WQCS00025_NOI_NOV2020DV0483_Response_20201119

Water Resources Division
146 N Church Street
PO Box iio6
Asheboro, NC 27204-iio6
November 19, 2020
U
CITY OF
AsHML_,-Yo�C)
N O R T H C A R O L I N A
Tel: [phone]oi Ext. 258
Fax: [phone]
NC Department of
Environmental Quality
Received
NOV 2 4 2020
Winston-Salem
Mr. Lon T. Snider Regional Office
NC Department of Environmental Quality
Division of Water Resources
450 Hanes Mill Rd
Suite 300 )DU -
Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27105 / / I 2 1
Re: Response to Notice of Violation & Intent to Enforce
Tracking No.: NOV 2020-DV-0483
Dear Mr. Snider:
This letter is written in response to the above referenced letter of correspondence from your office
for sanitary sewer overflow (SSO), Incident Numbers 202002262, August 2, 2020 at 754 New
Century Drive, lift station # 12, as a result of an equipment failure and 202002474, August 24,
2020 711 Lee Street due to debris in the sanitary sewer line.
On August 2, 2020, a supervisor for the City of Asheboro Systems Maintenance Department was
performing his routine morning inspection of the telemetry system and noticed there had not been
any pump runs for lift station # 12 for some time. He immediately went to the site to investigate
and discovered an overflow. The employee was able to start the pumps by hand and the overflow
immediately ended. The Motor Control Center wasn't working properly. A new breaker and relay
were installed from our inventory to get the site back to automatic operation. All parts were in
stock and have been replaced for future need.
Staff still haven't determined how the high level alarm for the telemetry system wasn't triggered.
The station was routinely checked thirteen days prior to this event and all telemetry alarms were
working properly. A second high level alarm float has been added to the telemetry system that
bypasses the motor control system that adds redundancy. City of Asheboro Water Quality staff
conducted stream sampling to determine environmental impacts. The downstream numbers
showed similar results to upstream. There were no apparent solids and lime was applied to the
site.
On August 2401, 2020 the City of Asheboro Water and Sewer Maintenance Department got a call
about a sewer odor near 737 Lee St. The Department investigator responded immediately. He
began checking sewer mains and manholes in the area that may be related to the odor. He found
that Manhole # 2911 was overflowing near the address of 711 Lee St. He called a crew in to fix
the problem right away. It was discovered that a breaker and relay were not functioning properly
and were replaced with parts that were in inventory.
Home of the NC Zoological Park

Response to Notice of Violation & Intent to Issue Civil Penalty
11/19/2020
Page 2 of 2
The crew started jetting the sewer main from manhole # 2864 toward manhole # 2911. An
casement machine was connected to the Vactor to jet and remove the blockage. When the sewer
dropped out a large ball of rags was discovered at the mouth of the pipe in manhole # 2911 and
was removed with a tool we call pinchers. Four fire hydrants were run for 8 hours to clean up
the creek. The City of Asheboro's Technical Services Department distributed 56 Flushable door
tags in the area on the day of September 3`d, 2020. Lime was applied to the affected area around
Manhole #2911 and the area that sewage came in contact with on its way to the creek.
The City of Asheboro is committed to protecting the environment and improving wastewater
collection service to customers. We are working from many angles to address issues that will
improve the operation of our collection system. Staff is continuing flow monitoring and will be
aggressive in locating potential I & I sources and making repairs. Flow:monitoring is ongoing in
- other lift-station_basins: -Flow monitoring -has not. revealed -any -major sources -of -I &-I yet all
sources located have been repaired. The Capital Improvement Plan provides future resources for
studies, repairs and replacements to the was collection and treatment systems. We have
received funding for and AIA grant that will assist in prioritizing capital projects that will improve
the performance of the sanitary sewer collection system.
Including these SSO's, the overall performance of our system is exemplary. The 2019 System
Performance reveals that of the more than 1.4 billion gallons of wastewater treated at the City of
Asheboro W WTP, less than 0.01 % was spilled at the plant or in the collection system. Laboratory
personnel sample after every SSO as soon as it is safe to do so. None of the laboratory results
from this SSO event revealed significant environmental impact.
Please take these efforts into consideration as you deliberate these matters. The City requests
NCDEQ refrain from taking enforcement action as a'result of these incidents. The City of
Asheboro takes pride in being good stewards of the environment and is taking measures to ensure
water quality in our community. Thank you for your consideration in this matter. If you have any
questions, please contact me at [phone] ext. 258 or Shannon White at [phone] Ext
2205..
Sincerely,
Michael D. Rhoney, P.E.
Water Resources Director
CTY OF
ASHEBOJU
WATER RESOURCES

