Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024
In addition to the following standard conditions
required in all permits, the department shall establish additional requirements
as deemed necessary on a case-by-case basis, to provide for and ensure
compliance with all applicable requirements of the act, these regulations, and
constitutional and statutory mandates.
A. Violations. The permittee shall comply
with all conditions of the permit. No pollutant shall be discharged more
frequently or in greater amounts than authorized by the permit. The permit does
not in any way authorize the permittee to discharge a pollutant not listed or
quantified in the application or limited or monitored for in the permit. The
discharge of any pollutant not specifically authorized by a permit, or these
regulations, or that was not specifically listed as a component of the
discharge in the permit application may be considered a violation of the act.
The discharge of any pollutant in quantities exceeding permitted limits or a
discharge from a source or at a location not authorized by a permit shall be a
violation of the act. Any permit noncompliance constitutes a violation of the
act and is grounds for:
1. enforcement action
under the act;
2. permit
termination, revocation and reissuance, or modification; or
3. denial of a permit renewal.
B. Property Rights. The issuance
of a LWDPS permit does not convey any property rights in either movable or
immovable property of any sort, or any exclusive privileges, or servitudes, nor
does it authorize any injury to private or public property or any invasion of
personal rights, nor any infringement of federal, state, or local laws or
regulations.
C. Dilution. A
permittee shall not achieve any effluent concentration by dilution unless
specifically authorized in the permit. A permittee shall not increase the use
of process water or cooling water or otherwise attempt to dilute a discharge as
a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve permit
limitations or water quality standards.
D. Permit Transfers
1. Transfers by Modification. Except as
provided in LAC 33:IX.311.D.2 of this Section, a permit may be transferred by
the permittee to a new owner or operator only if the permit has been modified
or revoked and reissued or a minor modification made to identify the new
permittee and incorporate such other requirements as may be necessary under
these regulations.
2. Automatic
Transfers. As an alternative to transfers under LAC 33:IX.311.D.1 of this
Section, any LWDPS permit may be automatically transferred to a new permittee
if:
a. the current permittee notifies the
administrative authority at least 30 days in advance of the proposed transfer
date in LAC 33:IX.311.D.2.b;
b. the
notice includes a written agreement between the existing and new permittees
containing a specific date for transfer of permit responsibility, coverage, and
liability between them; and
c. the
administrative authority does not notify the existing permittee and the
proposed new permittee of his or her intent to modify or revoke and reissue the
permit. A modification under this Subparagraph may also be a minor
modification. If this notice is not received, the transfer is effective on the
date specified in the agreement mentioned in LAC 33:IX.311.D.2.b.
E. Toxic Pollutants.
The permittee shall comply with applicable effluent standards or prohibitions
established under the provisions of the act or the rules and regulations
established thereunder for toxic pollutants within the time provided in the
regulations that establish those standards or prohibitions.
F. Proper Operation and Maintenance. The
permittee shall at all times properly operate and maintain all facilities and
systems of treatment and control (and related appurtenances) which are
installed or used by the permittee to achieve compliance with the conditions of
this permit. Proper operation and maintenance also includes adequate laboratory
controls and appropriate quality assurance procedures. This provision requires
the operation of backup or auxiliary facilities or similar systems which are
installed by a permittee only when the operation is necessary to achieve
compliance with the conditions of the permit.
G. Duty to Mitigate. The permittee shall take
all reasonable steps to:
1. minimize or
prevent any discharge in violation of the LWDPS permit which has a reasonable
likelihood of adversely affecting human health or the environment;
and
2. minimize or correct any
adverse impact on the environment resulting from noncompliance with the permit,
including such accelerated or additional monitoring as necessary to determine
the nature and impact of the noncomplying discharge.
H. Duty to Halt or Reduce Activity. It shall
not be a defense for a permittee in an enforcement action that it would have
been necessary to halt or reduce the permitted activity in order to maintain
compliance with the conditions of this permit.
