[HISTORY: Adopted by the City Council of the City of Bowie 1-20-2015 by Ord. No. O-3-15, effective 2-19-2015. Amendments noted where applicable.]
The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of the City of Bowie through the regulation of certain discharges to the storm drain system to the maximum extent practicable as required by federal and state law. This chapter 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. The objectives of this chapter are:
A. 
To regulate the contribution of pollutants to the municipal storm drain system by any user; and
B. 
To prohibit illicit connections and discharges to the municipal storm drain system; and
C. 
To establish legal authority to carry out all inspection, surveillance, monitoring and enforcement procedures necessary to ensure compliance with this chapter.
For the purpose of this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings set forth herein:
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPS)
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.
CLEAN WATER ACT
The federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.), and any subsequent amendments thereto, and any regulations adopted by any federal agency with regulatory authority under the Clean Water Act.
CONSTRUCTION ACTIVITY
Activities subject to NPDES construction 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.
EPA
The United States Environmental Protection Agency.
HAZARDOUS MATERIALS
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.
ILLICIT CONNECTION
A. 
Any drain or conveyance, whether on the surface or subsurface, that allows an illicit discharge to enter the City's storm drain system, regardless of whether said drain or connection had been previously allowed, permitted, or approved by the City; or
B. 
Any drain or conveyance connected to the storm drain system that has not been documented in plans, maps, or equivalent records and approved by the City.
ILLICIT DISCHARGE
Any direct or indirect discharge of any substance other than stormwater, including but not limited to sewage, process water, and wash water, into the City's storm drain system, except as exempted in § 28-6 of this chapter.
INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY
An activity subject to an NPDES industrial permit or the NPDES industrial general permit as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations at 40 CFR 122.26(b)(14).
MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM or MS4
A conveyance or system of conveyances (including road drainage systems, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains) that is not combined with the sanitary sewer and that discharges to waters of the United States.
NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM OR NPDES STORMWATER PERMIT
A permit issued by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency [or by the State of Maryland under authority delegated pursuant to 33 U.S.C. § 1342(b)] that authorizes the discharge of pollutants to waters of the United States.
PERSON
Any individual or any business entity in any form acting as either the owner or as the owner's agent.
POLLUTANT
Includes paints, varnishes, and solvents; oil and other automotive fluids; nonhazardous liquid and solid wastes; yard wastes; refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter, or other discarded or abandoned objects and accumulations; floatables; food and food waste including grease; pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers; hazardous substances and wastes; sewage, fecal coliform and pathogens; dissolved and particulate metals; animal wastes; wastes, rubbish, and residues from building construction.
PREMISES
Any building, lot, parcel of land, or portion of land, whether improved or unimproved, including adjacent sidewalks and parking strips.
RECEIVING WATERS
Any stream, creek, river, lake, groundwater feature or other body of water either directly or indirectly receiving surface runoff or wastewater, whether treated or not.
STORM DRAIN SYSTEM
Facilities in the City by which stormwater is collected and/or conveyed into surface waters, including but not limited to any roads, streets, gutters, curbs, inlets, storm drains, pipes, pumping facilities, retention and detention basins, natural and human-made or altered drainage channels, reservoirs, and other drainage structures, also known as a "municipal separate storm sewer system" or "MS4."
STORMWATER
Any surface flow, runoff, and drainage consisting entirely of water from any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation.
STORMWATER POLLUTION PREVENTION PLAN
A document that describes the best management practices to be used by a person to identify sources of pollution or contamination at a site and the actions or best management practices that will be implemented to eliminate or reduce pollutant discharges to stormwater, stormwater conveyance systems, and/or receiving waters to the maximum extent practicable.
WATERCOURSE
A stream, river, or creek, or the natural or artificial channel through which water flows.
This chapter shall apply to all water entering the storm drain system generated on any developed and undeveloped lands unless explicitly exempted by the City.
The City Manager shall administer, implement, and enforce the provisions of this chapter. Any powers granted to or duties imposed upon the City may be delegated in writing to persons or entities acting in the beneficial interest of or in the employ of the City.
This chapter is not intended to modify or repeal any other ordinance, rule, regulation, or other provision of law. The requirements of this chapter are in addition to the requirements of any other ordinance, rule, regulation, or other provision of law, and where any provision of this chapter imposes restrictions different from those imposed by any other ordinance, rule, regulation or other provision of law, whichever provision is more restrictive or imposes higher protective standards for human health or the environment shall control.
A. 
Prohibition of illegal discharges. No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged into the City storm drain system or watercourses any pollutants or waters containing any pollutants.
