The PSA shall have the right to enter the facilities of any industrial
user to ascertain whether the purpose of this chapter and any permit or order
issued hereunder is being met and whether the industrial user is complying
with all requirements thereof. Industrial users shall allow the Executive
Director or its representatives ready access to all parts of the premises
for the purposes of inspection, sampling, records examination and copying
and the performance of any additional duties.
A.
Where an industrial user has security measures in force
which require proper identification and clearance before entry into its premises,
the industrial user shall make necessary arrangements with its security guards
so that, upon presentation of suitable identification, personnel from the
PSA, the state and the EPA will be permitted to enter without delay for the
purposes of performing their specific responsibilities.
B.
The PSA, the state and the EPA shall have the right to
set up on the industrial user's property or require installation of such
devices as are necessary to conduct sampling and/or metering of the user's
operations.
C.
The PSA may require the industrial user to install monitoring
equipment as necessary, with which requirement the industrial user must comply.
The facility's sampling and monitoring equipment shall be maintained
at all times in a safe and proper operating condition by the industrial user
at its own expense. All devices used to measure wastewater flow and quality
shall be calibrated periodically or as often as the PSA may require to ensure
their accuracy.
D.
Any temporary or permanent obstruction to safe and easy
access to the industrial facility to be inspected and/or sampled shall be
promptly removed by the industrial user at the written or verbal order of
the Executive Director and shall not be replaced. The cost of clearing such
access shall be borne by the industrial user.
E.
Unreasonable delays in allowing the PSA personnel access
to the industrial user's premises shall be a violation of this chapter.
If the Executive Director has been refused access to a building, structure
or property or any part thereof and if the Executive Director has demonstrated
probable cause to believe that there may be a violation of this chapter or
that there is a need to inspect as part of a routine inspection program of
the PSA designed to verify compliance with this chapter or any permit or order
issued hereunder or to protect the overall public health, safety and welfare
of the community, then upon application by the PSA Attorney, County Attorney
or Commonwealth Attorney, a Judge or Magistrate having jurisdiction to do
so in Buchanan County, Virginia, shall issue a search and/or seizure warrant,
describing therein the specific location subject to the warrant. The warrant
shall specify what, if anything, may be searched and/or seized on the property
described. Such warrant shall be served at reasonable hours by a uniformed
police officer of the commonwealth or any political subdivision having jurisdiction
over the area in which the user is located. In the event of an emergency affecting
public health and safety, inspections shall be made without the issuance of
a warrant.
[Amended 4-7-1997]
While performing the necessary work on private properties referred to in § 73-65, the Executive Director or duly authorized employees of the PSA shall observe all safety rules applicable to the premises established by the company, and the company shall be held harmless for injury or death to the PSA employees, and the PSA shall indemnify the company against loss or damage to its property by the PSA employees and against liability claims and demands for personal injury or property damage asserted against the company and growing out of the gauging and sampling operation, except as such may be caused by negligence or failure of the company to maintain safe conditions as required by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), state and county building codes and common and statutory law.
Information and data on an industrial user obtained from reports, surveys,
wastewater discharge permit applications, wastewater discharge permits and
monitoring programs and from the PSA inspection and sampling activities shall
be available to the public without restriction, unless the industrial user
specifically requests and is able to demonstrate to the satisfaction of the
PSA that the release of such information would divulge information, processes
or methods of production entitled to protection as trade secrets under applicable
state or federal law. When requested and demonstrated by the industrial user
furnishing a report that such information should be held confidential, the
portions of a report which might disclose trade secrets or secret processes
shall not be made available for inspection by the public but shall be made
available immediately upon request to governmental agencies for uses related
to the VPDES program or pretreatment program and in enforcement proceedings
involving the person furnishing the report. Wastewater constituents and characteristics
and other effluent data as defined by 40 CFR 2.302 will not be recognized
as confidential information and will be available to the public without restriction.
[Amended 4-7-1997]
The PSA shall publish annually, in a newspaper of general circulation
published in the municipality where the POTW is located, a list of the industrial
users which, during the previous 12 months, were of a significant noncompliance
with applicable pretreatment standards and requirements. The term "significant
noncompliance" shall mean:
A.
Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined
here as those in which 66% or more of wastewater measurements taken during
a six-month period exceed the daily maximum limit or average limit for the
same pollutant parameter by any amount.
B.
Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined here
as those in which 33% or more of wastewater measurements taken for each pollutant
parameter during a six-month period equals or exceeds the product of the daily
maximum limit or the average limit multiplied by the applicable criteria (1.4
for BOD, TSS, fats, oils and grease and 1.2 for all other pollutants except
pH).
C.
Any other discharge violation that the PSA believes has
caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass-through
(including endangering the health of the PSA personnel of the general public).
D.
Any discharge of pollutants that has caused imminent
endangerment to the public or to the environment or has resulted in the PSA's
exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge.
E.
Failure to meet, within 90 days of the scheduled date,
a compliance schedule milestone contained in a wastewater discharge permit
or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction or
attaining final compliance.
F.
Failure to provide, within 30 days after the due date,
any required reports, including baseline monitoring reports, ninety-day compliance
reports, periodic self-monitoring reports and reports on compliance with compliance
schedules.
G.
Failure to accurately report noncompliance.
H.
Any other violation(s) which the PSA determines will
adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment
program.