I. Inspection and Entry
1. The permittee shall allow an authorized
representative of the department, upon proper presentation of credentials, to:
a. enter upon the permittee's premises where
a discharge source is or might be located or in which monitoring equipment or
records required by a permit are kept for inspection or sampling purposes. Most
inspections will be unannounced and should be allowed to begin immediately, but
in no case shall begin more than 30 minutes after the time the inspector
presents his/her credentials and announces the purpose(s) of the inspection.
Delay in excess of 30 minutes shall constitute a violation of these
regulations. However, additional time can be granted if the inspector or the
administrative authority determines that the circumstances warrant such
action;
b. have access to and copy
any records that the department or its authorized representative determines are
necessary for the enforcement of these regulations. For records maintained in
either a central or private office that is open only during normal office hours
and is closed at the time of inspection, the records shall be made available as
soon as the office is open, but in no case later than the close of business the
next working day;
c. take
photographs;
d. inspect any
facilities, equipment (including monitoring and control equipment), practices,
or operations regulated or required under the permit;
e. sample or monitor for the purposes of
assuring permit compliance or as otherwise authorized by the act, any
substances or parameters at any location.
2. Sample Collection
a. When the inspector announces that samples
will be collected, the permittee will be given an additional 30 minutes to
prepare containers in order to collect duplicates. If the permittee cannot
obtain and prepare sample containers within this time, he is considered to have
waived his right to collect duplicate samples and the sampling will proceed
immediately. Further delay on the part of the permittee in allowing initiation
of the sampling will constitute a violation of these regulations.
b. At the discretion of the administrative
authority, sample collection shall proceed immediately (without the additional
30 minutes described in LAC 33:IX.311.I.2.a) and the inspector will supply the
permittee with a duplicate sample.
3. It shall be the responsibility of the
permittee to ensure that a facility representative familiar with provisions of
its wastewater discharge permit, including any other conditions or limitations,
be available either by phone, or in person at the facility during all hours of
operation. The absence of such personnel on site who are familiar with the
permit shall not be grounds for delaying the initiation of an inspection except
in situations as described in LAC 33:IX.311.I.1.b. The permittee shall be
responsible for providing witnesses/escorts during inspections. Inspectors will
abide by all company safety rules and shall be equipped with standard safety
equipment (hard hat, safety shoes, safety glasses) normally required by
industrial facilities.
4. Upon
written request copies of field notes, drawings, etc. taken by department
personnel during an inspection shall be provided to the permittee after the
final inspection report has been completed.
J. Monitoring, Recordkeeping, and Reporting
1. All sampling and analyses shall be
performed in accordance with the analytical test procedures approved by the
Office of Environmental Services. Where no approved sampling or test procedure
is available, the permittee must:
a. provide
the department with a detailed description of the procedure and literature
references in the application; and
b. indicate a suitable analytical test
procedure approved by the department.
2. Quality control procedures, as specified
in the following description, shall be employed in all effluent characteristic
testing required by a permit. In addition to the routine analysis of standards
and blanks, unless otherwise authorized in writing by the administrative
authority, duplicate analyses shall be performed for all applicable
conventional and nonconventional pollutants test procedures at a minimum
frequency of one duplicate for every 10 samples analyzed for each effluent
characteristic at each outfall.
a. Duplicate
analysis is defined as multiple analyses for the same effluent characteristic,
performed simultaneously, for the purpose of evaluating the precision of the
analytical method as performed by the analyst. Duplicate analyses are performed
on aliquots of the same sample, from the same bottle, except in analyses such
as oil and grease where the entire sample is necessarily utilized in the test
procedure. Maximum homogeneity shall be maintained in removing aliquots from a
sample for duplicate analyses. Duplicate analyses are not considered valid
unless the entire sample preparation technique is performed independently on
each aliquot, from the point of removal from the sample bottle. Aliquots run
independently in which only volumetric differences occur are valid duplicates,
providing the results of each fall within the test procedure range.
