NC0025321_Remission (Request)_20190610

Gavin Brown, Mayor
Gary Caldwell, Mayor Pro Tem
Jon Feichter, Alderman
Julia Freeman, Alderman
LeRoy Roberson, Alderman
June10/2019
Director
Wastewater Branch
Division of Water Resources
1617 Mail Service Center
Raleigh, NC 27699-1617
Robert W. Hites, Jr. Town Manager
William Cannon, Town Attorney
1�[4l,C'h.11`rI
I'
Water Quality Regional Operations
Asheville Regional Office
Re: Request for Remission, Town of Waynesville, NPDES Permit No. NCO025321
Case No. LV-2019-0110, Haywood County
Dear Sir or Madam:
On May 28, 2019 the Town was assessed a penalty amounting to $1,119.59 ($1,000 civil penalty
+$119.59 enforcement costs). The penalty involved the Town exceeding it permitted Weekly
Geometric Mean for Coliform, Fecal MF, MFC Broth, 44.5C.
We are in the process of negotiating a SOC with the Division's Asheville Regional Office and
currently have a draft of the SOC in their office for review. Our request for remission would
permit us to consider and discuss the fine as part of the process that will lead us to a final SOC.
The currently management team inherited an outdated plant and we are playing catch up as we
go through the process of drafting a PER, negotiating an SOC, soliciting bids for design and
construction administration and seeking funding for a $17 million rehabilitation of the plant.
The violation was caused by excessive infiltration/inflow entering the plant and disrupting the
treatment process. The flows were such that we could not feed enough chlorine into the
system to overcome the excessive flows (See staff explanation). We believe that we used all
our available means to "promptly abate continuing environmental damage resulting from the
violation,"
We believe that the violation was inadvertent since it was caused by inflow/infiltration from
both our collection system and those of the Town of Clyde, Lake Junaluska and Junaluska
Sanitary District because of record rainfall events. We have contracted with McGill Associates
to conduct a flow study of our regional partner's outfalls and smoke test areas of our collection
system where our system crosses creeks and waterways. McGill Engineer's preliminary PER
recommends that we construct a flow equalization basin to help mitigate periods of excessive
I&I.
16 South Main Street • P.O. Box 100 • Waynesville, NC 28786 Phone [phone] Fax [phone]
Web Address: www.waynesvillenc.gov

Page 2.
Request for Remission of Civil Penalty
As I have stated earlier, we are trying to design a complete renovation of a plant that has had
little major overhaul since 1974. We recognize that we have experienced several civil penalties
over the past two years due to physical plant deficiencies, high rainfall and some sewer user
interferences. We have worked to secure a reduction in the impacts from Giles Chemical's
discharge which has helped improve effluent quality and, as noted, we are well into the process
of developing and implementing a plan to do a major upgrade of our treatment facility.
Our payment of the civil penalty will not prevent payment for the remaining remedial actions,
however, we believe that the penalty should be considered as a part of our negotiation of an
SOC.
We want to thank you and your staff at the Asheville Regional Office for their guidance as we
work toward the renovation of the waste water treatment plant. This project will be the most
expensive project the Town of Waynesville has ever undertaken, and your staff has done a
good job of explaining the need for the renovation in our joint discussions.
Please do not hesitate to contact me at 828-550-5238 should you have any questions.
Sincerely;
i
Robert W. Hites Jr.
Town Manager
cc. LG Langdon Davidson P.G. Regional Supervisor
Asheville Regional Office, Department of Environmental Quality
Forrest Westall, McGill and Associates, Engineers.
16 South Main Street • P.O. Box 100 • Waynesville, NC 28786 Phone [phone] Fax [phone]
Web Address: www.waynesvillenc.sov

DocuMon EnvelOpe I0:1909680B-1F9C-4k2A-Ae49-194CC89D371C
STATE, OF NORTH CAROL.INA DEPARTMEMP OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
COUNTY OF HAYWOOD
IN THE MATTER OF ASSESSMENT ) WAIVER OF RIGHT TO AN
OF CIVIL. PENALTIES AGAINST ) ADMINISTRATIVE HEARING AND
STIPULATION OF :MA( CS
Town of Waynesville )
Waynesville WWTP )
PERMIT NO. NC0025321 ) CASE NO. LV-2019-0110
Having been'assessed clviI penalties totaling L 119.59 for violatlon(s) is set forth in the assessment document of the
Division of Water Resources dated May 28,201 the undersigned, desiring io seek remission of the civil penalty, does
hereby waive the tight to an administrative headng In the above -stated matter and does stipulate that the facts areas
alleged in the assessment document. The underslyncd furEher 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 reoelpt of the notice of assessment,
This the %% day of C/ �� 20/9
SIGNATURV
ADDRESS
A�
TELEPHONE

