567—64.7 (455B) Terms and conditions of NPDES permits.
	 64.7(1) Prohibited discharges. No NPDES permit may authorize any of the discharges prohibited by 567—62.1(455B).
	 64.7(2) Application of effluent, pretreatment and water quality standards and other requirements. Each NPDES permit shall include any of the following that is applicable:
	  a.   	 An effluent limitation guideline promulgated by the administrator under Sections 301 and 304 of the Act and adopted by reference by the commission in 567—62.4(455B).
	  b.   	 A standard of performance for a new source promulgated by the administrator under Section 306 of the Act and adopted by reference by the commission in 567—62.4(455B).
	  c.   	 An effluent standard, effluent prohibition or pretreatment standard promulgated by the administrator under Section 307 of the Act and adopted by reference by the commission in 567—62.4(455B) or 567—62.5(455B).
	  d.   	 A water quality related effluent limitation established by the administrator pursuant to Section 302 of the Act.
	  e.   	 Prior to promulgation by the administrator of applicable effluent and pretreatment standards under Sections 301, 302, 306, and 307 of the Act, such conditions as the director determines are necessary to carry out the provisions of the Act.
	  f.   	 Any other limitation, including those:
	 (1) 	 Necessary to meet water quality standards, treatment or pretreatment standards, or schedules of compliance established pursuant to any Iowa law or regulation, or to implement the antidegratation policy in 567—subrule 61.2(2); or
	 (2) 	 Necessary to meet any other federal law or regulation; or
	 (3) 	 Required to implement any applicable water quality standards; or
	 (4) 	 Any legally applicable requirement necessary to implement total maximum daily loads established pursuant to Section 303(d) of the Act and incorporated in the continuing planning process approved under Section 303(e) of the Act and any regulations and guidelines issued pursuant thereto.
	  g.   	 Limitations must control all pollutants or pollutant parameters which the director determines are or may be discharged at a level which will cause, have the reasonable potential to cause, or contribute to an excursion above any water quality standard, including narrative criteria, in 567—Chapter 61. When the permitting authority determines that a discharge causes, has the reasonable potential to cause, or contributes to an in-stream excursion of the water quality standard for an individual pollutant, the permit must contain effluent limits for that pollutant.
	  h.   	 Any more stringent legally applicable requirements necessary to comply with a plan approved pursuant to Section 208(b) of the Act.
In any case where an NPDES permit applies to effluent standards and limitations described in paragraph “a,” “b,” “c,” “d,” “e,” “f,” “g,” or “h,” the director must state that the discharge authorized by the permit will not violate applicable water quality standards and must have prepared some verification of that statement. In any case where an NPDES permit applies any more stringent effluent limitation, described in 64.7(2)“f”(1) or “g,” based upon applicable water quality standards, a waste load allocation must be prepared to ensure that the discharge authorized by the permit is consistent with applicable water quality standards.
	 64.7(3) Effluent limitations in issued NPDES permits. In the application of effluent standards, and limitations, water quality standards, and other legally applicable requirements, pursuant to 64.7(2), the director shall, for each issued NPDES permit, specify average and maximum daily quantitative limitations for the level of pollutants in the authorized discharge in terms of weight (except pH, temperature, radiation, and any other pollutants not appropriately expressed by weight). The director may, in addition to the specification of daily quantitative limitations by weight, specify other limitations such as average or maximum concentration limits, for the level of pollutants authorized in the discharge.
[Comment. The manner in which effluent limitations are expressed will depend upon the nature of the discharge. Continuous discharges shall be limited by daily loading figures and, where appropriate, may be limited as to concentration or discharge rate (e.g., for toxic or highly variable continuous discharges). Batch discharges should be more particularly described and limited in terms of (i) frequency (e.g., to occur not more than once every three weeks), (ii) total weight (e.g., not to exceed 300 pounds per batch discharge), (iii) maximum rate of discharge of pollutants during the batch discharge (e.g., not to exceed 2 pounds per minute), and (iv) prohibition or limitation by weight, concentration, or other appropriate measure of specified pollutants (e.g., shall not contain at any time more than 0.1 ppm zinc or more than ¼ pound of zinc in any batch discharge). Other intermittent discharges, such as recirculation blowdown, should be particularly limited to comply with any applicable water quality standards and effluent standards and limitations.]
