La. Admin. Code tit. 33 § IX-311

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 5, May 20, 2024

Section IX-311 - Standard Permit Conditions

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.

La. Admin. Code tit. 33, § IX-311

Promulgated by the Department of Environmental Quality, Office of Water Resources, LR 11:1066 (November 1985), amended by the Office of Environmental Assessment, Environmental Planning Division, LR 26:2541 (November 2000), amended by the Office of the Secretary, Legal Affairs Division, LR 31:2505 (October 2005), LR 33:2162 (October 2007).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 30:2001 et seq., and in particular Section 2074(B)(3) and (B)(4)