Legislative Mandated Reports
2021 Water Code Section 13399 Enforcement Report

Introduction

The Storm Water Enforcement Act of 1998 (Act) is found in California Water Code sections 13399.25—13399.43. The Act establishes specific notification and enforcement procedures to be implemented by the Regional Water Quality Control Boards (Regional Boards). The notification and enforcement procedures apply to persons that failed to obtain a required storm water National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit and those dischargers who submitted late or have missing annual reports.

Section 13399.27 requires the State Water Resources Control Board (State Board) to prepare and make available to the public a report that summarizes each of the Regional Board’s activities with regards to these notification and enforcement procedures for the previous calendar year. The report must include the following:

  1. A list of those persons that were notified of their duty to comply with applicable general storm water permits. A description of the responses received to those notifications, including returned mail and no response, appeals to filing, site inspections, enforcement actions taken, and penalties assessed pursuant to section 13399.30, and
  2. A list of those dischargers that failed to submit a required annual report and any penalties assessed pursuant to section 13399.31.

This report meets the requirements of Section 13399.27.

The storm water NPDES permits evaluated in this report include the following:

  • General Permit for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Industrial Activities Order No. 2018-0028-DWQ NPDES Number CAS000001 (Industrial General Permit),
  • General Permit for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Construction and Land Disturbance Activities Order Number 2009-0009-DWQ amended by 2010-0014-DWQ and 2012-0006-DWQ NPDES Number CAS000002 (Construction General Permit),
  • California Regional Water Quality Control Board Lahontan Region Order Number R6T-2016-0010 NPDES Number CAG616002 General Waste Discharge Requirements and National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System General Permit for Storm Water Discharges Associated with Construction Activity in the Lake Tahoe Hydrologic Unit, Counties of Alpine, El Dorado, and Placer, and
  • California Regional Water Quality Control Board Santa Ana Region Order Number R8-2018-0069 NPDES Permit Number CAG618001 National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Permit and Waste Discharge Requirements Sector-Specific General Permit for Storm Water Runoff Associated with Industrial Activities from Scrap Metal Recycling Facilities within the Santa Ana Region.
  • Phase I, Phase II, and Caltrans Municipal Separate Storm Sewer Systems (MS4s) Program Permits.

The lists of notified persons and dischargers were obtained from the State Board’s Stormwater Multiple Application and Report Tracking System (SMARTS). More information is provided on each list in the sections below.

FAILURE TO OBTAIN COVERAGE UNDER A PERMIT (SECTION 13399.30)

The Act requires the Regional Boards to undertake reasonable efforts each year to identify those dischargers of storm water who have not obtained coverage under an appropriate storm water NPDES permit (also known as non-filers) and to notify them of their legal obligations. Within 30 days of receiving a notice from the Regional Board, the Act requires those persons to obtain coverage by submitting a Notice of Intent (NOI) under the Industrial or Construction General Permit. The Industrial General Permit also includes information on submitting a No Exposure Certification (NEC) or Notice of Non-Applicability (NONA) for meeting the coverage requirement. If those persons still fail to submit an NOI, NEC, or NONA within 60 days of receiving the first notice and upon receiving a second notice, the Act then requires the Regional Board to impose penalties. The penalties are described in section 13399.33 of the Act.

For the report, tables 1 and 2 lists those persons or business names with their waste discharge identification number (WDID) along with notices sent, responses received, and enforcement actions taken for the Industrial General Permit and Construction General Permit, respectively. The lists of non-filers were obtained from SMARTS based on a query from January 1, 2021 to December 31, 2021. Subsequent notices and enforcement actions for each non-filer up to November 30, 2022 are included in this report. Any information that may have been uploaded into SMARTS after November 30, 2022, including on-going enforcement past this date, is not included in this report.

LATE OR MISSING ANNUAL REPORTS (SECTION 13399.31)

The Act requires the Regional Boards to (a) review the annual reports submitted by dischargers subject to NPDES permits; (b) identify the dischargers who have failed to submit the required annual report; (c) notify the dischargers of their non-compliance, and (d) impose penalties on those who fail to comply after being notified a second time by the Regional Board.

For the report, tables 3, 4 and 5 provides the discharger’s information along with whether notifications were sent, if an annual report was submitted late, and any penalties assessed for the Industrial General Permit, Construction General Permit, and MS4 Permits, respectively. The list of dischargers was obtained from SMARTS based on the following annual report due dates for the calendar 2021 year:

  1. Industrial General Permit – July 15, 2021
  2. Construction General Permit – September 1, 2021
  3. MS4 Permits –
    1. Phase I – Varies by Regional Board, but generally falls between November and March of the following year. Records include 2020-2021 annual reports where due dates were within the 2021 calendar year.
    2. Phase II – October 15, 2021
    3. Caltrans – October 1, 2021

Subsequent notices, compliance, and penalties for each discharger up to November 30, 2022 for Industrial, Construction, and MS4 General Permits are included in this report. Any information that may have been uploaded into SMARTS after these dates, including on-going enforcement past this date, is not included in this report.