250 R.I. Code R. 250-RICR-150-10-1.14

Current through December 26, 2024

Section 250-RICR-150-10-1.14 - Conditions Applicable to All Permits

A. All conditions applicable to all permits shall be incorporated into the permit either expressly or by reference. A specific citation to these or other regulations shall be given in the permit. The following conditions apply to all permits:

B. Duty to comply

1. The permittee shall comply with all conditions of this permit. No pollutant shall be discharged more frequently than authorized or at a level in excess of that which is authorized by the permit. The discharge of any pollutant not specifically authorized in the RIPDES permit or listed and quantified in the RIPDES application shall constitute a violation of the permit. Any permit noncompliance constitutes a violation of the State Act or other authority of these regulations and is grounds for enforcement action; for permit termination, revocation and reissuance, or modification; or for denial of a permit renewal application.

2. A permittee shall not achieve any effluent concentration by dilution. Nor shall a permittee 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.

3. The permittee shall comply with applicable effluent standards or prohibitions established under 33 U.S.C. § 1317(a) (Section 307(a) of the Clean Water Act) for toxic pollutants within the time provided in the regulations that establish these standards or prohibitions, even if the permit has not yet been modified to incorporate the requirement.

C. Duty to reapply. If the permittee wishes to continue an activity regulated by a RIPDES permit after the expiration date of the permit, the permittee shall apply for and obtain a new permit.

D. Need to halt or reduce not a defense. 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.

E. Duty to mitigate. The permittee shall take all reasonable steps to minimize or prevent any discharge in violation of this permit which has a reasonable likelihood of adversely affecting human health or the environment.

F. Proper operation, maintenance, and operator licensing. The permittee shall at all times maintain in good working order and operate as efficiently as possible all treatment works, facilities, and systems of treatment and control (and related appurtenances) for collection and treatment which are installed or used by the permittee for water pollution control and abatement to achieve compliance with the terms and conditions of the permit. Proper operation and maintenance includes but is not limited to effective performance based on designed facility removals, adequate funding, effective management, adequate operator staffing and training and adequate laboratory and process controls including quality assurance procedures as determined to be appropriate by the Department. This provision requires the filing of an Operation and Maintenance Plan which describes backup or auxiliary facilities or similar systems to assure compliance with permit conditions.

G. Permit actions. This permit may be modified, revoked and reissued, or terminated for cause. The filing of a request by the permittee for a permit modification, revocation and reissuance, or termination, or a notification of planned changes or anticipated noncompliance, does not stay any permit condition.

H. Property rights. This permit does not convey any property rights of any sort, or any exclusive privilege.

I. Duty to provide information. 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, or terminating this permit, or to determine compliance with this permit. The permittee shall also furnish to the Department upon request, copies of records required to be kept by this permit.

J. Inspection and entry. The permittee shall allow the Department or an authorized representative, upon the presentation of credentials and other documents as may be required by law to:

1. 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 purposes of inspection, sampling or copying;

2. Have access to and copy, at reasonable times, any records that must be kept under the conditions of this permit;

3. Inspect at reasonable times any facilities, equipment (including monitoring and control equipment), practices, or operations regulated or required under this permit; and

4. Sample or monitor at reasonable times, for the purposes of assuring permit compliance or as otherwise authorized by the State Water Pollution Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 46-12, any substances or parameters at any location.

K. Monitoring and Records

1. All permits shall specify:

a. Requirements concerning the proper use, maintenance, and installation, when appropriate, of monitoring equipment or methods (including biological monitoring methods when appropriate);

b. Required monitoring including type, intervals, and frequency sufficient to yield data which are representative of the monitored activity, when appropriate, continuous monitoring;

c. Applicable reporting requirements based upon the impact of the regulated activity and as specified in these regulations but in no case less than once a year.

2. The permittee shall monitor:

a. The mass (or other measurement specified in the permit) for each pollutant limited in the permit;

b. The volume of effluent discharged from each outfall;

c. Other measurements as appropriate; including pollutants in internal waste streams, pollutants in intake water for net limitations; frequency, rate of discharge, etc. for noncontinuous discharges; and pollutants subject to notification requirements under § 1.17(A) of this Part.

3. Samples and measurements taken for the purpose of monitoring shall be representative of the monitored activity.

4. All analyses shall be performed in accordance with the analytical test procedures approved under 40 C.F.R. § 136, incorporated above at § 1.3(B) of this Part, or subsequently established by EPA. Where no approved test procedure is available, the applicant must indicate a suitable analytical procedure and must provide the Department with literature references or a detailed description of the procedure. The Department may consider such method as appropriate procedure and may require its use in the RIPDES permit.

L. 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 this permit, and records of all data used to complete the application for this permit, for a period of at least 5 years from the date of the sample, measurement, report or application. This period may be extended by request of the Department at any time.

