shall take all necessary steps to ensure the discovery, containment,
and cleanup of such release. In the event of such a release of hazardous
materials, said person shall immediately notify emergency response
agencies of the occurrence via emergency dispatch services. In the
event of a release of nonhazardous materials, said person shall notify
the authorized enforcement agency in person or by phone or facsimile
no later than the next business day. Notifications in person or by
phone shall be confirmed by written notice addressed and mailed to
the authorized agent within three business days of the phone notice.
If the discharge of prohibited materials emanates from a commercial
or industrial establishment, the owner or operator of such establishment
shall also retain an on-site written record of the discharge and the
actions taken to prevent its recurrence. Such records shall be retained
for at least three years. The contact information for the authorized
agent is as follows:
|
Highway Department Supervisor
Town of Griswold
Public Works Department
1148 Voluntown Road
Griswold, CT 06351
Tel. (860) 376 7080
Cell (860) 213 1522
|
A.
Whenever the authorized agent finds that a person has violated a
prohibition or failed to meet a requirement of this article, the Board
of Selectmen, as the authorized enforcement agency, may order compliance
by a written notice of violation to the responsible person. Such notice
may require, without limitation:
(1)
The performance of monitoring, sampling, analyses, and reporting;
(2)
The elimination of illicit connections or discharges;
(3)
That violating discharges, practices, or operations shall cease and
desist;
(4)
The abatement or remediation of stormwater pollution or contamination
hazards and the restoration of any affected property;
(5)
Payment of a fine to cover administrative and remediation costs;
(6)
The implementation of source control or treatment BMPs.
B.
If abatement of a violation and/or restoration of affected property
is required, the notice shall set forth a deadline within which such
remediation or restoration must be completed. Said notice shall further
advise that, should the violator fail to remediate or restore within
the established deadline, the work will be done by a designated governmental
agency or a contractor and the expense thereof shall be charged to
the violator.
Any person receiving a notice of violation may appeal the determination
of the authorized enforcement agency to the Town of Griswold Inland
Wetlands and Watercourses Conservation Commission. The notice of appeal
must be received by the authorized agent and the Board of Selectmen
within 15 days from the date of the notice of violation. Any hearing
on an appeal before the Town of Griswold Inland Wetlands and Watercourses
Conservation Commission shall take place within 15 days from the date
of receipt of the notice of appeal. The decision of the Town of Griswold
Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Conservation Commission shall be
final where its jurisdiction has been established.
If the violation has not been corrected pursuant to the requirements
set forth in the notice of violation, or, in the event of an appeal,
within 15 days after the decision of the Town of Griswold Inland Wetlands
and Watercourses Conservation Commission upholding the decision of
the authorized enforcement agency, then representatives of the authorized
enforcement agency shall enter upon the subject private property and
are authorized to take any and all measures necessary to abate the
violation and/or restore the property. It shall be unlawful for any
person, owner, agent or person in possession of any premises to refuse
to allow the governmental agency or designated contractor to enter
upon the premises for the purposes set forth above.
A.
Within 15 days after abatement of the violation, the owner of the
property will be notified of the cost of abatement, including administrative
costs. The property owner may file a written protest objecting to
the amount of the assessment within 15 days. If the amount due is
not paid within a timely manner as determined by the decision of the
Town of Griswold Inland Wetlands and Watercourses Conservation Commission
or by the expiration of the time in which to file an appeal, the charges
shall become a special assessment against the property and shall constitute
a lien on the property for the amount of the assessment.
B.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall
become liable to the Town of Griswold by reason of such violation.
The liability shall be paid in not more than 12 equal payments. Interest
at the rate of 18% per annum shall be assessed on the balance beginning
on the first day following discovery of the violation.
It shall be unlawful for any person to violate any provision
or fail to comply with any of the requirements of this article. If
a person has violated or continues to violate the provisions of this
article, the authorized enforcement agency may petition for a preliminary
or permanent injunction restraining the person from activities which
would create further violations or compelling the person to perform
abatement or remediation of the violation.
In lieu of enforcement proceedings, penalties, and remedies
authorized by this article, the authorized enforcement agency may
impose upon a violator alternative compensatory actions, such as storm
drain stenciling, attendance at compliance workshops, watercourse
cleanup, etc.
Any person who has violated or continues to violate this article
shall be liable for fines in the amount of $250 per violation as authorized
by Connecticut General Statutes § 7-148. Any person who
has violated this article may also be subject to penalties otherwise
authorized by law.
The remedies listed in this article are not exclusive of any
other remedies available under any applicable federal, state or local
law and it is within the discretion of the authorized enforcement
agency to seek cumulative remedies.
This article shall be in full force and effect 15 days after
its final passage and adoption in a Town Meeting. All prior ordinances
and parts of ordinances in conflict with this article are hereby repealed.