B. 
Exceptions. The following discharges are exempt from discharge prohibitions established by this chapter:
(1) 
Water from line flushing or other potable water sources;
(2) 
Water from landscape irrigation;
(3) 
Diverted stream flows;
(4) 
Uncontaminated pumped groundwater;
(5) 
Foundation or footing drains (not including active groundwater dewatering systems);
(6) 
Crawl space pumps;
(7) 
Air-conditioning condensation;
(8) 
Wastewater from noncommercial washing of vehicles;
(9) 
Water drained from swimming pools if dechlorinated to less than one part per million chlorine;
(10) 
Water from firefighting activities;
(11) 
Discharges specified by the City as being necessary to protect public health and safety;
(12) 
Discharges associated with dye testing; however, this activity requires a verbal notification to the City prior to the test; and
(13) 
Any nonstormwater discharge permitted under an NPDES permit, waiver, or waste discharge order issued to the discharger and administered under the authority of the EPA, provided that the discharger is in full compliance with all requirements of the permit, waiver, or order and other applicable laws and regulations, and provided that written approval has been granted for any discharge to the storm drain system.
C. 
Prohibition of illicit connections.
(1) 
The construction, use, maintenance or continued existence of illicit connections to the storm drain system is prohibited without regard to whether the connection was permissible at any time prior to the adoption of this chapter.
(2) 
A person may not connect a line conveying sewage to the storm drain system or allow such a connection to continue.
(3) 
Illicit connections must be disconnected and redirected, if necessary, to an approved on-site sewage disposal system or to a sanitary sewer system of the appropriate agency, following all required guidelines and regulations.
(4) 
Any drain or conveyance that has not been documented in scale plans, maps, or equivalent records and that is or may be connected to the storm drain system shall be located by the owner of the property upon which the drain or conveyance is located upon written notice from the City. Such notice will specify a time period within which the location of the drain or conveyance is to be documented upon a scale plan, map or equivalent records, and shall direct that such plan, map or equivalent records identify the drain or conveyance as a storm sewer, sanitary sewer or other, and that the outfall location or point of connection to the storm drain system, sanitary sewer system or other discharge point be identified. Results of these investigations are to be documented and provided to the City.
A. 
Suspension in emergency situations. The City may, without prior notice, suspend storm drain system access for a property when such suspension is necessary to stop an actual or threatened discharge that presents or may present imminent and substantial danger to the environment, or to the health or welfare of persons or property, or to the storm drain system or to waters of the United States, by issuing a suspension order to the property owner. If the property owner fails to comply with a suspension order, the City may take such steps as deemed necessary to prevent or minimize damage to the storm drain system or waters of the state or of the United States, or to minimize danger to persons and property.
B. 
Nonemergency suspension. The City may suspend storm drain system access by any person discharging to the storm drain system in violation of this chapter may be terminated if such termination would abate or reduce an illicit discharge. The City will notify a violator of the proposed termination of the violator's storm drain system access. The violator may petition the City, by letter to the Director of Public Works, for a reconsideration and hearing. Reinstatement of access to the storm drain system is prohibited if such access has been terminated pursuant to this section, without the prior approval of the City's Director of Public Works.
A. 
Any person subject to an industrial or construction activity NPDES 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 City prior to the allowing of discharges to the storm drain system.
B. 
The owner of property upon which there is a facility, including construction sites, required to have an NPDES permit to discharge stormwater associated with industrial activity shall submit a copy of the notice of intent (NOI) to the City at the same time the operator submits the original NOI to the EPA as applicable, and may not discharge stormwater associated with industrial activity until the property owner has obtained the required NPDES permit.
C. 
A copy of the NOI may be delivered to the City in person or by mailing it to the Director of Public Works.
A. 
The City shall be permitted to enter and inspect facilities subject to regulation under this chapter, subject to the City's procurement of an administrative warrant if required by law, as often as may be necessary to determine compliance with this chapter. If a discharger has security measures in force which require proper identification and clearance before entry into its premises, the discharger shall make the necessary arrangements to allow access to representatives of the City.
B. 
Facility operators shall allow the City ready access to all parts of the premises for the purposes of inspection, sampling, 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.
C. 
The City shall have the right to set up on any permitted facility such devices as are necessary in the opinion of the City to conduct monitoring and/or sampling of the facility's stormwater discharge.
D. 
The City 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 according to the manufacturer's specifications to ensure their accuracy.
E. 
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 City and shall not be replaced. The costs of clearing such access shall be borne by the operator.
F. 
