For the purposes of this chapter, the terms
listed below are defined as follows:
CLEAN WATER ACT
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251
et seq., also known as the "Clean Water Act"), and any subsequent
amendments thereto.
DISCHARGE
Any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emptying, dumping,
disposing or other addition of pollutants to waters of the state.
"Direct discharge" or "point source" means any discernible, confined
and discrete conveyance, including, but not limited to, any pipe,
ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container,
rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation or vessel or
other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged.
ENFORCEMENT AUTHORITY
The person(s) or department authorized under §
96-4 of this chapter to administer and enforce this chapter.
EXEMPT PERSON OR DISCHARGE
Any person who is subject to a multisector general permit
for industrial activities, a general permit for construction activity,
a general permit for the discharge of stormwater from the Maine Department
of Transportation and the Maine Turnpike Authority municipal separate
storm sewer systems, or a general permit for the discharge of stormwater
from state or federally owned authority municipal separate storm sewer
system facilities; and any non-stormwater discharge permitted under
a NPDES permit, waiver, or waste discharge license or order issued
to the discharger and administered under the authority of the U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency ("EPA") or the Maine Department of
Environmental Protection ("DEP").
INDUSTRIAL ACTIVITY
An activity or activities subject to NPDES industrial permits
as defined in 40 CFR 122.26 (b)(14).
MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM or MS4
Conveyances for stormwater, including, but not limited to,
roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs,
gutters, ditches, human-made channels or storm drains (other than
publicly owned treatment works and combined sewers) owned or operated
by any municipality, sewer or sewage district, fire district, state
agency or federal agency or other public entity that discharges directly
to surface waters of the state.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, corporation, municipality, quasi-municipal
corporation, state agency or federal agency or other legal entity
which creates, initiates, originates or maintains a discharge of stormwater
or a non-stormwater discharge.
POLLUTANT
Dredged spoil, solid waste, junk, incinerator residue, sewage,
refuse, effluent, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemicals, biological
or radiological materials, oil, petroleum products or by-products,
heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, dirt and industrial,
municipal, domestic, commercial or agricultural wastes of any kind,
including compost and yard waste.
PREMISES
Any building, lot, parcel of land, or portion of land, whether
improved or unimproved, including adjacent sidewalks and parking strips,
located within the municipality from which discharges into the storm
drainage system are or may be created, initiated, originated or maintained.
REGULATED SMALL MS4
Any small municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) regulated
by the State of Maine general permit for the discharge of stormwater
from small municipal separate storm sewer systems, renewed October
15, 2020, modified November 23, 2021, including any amendment or renewal
thereof; ("general permit"), including all those located partially
or entirely within an urbanized area (UA) and those additional small
MS4s located outside an UA that as of the issuance of the general
permit have been designated by the DEP as regulated small MS4s.
[Amended 5-9-2023]
SMALL MUNICIPAL SEPARATE STORM SEWER SYSTEM or SMALL MS4
Any MS4 that is not already covered by the Phase I MS4 stormwater
program, including municipally owned or operated storm sewer systems,
state- or federally-owned systems, such as colleges, universities,
prisons, Maine Department of Transportation and Maine Turnpike Authority
road systems and facilities, and military bases and facilities.
STORMWATER
Any stormwater runoff, snowmelt runoff, and surface runoff
and drainage; "stormwater" has the same meaning as "storm water."
URBANIZED AREA (UA).
The areas of the State of Maine so defined by the inclusive
sum of the 2000 decennial census and the 2010 decennial census by
the U.S. Bureau of the Census.
[Amended 5-9-2023]
This chapter shall apply to all persons discharging
stormwater and/or non-stormwater discharges from any premises into
the storm drainage system.
The Code Enforcement Officer is the enforcement
authority who shall administer, implement, and enforce the provisions
of this chapter.
The enforcement authority may, without prior
notice, physically suspend discharge access to the storm drainage
system to a person when such suspension is necessary to stop an actual
or threatened non-stormwater discharge to the storm drainage system
which presents or may present imminent and substantial danger to the
environment, or to the health or welfare of persons, or to the storm
drainage system, or which may cause the municipality to violate the
terms of its environmental permits. Such suspension may include, but
is not limited to, blocking pipes, constructing dams or taking other
measures, on public ways or public property, to physically block the
discharge to prevent or minimize non-stormwater discharges to the
storm drainage system. If the person fails to comply with a suspension
order issued in an emergency, the enforcement authority may take such
steps as deemed necessary to prevent or minimize damage to the storm
drainage system, or to minimize danger to persons; provided, however,
that in taking such steps the enforcement authority may enter upon
the premises that are the source of the actual or threatened non-stormwater
discharge to the storm drainage system only with the consent of the
premises' owner, occupant or agent.
