WQCS00150_Remission Decision (DV-2022-0107)_20221108

Town of fur aw
®� ® er, ;�y 109 N. Walker Street, Burgaw,NC 28425
Good town gearRound Phone: [phone], Fax: [phone], email:[e-mail]
Olivia Dawson
Mayor
November 4,2022
Wilfred Robbins
Mayor Pro Tem
TO: North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality
Commissioners: ATTN: PERCS Branch
Jan Dawson Division of Water Resources
Bill George
Vernon Harrell 1617 Mail Service Center RECEIVED
jC�"�
James Malloy Raleigh,North Carolina 27699-1617 G�,.!
James H.Gantt AND NOV 0 8 2022
Town Manager n' p'
Kristin J.Wells Morella Sanchez-King,Regional Supervisor NCDEQIDINWNP�ES
Town Clerk
Water Quality Regional Operations Section
Zachary S.Rivenbark Wilmington Regional Office
Town Attorney Division of Water Resources,NCDEQ
127 Cardinal Drive Extension
Wilmington,NC 28405
REF: Request for Remission of Civil Penalty
Case No.DV-2022-0107
Sanitary Sewer Overflow—August 2022
Collection Permit WQCS00150
To Whom It May Concern:
The Town of Burgaw formally requests remission of the civil penalty for the above referenced
incident. Following this letter are the referenced documents detailing the request and showing
photographs
of what the Town of Burgaw experienced during this event. Please let me know if
you have any further questions or need any additional information.
Sincerely,
James H.Gantt
Town Manager

JUSTIFICATION FOR REMISSION REQUEST
Case Number: DV-2022-0107 County: Pender
Assessed Party: Town of Burgaw
Permit No.: WQCS00150 Amount Assessed: $3,140.56
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.G.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);
(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 of the civil penalty will prevent you from
performing the activities necessary to achieve compliance).
EXPLANATION:
During the event on Sunday, August 21, 2022, the Town of Burgaw received between 6 and 8 inches of
rain in a short 90-minute period resulting in approximately 417 million gallons of rain falling on the entire
town. Due to this excessive amount of rain in such a short period of time, stormwater systems were
overwhelmed causing significant flooding including that of town, state, and US roads/highways, and
multiple buildings and dwellings received water damage from the fast-rising water. In comparison,
Hurricane Florence,with its massive flooding, rainfall occurred at a rate of about 1/2" per hour while the
August 21sY storm dropped water at a rate of approximately 4.5" per hour. The town's sanitary sewer
system runs along many of the town's roads and along the Osgood Canal. With this rain event, manholes
and a lift station were overtopped by the flood waters causing inflow into the sanitary sewer system.
Again, with the massive amount of water, the inflow was more than the sanitary sewer system could
handle;therefore,the rainwater, mixed with sewer,escaped from the sewer system and entered into the
town's stormwater drainage system, including the Osgood Canal. It is nearly impossible to calculate the
amount of raw sewage that actually spilled; however,calculations were completed based on the guidance
given from NCDEQ personnel. With the raw sewage potentially mixed with the more than 400 million
gallons of stormwater,the dilution factor was extremely high.

ron a weekend when no Public Works staff members were working.This event occurred The Town of
Burgaw Public Works staff responded as quickly as possible with the inclement weather conditions due to
being notified by SCADA alarms during the rain event.Since this was a sporadic event and was not forecast
to have such an impact, Town staff were not put on standby prior to the event. Upon arrival, staff
immediately began bypass pumping into holding tanks in order to help mitigate the situation. Even with
these efforts, water was seen flowing out of an overtopped manhole from the sanitary sewer system in
the area of Ashe Street Park/Osgood Canal. The Dudley Street Lift Station was also overtopped with water.
No direct visualization on raw sewage was observed from this lift station; however, since it was
overtopped with flood water, it was assumed there was also a spillage that occurred.
Photographs are attached in Exhibits A-I of the flooding conditions.
The Town of Burgaw has noted the Dudley Street Lift Station as one to remove or elevate, but the costs
associated with it are not practical at this time. The Town has applied numerous times for grant assistance
to help with removing this lift station from a flood-prone area but have been unsuccessful to this date.
The conditions that occurred on August 21, 2022 were not normal conditions for the Town of Burgaw or
any other area in Eastern North Carolina. The storm and its severity were not predicted in weather
forecasts and other areas in our immediate vicinity did not receive the amounts of rain that occurred over
the Town on that afternoon. While Town staff did everything within their power to control the amount
of raw sewage that spilled, it was not anything that could be controlled or avoided within their abilities
and was a complete act of nature.
We sincerely ask that you take into account the extreme nature of this incident in being an unavoidable
natural incident and we formally request remission of the civil penalty.
Regards, 1
ames H. Gantt
Town Manager
Town of Burgaw
Attachments: Exhibits A—I - Photographs of Flooding from August 21, 2022 Event
Waiver of Right to and Administrative Hearing and Stipulation of Facts

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DocuSign Envelope ID:DB22954C-55EE-4FBC-948A-D142409C4A8C
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
COUNTY OF PENDER
IN THE MATTER OF ASSESSMENT ) WAIVER OF RIGHT TO AN
OF CIVIL PENALTIES AGAINST ) ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING AND
) STIPULATION OF FACTS
Town of Burgaw )
Burgaw Collection System )
PERMIT NO. WQCS00150 ) CASE NO. DV-2022-0107
Having been assessed civil penalties totaling$3,140.56 for violation(s)as set forth in the assessment document of the
Division of Water Resources dated October 10,2022,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.
This the fourth day of November .20 22
- lf�
SIGN
ADDRESS
Town of Burgaw
RECEIVED 109 N Walker St
Burgaw, NC 28425
NOV 0 8 2022
NDDEQIDWR/NPDE5
TELEPHONE
1 -(9 0) 663 3440

uocuSign Envelope ID:DB22954C-55EE-4FBC-948A-D142409C4A8C
ATTACHMENT A
Town of Burgaw
CASE NUMBER: DV-2022-0107
PERMIT NO: WQCS00150 REGION: Wilmington
FACILITY: Burgaw Collection System COUNTY: Pender
Other Violations
INCIDENT VIOLATION TOTAL VOLUME PENALTY
NUMBER DATE VIOLATION TYPE VIOLATION DESCRIPTION (GALLONS) AMOUNT
202201331 8/21/2022 CSO/SSO(Sewer Overflow) Discharge without valid permit 194,760 $3,000.00