Unreasonable delays in allowing the City access to a permitted facility are a violation of a stormwater discharge permit and of this chapter. A person who is the operator of a facility with a permit to discharge stormwater associated with industrial activity commits an offense if the person denies the City reasonable access to the permitted facility for the purpose of conducting any activity authorized or required by this chapter.
A. 
The owner of a property subject to an individual NPDES permit shall provide, at the owner's expense, protection from accidental discharge of prohibited materials or other wastes into the City storm drain system or watercourses through the use of structural and nonstructural best management practices.
B. 
Any person responsible for a property that is or may be the source of an illicit discharge may be required to implement, at said person's expense, additional structural and nonstructural BMPs to prevent the further discharge of pollutants to the City storm drain system.
C. 
A person who complies with all terms and conditions of a valid NPDES permit authorizing the discharge of stormwater, to the extent practicable, shall be deemed to be in compliance with the provisions of this section.
Every person owning property through which a watercourse passes shall keep and maintain that part of the watercourse within the property free of trash, debris, vegetation, and other obstacles that would pollute, contaminate, or significantly retard the flow of water through the watercourse. In addition, the owner shall maintain existing privately owned structures within or adjacent to a watercourse in a manner that is not and does not become a hazard to the use, function, or physical integrity of the watercourse.
A. 
As soon as any person responsible for a facility or operation, or responsible for emergency response for a facility or operation, knows or has reason to know or suspect that an illicit discharge exists shall take all necessary steps to ensure the discovery, containment, and cleanup of such illicit discharge. In the event of such a release of hazardous materials said person shall immediately notify the City of the event via the City's main telephone number.
B. 
In the event of a release of nonhazardous materials, said person shall notify the City in person or by phone, facsimile or email no later than the next business day. Notifications in person or by phone shall be confirmed by written notice addressed and mailed to the City 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 and are subject to inspection on demand by the City. Failure to provide notification of a release as provided above is a violation of this chapter.
A. 
Whenever the City Manager determines there has been or is a violation of the provisions of this chapter, the City Manager shall give notice to the property owner. Such notice shall be in writing and shall include:
(1) 
The address, when available, or a description of the building, structure or land upon which the violation is alleged to be occurring or to have occurred;
(2) 
A statement specifying the nature of the violation;
(3) 
A description of the remedial measures necessary to restore compliance with this chapter and a time schedule for the completion of such remedial action;
(4) 
A statement of the penalty or penalties that shall or may be assessed against the person to whom the notice of violation is directed;
(5) 
A statement that the determination of violation may be appealed to the City's Administrative Review Board in accordance with the provisions of Chapter 1A of this Code; and
(6) 
A statement specifying that, should the property owner violator fail to abate the violation within the established time schedule, the work will be done by the City and the expenses thereof shall be charged to the property owner and collected as taxes. Such notice may require:
(a) 
The performance of monitoring, analyses, and reporting;
(b) 
The elimination of illicit connections or discharges;
(c) 
The abatement or remediation of stormwater pollution or contamination hazards and the restoration of any affected property;
(d) 
Payment of a fine or fee to cover remediation costs; and
(e) 
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.
C. 
Should the property owner fail to abate or remediate the violation and/or restore the property to a condition complying with this chapter within the established deadline, the work will be done by the City and the expense thereof shall be charged to the violator.
D. 
A notice of violation shall be served:
(1) 
By delivery to the property owner personally or by leaving the notice at the site where the violation is alleged to be occurring or to have occurred; or
(2) 
By depositing the notice in the United States Post Office, addressed to the property owner at the property owner's last known address, first-class postage prepaid.
E. 
Violations of this chapter are municipal infractions, subject to a fine of $250 for the first violation, $500 for the second violation, and $1,000 for each subsequent violation.
F. 
In addition to the fines and remedies set forth elsewhere in this section, the City may recover from the property owner all attorneys' fees, court costs and other expenses associated with enforcement of this chapter, including sampling and monitoring expenses.
G. 
In addition to the fines, penalties and remedies set forth elsewhere in this section, the City may petition for a preliminary or permanent injunction restraining a property owner from violating or continuing to violate this chapter or compelling the property owner to abate or remediate a violation.
H. 
In addition to the fines, penalties and remedies set forth elsewhere in this section, the City may impose upon a property owner alternative compensatory actions, including but not limited to storm drain stenciling, attendance at compliance workshops, or watercourse cleanup.
I. 
In addition to the fines, penalties and remedies set forth elsewhere in this section, 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 property owner's expense.
J. 
The remedies listed in this section are not exclusive of any other remedies available under any applicable federal, state or local law.