WQ0002519_SOC (amendment)_20170123

ter Resources
ronmental Quality
Mr. Clay Helm
Minzies Creek Sanitary District
139 Treasure Lane
Hertford, North Carolina 27944
Subject:
Dear Mr. Helm:
EMC SOC S13-003, Ad II
Holiday Island WWTP
Permit No. WQ0002519
Perquimans County
January 23, 2017
ROY COOPER
Governor
MICHAEL S. REGAN
Secretary
S. JAY ZIMMERMAN
Director
Please find attached your modified EMC SOC S13-003. Please review the document and if you have no
concerns, please sign and return the document to me so that I can process it. If you should have any
questions concerning this or wish to meet with this office to discuss, please do not hesitate to contact.
David May at [phone] or myself at [phone].
Sincerely,
Robert Tankard
Assistant Supervisor
Water Quality Regional Operations Section
Division of Water Resources, NCDENR
Washington Regional Office
Copy: WaRO File
Non Discharge Permitting Unit
Lloyd C. Smith III, Pritchett & Burch, PLLC, Post Office Drawer 100, Windsor, North Carolina 27983
Gary Hartong, PE, The Wooten Company, 120 N. Boylan Ave., Raleigh, NC 27603
attachment
•
State of North Carolina 1 Environmental Quality
Water Resources -Water Quality Regional Operations Section -Washington Regional Office
943 Washington Square Mall, Washington, North Carolina 27889
252-946-6481

NORTH CAROLINA
ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION
COUNTY OF PERQUIMANS
IN THE MATTER OF )
NORTH CAROLINA )
NON -DISCHARGE PERMIT )
NUMBER WQ0002519 )
HELD BY MINZIES CREEK SANITARY)
SEWER DISTRICT
SPECIAL ORDER BY CONSENT
EMC SOC S13-003 Ad. II
Pursuant to provisions of North Carolina General Statutes (G.S.) 143-215.2, this Special
Order by Consent (SOC) is entered into by the Minzies Creek Sanitary Sewer District,
hereinafter referred to as the Permittee, and the North Carolina Environmental
Management Commission, an agency of the State of North Carolina created by G.S.
143B-282, and hereinafter referred to as the Commission:
1. The Permittee and the Commission hereby stipulate the following:
(a) The Permittee holds North. Carolina Non -Discharge Permit No. WQ0002519 for
operation of an existing wastewater treatment and disposal system located
adjacent to Minzies Creek within the Pasquotank River Basin which is classified
SC. The currently permitted wastewater treatment and disposal system is not
capable of disposing of the wastewater generated by Minzies Creek Sanitary
Sewer District by the permitted method and the wastewater plant cannot meet
effluent limits for BOD. The evaporative ponds are not capable of disposing of
the treated wastewater without discharging to surface waters. Compliance will
require preparation of plans and specifications for construction and operation of
additional treatment and disposal facilities.
(b) Noncompliance with permit conditions constitutes causing and contributing to
pollution of the waters of this State, and the Permittee is within the jurisdiction of
the Commission as set forth in G.S. Chapter 143, Article 21.
(c) The Permittee has secured grants or otherwise will secure financing for planning,
design, and construction of some portion of the construction necessary to
achieve compliance with permit conditions.
(d) Since this Special Order is by Consent, neither party will file a petition for a
contested case or for judicial review concerning its terms.
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A
2. The Permittee desiring to comply with the Permit identified in Section 1(a) above,
hereby agrees to do the following:
(a) As settlement of all alleged violations of Permit Number WQ 0002519 and prior
to entering into this Special Order by Consent, the Permittee agrees to pay the
sum of $500.00. This settlement payment provides coverage of any Notice of
Violations/Enforcements and any other alleged violations that may have occurred
since SOC S13-003 Ad. I was signed on December 16, 2015.
A certified check must be made payable to the Department of Environment,
Health, and Natural Resources and forwarded to the Director of the Division of
Water Resources at 1617 Mail Service Center, Raleigh, North Carolina 27699 by
no later than fifteen (15) days following the date on which this Order is approved
and executed by the Commission and received by the Town
(b) Undertake the following activities in accordance with the indicated time schedule:
(1) On or before March 15, 2014, replace the staff gauges in the evaporative
ponds. (MET)
(2) On or before May 1, 2014, submit a design for a new disinfection system for
the existing wastewater treatment plant. (MET)
(3) On or before August 1, 2014, complete construction of the proposed
modifications to the disinfection system: (MET)
(4) On or before April 1, 2017, submit an application for a permit modification
for the construction and operation of a wastewater treatment and disposal
system capable of meeting permit and administrative code requirements.
(5) On or before July 1 2018, complete construction of the proposed
modifications to the wastewater treatment and disposal system.
(6) On or before November 1, 2018, achieve compliance with all permit
conditions.
(7) Provide the Washington Regional Office with quarterly progress reports.
Quarterly reports shall include, at a minimum, documentation of the
Permittee's weekly inspections of the structural integrity of the lagoons,
project funding status, and the status of the repair project. Reports are due.
May 1, August 1, November 1, and February 1
(c) Permittee shall comply with all terms and conditions of the permit except in
relation to the issues noted in 1(a), and shall make every effort to prevent the
discharge of wastewater to the State's waters within its ability to operate the
treatment facility and the disposal facility. The Division understands that the
evaporative ponds have failed as referenced in 1(a) of this SOC. The Permittee
may also be required to monitor for other parameters as deemed necessary by
the Director in future permits or administrative letters.
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(d) No later than thirty (30) calendar days after any date identified for
accomplishment of any activity listed in 2(b) above, submit to the Director written
notice of compliance or noncompliance therewith. In the case of noncompliance,
the notice shall include a statement of the reason(s) for noncompliance, remedial
action(s) taken, and a statement identifying the extent to which subsequent dates
or times for accomplishment of listed activities may be affected.
(e) During the time in which this Special Order by Consent is effective, the Permittee
shall comply with interim effluent limitations as contained in Attachment A.
(f) Identify any Infiltration and Inflow problems associated with the facility and
establish a program to correct.
(g) Operate the existing waste treatment system to the best of the Permittee's ability
in order to minimize discharge and still protect the integrity of the lagoon dikes.
(h) The Permittee shall monitor twice per month for Fecal Coliform beginning one
day after any discharge event. The sites shall be located upstream and
downstream of the impacted tributaries to Minzies Creek at a location approved
by the Division. Twice per month monitoring shall continue as long as discharge
occurs. The Permittee may also be required to monitor for other parameters as
deemed necessary by the Director in future permits or administrative letters
Submit monitoring reports from sampling analysis on samples collected from
Minzies Creek on DWR Form MR-3. Reports should be submitted to the
Washington Regional office thirty days after the end of the previous month.
(j) In lieu of maintaining an operational back-up power supply system to serve the
wastewater facility, the Permittee, during a power failure, shall shut off potable
water going to the residents within the sewer district and will provide its
customers with portable toilets and bottled water until the system has been
repaired and is functional.
(i)
3. The Permittee agrees that unless excused under Section 4, the Permittee will pay
the Director, by check payable to the North Carolina Department of Environment and
Natural Resources, stipulated penalties according to the following schedule for
failure to meet deadlines set out in Sections 2(b), 2(d), 2(h) and 2(i) or failure to
attain compliance with the effluent limitations/monitoring requirements contained in
Attachment A.
Failure to meet a schedule date
$100/day for the first 7
days; $250/day
thereafter
Failure to maintain compliance with $500/violation
any modified limit contained in the SOC.
Failure to achieve compliance with final
effluent limitations at final compliance deadline.
$2000.00
3

