The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the health, safety,
and general welfare of the residents of and general public within
the Town of Brookhaven through the regulation of non-stormwater discharges
to the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) to the maximum
extent practicable as required by federal and state law. This chapter
establishes methods for controlling the introduction of pollutants
into the MS4 in order to comply with requirements of the SPDES General
Permit for Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems. The objectives
of this chapter are as follows:
A. To meet the requirements of the SPDES General Permit for Stormwater
Discharges from MS4s, Permit No. GP-0-15-003 or as amended or revised;
B. To regulate the contribution of pollutants to the MS4 since such
systems are not designed to accept, process or discharge non-stormwater
wastes;
C. To prohibit illicit connections, activities and discharges to the
MS4;
D. To ensure all stormwater runoff is contained on-site by approved
drainage systems or natural drainage, except where otherwise approved
by an authorized body;
E. To establish legal authority to carry out all inspection, surveillance
and monitoring procedures necessary to ensure compliance with this
chapter; and
F. To promote public awareness of the hazards involved in the improper
discharge of trash, yard waste, lawn chemicals, pet waste, wastewater,
grease, oil, petroleum products, cleaning products, paint products,
hazardous waste, sediment and other pollutants into the MS4.
The terms used under this chapter shall have the meanings as
set forth in this section:
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs)
Management practices designed to prevent or reduce the discharge
of pollutants directly or indirectly to stormwater, receiving waters,
or stormwater conveyance systems; 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. Such practices may include pollution prevention and educational
practices, maintenance procedures, treatment practices, operating
procedures, and practices to control site runoff, spillage or leaks,
sludge or water disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.
CLEAN WATER ACT
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251
et seq.), and any subsequent amendments thereto.
CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY
Activities requiring authorization under the SPDES General
Permit for Stormwater Discharges from Construction Activity, GP-0-15-002,
as amended or revised. These activities include construction projects
resulting in land disturbance of one or more acres. Such activities
include but are not limited to clearing and grubbing, grading, excavating,
and demolition.
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
Material, including any substance, waste, or combination
thereof, which, because of its quantity, concentration, 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.
ILLICIT CONNECTIONS
Any surface runoff or subsurface drain or conveyance that
allows an illegal discharge to enter the MS4 or private property,
including, but not limited to:
A.
Conveyances that allow any non-stormwater discharge including
treated or untreated sewage, process wastewater, wash water, or water
conveying solids to enter the MS4; and any connections to the storm
drain system from indoor drains and sinks, regardless of whether said
drain or connection had been previously allowed, permitted, or approved
by an authorized enforcement agency; or
B.
A drain or conveyance connected from a commercial or industrial
land use to the MS4 or private property, which has not been documented
in plans, maps, or equivalent records and approved by an authorized
enforcement agency.
ILLICIT DISCHARGE
Any direct or indirect non-stormwater discharge to the MS4, except as exempted in §
86A-5 of this chapter.
INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY
Activities requiring the SPDES Permit for Discharges from
Industrial Activities as defined by the SPDES Multi-Sector General
Permit, GP-0-12-001, as amended or revised.
MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM (MS4)
A conveyance or system of conveyances (including roads with
drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters,
ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains) that is owned or operated
by the Town and designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater;
the MS4, as defined, is not a combined sewer or part of a publicly
owned treatment works (POTW) as defined at 40 CFR 122.2.
NON-STORMWATER DISCHARGE
Any discharge, through overland flow or direct conveyance,
to the MS4 that is not composed entirely of stormwater.
PERSON
Any individual, owner, lease holder, entity, corporation,
agent, company, parent company, subsidiary, limited-liability company,
substantially owned affiliated entity, successor, partnership, joint
venture, association, legal representative, agent, or any other form
of doing business.
POLLUTANT
A substance that may cause or might reasonably be expected
to cause pollution of the waters of the state in contravention of
the standards, including, but not limited to: dredged spoil, filter
backwash, solid waste, incinerator residue, treated or untreated sewage,
garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials,
radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock,
sand, soil, industrial, municipal or agricultural waste, and ballast
discharged into water.
POLLUTANT OF CONCERN
Sediment or a water quality measurement that addresses sediment
(such as total suspended solids, turbidity or siltation) or any other
pollutant, including, but not limited to, nitrogen, phosphorus or
pathogens, that have been identified as a cause of impairment to any
water body that will receive a discharge from the land development
activity.
PREMISES
Any building, lot, parcel of land, or portion of land, whether
improved or unimproved, including adjacent sidewalks and parking strips.
PROPERTY OWNER
Any individual, group of individuals, company or corporation
having certain rights and duties over the property.
SECTION 303(d) LISTED WATERS
NYSDEC-published list, and any amendments thereto, of all
surface waters in the state for which beneficial uses of the water
(i.e., drinking, recreation, aquatic habitat, and fisheries) are impaired
by pollutants, as required by Section 303(d) of the Federal Clean
Water Act. 303(d) listed waters include estuaries, lakes, and streams
that fall short of state surface water quality standards and are not
expected to improve within the next two years from date of publishing.
SPECIAL CONDITIONS
A.
Discharge compliance with water quality standards: The condition
that applies where a municipality has been notified that the discharge
of stormwater authorized under its MS4 permit may have caused or has
the reasonable potential to cause or contribute to the violation of
an applicable water quality standard. Under this condition, the municipality
must take all necessary actions to ensure future discharges do not
cause or contribute to a violation of water quality standards.
