ORDINANCE NO. 57
ORDER NO. 15-05
WATER SOFTENER REGULATION ORDINANCE
IRONHOUSE SANITARY DISTRICT
The Board of Directors of the Ironhouse
Sanitary District (District) does ordain and order as follows:
SECTION
1. Short Title
This Ordinance shall be known and may be cited
as Ironhouse Sanitary District Water Softening Regulation Ordinance.
SECTION
2. Purpose and Findings
Purpose: The purpose of this Ordinance is
to protect the health, safety and welfare for the Ironhouse Sanitary District
(“District”) and its waterways through the regulation of the discharge of
sodium, potassium, and chloride products into the District’s sanitary sewer
system: to impose regulations regarding to compliance with requirements of the
California Water Code and the California Health and Safety Code 116775 et seq.
and to regulate the use of self-generating water softeners and sodium,
potassium and chloride based products.
Findings:
The District’s Water Recycling Facility’s (WRF) discharge permit, Order
No. R5-2013-0157 Provision C.3.c., issued by the Central Valley Regional Water
Quality Control Board requires the District to implement a pollution prevention
work plan for salinity that was developed in October 2008. The workplan
required development of a Salinity Pollution Prevention Plan (PPP) to determine
sources of salinity entering the WRF.
The Salinity PPP that was adopted by the ISD Board of Directors on November
4, 2014. The results of the Salinity
PPP indicate that up to 27% of salinity entering the WRF is from water
softeners. To reduce the salinity
entering the WRF the District is regulating the use of self-regenerating water
softeners and sodium, potassium and chloride based products by both residential
and nonresidential users through this ordinance.
The District has determined it
can be seen with certainty that there is no possibility that the Water
Softening Regulation may have a significant effect on the environment because
it will in fact reduce the discharge of sodium, potassium, and chloride
products into the District’s sanitary sewer system and therefore the
environment. The Board accordingly finds that the Water Softening
Regulation is categorically exempt from the California Environmental Quality
Act (CEQA) under the Common Sense Exemption, 14 Cal. Code Regulations
§15061(b)(3), and a Notice of Exemption will be filed with the Contra Costa
County Clerk.
SECTION
3. Definitions and Abbreviations
The following definitions shall apply to
the terms used in this Ordinance:
“Authorized
Office”
means the General Manager and District Engineer or any person designated by the
District Board.
“Brine” means a heavily
concentrated solution containing sodium, potassium, or chloride.
“District” means Ironhouse
Sanitary District.
“Person” means any individual,
partnership, co-partnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock
company, trust, estate, governmental entity or any other legal entity, or its
legal representatives, agents or assigns.
“Residence” means a structure
which is or is intended to be, in whole or in part, a place of dwelling,
whether occupied or not, whether fully constructed or not, and includes,
without limitation, homes, whether attached to another structure or not,
apartments, condominiums and mobile homes.
“Residential
self-regenerating water softening appliance” means a water softening device
located within or adjacent to a residence located with the District or which
discharges in to sewer system that is tributary to the sewer system owned and
operated by the District, whereby the capability of the appliance to remove
hardness from water is renewed by the on-site application of chloride,
potassium or similar slat-containing brine solution to the active softening or
conditioning material contained therein, followed by a subsequent rinsing of
the active softening or conditioning
material.
SECTION
4. Regulations
No person shall install or in any manner
assist in the installation of a residential or non-residential self-regenerating
water softening appliance that discharges into the District sewer system owned
and operated by the District or that discharges into the District sewer system
that is tributary to the sewer system owned and operated by the District.
New water softening devices installed for
all users or structures shall be of a type and style as selected by the user at
their expense, provided however that any such appliances or devices must comply
with the terms and conditions of this Ordinance. Use of non-brine discharging water
softening devices such as membrane or carbon systems are not prohibited by the
District.
SECTION
5. Enforcement
The General Manger and the District
Engineer shall administer, implement and enforce the provisions of this
Ordinance. Any powers granted to or
duties imposed upon the General Manger and District Engineer may be delegated
to persons acting in the beneficial interest of or in the employ of the
District.
SECTION
6. Violation
The General Manager or any other person
designated by the Board may issue a Notice of Violation to any person who fails
to comply with any conditions of this Ordinance. A Notice of Violation shall
allow a period of 30 days to correct the violation and/or to remove and dispose
of the non-compliant self-regenerating water softener. Any person violating this Ordinance after
issuance of a Notice of Violation and the subsequent 30-day period shall pay an
administrative fine to the District in the amount of $250 per month until such
system is removed.
Any use or activity in violation of the
terms of this Ordinance is declared to be a nuisance per se, and may be abated
by order of any court of competent jurisdiction. The District Board, in addition to other remedies
may institute any appropriate action or proceedings to prevent, abate, or restrain
the violation. All costs, fees and
expenses in connection with such action shall be assessed as damages against
the violation.
SECTION
7. Severability
The various parts, paragraphs, sections
and clauses of this Ordinance are declared to be severable. If any part, sentence, paragraph, section or
clause Is adjudged unconstitutional or invalid by a court of competent
jurisdiction, the remainder of the Ordinance shall not be affected.
SECTION
8. Adoption and Effective Date
This Ordinance is hereby declared to have
been adopted by the District Board at a meeting thereof duly called and held on
the 3rd day of February 2015, and ordered to be given effect thirty (30) days
after its first publication as mandated by statute.
CERTIFICATION
Passed and adopted at a regular meeting of
the Ironhouse Sanitary District Board of Directors held February 3rd, 2015 by
the following vote:
AYES, Members: D. Contreras, C. Lauritzen,
S. Morgan, M. Painter and D. Scheer
NOES, Members: None
ABSENT, Members: None
ABSTAIN, Members: None
____________________________
Susan V. Walde
Secretary to the Board
(Seal)
APPROVED: ____________________________
David Contreras
President of the Board