b. Results of duplicate analyses shall be
reported on laboratory report forms as separate numbers. Testing should be
repeated if the appropriate sample is available and if a discrepancy between
(among) duplicates of greater than 10 percent occurs or greater than the
variability established by method validation, whichever is the larger. For the
purpose of NPDES/LWDPS permit reporting procedures, the arithmetic mean of the
duplicate results shall be used as the value for that sample.
c. Spiked samples shall also be analyzed for
applicable effluent characteristics at a minimum 10 percent frequency or at a
frequency which is acceptable to the department. "Spikes" are duplicate (or
multiple) analyses, as defined previously, in which one of the aliquots is
tested with a known amount of standard added. The purpose of spike analyses is
to estimate the percent recovery (accuracy) of the test procedure. Recoveries
of less than 90 percent or greater than 110 percent (or +10 percent of the
recoveries established through method validation) should initiate an
investigation as to the specific interferences present. Deionized water spikes
are considered standards and not valid spikes. Spikes shall be reported on
laboratory reports as such and percent recovery noted. The results from a
spiked aliquot shall not be averaged in the sample value and shall not be
included in Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR) calculations.
3. Samples and measurements taken
for the purpose of monitoring shall be representative of the monitored
activity. The permittee shall retain records of all monitoring information,
including all calibration and maintenance records, all original strip chart
recordings for continuous monitoring instrumentation, and copies of all reports
required by the permit, for a period of at least three years from the date of
the sample measurement or report. This period may be extended by request of the
department at any time.
4. Records
of monitoring information shall include:
a.
the date, exact place, and time of sampling or measuring;
b. the individual(s) who performed the
sampling or measurements;
c. the
date(s) and time(s) analyses were begun;
d. the individual(s) who performed the
analyses;
e. the analytical
techniques or methods used;
f. the
results of such analyses; and
g.
the results of all quality control procedures.
5. The results of quality control procedures
shall be tabulated and/or statistically analyzed in order to establish quality
assurance documentation for each test procedure, instrument and
analyst.
6. Monitoring shall be
reported on a DMR form or other approved format and signed in accordance with
LAC 33:IX.303.H.
7. Copies of all
records for the past 12 months that are required to be maintained by either the
permit or these regulations shall be kept on-site at the permitted facility for
inspection purposes. Records for earlier periods shall be available upon
request. In the case of unmanned facilities, these copies shall be kept at the
nearest manned facility or office.
8. Those permittees that choose to employ
off-site (contractual or in-house) laboratories to perform required analyses
shall not be required to maintain quality assurance or laboratory instrument
calibration and maintenance records at their facility but shall provide the
names and addresses of all contractual laboratories in their monitoring reports
to the state. These records must, however, be maintained by the off-site
laboratory and must be available for inspection without advance notice during
normal working hours. Upon request, a permittee may be required to supply this
information to the department.
9.
General laboratory procedures including glassware cleaning, etc. shall follow
guidelines established in the "Handbook for Analytical Quality Control in Water
and Wastewater Laboratories" U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Publication
Number EPA-600/4-79-019.
10.
General sampling protocol shall follow guidelines established in the "Handbook
for Sampling and Sample Preservation of Water and Wastewater"-U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency Publication Number EPA-600/4-82-029.
11. If the permittee monitors any pollutant
at a designated outfall more frequently than required by the permit, using test
procedures approved by the department or as specified in the permit, the
results of this monitoring shall be included in the calculation and reporting
of the data submitted in the DMR.
12. Data obtained from the monitoring of any
waste stream, whether such monitoring was required or not, shall be made
available to the administrative authority upon request.
13. Calculations for all limitations which
require averaging of measurements shall utilize an arithmetic mean unless
otherwise specified by the department in the permit.
14. The permittee shall report any
noncompliance as required by
R.S.
30:2025(J),
R.S.
30:2076(D), or departmental
regulations promulgated under these statutes. In addition, all maximum
limitation excursions shall be reported in writing to the Office of
Environmental Compliance within five days of the time the permittee becomes
aware of the excursions.
