WESTFIELD – The City Council will review a proposed revision of the city’s Sewer Use Ordinance required for compliance with new federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) regulations.
Mayor Daniel M. Knapik submitted the ordinance amendment to the City Council which, last Thursday, referred it to the Legislative & Ordinance Committee for further review.
Water Resource Superintendent Dave Billips said the city’s current federal permit expires in November and the ordinance has to be brought up to date as part of the Environmental Protection Agency permit renewal process.
“The EPA has strongly recommend amendments to the pretreatment streamlining rule of the National Pretreatment Program,” Billips said. “Basically, it’s what you can and cannot dump into the sewer.”
The new regulations, contained in a four-section, 51-page report, apply to all publicly owned treatment works (POTW) general permits in both Massachusetts and New Hampshire.
Billips said the most significant changes to the city’s ordinance pertain to industrial pretreatment programs. Industry is required to remove certain materials in the effluent before it is discharged into the city’s sewer system.
The EPA provides guidance to the city as part of its permit renewal process. As a general rule, those streamlining changes which are considered less stringent than the current regulations do not need to be adopted.
There are several streamlining-related changes that are more stringent than the previous federal requirements and therefore are considered required modifications for the state and/or the POTW. Therefore, to the extent that existing state or POTW legal authorities are inconsistent with the required changes, they must be revised.
The EPA has identified the following 13 rule changes that are more stringent than existing provisions (in 40 CFR Part 403), and therefore may require changes to the appropriate state or POTW authorities. States and POTWs should make the changes as soon as possible, and EPA and state NPDES permitting authorities should revise NPDES permits to require implementation of these required changes by POTWs. A general description of each change is included, along with a summary of what state or POTW follow-up actions are needed.
Billips said that he has provided the documentation to the City Council members and will explain the required ordinance language amendment to members of the L&O.
