A. 
Upon the failure of any owner or owners of premises situate along the line of an Authority sewer who has or have been duly notified to cause any building or buildings erected on such premises to be connected with any such sewer or to comply with the provisions of this chapter, the Authority may so direct that such person or persons shall forfeit and pay a fine of not more than $1,000 to the Authority, the same to be collected by a summary proceeding before any District Justice in Springfield Township (or Bucks County) or recovered as debts of like amounts are now by law recoverable.
B. 
Whenever such person shall have been notified by the Authority through its duly constituted representatives or by service of summons or prosecution or in any other way that such violation has been committed, each day that such person shall continue in such violation shall constitute a separate offense, punishable by a like fine or penalty.
C. 
In addition to other remedies provided herein or by law, an action in equity may be instituted in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent, enjoin, restrain, correct or abate any violation of any of the provisions of this chapter and/or the rules and regulations set forth herein.
D. 
Where a discharge of waste into the sewers, prohibited under the provisions of this chapter and/or any rules and regulations set forth herein or any subsequent amendment thereto, presents an imminent or substantial endangerment to the health or welfare of any person or persons or to the environment or causes interference with the operation of the publicly owned treatment works, the Authority reserves the right to deny sewer service to such a violator by severing the connection to the public sewer system.
A. 
Emergency suspensions.
(1) 
Notwithstanding any other provisions of these regulations, the City or the Authority may suspend the wastewater treatment service and/or a wastewater discharge permit when such a suspension is necessary, in the opinion of the City or the Authority, in order to stop an actual or threatened discharge which:
(a) 
Presents or may present an imminent or substantial endangerment to the health or welfare of persons;
(b) 
Presents or may present an imminent or substantial endangerment to the environment;
(c) 
May cause or actually causes interference to the POTW; or
(d) 
Causes the City to violate any condition of its NPDES permit.
(2) 
Any person notified of a suspension of the wastewater treatment service and/or the wastewater discharge permit shall immediately stop or eliminate all contributions.
(3) 
Should the person fail to immediately comply voluntarily with the suspension order, the City or the Authority shall take such steps as deemed necessary, including, but not limited to, termination of water service and/or immediate severance of the sewer connection.
(4) 
The Authority or City shall revoke its emergency suspension order and restore wastewater and/or water service once the following information has been provided to and accepted by both the Authority and the City:
(a) 
A detailed written report describing the cause(s) of the harmful contribution and indicating what measures have been taken to prevent any future occurrence of same; and
(b) 
Proof of the elimination of the harmful discharge.
(5) 
Revocation of an emergency suspension order and restoration of wastewater and/or water service shall not preclude the City/Authority from taking any other enforcement action as permitted under §§ 81-35 through 81-42, inclusive, and § 81-44 of these regulations.
Any user who violates these regulations, the wastewater discharge permit or any applicable federal, state or local law is subject to having his wastewater discharge permit revoked in accordance with the procedures of § 81-35 of these regulations. Revocation of a user's permit requires the user to immediately cease all wastewater contributions.
A. 
Whenever the City finds that any user has violated or is violating these regulations, the wastewater discharge permit or any prohibition, limitation, or requirement contained herein, the City may serve, personally or by regular or certified mail, upon such person a written notice of revocation stating the nature of the violation. Notice by regular mail alone shall be deemed sufficient notice.
B. 
Within 15 days of the date of the notice of revocation, the user shall respond in writing. The response must state why the violation occurred, the steps taken to prevent its recurrence and whether the violation has been corrected. If the response indicates that the violation has not been corrected, the response shall contain a plan for the immediate correction of the violation.
C. 
The Authority or the Philadelphia Water Department Commissioner (Commissioner) shall consider the user's response, if any, before rendering his final determination order. The Authority or the Commissioner's final determination order may direct that:
(1) 
The user's permit be immediately revoked;
(2) 
The user's permit be revoked on a specified future date unless adequate treatment facilities, devices or other related appurtenances shall have been installed and existing treatment facilities, devices or other related appurtenances are properly operated; or
(3) 
The user's permit shall continue in effect.
D. 
Further orders and directives as are necessary and appropriate may be issued.
A. 
