2.4 Sanitary Sewer Overflows: Reporting, Press Releases & Public Notice

2.4 Sanitary Sewer Overflows: Reporting, Press Releases & Public Notice

A sanitary sewer overflow (SSO) is any discharge of untreated wastewater from a collection system or treatment works to the ground, to a storm drain, or to surface waters. North Carolina's notification law is G.S. 143-215.1C, and the single most common exam error is mixing up its three thresholds.

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The three duties and three clocks

  T = 0   Discharge discovered, contained, and volume estimated
            |
            v
  <= 24 h   REPORT TO THE DEPARTMENT (G.S. 143-215.1C(a1))
            1,000 gallons or more of untreated wastewater reaching surface waters:
            report as soon as practicable, no later than 24 hours after determining
            the discharge reached surface waters.
            |
            v
  <= 24 h   PRESS RELEASE (G.S. 143-215.1C(b)(1))
            1,000 gallons or more reaching surface waters: issue a press release to
            ALL print and electronic news media providing general coverage in the
            county where the discharge occurred, within 24 hours of determining the
            discharge reached surface waters. Keep the release and the media list
            for at least one year.
            |
            v
  <= 10 d   NEWSPAPER NOTICE (G.S. 143-215.1C(b)(2))
            15,000 gallons or more reaching surface waters: publish a notice captioned
            "NOTICE OF DISCHARGE OF UNTREATED SEWAGE" in a newspaper of general
            circulation in the county of discharge and in each significantly affected
            downstream county. Publish within 10 days AFTER the Secretary determines
            the affected counties and approves the form, content, and newspapers.
            File a copy and proof of publication with the Department within 30 days.

Who the subsection applies to. Subsection (b) governs works "the operation of which is primarily to collect or treat municipal or domestic wastewater." Subsection (c) imposes the same 1,000-gallon press release and 15,000-gallon newspaper notice duties on other permitted works — industrial systems — for discharges of untreated waste, with the notice captioned "NOTICE OF DISCHARGE OF UNTREATED WASTE."

[!WARNING] Do not invert the thresholds. The press release threshold is 1,000 gallons, not 15,000. The 15,000-gallon threshold adds the newspaper notice, and that notice is due within 10 days after the Secretary acts, not within 24 or 48 hours. There is no "substantial adverse impact" qualifier in the statute, and there is no separate one-million-gallon tier.

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The ORC's parallel duty to the owner

15A NCAC 08G .0204(6) requires the ORC to notify the owner within 24 hours, and in writing within five days of first knowledge, of any:

• overflow from the system or any treatment process unit;
• bypass of the system or any treatment process unit; or
• violation of any limits or conditions of the permit.

Under .0204(2)(d) the collection system ORC must also visit the system within 24 hours of knowledge of a bypass, spill, or overflow unless a collection system Back-up ORC makes the visit.

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The permit-side reporting duty

NPDES and system-wide collection system permits carry their own standard conditions, mirrored from 40 CFR 122.41(l)(6): any noncompliance that may endanger health or the environment must be reported orally within 24 hours of becoming aware of the circumstances, followed by a written submission within five days that describes the noncompliance and its cause; the period of noncompliance, including exact dates and times and, if it has not been corrected, the anticipated time it is expected to continue; and the steps taken or planned to reduce, eliminate, and prevent recurrence. Bypasses and upsets have their own notice provisions in 122.41(m) and (n).

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What goes into the initial report

When calling the DEQ regional office or filing through the Division's electronic reporting system, be ready with:

1. Permittee name and permit number (collection system or NPDES).
2. Location — address, nearest intersection, or coordinates — and the manhole, line segment, or pump station involved.
3. Time the discharge started and stopped (or that it is ongoing) and how the start time was determined.
4. Estimated volume and the method used to estimate it — pump run-time differential, duration multiplied by an estimated flow rate, or measured depth over a weir.
5. The receiving stream and its classification, and whether the discharge reached surface waters.
6. Cause: grease blockage, roots, structural failure, power loss, pump failure, or inflow and infiltration during a storm.
7. Containment and cleanup actions: vacuum trucks, bypass pumping, berms, lime application, and downstream sampling.

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Preventing the next one

The corrective-action portion of the five-day report is where a utility demonstrates that the failure mode has been addressed: a FOG ordinance and grease interceptor inspections for grease blockages; root control and scheduled jetting for root intrusion; CIPP lining or pipe bursting for structural defects; standby generators, quick-connect receptacles, and telemetry for power-related failures; and an I/I reduction program built on flow monitoring, smoke testing, and manhole rehabilitation for wet-weather overflows.

[!NOTE] Annual performance report. Separately from spill reporting, G.S. 143-215.1C(a) requires the owner or operator of any permitted municipal or domestic collection system or treatment works with an average annual flow greater than 200,000 gallons per day to provide users and the Department an annual report summarizing system performance and any violations, prepared on a calendar or fiscal year basis and delivered no later than 60 days after the end of that year.