Local Regulations

Sec. 32-62.  Prohibited discharges from industrial and commercial activities.

The following list of discharges from industrial and commercial activities shall be considered prohibited unless permitted under a separate NPDES permit or approved by the city public works department. This list is based on section 32-21 (Illicit discharges prohibited), but is not an exhaustive list of prohibited discharges to the municipal storm sewer system:

• Water from the cleaning of vehicle fueling stations, vehicle service garages, or other types of vehicle service facilities.
• Water, cleansers, or solvents from the cleaning of vehicles, machinery or equipment, and other such commercial and industrial operations.
• Water from the washing or rinsing of vehicles containing soap, detergents, solvents, or other cleaners.
• Water from the cleaning or rinsing of vehicle engine, undercarriage, or auto parts cleaning.
• Vehicle fluids.
• Mat wash water from food service facilities.
• Food and kitchen cleaning water from food service facilities.
• Leakage from dumpsters or trash containers.
• Water from the cleaning or rinsing of garbage dumpster areas and areas where garbage is stored or contained.
• Water from pressure washing, steam cleaning, and hand scrubbing of sidewalks, gutters, plazas, alleyways, outdoor eating areas, steps, building exteriors, walls, driveways, and other outdoor surfaces.
• Wastewater or cleaning fluids from carpet cleaning.
• Swimming pool and spa water.
• Wash out from concrete trucks.
• Runoff from areas where hazardous substances, including diesel fuel, gasoline, and motor oil are stored.
• Super-chlorinated, i.e. greater than four mg/l chlorine, water normally associated with the disinfection of potable water systems.

(Ord. No. 37395, § 1, 6-13-06)

Federal Regulations

• Summary of the Clean Water Act

33 U.S.C. §1251 et seq. (1972)

The Clean Water Act (CWA) establishes the basic structure for regulating discharges of pollutants into the waters of the United States and regulating quality standards for surface waters. The basis of the CWA was enacted in 1948 and was called the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, but the Act was significantly reorganized and expanded in 1972. “Clean Water Act” became the Act’s common name with amendments in 1977.

The CWA made it unlawful to discharge any pollutant from a point source into navigable waters, unless a permit was obtained. EPA’s National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit program controls discharges. Point sources are discrete conveyances such as pipes or man-made ditches. Individual homes that are connected to a municipal system, use a septic system, or do not have a surface discharge do not need an NPDES permit; however, industrial, municipal, and other facilities must obtain permits if their discharges go directly to surface waters.

From EPA website

For more information about the Clean Water Act, including the full text of the Act as well as a summary of the history of the Act, visit: EPA Website

• Title 40: Protection of Environment

PART 122—EPA Administered Permit Programs: The National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.

§122.26 Storm water discharges

(14) Storm water discharge associated with industrial activity means the discharge from any conveyance that is used for collecting and conveying storm water and that is directly related to manufacturing, processing or raw materials storage areas at an industrial plant.

The term does not include discharges from facilities or activities excluded from the NPDES program under this part 122. For the categories of industries identified in this section, the term includes, but is not limited to, storm water discharges from industrial plant yards; immediate access roads and rail lines used or traveled by carriers of raw materials, manufactured products, waste material, or by-products used or created by the facility; material handling sites; refuse sites; sites used for the application or disposal of process waste waters (as defined at part 401 of this chapter); sites used for the storage and maintenance of material handling equipment; sites used for residual treatment, storage, or disposal; shipping and receiving areas; manufacturing buildings; storage areas (including tank farms) for raw materials, and intermediate and final products; and areas where industrial activity has taken place in the past and significant materials remain and are exposed to storm water.

Material handling activities include storage, loading and unloading, transportation, or conveyance of any raw material, intermediate product, final product, by-product or waste product. The term excludes areas located on plant lands separate from the plant’s industrial activities, such as office buildings and accompanying parking lots as long as the drainage from the excluded areas is not mixed with storm water drained from the above described areas. Industrial facilities (including industrial facilities that are federally, State, or municipally owned or operated that meet the description of the facilities listed in paragraphs (b)(14)(i) through (xi) of this section) include those facilities designated under the provisions of paragraph (a)(1)(v) of this section.

State Regulations

Title 119 – Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality

• Chapter 2 – Permits, when required.