If the user fails to immediately cease all wastewater discharges upon the revocation of his wastewater discharge permit, the City or Authority may order any of the following actions to be taken:
(1) 
Immediate termination of the user's water service.
(2) 
Immediate severance of the user's sewer connection.
(3) 
Any other action designed to immediately terminate the user's wastewater discharge.
B. 
All costs related to terminating or reinstating after termination of the user's water and/or sewer service shall be borne by the user.
A. 
Where a user has failed to comply with the provisions of these regulations or any order or previous permit issued hereunder, the City may decline to reissue a permit.
B. 
No permit shall be reissued until the user has submitted and completed a corrective action plan which will ensure compliance with all pretreatment standards or requirements.
C. 
Prior to reissuance of a permit, the City may require the user to:
(1) 
File with the City a performance bond payable to the City, in a sum not to exceed a value determined by the City to be necessary to achieve consistent compliance; or
(2) 
Submit proof that it has obtained liability insurance acceptable to the City, sufficient to restore or repair the POTW for damages that may be caused by the user's discharge.
A. 
Whenever the City finds that any user has violated or is violating these regulations, or any prohibition, limitation or requirements contained herein, the City may serve, personally or by regular or certified mail, upon such person a written notice stating the nature of the violation. Notice by regular mail shall be deemed sufficient notice.
B. 
Within 15 days of the date of the notice of violation, the user must respond in writing. The user's response shall include a plan for the satisfactory correction of the violation(s).
C. 
The Authority or the Commissioner shall consider the user's response, if any, before rendering his final determination order. The Authority's or Commissioner's final determination order may direct that:
(1) 
The user immediately cease all wastewater contributions;
(2) 
The user be prohibited from contributing wastewater into the City's system unless adequate treatment facilities are installed and operating; or
(3) 
The user may continue his wastewater contribution.
D. 
Further orders and directives as are necessary and appropriate may be issued.
E. 
If a user fails to immediately comply with the Authority or the Commissioner's final determination order, the Authority or the Commissioner may enforce his order by taking any or all of the actions stated in § 81-38. In addition, the Authority or the Commissioner may use any other administrative, legal or equitable relief available.
F. 
After termination, the user may apply to the Authority or the Commissioner to once again contribute wastewater into the City's system. The Commissioner may accept, deny or condition his acceptance of the application pursuant to § 81-39.
A. 
Whenever a user has violated or continues to violate any pretreatment standards or requirements, the Authority or the Commissioner may issue an administrative order requiring the user to correct the violations and to return to compliance. The order may require that any of the following actions be taken:
(1) 
Install new or additional pretreatment facilities to ensure compliance with all pretreatment standards or requirements.
(2) 
Make operational changes to ensure compliance with all pretreatment standards or requirements.
(3) 
Meet interim and/or final deadlines by which actions and/or compliance must be achieved.
(4) 
Conduct additional self-monitoring and additional reporting.
(5) 
Require remediation of any damage done to the POTW or the environment.
(6) 
Establish interim effluent limits.
(7) 
Require the user's wastewater discharge permit to be amended in accordance with these regulations.
(8) 
Require the user to submit information and reports.
(9) 
Pay fines in accordance with § 81-44 of these regulations.
(10) 
Take any other action which the Authority or the Commissioner deems necessary to ensure both present and future compliance with all pretreatment standards or requirements.
B. 
If the user fails to comply with the administrative order, the user's wastewater and/or water service may be terminated. The issuance of an administrative order shall not be a bar against, or a prerequisite for, taking any other action against the user. If the user wishes to contest the administrative order, it shall file its appeal pursuant to the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter within 30 days. Failure to appeal within this time period shall result in a waiver of all legal rights to contest the violation or any provisions contained in the order.
The Authority or the Commissioner may enter into administrative consent orders establishing an agreement with any user. An administrative consent order may contain any or all of the provisions contained in § 81-39, Administrative orders. Administrative consent orders shall have the same force and effect as administrative orders.
If any person violates any pretreatment standards or requirements, the City Solicitor may commence an action for appropriate legal and/or equitable relief in the appropriate court.
If an industrial user violates any pretreatment standards or requirements, the City, through counsel, may petition the court for the issuance of a temporary restraining order or a preliminary or permanent injunction (as may be appropriate) which restrains or compels the activities on the part of the industrial user.