In order to determine compliance with this chapter,
the enforcement authority may enter upon and inspect premises subject
to this chapter at reasonable hours with the consent of the premises'
owner, occupant or agent to inspect the premises and connections thereon
to the storm drainage system; and to conduct monitoring, sampling
and testing of the discharge to the storm drainage system.
It shall be unlawful for any person to violate
any provision of or to fail to comply with any of the requirements
of this chapter. Whenever the enforcement authority believes that
a person has violated this chapter, the enforcement authority may
enforce this chapter in accordance with 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4452.
A. Notice of violation.
(1) Whenever the enforcement authority believes that a
person has violated this chapter, the enforcement authority may order
compliance with this chapter by written notice of violation to that
person indicating the nature of the violation and ordering the action
necessary to correct it, including, without limitation:
(a) The elimination of non-stormwater discharges to the
storm drainage system as expeditiously as possible, including, but
not limited to, disconnection of the premises from the MS4;
[Amended 5-9-2023]
(b) The cessation of discharges, practices, or operations
in violation of this chapter;
(c) At the person's expense, the abatement or remediation
(in accordance with best management practices in DEP rules and regulations)
of non-stormwater discharges to the storm drainage system and the
restoration of any affected property; and/or
(d) The payment of fines, of the municipality's remediation
costs and of the municipality's reasonable administrative costs and
attorneys' fees and costs.
(2) If abatement of a violation and/or restoration of
affected property is required, or if elimination of the nonstormwater
discharge is not possible within 60 days of identification of the
source, the notice shall set forth a deadline within which such elimination,
abatement, or restoration must be completed.
[Amended 5-9-2023]
B. Penalties; fines; injunctive relief. Any person who
violates this chapter shall be subject to fines, penalties and orders
for injunctive relief and shall be responsible for the municipality's
attorney's fees and costs, all in accordance with 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4452.
Each day such violation continues shall constitute a separate violation.
Moreover, any person who violates this chapter also shall be responsible
for any and all fines, penalties, damages and costs, including, but
not limited to, attorneys' fees and costs, incurred by the municipality
for violation of federal and state environmental laws and regulations
caused by or related to that person's violation of this chapter; this
responsibility shall be in addition to any penalties, fines or injunctive
relief imposed under this section.
C. Consent agreement. The enforcement authority may,
with the approval of the municipal officers, enter into a written
consent agreement with the violator to address timely abatement of
the violation(s) of this chapter for the purposes of eliminating violations
of this chapter and of recovering fines, costs and fees without court
action.
D. Appeal of notice of violation. Any person receiving a notice of violation or suspension notice may appeal the determination of the enforcement authority to the South Berwick Board of Appeals in accordance with the Board of Appeals Ordinance [§
140-76 of the Town's Zoning Ordinance (Chapter
140)]. A suspension under §
96-6 of this chapter remains in place unless or until lifted by the Board of Appeals or by a reviewing court.
E. Enforcement measures. If the violation has not been
corrected pursuant to the requirements set forth in the notice of
violation, or, in the event of an appeal to the Board of Appeals,
within 45 days of a decision of the Board of Appeals affirming the
enforcement authority's decision, then the enforcement authority may
recommend to the municipal officers that the municipality's attorney
file an enforcement action in a Maine court of competent jurisdiction
under Rule 80K of the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure.
F. Ultimate responsibility of discharger. The standards
set forth herein are minimum standards; therefore, this chapter does
not intend nor imply that compliance by any person will ensure that
there will be no contamination, pollution, nor unauthorized discharge
of pollutants into waters of the U.S. caused by said person. This
chapter shall not create liability on the part of the municipality,
or any officer, agent or employee thereof for any damages that result
from any person's reliance on this chapter or any administrative decision
lawfully made hereunder.
The provisions of this chapter are hereby declared
to be severable. If any provision, clause, sentence, or paragraph
of this chapter or the application thereof to any person, establishment,
or circumstances shall be held invalid, such invalidity shall not
affect the other provisions, clauses, sentences, or paragraphs or
application of this chapter.
[Amended 5-9-2023]
The Town of South Berwick enacts this chapter
pursuant to 30-A M.R.S.A. § 3001 (municipal home rule ordinance
authority), 38 M.R.S.A. § 413 (the "Wastewater Discharge
Law"), 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq. (the "Clean Water Act"),
and 40 CFR Part 122 [U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's regulations
governing the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System ("NPDES")].
The Maine Department of Environmental Protection, through its promulgation
of the General Permit for the Discharge of Stormwater from Small Municipal
Separate Storm Sewer Systems has listed the Town of South Berwick
as having a regulated small municipal separate storm sewer system
("small MS4"); under this General Permit, listing as a regulated small
MS4 necessitates enactment of this chapter as part of the municipality's
stormwater management program.