15.
Reports of compliance or noncompliance with, or any progress reports on,
interim and final requirements contained in any compliance schedule of the
permit shall be submitted no later than 14 days following each schedule
date.
K. Bypass. Bypass
is defined as any intentional diversion of waste streams from any portion of a
treatment facility.
1. Bypass is permitted
only under the following conditions, and the department may take enforcement
action against a permittee for bypass, unless:
a. bypass was unavoidable to prevent loss of
life, personal injury, or severe property damage;
b. there were no feasible alternatives to the
bypass, such as the use of auxiliary treatment facilities, retention of
untreated wastes, or maintenance during normal periods of equipment downtime.
This condition is not satisfied if adequate backup equipment should have been
installed in the exercise of reasonable engineering judgment to prevent a
bypass which occurred during normal periods of equipment downtime or preventive
maintenance; and
c. one of the
following notices was made:
i. if the
permittee knows in advance of the need for a bypass, it shall submit to the
Office of Environmental Services prior written notice, at least 10 days before
the date of the bypass if possible;
ii. if the permittee does not know in advance
of the need for a bypass, notice shall be submitted to the Office of
Environmental Services within 24 hours after the initiation of the bypass
unless an earlier notice is required in
R.S.
30:2025(J).
2. The department may
approve an anticipated bypass, after considering its adverse effects, if it is
determined by the department that it will meet the applicable conditions listed
in LAC 33:IX.311.K.1.
3. Any bypass
of any part of a treatment system shall require monitoring of all effluent
characteristics, as required at the applicable outfall on a daily basis, for
the duration of the bypass unless a different monitoring frequency is approved
by the administrative authority. Any bypass which occurs and is discharged at a
point other than a permitted outfall shall be monitored for all effluent
characteristics which are required at the applicable permitted outfall. Such
monitoring shall be conducted on a daily basis for the duration of the
discharge unless a different monitoring frequency is approved by the
administrative authority.
4. The
permittee may allow any bypass to occur that does not cause effluent
limitations to be exceeded, but only if the bypass is required for essential
maintenance to ensure efficient operation. Any bypass that meets the
requirements of this Paragraph and is expected to or does continue for longer
than seven days shall be reported in writing to the Office of Environmental
Services within 10 working days of initiation of the bypass. These bypasses are
not subject to the provisions of Paragraphs K.1 and 2 of this
Section.
L. Upset. An
upset is defined as an exceptional incident in which there is unintentional and
temporary noncompliance with permit conditions because of factors beyond the
reasonable control of the permittee. An upset does not include noncompliance to
the extent caused by operational error, improperly designed treatment
facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of preventive maintenance, or
careless or improper operation.
1. An upset
constitutes an affirmative defense to an action brought for noncompliance with
permit conditions only if the following requirements are demonstrated through
properly signed, contemporaneous operating logs, or other relevant evidence:
a. an upset occurred and the permittee can
identify the cause(s) of the upset;
b. the permitted facility was at the time
being properly operated;
c. upon
becoming aware of the upset the permittee submitted notice of the upset within
24 hours unless an earlier notice was required pursuant to
R.S.
30:2025(J) and/or
30:2076(D);
d. the permittee
complied with any remedial measures required under LAC 33:IX.311.G of these
regulations which states: The permittee shall take all reasonable steps to:
i. minimize or prevent any discharge in
violation of a permit which has a reasonable likelihood of adversely affecting
human health or the environment; and
ii. minimize or correct any adverse impact on
the environment resulting from noncompliance with the permit, including such
accelerated or additional monitoring as necessary to determine the nature and
impact of the noncomplying discharge.
2. In any enforcement proceeding the
permittee seeking to establish the occurrence of an upset as a defense has the
burden of proof.
AUTHORITY NOTE:
Promulgated in accordance with
R.S.
30:2001 et seq., and in particular Section
2074(B)(3) and (B)(4)