A. 
Purpose. It is the purpose of this section to provide for the recovery of costs from users of the POTW for the implementation of the program established herein.
B. 
Charges and fees.
(1) 
All industrial users applying for or issued a permit after the promulgation of these regulations shall pay a fee of $500 per permit application.
(2) 
The Authority/City may adopt charges and fees which may include:
(a) 
Fees for reimbursement of costs of setting up and operating the City's pretreatment program.
(b) 
Fees for monitoring, inspections and surveillance procedures.
(c) 
Fees for reviewing accidental discharge procedures and construction.
(d) 
Other fees as the Authority/City may deem necessary to carry out the requirements contained herein.
(3) 
These fees relate solely to the matters covered by these regulations and are separate from all other fees chargeable by the Authority/City. The Authority/Philadelphia Water Department (Department) reserves the right to change the fees set forth herein.
A. 
Purpose. The purpose of this section is to enact a civil penalty assessment policy pursuant to the Publicly Owned Treatment Works Penalty Law, Act No. 1992-9.[1] BCWSA will require purchase of EDUs in increments of 250 GPD of usage determined as used by connected property that has no connection record or is not in the billing system, as well as back sewer bills to the date of connection or three years, whichever is less.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 35 P.S. § 752.1 et seq.
B. 
Scope.
(1) 
The POTW Penalty Law allows the City, as the owner and operator of publicly owned treatment works with an approved pretreatment program, to assess civil penalties of up to $25,000 per violation of any pretreatment standards or requirements per day. Each term, condition or parameter violated shall constitute a separate and distinct offense. Each day on which a violation occurs or continues to occur shall constitute a separate and distinct offense.
(2) 
In developing this civil penalty assessment policy, the City considered the following factors:
(a) 
The damage to air, water, land or other natural resources of this City and commonwealth and their uses.
(b) 
Cost of restoration and abatement.
(c) 
Savings resulting to the person in consequence of the violation.
(d) 
History of past violations.
(e) 
Deterrence of future violations.
(f) 
Harm and/or potential to the POTW and/or its employees.
(g) 
Whether the violation resulted or could have resulted in the POTW violating its NPDES permit.
(h) 
Whether the violation resulted or could have resulted in the POTW violating any law or regulation affecting its sludge disposal options.
C. 
Mandatory civil penalties.
(1) 
Civil penalties shall be assessed against any industrial user in significant noncompliance (hereinafter referred to as "SNC") with pretreatment standards or requirements. The amount of the civil penalty shall be calculated in accordance with § 81-44E, F and G.
(2) 
An industrial user is in significant noncompliance if it meets one or more of the following criteria:
(a) 
If 33% or more of all samples taken for any single parameter during a six-month period demonstrate exceedances, by any amount, of the daily maximum effluent limitation or the monthly average limitation.
(b) 
Monitoring for any parameter less than 66% of the total sampling events required by the permit.
(c) 
Discharging without the required permit under the wastewater control regulations.
(d) 
Any violation of any pretreatment effluent limit that the Department determines has caused, either alone or in combination with any other discharges, interference or pass-through.
(e) 
Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or the environment or has resulted in the Department's exercise of its emergency authority.
(f) 
Violation by 45 days or more of the scheduled date of compliance with milestones for starting construction, completing construction, attaining final compliance or any other milestone event described in any compliance schedule.
(g) 
Failure to provide any required reports, such as baseline monitoring reports, ninety-day compliance reports, periodic compliance reports, spill or slug discharge reports, surcharge reports, responses to notices of violation or notices of significant noncompliance, compliance schedule reports, pretreatment facilities report or any other report required by law or permit within 30 days after the report's due date.
(h) 
Failure to report noncompliance accurately.
(i) 
Any other violation or group of violations that adversely affects the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program or, either alone or in conjunction with any other discharge, causes harm to the POTW.
D. 
Discretionary civil penalties.
(1) 
Civil penalties are discretionary where an industrial user's violation(s) of the pretreatment standards or requirements do not constitute significant noncompliance as defined in § 81-44C. In exercising its discretion as to whether to assess civil penalties for these violations, the City shall consider the following factors:
(a) 
Compliance history. The City shall examine the industrial user's compliance history for the specific term or condition now being violated as well as the industrial user's compliance history with all other pretreatment standards or requirements.