l
Failure to submit progress reports
(penalty doubles with each subsequent
assessment for late reports)
$250.00 for first violation
Failure to perform and/or submit $500.00/violation
required sampling in accordance with this document
4. The Permittee and the Commission agree that stipulated penalties are not due if the
Permittee satisfies DWQ that noncompliance was caused solely -by:
(a) An act of God;
(b) An act of war;
(c) An intentional act or omission of a third party, but this defense shall not be
available if the act or omission is that of an employee or agent of the defendant
or if the act or omission occurs in connection with a contractual relationship with
the Permittee;
(d) An extraordinary event beyond the Permittee's control. Contractor delays or
failure to obtain funding will not be considered as events beyond the Permittee's
control; or
(e) Any combination of the above causes.
Failure within 30 days of receipt of written demand to pay the penalties, or challenge
them by a contested case petition pursuant to G.S. 150B-23, will be grounds for a
collection action, which the Attorney General is hereby authorized to initiate. The
only issue in such an action will be whether the 30 days has elapsed.
5. This SOC and any terms, conditions and interim effluent limitations contained herein,
hereby supersede any and all previous Special Orders, Enforcement Compliance
Schedule Letters, terms, conditions, and limitations contained therein issued in
connection with Permit No.WQ0002519.
6. Noncompliance with the terms of this SOC are subject to enforcement action in
addition to the above stipulated penalties, including injunctive relief pursuant to G.S.
143-215.6C.
7. The Permittee, upon signature of this SOC, will be expected to comply with all
schedule dates, terms, and conditions of this document.
8. This SOC shall expire March 1, 2019.
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For Minzies Creek Sanitary Sewer District:
Date
Signature of Signing Official
For the North Carolina Environmental Management Commission:
Date
Chairman of the Commission