Enforcement

The State Water Board Evaluation staff review the I&E Plan, Report 6, and CERS UST CME Data Download to analyze the CUPA’s enforcement procedures and implementation. Enforcement is a crucial component in achieving compliance. The CUPA should apply progressive enforcement for facilities that fail to achieve RTC within 60 days, facilities with repeat or recalcitrant violations, or whenever enforcement is necessary.

The evaluation staff examines the following components to assess if the CUPA is applying appropriate enforcement. Given that each CUPA is unique, the evaluation team considers the CUPA’s size, the number of violations issued during the evaluation period, and the types of violations issued to identify trends.

  • TCR criteria
    • Is TCR percentage consistent with the California average?
      • TCR rates consistently higher (outside the standard deviation) than the California average are indicative of a CUPA either not citing or missing violations (reviewed as part of the inspection evaluation).
      • TCR rates consistently lower than the California average are indicative of a CUPA not applying enforcement consistent with their I&E plan.
    • Additional information on how the evaluation staff review TCR data can be found on the Technical Compliance Rate page
  • RTC rate
    • Are violations without an RTC date within 60 days being reissued or is progressive enforcement being applied?
    • Is progressive enforcement being applied on repeat or recalcitrant violations?
    • Additional information on how the evaluation staff review over RTC data can be found on the Return to Compliance page
  • UST Enforcement
    • UST Enforcement tab review (CME Data Download)
      • What type of enforcement was applied (Column 914)?
      • What type of formal enforcement action was applied (Column 916)?
  • Red Tag
    • How many red tags did the CUPA issue during the evaluation period?
    • Are red tags being applied in accordance with the CUPA I&E plan?
  • I&E Plan
    • Is the CUPA applying enforcement as outlined in their I&E Plan?

Examples of enforcement deficiencies/findings found during evaluations:

  • The CUPA is not consistently applying enforcement as outlined in the I&E Plan
  • Violations are repeatedly cited without having documented RTC and follow-up enforcement has not been applied
  • Repeat violations were not cited
  • The CUPA’s TCR indicates facilities are failing to obtain RTC for cited violations as the TCR reported by the CUPA is significantly lower in comparison to the average TCR for California

Enforcement Statue and Regulation Code Sections:

  • CCR, Title 23, Chapter 16, Section 2712(g)
  • HSC, Chapter 6.7, Sections 25288 (d) and 25299