(b) 
Reasons for noncompliance.
(c) 
Magnitude of violation.
(d) 
Good-faith compliance efforts. Good-faith compliance efforts consist of the following actions:
[1] 
Whether the industrial user properly notified the City of the violation.
[2] 
Whether the industrial user responded to the notice of violation within 15 days as required in the notice.
[3] 
The corrective actions the industrial user has taken or will take to ensure a return to compliance.
[4] 
The timeliness of these corrective actions.
(2) 
Where it is determined that a civil penalty should be levied under this section, the amount of the civil penalty shall be calculated in accordance with § 81-44E, F and G.
E. 
Civil penalty. The calculation of the civil penalty which shall be assessed shall be in conformity with Section 6.5, Civil Penalty, of the City of Philadelphia Water Department's Wastewater Control Regulations, and § 81-44F, Economic benefit of noncompliance, and § 81-44G, Recovery of damages, costs and fines. The City of Philadelphia Water Department's Wastewater Control Regulations Section 6.5, including the penalty grid and explanatory footnotes, are available from the City of Philadelphia Water Department, 1101 Market Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107-2994.
F. 
Economic benefit of noncompliance.
(1) 
In all cases, the civil penalty assessed shall exceed the economic benefit of noncompliance gained by the industrial user as a result of not complying with the pretreatment standards or requirements. The economic benefit of noncompliance is that amount of both capital and operating funds saved by the industrial user by either failing or delaying to install and/or operate the necessary pretreatment to achieve compliance with all pretreatment standards or requirements. The City may use the Guidance Manual for POTWs to calculate the economic benefit of noncompliance, United States Environmental Protection Agency, September 5, 1990, or any subsequent revision, to assist it in calculating the economic benefit of noncompliance.
(2) 
If a situation arises where the amount assessed under the Civil Penalty Grid in Subsection E fails to exceed the economic benefit of noncompliance, then the Civil Penalty Grid shall not be used to determine the civil penalty. Rather, the City shall set the civil penalty by first calculating the economic benefit of noncompliance. Next, the amount calculated to be the economic benefit of noncompliance shall be increased by anywhere from 10% to 100%. This increased amount shall constitute the civil penalty.
(3) 
In determining the appropriate increase factor (anywhere from 10% to 100%), the City shall consider the severity of the violations, the reason for the violation and how quickly the industrial user abates the violation.
G. 
Recovery of damages, costs and fines.
(1) 
In all cases, the civil penalty shall, at a minimum, be set so that it fully compensates the City for any damage or injury to the POTW, its employees, the POTW's sludge or the environment. Any and all costs incurred by the City to correct or compensate for the damage or injury shall also be fully recovered in the civil penalty. Costs shall include, but not be limited to, attorneys' fees, court costs, court reporter fees and other expenses associated with enforcement activities, as well as all sampling and monitoring expenses related to discovering, enforcing and maintaining the industrial user's compliance. Where violation of the pretreatment standards or requirements causes, either alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, the City to violate any local, state or federal law or regulation, and the City is fined for this violation, the civil penalty assessed shall fully reimburse the City for the fine paid.
(2) 
If a situation arises where the amount assessed under the Civil Penalty Grid fails to fully compensate the City for all damages, costs and fines, then the Civil Penalty Grid shall not be used to determine the civil penalty. Rather, the City shall set the civil penalty by first calculating all damages, costs and fines to the City resulting from the violation. Next, this amount shall be increased by anywhere from 10% to 100%. This increased amount shall constitute the civil penalty.
(3) 
In determining the appropriate increase factor (anywhere from 10% to 100%), the City shall consider the extent and nature of the damage, its impact on the POTW, the reasons for the violation and how quickly the industrial user corrects the damage.
H. 
Civil penalty appeal. The industrial user charged with the penalty shall have 30 days to pay the proposed penalty in full, or, if the industrial user wishes to contest either the amount of the penalty or the fact of the violation, the industrial user must file an appeal, pursuant to the Philadelphia Home Rule Charter. Failure to appeal within this period shall result in a waiver of all legal rights to contest the violation or the amount of the penalty.