M. Records of monitoring information shall include:

1. The date, exact place, and time of sampling of measurements;

2. The individual(s) who performed the sampling of measurements;

3. The date(s) analyses were performed;

4. The individual(s) who performed the analyses;

5. The analytical techniques or methods used;

6. The results of such analyses; and

7. The volume of effluent discharged at the time of sampling or measurement.

N. Monitoring results shall be reported on a Discharge Monitoring Report (DMR).

O. If the permittee monitors any pollutant more frequently than required by the permit, using test procedures approved under 40 C.F.R. § 136, incorporated above at § 1.3(B) of this Part, 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 and MRF.

P. Calculations for all limitations which require averaging of measurements shall utilize an arithmetic mean unless otherwise specified by the Department in the permit.

Q. Reporting requirements

1. Planned changes. The permittee shall give notice to the Department as soon as possible of any planned physical alterations or additions to the permitted facility.

2. Anticipated noncompliance. The permittee shall give reasonable advance notice to the Department of any planned changes in the permitted facility or activity which may result in noncompliance with permit requirements.

3. Transfers. The permit is not transferable to any person except after notice to the Department. The Department may require modification, revocation and reissuance of the permit to change the name of the permittee and incorporate such other requirements as may be necessary.

4. Monitoring reports. Monitoring results shall be reported at the intervals specified in the permit.

5. Compliance schedules. Reports of compliance or noncompliance with, or any progress reports on, interim and final requirements contained in any compliance schedule of this permit shall be submitted no later than 14 days following each schedule date.

R. Reporting

1. The permittee shall immediately report any noncompliance which may endanger health or the environment. Any information shall be provided orally when the permittee becomes aware of the circumstance by calling DEM. A written submission shall also be provided within 5 days of the time the permittee becomes aware of the circumstances. The written submission 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, the anticipated time it is expected to continue; and steps taken or planned to reduce, eliminate, and prevent reoccurrence of the noncompliance.

2. The following shall be included as information which must be reported immediately

a. Any unanticipated bypass which exceeds any effluent limitation in the permit.

b. Any upset which exceeds any effluent limitation on the permit.

c. Violation of a maximum daily discharge limitation for any of the pollutants listed by the Department in the permit.

3. The Department may waive the written report in a case-by-case basis if the oral report has been received within 24 hours.

S. Other noncompliance. The permittee shall report all instances of noncompliance not otherwise reported under §§ 1.14(Q) and (R) of this Part at the time monitoring reports are submitted. The reports shall contain the information required in § 1.14(R) of this Part.

T. Bypass

1. Bypass not exceeding limitations. The permittee may allow any bypass to occur which does not cause effluent limitations to be exceeded, but only if it also is for essential maintenance to assure efficient operation. These bypasses are not subject to the provisions of §§ 1.14(T)(2) and (3) of this Part.

2. Notice

a. Anticipated bypass. If the permittee knows in advance of the need for a bypass, it shall submit prior notice, if possible at least ten days before the date of the bypass.

b. Unanticipated bypass. The permittee shall submit notice of an unanticipated bypass as required in § 1.14(R) of this Part (24-hour notice).

3. Prohibition of bypass

a. Bypass is prohibited, and the Department may take enforcement action against a permittee for bypass, unless:

(1) Bypass was unavoidable to prevent loss of life, personal injury, or severe property damage; for purposes of this section "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.

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 the permittee could have installed adequate backup equipment to prevent a bypass which occurred during normal periods of equipment downtime or preventive maintenance; and

c. The permittee submitted notices as required under § 1.14(T)(2) of this Part.

4. The Department may approve an anticipated bypass, after considering its adverse effects, if the Department determines that it will meet the three conditions listed above in § 1.14(T)(3) of this Part.

U. Upset

1. Effect of an upset. An upset constitutes an affirmative defense to an action brought for noncompliance with such technology based permit effluent limitations if the requirements of § 1.14(U)(2) of this Part are met. No determination made during administrative review of claims that noncompliance was caused by upset and before an action for noncompliance, is final administrative action subject to judicial review.

2. Conditions necessary for a demonstration of upset. A permittee who wishes to establish the affirmative defense of upset shall demonstrate through properly signed, contemporaneous operating logs, or other relevant evidence that:

a. An upset occurred and that the permittee can identify the specific cause(s) of the upset;

b. The permitted facility was at the time being properly operated;

c. The permittee submitted notice of the upset as required in § 1.14(R) of this Part (24-hour notice); and

d. The permittee complied with any remedial measures required under § 1.14(E) of this Part.

3. Burden of proof. In any enforcement proceeding the permittee seeking to establish the occurrence of an upset has the burden of proof.

V. Other information. Where the permittee becomes aware that it failed to submit any relevant facts in a permit application, or submitted incorrect information in a permit application or in any report to the Department, the permittee shall promptly submit such facts or information.

250 R.I. Code R. 250-RICR-150-10-1.14