(a) 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 waters containing any pollutants that cause
or contribute to a violation of applicable water quality standards,
other than stormwater.
(b) The commencement, conduct or continuance of any illegal discharge
to the storm drain system is prohibited except as described as follows:
(1) The following discharges are exempt from discharge prohibitions established
by this article: water line flushing or other potable water sources,
landscape irrigation or lawn watering, diverted stream flows, rising
groundwater, groundwater infiltration to storm drains, uncontaminated
pumped groundwater, foundation or footing drains (not including active
groundwater dewatering systems), crawl space pumps, air-conditioning
condensation, springs, individual residential washing of vehicles,
natural riparian habitat or wetland flows, swimming pools (if dechlorinated
- less than one PPM chlorine), firefighting activities, and any other
water source not containing pollutants.
(2) Discharges or flow from firefighting, and other [discharges] specified
in writing by the city as being necessary to protect public health
and safety.
(3) Dye testing is an allowable discharge, but requires a verbal notification
to the city prior to the time of the test.
(4) The prohibition shall not apply to any nonstormwater discharge permitted
under an NPDES or TPDES permit, waiver, or waste discharge order issued
to the discharger and administered under the authority of the EPA
or TCEQ, 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.
(Ordinance 12-02 adopted 4/19/12)
(a) The construction, use, maintenance or continued existence of illicit
connections to the storm drain system is prohibited.
(b) 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.
(c) 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.
(d) Improper connections in violation of this article must be disconnected
and redirected, if necessary, to an approved on-site wastewater management
system or the sanitary sewer system upon approval of the city.
(e) Any drain or conveyance that has not been documented in plans, maps
or equivalent, and which may be connected to the storm sewer system,
shall be located by the owner or occupant of that property upon receipt
of written notice of violation from the city requiring that such locating
be completed. Such notice will specify a reasonable time period within
which the location of the drain or conveyance is to be determined,
that the drain or conveyance be identified as storm sewer, sanitary
sewer or other, and that the outfall location or point of connection
to the storm sewer system, sanitary sewer system or other discharge
point be identified. Results of these investigations are to be documented
and provided to the city.
(Ordinance 12-02 adopted 4/19/12)
The city 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.
(Ordinance 12-02 adopted 4/19/12)
(a) Any person discharging to the MS4 in violation of this article may
have their MS4 access terminated if such termination would abate or
reduce an illicit discharge. The authorized enforcement personnel
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.
(b) 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 personnel.
(Ordinance 12-02 adopted 4/19/12)
Any person subject to an industrial or construction activity
NPDES or TPDES 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 MS4.
(Ordinance 12-02 adopted 4/19/12)
(a) Applicability.
This section applies to all facilities
that have stormwater discharges associated with industrial activity,
including construction activity.
(b) Access to facilities.
(1) The authorized enforcement personnel 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 which require proper
identification and clearance before entry into its premises, the discharger
shall make the necessary arrangements to allow access to the authorized
enforcement personnel.
(2) Facility operators shall allow the authorized enforcement personnel
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 or TPDES permit to discharge stormwater,
and the performance of any additional duties as defined by state and
federal law.
(3) The authorized enforcement personnel 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 enforcement personnel 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 city and shall
not be replaced. The costs of clearing such access shall be borne
by the operator.
(6) Unreasonable delays in allowing the authorized enforcement personnel
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 or TPDES permit to discharge stormwater associated with
industrial 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 enforcement personnel 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.
(Ordinance 12-02 adopted 4/19/12)
The city will adopt requirements identifying best management
practices for any activity, operation, or facility which may cause
or contribute to pollution or contamination of stormwater, the storm
drain system, or waters of the United States. The owner or operator
of a commercial or industrial establishment shall provide, at their
own expense, reasonable protection from accidental discharge of prohibited
materials or other wastes into the municipal storm drain system or
watercourses through the use of these structural and nonstructural
BMP’s. Further, any person responsible for a property or premises,
which is, or may be, the source of an illicit discharge, may be required
to implement, at said person’s expense, additional structural
and nonstructural BMP’s to prevent the further discharge of
pollutants to the municipal separate storm sewer system. Compliance
with all terms and conditions of a valid NPDES or TPDES permit authorizing
the discharge of stormwater associated with industrial activity, to
the extent practicable, shall be deemed compliance with the provisions
of this section. These BMP’s shall be part of a stormwater pollution
prevention plan (SWPPP) as necessary for compliance with requirements
of the NPDES or TPDES permit.
(Ordinance 12-02 adopted 4/19/12)
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, excessive
vegetation, 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.
(Ordinance 12-02 adopted 4/19/12)
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 are resulting or may result
in illegal discharges or pollutants discharging into stormwater, the
storm drain system, or water of the U.S. said person shall take all
necessary steps to ensure the discovery, containment, and clean up
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 city’s
director of public works 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.
(Ordinance 12-02 adopted 4/19/12)