Current through Register Vol. 41, No. 3, September 23, 2024
A. Duty to
comply. The permittee shall comply with all conditions of the VPA permit. Any
permit noncompliance is a violation of the law, and is grounds for enforcement
action, permit termination, revocation, modification, or denial of a permit
renewal application.
B. 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 the
VPA permit.
C. Duty to mitigate.
The permittee shall take all reasonable steps to minimize, correct, or prevent
any pollutant management activity in violation of the VPA permit which has a
reasonable likelihood of adversely affecting human health or the
environment.
D. Proper operation
and maintenance. The permittee shall be responsible for the proper operation
and maintenance of all treatment works, systems, and controls which are
installed or used to achieve compliance with permit conditions. Proper
operation and maintenance includes effective plant performance, adequate
funding, adequate licensed operator staffing, and adequate laboratory and
process controls, including appropriate quality assurance procedures.
E. Permit action.
1. A VPA permit may be modified, revoked and
reissued, or terminated as set forth in this chapter.
2. If a permittee files a request for a
permit modification, revocation, or termination, or files a notification of
planned changes, or anticipated noncompliance, the permit terms and conditions
shall remain effective until the request is acted upon by the department. This
provision shall not be used to extend the expiration date of the effective VPA
permit.
3. VPA permits may be
modified, revoked and reissued or terminated upon the request of the permittee
or interested persons, or upon the department's initiative, to reflect the
requirements of any changes in the statutes or regulations.
4. VPA permits continued under
9VAC25-32-130
remain effective and enforceable.
F. Inspection and entry. Upon presentation of
credentials, any duly authorized agent of the department may, at reasonable
times and under reasonable circumstances:
1.
Enter upon any permittee's property, public or private, and have access to
records required by the VPA permit;
2. Have access to, inspect, and copy any
records that must be kept as part of VPA permit conditions;
3. Inspect any facility's equipment
(including monitoring and control equipment) practices or operations regulated
or required under the VPA permit; and
4. Sample or monitor any substances or
parameters at any locations for the purpose of assuring VPA permit compliance
or as otherwise authorized by law.
G. Duty to provide information.
1. The permittee shall furnish to the
department, within a reasonable time, any information which the department may
request to determine whether cause exists for modifying, revoking and
reissuing, terminating the VPA permit, or to determine compliance with the VPA
permit. The permittee shall also furnish to the department, upon request,
copies of records required to be kept by the permittee.
2. Plans, specifications, maps, conceptual
reports and other relevant information shall be submitted as requested by the
department prior to commencing construction.
H. Monitoring and records.
1. Samples and measurements taken for the
purpose of monitoring shall be representative of the monitored
activity.
2. The permittee shall
retain records of all monitoring information, including all calibration and
maintenance records and all original strip chart recordings for continuous
monitoring instrumentation, copies of all reports required by the VPA permit,
and records of all data used to complete the application for the VPA permit,
for a period of at least three years or in the case of activities regulated
under Part IX (9VAC25-32-303
et seq.) of this chapter, at least five years from the date of the sample,
measurement, report, or application. This period may be extended by request of
the department at any time.
3.
Records of monitoring information shall include:
a. The date, exact place and time of sampling
or measurements;
b. The name of the
individuals who performed the sampling or measurements;
c. The date or dates analyses were
performed;
d. The name of the
individuals who performed the analyses;
e. The analytical techniques or methods
supporting the information such as observations, readings, calculations and
bench data used; and
f. The results
of such analyses.
4.
Monitoring shall be conducted according to analytical methods promulgated
pursuant to § 304(h) of the Clean Water Act (33 USC §
1251 et seq.) and listed in the Code of
Federal Regulations at 40 CFR Part 136. Any other acceptable test procedure not
listed in 40 CFR Part 136 shall be specified in the VPA permit.
5. Records related to biosolids data and
information specified in agreements between generator, owner, agents,
landowners, and farmers shall be described and maintained for a minimum period
of five years or the duration of the permit or subsequent revisions if longer
than five years.
I.
Reporting requirements.
1. The permittee shall
give prompt notice to the department of any planned changes to the design or
operation of the pollutant management activity.
2. If any unusual or extraordinary discharge
including a bypass or upset should occur from a treatment works and the
discharge enters or could be expected to enter state waters, the owner shall
promptly notify, in no case later than 24 hours, the department by telephone
after the discovery of the discharge. This notification shall provide all
available details of the incident, including any adverse effects on aquatic
life and the known number of fish killed. The permittee shall reduce the report
to writing and shall submit it to the department within five days of discovery
of the discharge in accordance with subdivision 6 of this subsection. Unusual
and extraordinary discharges include any discharge resulting from:
a. Unusual spillage of materials resulting
directly or indirectly from processing operations;
b. Breakdown of processing or accessory
equipment;
c. Failure or taking out
of service of some or all of the treatment works; and
d. Flooding or other acts of
nature.