ROY COOPER
Governor
MICHAEL S. REGAN
secretary
S. DANIEL SMITH
oftaor
NORTH CAROLINA
EnWrwwntal QuaW
CERTIFIED MAIL: 7018 1130 0000 1612 9707
RETURN RECEIPT REQUESTED
November 03, 2020
John N Ogburn, III
City of Asheboro
PO Box 1106
Asheboro, NC 27204-1106
SUBJECT: NOTICE OF VIOLATION & INTENT TO ISSUE CIVIL PENALTY
Tracking No.: NOV-2020-DV-0483
Sanitary Sewer Overflows - August 2020
Collection System Permit No. WQCS00025
Asheboro Collection System
Randolph County
Dear Permittee:
A review has been conducted of the self -reported Sanitary Sewer Overflows (SSO's) 5-Day Report/s submitted by
City of Asheboro. The Division's Winston-Salem Regional Office concludes that the City of Asheboro violated
Permit Condition I (2) of Permit No. WQCS00025 by failing to effectively manage, maintain, and operate their
collection system so that there is no SSO (Sanitary Sewer Overflow) to the land or surface waters and the SSO
constituted making an outlet to waters of the State for purposes of G.S. 143-215.1(a)(1), for which a permit is
required by G.S. 143-215.1.
The Winston-Salem Regional Office is providing the City of Asheboro an opportunity to provide evidence and
justification as to why the City of Asheboro should not be assessed a civil penalty for the violation(s) that are
summarized below:
Total Vol
Total Surface
Incident Start Duration Vol Water
Number Date (Mira) location Cause (Gals) (Gals) DWR Action
202002262 8/2/2020 1,095 Lit Station #12, 754 Pump station 12,500 12,500 Notice of Intent
New Century or equipment failure
202002474 8/24/2020 85 711 Lee Street Debris in line 6,375 6,375 Notice of Intent
North Camino Depertaeot or EnveonmmuM Qaalny I Orson of Water Resources
WostonZoWm Re(oMl Oi6oe I 450 Wear Manes Mi Road, Sure 300 I WoMaZooro, Nonh Groins 27105
++ 336-776SWO

This Notice of Violation / Notice of Intent to Enforce (NOWNOI) is being issued for the noted violation. Pursuant
to G.S. 143-215.6A, a civil penalty of not more than twenty-five thousand dollars ($25,000.00) may be assessed
against any person who violates or fails to act in accordance with the terms, conditions, or requirements of any
permit issued pursuant to G.S. 143-215.1.
This office requests that you respond to this Notice, in writing, within 10 business days of its
receipt. In your response, you should address the causes of non-compliance, remedial actions, and all other
actions taken to prevent the recurrence of similar situations. The response to this correspondence will be
considered in this process. Enforcement decisions will also be based on volume spilled, volume reaching surface
waters, duration and gravity, impacts to public health, fish kills or recreational area closures. Other factors
considered in determining the amount of the civil penalty are the violator's history of non-compliance, the cost of
rectifying the damage, whether the spill was intentional and whether money was saved by non-compliance.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Ron Boone with the Water Quality Section in the
Winston-Salem Regional Office at 336-776-9800 or via email at [e-mail].
Sincerely,
FU
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Lon T. Snider, Regional Supervisor
Water Quality Regional Operations Section
Winston-Salem Regional Office
Division of Water Resources, NCDEQ
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