B.
303(d) listed waters: The condition in the municipality's
MS4 permit that applies where the MS4 discharges to a 303(d) listed
water. Under this condition, the stormwater management program must
ensure no increase of the listed pollutant of concern to the 303(d)
listed water.
C.
Total maximum daily load (TMDL) strategy: The condition in the
municipality's MS4 permit where a TMDL, including requirements
for control of stormwater discharges, has been approved by the EPA
for a water body or watershed into which the MS4 discharges.
D.
The condition in the municipality's MS4 permit that applies
if a TMDL is approved in the future by the EPA for any water body
or watershed into which an MS4 discharges. Under this condition, the
municipality must review the applicable TMDL to see if it includes
requirements for control of stormwater discharges. If an MS4 is not
meeting the TMDL stormwater allocations, the municipality must, within
six months of the TMDL's approval, modify its stormwater management
program to ensure that reduction of the pollutant of concern specified
in the TMDL is achieved.
STORMWATER
Rainwater, surface runoff, snowmelt and drainage.
STORMWATER MANAGEMENT OFFICER (SMO)
The Superintendent of Highways or his/her authorized designee,
having responsibility for the overall implementation of the Town's
Stormwater Management Program.
TOTAL MAXIMUM DAILY LOAD (TMDL)
The maximum amount of a pollutant allowed to be released
into a water body so as not to impair uses of the water, allocated
among the sources of that pollutant.
WASTEWATER
Water that is not stormwater, which is contaminated with
pollutants and is or will be discarded.
WATERCOURSE
A permanent or intermittent stream or other body of water,
either natural or man-made, which gathers or carries surface water.
WATERS OF THE STATE
Shall be construed to include lakes, bays, sounds, ponds,
impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries,
marshes, inlets, canals, the Atlantic Ocean within the territorial
seas of the State of New York, and all other bodies of surface water,
natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, public or
private, which are wholly or partially within or bordering the state
or within its jurisdiction.
WATERWAY
Any natural or artificial fresh or marine body of water commonly
known as a stream, river, creek, lake, pond, estuary, bay, harbor,
ocean, or the like. A waterway includes those areas defined as lands
under water.
WETLANDS
Areas that meet the definition of "tidal wetland" or "freshwater wetland" as defined in Chapter
81 of the Town Code.
The requirements under this chapter shall be applicable to all
water entering the MS4, or private property, generated from any developed
or undeveloped lands, unless explicitly exempted by an authorized
enforcement agency.
The following illicit connections shall be prohibited:
A. The construction, use, maintenance or continued existence of illicit
connections to the MS4.
B. This prohibition expressly includes, without limitations, prior illicit
connections, regardless of whether the connection was permissible
under law or practices applicable or prevailing at the time of connection.
C. A property owner shall be in violation of this chapter if a connecting
line or overland flow conveying wastewater to the municipality's
MS4 is found on the property; or allows such a connection to continue.
Any person subject to an industrial or construction activity
SPDES stormwater discharge permit shall comply with all provisions
of such permit. Proof of compliance with said permit may be required
in a form acceptable to the Town prior to the allowing of discharges
to the MS4.
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 results or may result in illegal
discharges or pollutants discharging into the MS4 or private property,
said person shall take all necessary steps to ensure the source and
discovery, containment, and cleanup of such release. In the event
of such a release of hazardous materials, said person shall immediately
notify NYSDEC of the occurrence via emergency dispatch services or
911. In the event of a release of nonhazardous materials, said person
shall notify the SMO in person, by telephone, or email no later than
the next business day. Notifications in person, by telephone, or email
shall be confirmed by written notice addressed and mailed to the SMO
within three business days of the notification. 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.
It shall be unlawful for any person or property owner to violate
any provision or fail to comply with any of the requirements of this
chapter. If a person or property owner has violated or continues to
violate the provisions of this chapter, the SMO may petition for a
preliminary or permanent injunction restraining the person or property
owner from activities which would create further violations or compelling
the person or property owner to perform abatement or remediation of
the violation. In addition to any other available remedy at law or
as provided under this chapter, the Town may institute a suit in equity,
injunction relief, to restrain, correct or abate such violations of
this chapter.
In addition to the enforcement processes and penalties provided,
any condition caused or permitted to exist in violation of any of
the provisions of this chapter is a threat to public health, safety,
and welfare, and is declared and deemed a nuisance, and may be summarily
abated or restored at the violator's expense, and/or a civil
action to abate, enjoin, or otherwise compel the cessation of such
nuisance may be taken.
The remedies listed in this chapter are not exclusive of any
other remedies available under any applicable statute, law and/or
rule and regulation; and it is within the discretion of the Town to
seek cumulative remedies.
If any clause, sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, or
part of this chapter or the application thereof to any person, individual,
corporation, firm, partnership, entity, or circumstance shall be adjudged
by any court of competent jurisdiction to be invalid or unconstitutional,
such order or judgment shall not affect, impair, or invalidate the
remainder thereof, but shall be confined in its operation to the clause,
sentence, paragraph, subdivision, section, or part of this chapter,
or in its application to the person, individual, corporation, firm,
partnership, entity, or circumstance directly involved in the controversy
in which such order or judgment shall be rendered.