001 No person shall discharge any pollutant into any waters of the state from a point source without first having obtained a permit from the Department for such discharge unless exempted under chapter 3 of this Title.

002 All persons discharging or proposing to discharge pollutants from a point source into any waters of the state are required to apply for and have a permit to discharge. This includes, but is not limited to, such operations as: [122.21(a)]

002.06 Discharges of storm water.

002.06A Associated with industrial activity;

003 Any industrial user discharging pollutants into a POTW where such source meets the definition of a significant industrial user, must apply for and have a permit to discharge to such POTW. This includes, but is not limited to:

003.01 Pollutants from non-domestic sources covered by Pretreatment Standards which are indirectly discharged into or transported by truck or rail or otherwise introduced into POTWs; to POTWs which receive wastewater from sources subject to National Pretreatment Standards; and

003.02 Any new or existing source subject to Pretreatment Standards.

Enabling Legislation: Neb. Rev. Stat. §81-1505, Legal Citation: Title 119, Chapter 2, Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality.

• Chapter 14 – Permits: Terms and Conditions – General

001 The following conditions apply to all NPDES permits under this Title:

001.01 Duty to comply. The permittee must comply with all conditions of the permit. Any permit noncompliance constitutes a violation of the Federal and State Act and is grounds for enforcement action; for permit termination, revocation and reissuance, or modification; or denial of a permit renewal application.

001.01A The permittee shall comply with effluent standards or prohibitions established under section 307(a) of the Clean Water Act for toxic pollutants and with standards for sewage sludge use or disposal established under section 405(d) of the Clean Water Act within the time provided in the regulations that establish these standards or prohibitions or standards for sewage sludge use or disposal, even if the permit has not yet been modified to incorporate the requirement.

001.01B Duty to reapply. If the permittee wishes to continue an activity regulated by this permit after the expiration date of this permit, the permittee must apply for and obtain a new permit.

001.01C Need to halt or reduce activity not a defense. It shall not be a defense for a permittee in an enforcement action that it would have been necessary to halt or reduce the permitted activity in order to maintain compliance with the conditions of this permit.

001.01D Duty to mitigate. The permittee shall take all reasonable steps to minimize or prevent any discharge or sludge use or disposal in violation of this permit which has a reasonable likelihood of adversely affecting human health or the environment.

001.01E Proper operation and maintenance. The permittee shall at all times properly operate and maintain all facilities and systems of treatment and control (and related appurtenances) which are installed or used by the permittee to achieve compliance with the conditions of this permit. Proper operation and maintenance also includes adequate laboratory controls and appropriate quality assurance procedures. This provision requires the operation of back-up or auxiliary facilities or similar systems which are installed by a permittee only when the operation is necessary to achieve compliance with the conditions of the permit.

001.01F Permit actions. The permit may be modified, revoked and reissued, or terminated for cause. The filing of a request by the permittee for a permit modification, revocation and reissuance, or termination, or a notification of planned changes or anticipated noncompliance does not stay any permit condition.

001.01G Property rights. The permit does not convey any property rights of any sort, or any exclusive privilege.

001.01H Duty to provide information. The permittee shall furnish to the Director, within a reasonable time, any information which the Director may request to determine whether cause exists for modifying, revoking and reissuing, or terminating this permit or to determine compliance with this permit. The permittee shall also furnish to the Director upon request, copies of records required to be kept by this permit.

001.01I Inspection and entry. The permittee shall allow the Director, or an authorized representative (including an authorized contractor acting as a representative of the Administrator), upon presentation of credentials and other documents as may be required by law, to:

001.01I(a) Enter upon the permittee’s premises where a regulated facility or activity is located or conducted, or where records must be kept under the conditions of this permit;
001.01I(b) Have access to and copy, at reasonable times, any records that must be kept under the conditions of the permit;
001.01I(c) Inspect at reasonable times any facilities, equipment (including monitoring and control equipment), practices, or operations regulated or required under the permit; and

001.01J Sample or monitor at reasonable times, for the purposes of assuring permit compliance or as otherwise authorized by the Federal or State Act, any substances or parameters at any location.

003 The discharge of any pollutant not identified and authorized by the NPDES permit or the discharge of any pollutant more frequently than or at a level in excess of that identified and authorize