The Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment – Division of Environmental Quality (“DEQ”) and C & K Property Investments LLC (“C & K”) entered into a December 8th Consent Administrative Order (“CAO”) addressing an alleged violation of a Clean Water Act National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit. See LIS No. 21-126.
The CAO provides that C & K operates a non-municipal domestic wastewater treatment facility (“Facility”) in Monticello, Arkansas.
The Facility is said to discharge treated wastewater into an unnamed tributary from Godfrey Creek, which eventually flows into the Ouachita River.
An NPDES permit authorizes such discharge.
Part III, Section 10, Condition 10 NPDES permit requires C & K submit a complete permit renewal request at least 180 days before the expiration of the NPDES permits. If the activity to be continued after the expiration date, then the permit expiration date must be met. C & K has stated that they intend to operate the Facility beyond expiration date for the current NPDES permit.
DEQ is reported to have received two permit renewal applications on July 21st and 27th, which were deemed incomplete.
The following information was missing from the renewal application:
- DEQ Form 1, Section B.2 must state how the samples were collected. i.e. grab, autosampler etc. It currently specifies the frequency.
- DEQ Form 1, Section B.2 also requires submission of a flow diagram.
- EPA Form 2E must include data for Oil and Grease, as well as temperatures for summer and winter effluents. The application form should indicate that the effluent data will be collected as soon possible if it is not possible to collect them before the deadline.
After C & K submittal of additional information, the application was deemed administratively completed on August 13th.
The CAO claims that the CAO violated Part III, Section D, and Condition 10 of the NPDES permit by failing to submit the complete renewal application by August 4.
C & K must adhere to the existing NPDES permits until expiry of the NPDES renewal or termination.
A civil penalty of $1,000 is imposed. This could have been up to $500 if the CAO had been signed and returned to DEQ within 20 days of its receipt.
You can download a copy of the CAO Here.