3. The permittee
shall give at least 10 days advance notice to the department of any planned
changes to the facility or activity which may result in
noncompliance.
4. Monitoring
results shall be reported at the intervals specified in the applicable VPA
permit.
a. Monitoring results shall be
reported in a format acceptable to the department.
b. If a permittee monitors the pollutant
management activity, at a sampling location specified in the VPA permit, for
any pollutant more frequently than required by the VPA permit using approved
analytical methods, the permittee shall report the results of this monitoring
on the monitoring report.
c. If the
permittee monitors the pollutant management activity, at a sampling location
specified in the VPA permit, for any pollutant that is not required to be
monitored by the VPA permit, and uses approved analytical methods the permittee
shall report the results with the monitoring report.
d. Calculations for all limitations which
require averaging of measurements shall utilize an arithmetic mean unless
otherwise specified in the VPA permit.
5. Reports of compliance or noncompliance
with or any progress report on interim and final requirements contained in any
compliance schedule in the VPA permit shall be submitted no later than 14 days
following each scheduled date.
6.
24-hour reporting.
a. The permittee shall
report any noncompliance that may adversely affect state waters or may endanger
public health. An oral report must be provided to the department as soon as
possible, but in no case later than 24 hours from the time the permittee
becomes aware of the circumstances. A written report shall be submitted within
five days and shall contain a description of the noncompliance and its cause;
the period of noncompliance including exact dates and times, and, if the
noncompliance has not been corrected, how long it is expected to continue,
steps planned or taken to reduce, eliminate, and prevent a recurrence of the
noncompliance. The department may waive the written report requirements on a
case-by-case basis if the oral report has been received within 24 hours and no
adverse impact on state waters has been reported. All other noncompliance
reports which may not adversely affect state waters shall be submitted with the
monitoring report. Reports shall include overflows.
b. The following shall be included as
information which must be reported within 24 hours under this subdivision:
(1) Any unanticipated bypass; and
(2) Any upset which causes a discharge to
surface waters.
J. Bypass.
1. A bypass of the treatment works is
prohibited except as provided herein.
2. If the permittee knows in advance of the
need for a bypass, he shall notify the department promptly at least 10 days
prior to the bypass. After considering its adverse effects, the department may
approve an anticipated bypass if:
a. The
bypass will be unavoidable to prevent loss of human life, personal injury, or
severe property damage ("severe property damage" means substantial physical
damage to property, damage to the treatment facilities which causes them to
become inoperable, or substantial and permanent loss of natural resources which
can reasonably be expected to occur in the absence of a bypass. Severe property
damage does not mean economic loss caused by delays in production);
and
b. There are no feasible
alternatives to bypass such as the use of auxiliary treatment facilities,
retention of untreated waste, or maintenance during normal periods of equipment
downtime. However, if bypass occurs during normal periods of equipment downtime
or preventive maintenance and in the exercise of reasonable engineering
judgment the permittee could have installed adequate backup equipment to
prevent such bypass, this exclusion shall not apply as a defense.
3. If an unplanned bypass occurs,
the permittee shall notify the department as soon as possible, but in no case
later than 24 hours, and shall take steps to halt the bypass as early as
possible. This notification will be a condition for defense to an enforcement
action that an unplanned bypass met the conditions in subdivision 2 of this
subsection and in light of the information reasonably available to the owner at
the time of the bypass.
K. Upset. A permittee may claim an upset as
an affirmative defense to an action brought for noncompliance. In any
enforcement proceedings a permittee shall have the burden of proof to establish
the occurrence of any upset. In order to establish an affirmative defense of
upset, the permittee shall present properly signed, contemporaneous operating
logs or other relevant evidence that shows:
1.
That an upset occurred and that the cause can be identified;
2. That the permitted facility was at the
time being operated efficiently and in compliance with proper operation and
maintenance procedures;
3. That the
24-hour reporting requirements to the department were met; and
4. That the permittee took all reasonable
steps to minimize or correct any adverse impact on state waters resulting from
noncompliance with the VPA permit.
L. Signature requirements. All applications,
reports, or information submitted to the department shall be signed and
certified as required in
9VAC25-32-70.
M. Transfers. A VPA permit is not
transferable to any person except after notice to the department according to
9VAC25-32-230.
The department may require modification or revocation and reissuance of the VPA
permit to change the name of the permittee and incorporate such other
requirements as may be necessary.
Statutory Authority: § 62.1-44.15 of the Code of
Virginia.
