NC0025496_Remission (Request) LV-2023-0089_20230419

JUSTIFICATION FOR REMISSION REQUEST
Case Number:
LV-2023-0089
Assessed Party:
City of Lincolmon
Permit No.:
NC0025496
County: Lincoln
Amount Assessed: $4,683.03
Please use this form when requesting remission of this civil penalty. You must also complete the "Request For Remission,
Waiver of Right to an Administrative Hearing, and Stipulation of Facts" form to request remission of this civil penalty.
You should attach any documents that you believe support your request and are necessary for the Director to consider in
evaluating your request for remission. Please be aware that a request for remission is limited to consideration of the five
factors listed below as they may relate to the reasonableness of the amount of the civil penalty assessed. Requesting
remission is not the proper procedure for contesting whether the violation(s) occurred or the accuracy of any of the factual
statements contained in the civil penalty assessment document. Pursuant to N.C.G.S. § 14313-282. 1 (c), remission of a civil
penalty may be granted only when one or more of the following five factors apply. Please check each factor that you
believe applies to your case and provide a detailed explanation, including copies of supporting documents, as to why the
factor applies (attach additional pages as needed).
(a) one or more of the civil penalty assessment factors in N.C.G.S. 14313-282.1(b) were wrongfully applied to the
detriment of the petitioner (the assessment factors are listed in the civil penalty assessment document);
(b) the violator promptly abated continuing environmental damage resulting from the violation (i.e., explain the
steps that you took to correct the violation and prevent future occurrences);
(c) the violation was inadvertent or a result of an accident (i.e., explain why the violation was unavoidable or
something you could not prevent or prepare for);
(d) the violator had not been assessed civil penalties for any previous violations;
(e) payment of the civil penalty will prevent payment for the remaining necessary remedial actions (i.e., explain
how payment ofthe civil penalty will prevent you from performing the activities necessary to achieve
compliance).
EXPLANATION:
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RECEIVED
APR 1 9 (N
NCDEQ/DWR/NPDE a

STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA
COUNTY OF LINCOLN
IN THE MATTER OF ASSESSMENT
OF CIVIL PENALTIES AGAINST
City of Lincolnton
Lincolnton WWTP
PERMIT NO. NC0025496
DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
WAIVER OF RIGHT TO AN
ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING AND
STIPULATION OF FACTS
CASE NO. LV-2023-0089
Having been assessed civil penalties totaling $4,683.03 for violation(s) as set forth in the assessment document of the
Division of Water Resources dated March 16, 2023, the undersigned, desiring to seek remission of the civil penalty, does
hereby waive the right to an administrative hearing in the above -stated matter and does stipulate that the facts are as
alleged in the assessment document. The undersigned further understands that all evidence presented in support of
remission of this civil penalty must be submitted to the Director of the Division of Water Resources within thirty (30) days
of receipt of the notice of assessment. No new evidence in support of a remission request will be allowed after (30) days
from the receipt of the notice of assessment. p 1
This the {� day of 1 1 p (t 1 , 20_�a
SIGNATURE
ADDRESS
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L'ZNCo�.o-�ot� NC c�Saq.?
TELEPHONE

ATTACHMENT A
City of Lincolnton
CASE NUMBER: LV-2023-0089
PERMIT: NCO025496 REGION: Mooresville
FACILITY: Lincolnton WWTP COUNTY: Lincoln
LIMIT VIOLATION(S)
SAMPLE LOCATION: Outfall 001 -Effluent
Violation Report Unit of Limit Calculated %Over Violation Penalty
Date Month/Yr Parameter Frequency Measure Value Value Limit Type Amount
12/17/2022 12-2022 Solids, Total 5 X week mg/I 45 176.3 291.8 Weekly $3,375.00
Suspended- Average
Concentration Exceeded
12/31/2022 12-2022 Solids, Total 5 X week mg/I 30 62A2 107A Monthly $1,125.00
Suspended- Average
Concentration Exceeded

