NC0036196_Remission Request_20180827

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ROY COOPER NORTH CAROLINA
Governor Environmental Quality
MICHAEL S.REGAN
Secretary
LINDA CULPEPPER
Interim Director
August 27, 2018
James Wentz, Public Works Director
City of Newton
P.O. Box 550
Newton,NC 28658
Subject: Remission Request of Civil Penalty Assessment
Clark Creek WWTP
NPDES Permit NC0036196
Case Number LV-2018-0185
Catawba County
Dear Mr. Wentz:
This letter is to acknowledge your request for remission of the civil penalty levied against the subject facility.
Your request will be scheduled for review by the Director and you will be notified of the result.
If you have any questions about this matter,please contact me at [phone] or via e-mail at
[e-mail].
Sincerely,
413;A.tACOrrifrut.
Derek C. Denard, Environmental Specialist
Compliance&Expedited Permitting Unit
Division of Water Resources
cc: Enforcement File w/originals
NPDES Program Files
Central Files w/attachments
Mooresville Regional Office w/attachments
LD_EQ)NORTH CAROLINA
Oepnhmmtal Fm6mmmntal CluaN dem"
North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality I Division of Water Resources
512 North Salisbury Street 11617 Mail Service Center I Raleigh,North Carolina 27699-1617
919.707.3618

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43,4W CITY OF NEWTON
;:4 V* P.O.Box 550 • Newton,N.C.28658 • phone [phone] • fax [phone]
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August 17, 2018 AUG 24 2018
water peso
Wd oreBasinger, gnal svisor
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Mooresville Regional Office
Division of Water Resources, NCDEQ
Subject: Notice of Violation and Assessment of Civil Penalty
For Violations of the North Carolina General Statue(G.S.) 143-215.1(a)(6)
And NPDES WW Permit No. NC0036196
City of Newton
Clark Creek WWTP
Case NO. LV-2018-0185
Catawba County
Dear Mr. Bassinger
This letter is to ask for a written request of remission for the Notice of Violation and civil penalty of$2,103.29
against the City of Newton.
On the night of February 7, 2018, which would have been our sample for February 8, 2018, our operators had a
secondary blow out. We had been experiencing rain for the past several days that week causing our solids to be
up. We also received a down pour the night of February 7, 2018 that contributed to the secondary blowing out.
We were already wasting to help get the levels down from previous rains early in the week. When the operators
noticed the issue,they immediately started taking corrective actions by opening one of the aeration basins that
we use as an EQ basin. They also opened the recycle to this basin to help as well. With the flow being up at the
time, this caused the sampler to get more samples of the effluent with the solids in it. They got the blow out
under control, but still had solids into the filters and effluent.
As the operators were diverting flows they noticed filters were also having issues as they were dirty from all of
the rain the night of and the days prior. At his point the operators started back washing them more often. Since
the high effluent solid number was just one day it was traced to the extra rain water.
After working with the filters and getting the secondary solids level back down, we notice that the heavy rains
during that week caused filter media to be less than engineered. Within a week we had several companies come
in and give us quotes to replace the media and clean the filter. The week of September 4, 2018. Kemp
Construction will be coming in take each filter off line and rehab it with new gravel, sand and anthracite. They
will also rebuild all of the sweeps in the filters. This was approved by the City Council at a cost of$69,600.00.
This will help make the actual final filter processing more efficient.

? ;. 'o CITY OF NEWTON
P.O.Box 550 • Newton,N.C.28658 • phone [phone] • fax [phone]
.1855.
The City of Newton takes very seriously the protection of our citizens and the environment as you see with the
action take that was just described above. We are asking you to consider reducing or eliminating the fines for
the NOV's of us exceeding our Weekly and Monthly average. If the February 8, 2018 sample had not been out,
which put us out for the week and month; we wouldn't have received both fines. Again if you look at historical
data this was an anomaly for us as it hasn't happened before or after.
Since ,
Eric Jones
City of Ne on
Clark Cree WWTP—Superintendent

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JUSTIFICATION FOR RENIISSION REQUEST
Case Number: LV-2018-0185 County: Catawba
Assessed Party: City of Newton
Permit No.: NC0036196 Amount Assessed: $2,103.29
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);
V (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 preventfuture occurrences);
V (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 (Le., explain
how payment of the civil penalty will prevent you from performing the activities necessary to achieve
compliance).
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EXPLANATION:

n T i
STATE OF NORTH CAROLINA DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
COUNTY OF CATAWBA
IN THE MATTER OF ASSESSMENT ) WAIVER OF RIGHT TO AN
OF CIVIL PENALTIES AGAINST ) ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING AND
) STIPULATION OF FACTS
City of Newton )
Clark Creek WWTP )
)
PERMIT NO.NC0036196 ) CASE NO. LV-2018-0185
Having been assessed civil penalties totaling$2,103.29 for violation(s)as set forth in the assessment document of the
Division of Water Resources dated August 03, 2018,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. A
This the 20 Aday of Qom,,y1A.3f ,20 /r
SIGNATURE
ADDRESS
Po /la, sso
Peo+oa M. A gCas ir
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TELEPHONE
(sz )cis-1310