Docufta Envelope ID: 1003680E-i F9C-4E2A-Ae49-194CC69D371C
JUSTIFICATION FOR REMISSION REQUEST
Case Number: LV-2019-011.0 County: Haywood
Assessed Party: Town of Waynesville
Permit No.: NC0025321 Amount Assessed: $1,119.59
Please use this form when requesting remission of this civil penalty. You must also complete the "Request For Remission,
Waiver oJ'Right to an Administrative Hearing, and Stipulation ofF'acts" 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 violatlon(s) occurred or the accuracy of any of the factual
statements contained in the civil penalty assessment document. Pursuant to N.C.G.S, § 14313-282.1(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, us 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.l(b) were wrongfully applied to the
detriment of the petitioner (the assessment factors are listed in the civil penalty assessment document);
X (b) the violator promptly abated continuing environmental damage resulting from the violation (i.e., explain the
steps that you tookto correct the violation and)neventAlum occurrences);
X— (c) the violation wa§ inadvertent or a result of an accident (i.e., explain why the violation was unavoidable or
something you could not prevent or prepm•e 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 tix,, explain
how payment of the civil penalty Hill prevent you front performing the activities necessary to achieve
compliance).
EXPLANATION: .0" Ors ACIP GdiL2L1(Jn v4b t C•-E'

David Foster
From:
Mark Jones
Sent:
Wednesday, June 5, 2019 10:48 AM
To:
David Foster
Subject:
Noncompliance
David,
I am going to explain why we were not compliant in January 2019.
The part of the permit that we were not compliant with was the weekly geometric mean that was exceeded for fecal
coliform. Our permit states that our weekly average for fecal coliform is 400 counts/ 100ml or less. We are allowed a
monthly average of 200 counts/ 100ml or less. Things that affect fecal counts is flow. If the flow shoots through the
roof (above 6mgd), you can't feed enough chorine to meet the demand. The demand is caused by solids getting out of
the secondary clarifiers that are not doing theirjob properly. Thus the fecal counts are high. This is why we are looking
at rebuilding the plant. The vacuum system doesn't remove the solids out of the tank like they use to do. So for the
week that we were non -compliant, the flows for January 1, 2019 was greater than 6.12mgd, January 2, 2019 was greater
than 6.02mgd, January 3, 2019 was greater than 6.10 mgd, and January 4, 2019 was greater than 6.09mgd. These flows
during this time were closer to 9mgd. That is basically flow through in the plant without treatment.
The fecal counts for January 1, 2019 Holiday; January 2, 2019 34.lcounts/100ml; January 3, 2019 2419.6 counts/100ml;
and January 4, 2019 2419.6 counts/100ml. If we had more than three days samples, we could have probably
passed. This is just how they do it. The calculation is done this way:
Log 34.1 + Log 2419.6 + Log 2419.6 = 1.53+ 3.38+ 3.38 = 8.29
You had 3 samples. One for each day of work.
8.29/3 = 2.76
Then you have to do the following and that is take the antilog of the 2.76.
10' = antilog Let 2.76 = x
The answer is 579.9
This is above the 400 counts/ 100ml limit.
If we had four sample days in that week, the fecal count would have passed if it was less than 100 counts/ 100ml.
We are not required to sample on holidays. We can't predict when the flows will be over 6mgd. I don't have that crystal
ball.
Furthermore, we have no way to control wasting rates to remove solids out of the secondary clarifiers. We are running
on secondary clarifiers that came over with Noah.
Also, there will be another one coming for February 2019. It is in the draft McGill report.
It Is for suspended solids violations. This is caused by the same problem. The flows in the plant for that week were
running close to 9mgd. It washes out solids.
Thanks,
Mark Jones
Mark Jones, ORC I Wastewater Treatment Plant Superintendent
Town of Waynesville, NC
566 Walnut Trail Rd, I Waynesville, NC 28785
(o) 828.452.4685 1 (f) 828.456.2013
mlones0wavnesvillenc.aov I www.wavnesvlllenc�. ov
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DocuSign Envelope ID: 100308OB-1 F9C-4UA-A649.194=913371C
ATTACHMENT A
Town of Waynesville
CASE NUMBER: LV-2019-0110
PERMIT: NCO025321
FACILITY: Waynesville WWTP
LIMIT VIOLATION(S)
SAMPLE LOCATION: Outfall 001 - Effluent
REGION: Asheville
COUNTY: Haywood
Violation Report Unit of Limit Calculated %Over Violation
Penalty
Date Month/Yr Parameter Frequency Measure Value Value Limit Type
Amount
1/5/2011) 1-2019 Coliform, Fecal MF, 5 X week #It00ml 400 535.08 33.8 Weekly
$1,000,00
MFC Broth, 44.5 C Geometric
Mean
Exceeded
a