HomeMy WebLinkAbout21.a. Receive Industrial User in Significant Non-Compliance 2022 reportItem 21.a.
J anuary 19, 2023
T O: HO NO R A B L E B O A R D O F D I R E C TO R S
F RO M :C O L L E E N HE NRY, S E NI O R E NV I R O NME NTA L C O MP L I A NC E I NS P E C TO R
RE V IE WE D B Y:L O R I S C HE C T E L , E NV I R O NME NTA L & R E G UL ATO RY C O MP L I A NC E
D I V I S I O N MA NA G E R
R O G E R S. B A I L E Y, G E NE R A L MA NA G E R
S UB J E C T: R E C E I V E I NF O R MAT I O N O N I ND US T R I A L US E R S O F C E NT R A L C O NT R A
C O S TA S A NI TA RY D I S T R I C T 'S P UB L I C S E W E R S YS T E M F O UND TO B E
I N S I G NI F I C A NT NO N-C O MP L I A NC E F O R 2022
F ederal pretreatment regulations establish standards that apply to wastewater agencies with approved
pretreatment programs. One of these standards is to use specif ied criteria to evaluate violations that are
documented at regulated businesses to determine if the business is in S ignificant Non-Compliance
(S NC ). W hen a business is determined to be in S NC , Central Contra Costa S anitary D istrict (C entral San)
is required to report this status in reports submitted to the Regional Water Quality Control Board and to
publish inf ormation about the violation in the newspaper at least annually.
F or the calendar year 2022, one business was determined to be in S NC :
D iablo Valley College conducted compliance sampling for the discharge f rom the L ife Science
Building that resulted in copper being measured in concentrations that exceeded Central S an's L ocal
D ischarge L imit (L D L ) three times during the third quarter reporting period. T he level of exceedance
met the Technical Review Criteria established f or S NC, and the f requency of violations met the
chronic criteria f or S NC. C entral San issued Notices of Violation (NO V s) for the violations. T he I U
investigated potential sources of copper within the laboratory operations and did not locate any
signif icant copper sources. T he I U replaced the pretreatment unit serving the L ife Science B uilding
to improve the unit’s ability to remove regulated pollutants and flushed the waste lines from the
laboratory areas to the pretreatment unit to remove potential legacy sources of copper. L imit
violations occurred af ter these actions; theref ore, Central S an reinstated a suspended administrative,
civil penalty as agreed upon in the terms of a formal enf orcement action taken in 2021.
Subsequently, the I U conducted cleaning of the pretreatment unit and conducted resampling. T he
resampling demonstrated the I U returned to compliance. A summary of the S NC status and the
formal enf orcement action elements will be included in the Central S an 2022 Annual P retreatment
Program Report.
Environmental Compliance staf f will continue to work with this business to maintain compliance with the
pretreatment standards. A ttached is the S NC notice that will be published in the Contra Costa Times and
January 19, 2023 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet - Page 273 of 319
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San Ramon Val ley Times, circulation areas of the East Bay Ti mes in early February 2023.
Strategic Plan Tie-I n
G O A L TW O: Environmental Stewardship
Strategy 1 - Achieve compliance in all regulations
AT TAC HM E NT S :
D escription
1. 2022 S NC Notice for Publication
January 19, 2023 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet - Page 274 of 319
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PUBLIC NOTICE
CENTRAL CONTRA COSTA SANITARY DISTRICT
NOTICE OF SIGNIFICANT NON-COMPLIANCE FOR 2022
Notice is hereby given that pursuant to the federal regulations contained in 40 CFR
403.8.f(2)(vii), Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (Central San) is required to publish the
names of all Industrial Users (IUs) of Central San’s public sewer system that were
determined to be in Significant Non-Compliance (SNC) with applicable pretreatment
standards or other pretreatment requirements during the 2022 calendar year. Federal
regulations establish objective criteria for Central San to use to determine if an IU is in SNC.
Discharge Quality Violations
The following IU was found to have discharged process wastewater in violation of Central
San’s Local Discharge Limits in a manner that met the definition of SNC.
Industrial User Nature of Violation Follow-up Action Taken
Diablo Valley College
321 Golf Club Road
Pleasant Hill, CA 94523
Limit violations for copper
(3) in the discharge from the
Life Science Building at
concentrations that met the
SNC criteria [Technical
Review Criteria (TRC) and
chronic].
Central San issued Notices of Violation (NOVs)
for the violations. The IU investigated potential
sources of copper within the laboratory
operations and did not locate any significant
copper sources. The IU replaced the
pretreatment unit serving the Life Science
Building to improve the unit’s ability to remove
regulated pollutants and flushed the waste lines
from the laboratory areas to the pretreatment
unit to remove potential legacy sources of
copper. Limit violations occurred after these
actions; therefore, Central San reinstated a
suspended administrative civil penalty as agreed
upon in the terms of a formal enforcement action
taken in 2021. Subsequently, the IU conducted a
cleaning of the pretreatment unit and conducted
resampling. The resampling demonstrated that
the IU returned to compliance.
Reporting Violations
No IUs were in SNC for reporting violations in 2022.
January 19, 2023 Regular Board Meeting Agenda Packet - Page 275 of 319
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