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Lincolnton NC
April 11, 2023
Subject: Notice Of Violation and Assessment of Civil Penalty
Case No.: LV-2023-0089
City of Lincolnton
Lincolnton WWTP
Lincoln County
NPDES Permit No. NCO025496
Dear Wastewater Branch of the NC Division of Water Resources,
This letter is in response to the Notice of Violation and Assessment of Civil Penalty letter
received by the City of Lincolnton WWTP, issued March 16, 2023 and received March 20, 2023,
for TSS violations that occurred in December 2022. This letter serves as a written request for
remission or mitigation of the Civil Penalty in the amount of $4,683.03 assessed to the City of
Lincolnton WWTP.
The City of Lincolnton has prepared this detailed statement that establishes why we believe the
civil penalty should be remitted. We believe the following two of the five factors should be
considered as outlined in the Notice of Violation letter under Option 2:
Factor (2) whether the violator promptly abated continuing environmental damage resulting from
the violation; and
Factor (3) whether the violation was inadvertent or a result of an accident.
The following is a brief narrative of the single event that led to the weekly and monthly Total
Suspended Solids violations.
The City of Lincolnton and surrounding areas received a 3.5 inch rainfall event that inundated
our Wastewater Treatment Plant with a massive amount of Infiltration & Inflow. The rain event
started on December 15, 2022 and lasted through December 16, 2022. We sustained a flow
rate of 11 million gallons per day (MGD) for a period lasting approximately 4 hours and a period
CITY OF LINCOLNTON WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
550 W. HWY. 150 BYPASS • P.O. BOX 617 • LINCOLNTON, NORTH CAROLINA 28093-0617
PHONE [phone] FAX [phone]

above 6 MGD for several hours before and after the 11 MGD event. Our Wastewater Treatment
Plant is designed for 6 MGD of flow with all treatment units in proper working order. However,
we currently have 1 of our 2 final clarifiers out of service, as noted in our annual plant
inspection.
With this amount of flow coming into our plant and with only 1 final clarifier in service, we
experienced a solids washout from our clarifier. We tried cutting our blowers off that supply air to
our aeration basin in hopes of keeping the solids from overloading our final clarifier, but the
duration of the high flow rate pushed solids from the aeration basin into the clarifier. The flow
rate coming into our 1 clarifier was to great for the solids to settle out and thus, the solids
washed over our weirs and into our plant effluent.
These washed out solids were captured by our effluent sampler, and thus caused us to have a
daily Total Suspended Solids of 843 mg/I for December 16, 2022. This was the only day we
recorded a significantly high Total Suspended Solids and should prove that we promptly abated
the solids washout a soon as our flow rates returned to normal levels as outlined in Factor 2
above.
The only other operational strategy we could have employed would have been to cut off 2 of our
main lift station influent pumps and let the flow stabilize to our Wastewater Treatment Plant at
around 5 MGD. However, we would have caused several sanitary sewer overflows (SSO's)
within our collection system. We chose not to implement that strategy, as the SSO's would have
had a far greater environmental impact than the 1 day Total Suspended Solids violation. We
think we made the right decision in a situation that was, without doubt, beyond our control and
an Act of God.
We would have been compliant for the month of December 2022 had it not been for that one,
single day TSS violation. That one day, one event caused us to exceed not only our weekly TSS
average, but our monthly average. For example, removing December 16ths 843 mg/I daily result
would have led us to have a weekly average of 9.6 mg/I for that week and a monthly average of
18.7 mg/I for December 2022.
As I stated above, I could have chose to stabilize the flow to our plant and we would not have
sustained a TSS violation. However, I chose to treat as much wastewater as possible and not
cause even greater environmental harm by causing multiple SSO's. Choosing the lesser,
however, did create this one day, one time Total Suspended Solids violation that was great
enough to cause not only a weekly TSS violation, but a monthly TSS violation as well.
CITY OF LINCOLNTON WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
550 W. HWY. 150 BYPASS - P.O. BOX 617 - LINCOLNTON, NORTH CAROLINA 28093-0617
PHONE [phone] FAX [phone]

believe a Civil Penalty in the amount of $3,375.00 for Exceeding our Weekly Average and a
$1,125.00 fine for Exceeding our Monthly Average is very excessive considering the fact that a
one day rain event caused these violations to occur. This event was well beyond our control and
we believe the decision to treat as much incoming wastewater as possible was the correct
decision to make given the circumstance we were facing.
It is our hope that the Wastewater Branch of the Division of Water Resources will consider the
information provided above in our request for remission or mitigation of the Assessment of Civil
Penalty issued to the City of Lincolnton, Case No. LV-2023-0089. We also hope that the
Wastewater Division heavily considers the fact that a heavy rain event caused a one -day
extremely high Total Suspended Solids result, which caused the said violations. Without this
one -day rain event occurrence, the City of Lincolnton would have been 100% compliant with our
NPDES Permit for the month December 2022.
Thank you in advance for your consideration of this request.
Best regards,
Donald A. Burkey, Jr.
WWTP Superintendent
City of Lincolnton
Post Office Box 617
550 W. Hwy 150 Bypass
Lincolnton, NC 28092
email: [e-mail]
704-736-8960 ph
704-736-6137 fax
Cc: Richard Haynes, City Manager
CITY OF LINCOLNTON WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT
550 W. HWY. 150 BYPASS • P.O. BOX 617 • LINCOLNTON, NORTH CAROLINA 28093-0617
PHONE [phone] FAX [phone]