TRANSMITTAL LETTER FOR BOARD MEETING OF NOVEMBER 19, 2015
COMMITTEE ON INDUSTRIAL WASTE AND WATER POLLUTION
Mr. David St. Pierre, Executive Director
Title
Report on Public Notification of Significant Industrial Users Having Exemplary Compliance Records and Industrial Users Significantly Violating Pretreatment Standards or Other Requirements
Body
Dear Sir:
The federal General Pretreatment Regulations (40 CFR 403.8[f][2][viii]) require the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (District) to comply with the public participation requirements of 40 CFR 25 in the enforcement of National Pretreatment Standards. These requirements include a provision for providing annual public notification, in a newspaper of general circulation that provides meaningful public notice within the jurisdiction of the District, the names of industrial users (IUs) which were significantly violating applicable pretreatment standards or other requirements.
To comply with this provision, the Monitoring and Research Department annually compiles a list of IUs which were considered significant violators of the General Pretreatment Regulations and the District’s Sewage and Waste Control Ordinance (Ordinance).
IUs are deemed to be significant violators pursuant to the provisions contained in Appendix E of the Ordinance.
In response to suggestions from the industrial community, we have also included in the proposed publication document the identities of those significant industrial users (SIUs) having exemplary compliance records for calendar year 2014. There were 246 SIUs who were not the subject of any enforcement actions taken by the District for noncompliance during calendar year 2014. The exemplary compliance records of these SIUs are to be commended. Therefore, we have placed this segment of the report at the top of the publication document Attachment 1.
The IUs noted on pages 8 and 9 of Attachment 1 have been determined to be significant violators of applicable pretreatment standards or other requirements for calendar year 2014 pursuant to the selection criteria contained in Appendix E of the Ordinance. These IUs were notified via letter, dated September 24, 2015, of the forthcoming publication of this list and the criteria used. Further, the letter advised all IUs on the attached list of their opportunity to provide written comments to the District regarding the appropriateness of their publication as significant violators within 30 days of the date of the letter. All such comments received by the District as of the date of this report were considered prior to the preparation of the attached list. Any additional comments received prior to the actual publication of this list in the newspaper will also be considered and may result in removal or modification of selected IU listings.
A summary of the significant violator publication list for calendar years, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 with regard to federally mandated minimum selection criteria, is provided in Attachment 2.
Respectfully Submitted, Thomas Granato, Director of Monitoring and Research, TCG:MJ:GY:HS:CO:rg
Attachments