12.11.060 Illicit discharge.
A. Prohibited Discharges. It is unlawful for any individual, person, firm or corporation to discharge into the public storm drainage system directly or indirectly any liquid or solid foreign substances of biodegradable or other nature which may cause or tend to cause water pollution, including but not limited to the following items:
1. Petroleum and automotive products including but not limited to oil, gasoline, diesel fuel, grease, fuel oil and heating oil, antifreeze or other automotive products;
2. Trash, waste and debris including but not limited to food waste, garbage, pet wastes, sanitary sewage, bark and other fibrous material, lawn clippings, leaves or branches, animal carcasses, silt, sand, dirt or rock;
3. Chemicals, paints, paint chips, steam cleaning wastes, laundry wastes, soaps, pesticides, herbicides or fertilizers, degreasers and/or solvents, acids or alkalis, or dyes;
4. Heated water, chlorinated water or chlorine;
5. Construction materials including waste from washing of fresh concrete for cleaning and/or finishing purposes or to expose aggregates, mortar, gypsum, paint, or any other building materials.
B. Discharging of the following non-storm-water into the public storm drainage system directly or indirectly is illegal unless the stated conditions are met:
1. Discharges from potable water sources that have not been dechlorinated, including water line flushing, hyperchlorinated water line flushing, fire hydrant system flushing, and pipeline hydrostatic test water. Planned discharges shall be dechlorinated to a concentration of 0.1 ppm or less, pH-adjusted, if necessary, and volumetrically and velocity controlled to prevent resuspension of sediments in the City drainage system;
2. Dechlorinated Swimming Pool Discharges. The discharges shall be dechlorinated to a concentration of 0.1 ppm or less, pH-adjusted and reoxygenized if necessary, volumetrically and velocity controlled to prevent resuspension of sediments in the City drainage system. Swimming pool cleaning wastewater and filter backwash shall not be discharged to the City drainage system;
3. Street and sidewalk wash water, water used to control dust, and routine external building wash down water at active construction sites. Street sweeping must be performed prior to washing the street;
4. Discharges shall be in compliance with the requirements of the storm water pollution prevention plan reviewed by the City, which addresses control of construction site dewatering discharges.
C. Permissible Discharges. Discharges from the sources listed below shall only be considered illicit discharges if the City Engineer, or designee thereof, determines that the type of discharge, whether singly or in combination with others, is a significant source of water pollution:
Natural uncontaminated ground water; uncontaminated air conditioning condensation; natural springs; uncontaminated water from crawl space pumps; irrigation runoff from agricultural sources that is commingled with urban storm water; discharges in compliance with an NPDES permit; discharges from approved footing drains and foundation drains; diverted stream flows; flows from riparian habitat and wetlands; uncontaminated pumped ground water; and rising ground water.
D. Exemption. Discharges resulting directly from public firefighting activities, but not from such as the maintenance or cleaning of firefighting equipment, are exempt from regulation under this section.
E. Enforcement. The City Engineer, or the designee thereof or enforcement inspector or official, is authorized to enforce the regulations of this section through the following process or procedure:
1. Notice to Correct Violation. Whenever the code enforcement official or other authorized enforcement official, or his/her designee, determines that a violation of this section is occurring or has occurred, a written notice may be issued to correct the violation, with such notice being posted upon the property or delivered to the property owner(s) and/or tenant(s) and/or to any person(s) causing or allowing or participating in the violation.
2. Service of Notice. Such notice shall be served by posting the property, personally serving a copy of the notice upon a party responsible for the property, or by certified mail to the property owner or taxpayer of record for the property.
3. Notices pursuant to this section shall be in writing, shall state the specific violation to be remedied, the location of the violation, and the property owner and/or persons responsible for the property.
4. The code enforcement officer or inspecting official shall require the violation to be corrected within one to 15 working days from the issuance of the notice to correct. The length of time to correct shall be determined, in the sole discretion of the code enforcement official or other authorized enforcement official, or his/her designee, by the scope of violation, the history of prior violations by the same persons and/or at the same location and method needed to correct violation. All violations, in any event, shall be corrected expediently.
5. Failure to remedy a violation of this section after proper service of a notice to correct is a misdemeanor crime, punishable by up to 90 days in jail, a $1,000 fine or any combination thereof.
6. Public Nuisance. Violations of this section are public nuisances and may be abated by the City. See LMC 12.02.050, Public nuisance. [Ord. 648 § 6, 2016; Ord. 583 § 9, 2014; Ord. 501 § 3, 2009.]