MOTION FOR THE BOARD MEETING OF DECEMBER 16, 2010
Title
MOTION, with respect to Agenda Item #59, File ID #10-1597, to adopt Legislative Initiative #5
Body
I move to amend Section 7a(c) of the District’s Act to increase the minimum civil penalties for violations of its federally mandated pretreatment requirements from $100 to $2,000 per day, to $1,000 to $2,000 per day of violation.
The District owns and operates seven (7) water reclamation plants that provide wastewater service to the vast majority of Cook County. The District is the sole holder of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits issued for these facilities. These permits require pretreatment programs.
The District’s pretreatment program consists of 9,881 regulated non-domestic dischargers. This includes 377 facilities classified as Significant Industrial Users (SIUs) of which, as defined in the Code of Federal Regulations, 249 are classified as Categorical Industrial Users. The District’s pretreatment program is incorporated in its Sewage and Waste Control Ordinance (SWCO). This ordinance details all categorical pollutants, their respective discharge limits, and penalties for violation of the ordinance.
In a recent audit of the District’s pretreatment program by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA), the Agency determined that the District needed to take additional steps to ensure that it was meeting all federal pretreatment requirements specified in its seven (7) NPDES permits. Specifically the USEPA noted that federal regulations provide that “all publicly owned treatment works shall have the authority to seek or access penalties in at least the amount of $1,000 a day for each violation by industrial users.” The District’s Sewage and Waste Control Ordinance and statutory authority (Section 7a (c) specifies that penalties shall be assessed at the level of $100 to $2,000 per day for each violation.
The District’s seeks to amend its statute to allow it to be consistent with the federal requirements.
Date: December 16, 2010
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Commissioner