WQCS00024_Remission (Request)_20191004

CITY OF LUMBERTON
PUBLIC WORKS
Telephone:[phone]
October 4,2019 RECEIVED
OCT 2 5 2019
Trent Allen, Regional Supervisor NOIEUDWRINPOES
NCDEQ Division of Water Resources
Fayetteville Regional Office
225 Green Street, Suite 714
Fayetteville,NC 28301
RE: Assessment of Civil Penalty Case No. DV-2019-0126,Remission Request
City of Lumberton,NC-Collection System Permit No.WQCS00024
Dear Mr. Allen:
We received the above referenced Notice of Violation&Assessment of Civil Penalty dated September 19,
2019 for the reported Sanitary Sewer Overflow(SSO)that occurred on July 4,2019 at 515 Noir Street
(Incident Number 201901137). The SSO was caused by system-wide inflow and Infiltration during a rain
event of over 4 inches over a 2 hour period.
Since 1998, The City has focused on reducing city wide SSO's that were a result of our legacy combined
stormwater—sanitary sewer system. Over the past two decades,our SSO's have been dramatically
reduced. Most of the current SSO's occur in a specific area on Noir Street. We persistently make progress
on this sewer basin by continuing our sanitary sewer rehabilitation and also planning flow diversions away
from the basin. We want to point out that our water and sewer revenues have been negatively impacted by
Hurricane Matthew in 2016 and Hurricane Florence in 2018. We have also had significant damage repair
expenses that we have had to pay for upfront from the sewer fund while waiting on FEMA
reimbursements. Our water/sewer fund balance has declined from $1,808,806 in June 2016(before
Matthew)to$39,918 in June 2019 as a result of the recovery effort from two hurricanes.
The City would like to request remission of this civil penalty. The violation was inadvertent,the result of
an intense weather event. We continue to invest in projects that will remedy the SSO problem at this
location. Given our post hurricane fiscal condition,we feel our limited available funds are better used
supporting the rehabilitation and diversion projects that are currently in design.

Mr.Trent Allen
October 4,2019
Page 2
If you need additional information, please feel free to call me at 910-671-3851.
Sincerely,
7 X+ �-
T. Wayne Home
City Manager
Cc: Holt Moore-City Attorney
Brandon Love,AIA-Deputy City Manager
Rob Armstrong,P.E. -Public Works Director

JUSTIFICATION FOR REMISSION REQUEST
RECEIVED
Case Number: DV-2019-0126 County; Robeson OCT 2 5 2019
Assessed Party: City of Lumberton
Permit No.: WQCS00024 Amount Assessed: $2,116.95 NCDEQIDWRINPDES
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. § 143B-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.O.S. 143B-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);
X (c) the violation was inadvertent or a result of an accident(Le., 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 of the civil penalty will prevent you from performing the activities necessary to achieve
compliance).
EXPLANATION:

•
ATTACHMENT A
City of Lumberton
CASE NUMBER: DV-2019-0126
PERMIT NO: WQCS00024 REGION: Fayetteville
FACILITY: Lumberton Collection System COUNTY: Robeson
Other Violations
INCIDENT VIOLATION TOTAL VOLUME PENALTY
NUMBER DATE VIOLATION TYPE VIOLATION DESCRIPTION (GALLONS) AMOUNT
201901137 7/4/2019 CSO/SSO(Sewer Overflow) Discharge without valid permit 40,000
$2,000.00