INSPECTION ACTIVITIES
INSPECTION ACTIVITIES
QUALITATIVE RESULTS
INSP - 2
Municipality: City of Martinez Permit Year: (2007/2008)
Introduction:
The goal of the Inspection Activities portion of the Stormwater Management Plan is to reduce and eliminate pollutant and non-stormwater discharges to the storm drain system from industrial and commercial enterprises. This program is the responsibility of the City of Martinez; however, the Central Contra Costa Sanitary District (CCCSD) in accordance with a contract with the City of Martinez accomplishes the main inspection and compliance work. The City has contracted, as a group with several other Contra Costa Clean Water Program permittees, to use the inspection services of the CCCSD. The CCCSD has approximately eight employees that provide inspections under the Clean Water Program contract. (See Volume 1, for a copy of the current contract agreement with the CCCSD.) The City of Martinez’s primary contact for stormwater inspections is Alex Stroup, Assistant Engineer, phone: 925-372-3519.
The City directs CCCSD in its activities and determines which businesses in the City of Martinez are on their inspection list. Businesses are prioritized in order to concentrate inspections on those that have a greater potential to cause stormwater pollution.
Implementation & Evaluation:
Industrial and Commercial Business Inspection Plan (INSP-1-6, 8, & 17)
During the year 2000, the Program developed a Model Industrial and Commercial Business Inspection Plan (ICBP). In 2001, the City completed modifying the Plan for City use (see attachment IN-1). Each year, the City reviews the work of the CCCSD and makes modifications to the Plan as necessary.
The City reviews the list of businesses for inspections annually and modifies it as the need arises from the following, as appropriate: inter/intra-agency referrals; other agency lists (e.g., Fire Department); business licenses; PG&E bills; water/utility bills; etc. Also, the City evaluates each year the inspection results from the previous year in order to assess which industry types had the most impact on stormwater quality. Adjustments to the inspection plan are based on this assessment.
In this program, “Routine Inspections” are defined as prescheduled inspections that are conducted at Identified Businesses. If a business shows evidence of active non-stormwater pollutant discharges during a “Routine Inspection”, it will then be considered a “Priority Business” and will be subject to priority inspections. An inspection type definition table is attached (IN-2).
The CCCSD plan requires the inspection of every facility with potential for impacting stormwater quality at least once in a five-year period. Priority facilities are inspected at least once per year. Attached is “CCCSD annual summary of inspection and enforcement for the 2007-08 year (attachment IN-10).
Facility inspectors are adequately trained in the knowledge and skills necessary to conduct effective stormwater inspections with coordination from the Program. This includes stormwater regulations and requirements (including the agency’s ordinance, municipal stormwater permit, and the industrial stormwater general permit), the impacts of non-stormwater discharges to the storm drains, inspection techniques and procedures, follow-up and enforcement procedures, and stormwater BMPs.
Inspectors obtain ongoing training to support inspection activities and to continue to improve program implementation. CCCSD Inspectors representing the agency attended the Program’s inspector training workshops and the Program annually assesses inspector-training needs. Up to seven CCCSD inspectors attended a total of 17 training session days this fiscal year. See the attached “CCCSD Stormwater training & materials” for specific training attended (attachment IN-13).
In addition to inspection activities, the City of Martinez and the CCCSD conduct outreach activities to target businesses that are potential stormwater polluters and to educate facility owners/operators about stormwater regulations and how stormwater pollution can be minimized. Such outreach activities, including PEIO activities, may be conducted for individual businesses or a group of businesses. The City of Martinez also participates in Program activities that target specific industry groups. For example, the Program works with the Green Business Program that provides certification for businesses that comply with stormwater and other environmental regulations.
Conducting an Inspection (INSP-7, 9 -16), Evaluating Facility Compliance (INSP-18 & 19), and Enforcement (INSP-20-21)
When inspectors go to an inspection site they are aware of the history of the site and what to look for at that particular site. Inspectors also have access to the SWPPP if one is required. Complaints or referrals concerning a facility are responded to by either interviewing the caller concerning the specific nature of the discharge, inspecting the site, locating any non-stormwater discharges to the storm drains, informing the facility representative of appropriate stormwater BMPs, and/or conducting follow-up measures as necessary to ensure compliance is achieved.
Enforcement actions are usually undertaken by the CCCSD and copies of Notices of Violations are routinely forwarded to the City. If necessary, the City can provide additional enforcement assistance. City abatement powers are based upon Municipal Code Sections 8.14 Drainage, 8.16 Solid Waste Management, 8.18 Source Reduction and recycling, 8.24 Park and Recreation Area Regulations, 12.36 Marina regulations, and 15.06 Storm Water Management and Discharge Control.
In general CCCSD does an excellent job of getting compliance from businesses. Without this inspection program, those businesses found requiring enforcement notices would most likely have continued their illicit discharges. The INSP Program this year was effective in reducing pollutants from those businesses inspected. Construction yards were targeted for inspection during 2007/2008. Twelve yards were inspected resulting in one warning notice and one notice of violation.
Modifications:
City Staff met to evaluate inspection information and determined the focus of future inspections for the coming year. Inspections will focus more on vehicle service facilities for 2008/2009.
Fiscal Year 2008/2009 Goals:
In the coming year, the City of Martinez will continue:
1) To coordinate actions with CCCSD and the Contra Costa County Clean Water Program to ensure that the Industrial and Commercial Inspections are maintained at a high level,
2) To review the inspections made by CCCSD and assist in enforcement activities when necessary,
3) To assist CCCSD in refining their reporting and tracking activities, and
4) To yearly provide CCCSD with an updated City Finance Department generated list of City of Martinez businesses. This business list will be used to identify relevant new businesses, which could be subject to storm water regulations, in order to provide them with stormwater discharge educational materials. The goal will be to inspect these businesses within a year. If a relevant new business does not receive an NOV then this phase of the inspections program will be considered a success. The effectiveness will be measured by maintaining an updated checklist over the years to evaluate how many of these business sites receive Notice of Violations (NOVs).
INSP - 2
Inspection Activities – quantitative results
Description /Industrial/ NOI
/ Commercial / Misc.(2) / Total /Restaurants
/ Vehicle Service Facility / Other(1) /INSPECTION SUMMARY
Number of Facilities scheduled for Inspection / 5 / 26 / 17 / 8 / 21 / 77
Number of Facilities Inspected / 5 / 26 / 17 / 8 / 21 / 77
Number of Routine Facility Inspections / 5 / 26 / 17 / 8 / 11 / 67
Number of Priority Facility Inspections / 10 / 10
Number of Call-out Inspections / 1 / 1
Number of Follow up Inspections / 4 / 10 / 8 / 6 / 28
ENFORCEMENT
Total Number of Enforcement Actions / 0 / 3 / 1 / 1 / 4 / 9
Number of Notices of Violation (NOV) Issued / 1 / 3 / 4
Number of Warning/Pollutant Exposure Notices (WN/PEN) issued / 2 / 1 / 1 / 1 / 5
Number of Fines Levied / 0
Number of Referrals / 0
BUSINESS EDUCATION & OUTREACH
Number of Educational Materials Distributed / 27 / 90 / 81 / 57 / 81 / 336
INSPECTOR TRAINING
Number of Inspector Training Sessions
/ 13Number of Inspectors Trained
/ 3(1) Nursery, golf course, grocery, retail gas outlet.
(2) Mobile surface cleaners, corporation yards, contractor’s yards, call out to residential.
INSP - 2