	 64.7(4) Schedules of compliance in issued NPDES permits. The director shall follow the following procedure in setting schedules in NPDES permit conditions to achieve compliance with applicable effluent standards and limitations, water quality standards, and other legally applicable requirements.
	  a.   	 With respect to any discharge which is not in compliance with applicable effluent standards and limitations, applicable water quality standards, or other legally applicable requirements listed in 64.7(2)“f” and 64.7(2)“g,” the permittee shall be required to take specific steps to achieve compliance with: applicable effluent standards and limitations; if more stringent, water quality standards; or if more stringent, legally applicable requirements listed in 64.7(2)“f” and 64.7(2)“g.” In the absence of any legally applicable schedule of compliance, such steps shall be achieved in the shortest, reasonable period of time, such period to be consistent with the guidelines and requirements of the Act.
	  b.   	 In any case where the period of time for compliance specified in paragraph “a” of this subrule exceeds nine months, a schedule of compliance shall be specified in the permit which will set forth interim requirements and the dates for their achievement; in no event shall more than nine months elapse between interim dates. If the time necessary for completion of the interim requirements (such as the construction of a treatment facility) is more than nine months and is not readily divided into stages for completion, interim dates shall be specified for the submission of reports of progress toward completion of the interim requirement.
[Comment. Certain interim requirements such as the submission of preliminary or final plans often require less than nine months and thus a shorter interval should be specified. Other requirements such as the construction of treatment facilities may require several years for completion and may not readily subdivide into nine-month intervals. Long-term interim requirements should nonetheless be subdivided into intervals not longer than nine months at which the permittee is required to report progress to the director pursuant to 64.7(4)“c.”]
	  c.   	 Either before or up to 14 days following each interim date and the final date of compliance the permittee shall provide the department with written notice of the permittee’s compliance or noncompliance with the interim or final requirement.
	  d.   	 On the last day of the months of February, May, August, and November the director shall transmit to the regional administrator a list of all instances, as of 30 days prior to the date of such report, of failure or refusal of a permittee to comply with an interim or final requirement or to notify the department of compliance or noncompliance with each interim or final requirement (as required pursuant to paragraph “b” of this subrule). Such list shall be available to the public for inspection and copying and shall contain at least the following information with respect to each instance of noncompliance:
	 (1) 	 Name and address of each noncomplying permittee.
	 (2) 	 A short description of each instance of noncompliance (e.g., failure to submit preliminary plans, two-week delay in commencement of construction of treatment facility; failure to notify of compliance with interim requirement to complete construction by June 30).
	 (3) 	 A short description of any actions or proposed actions by the permittee to comply or by the director to enforce compliance with the interim or final requirement.
	 (4) 	 Any details which tend to explain or mitigate an instance of noncompliance with an interim or final requirement (e.g., construction delayed due to materials shortage, plan approval delayed by objections).
	  e.   	 If a permittee fails or refuses to comply with an interim or final requirement in an NPDES permit such noncompliance shall constitute a violation of the permit for which the director may, pursuant to 567—Chapters 7 and 60, modify, suspend or revoke the permit or take direct enforcement action.
	 64.7(5) Other terms and conditions of issued NPDES permits. Each issued NPDES permit shall provide for and ensure the following:
	  a.   	 That all discharges authorized by the NPDES permit shall be consistent with the terms and conditions of the permit; that facility expansions, production increases, or process modifications which result in new or increased discharges of pollutants must be reported by submission of a new NPDES application or, if such discharge does not violate effluent limitations specified in the NPDES permit, by submission to the director of notice of such new or increased discharges of pollutants; that the discharge of any pollutant more frequently than or at a level in excess of that identified and authorized by the permit shall constitute a violation of the terms and conditions of the permit; that if the terms and conditions of a general permit are no longer applicable to a discharge, the applicant shall apply for an individual NPDES permit;
	  b.   	 That the permit may be amended, revoked and reissued, or terminated in whole or in part for the causes provided in 64.3(11)“b.”
	  c.   	 That the permittee shall permit the director or the director’s authorized representative upon the presentation of credentials:
	 (1) 	 To enter upon permittee’s premises in which an effluent source is located or in which any records are required to be kept under terms and conditions of the permit;
	 (2) 	 To have access to and copy any records required to be kept under terms and conditions of the permit;
	 (3) 	 To inspect any monitoring equipment or method required in the permit; or
	 (4) 	 To sample any discharge of pollutants.
	  d.   	 That, if the permit is for a discharge from a publicly owned treatment works, the permittee shall provide notice to the director of the following:
	 (1) 	 One hundred eighty days in advance of any new introduction of pollutants into such treatment works from a new source as defined in 567—Chapter 60 if such source were discharging pollutants;
	 (2) 	 Except as specified below, 180 days in advance of any new introduction of pollutants into such treatment works from a source which would be subject to Section 301 of the Act if such source were discharging pollutants. However, the connection of such a source need not be reported if the source contributes less than 25,000 gallons of process wastewater per day at the average discharge, or contributes less than 5 percent of the organic or hydraulic loading of the treatment facility, or is not subject to a federal pretreatment standard adopted by reference in 567—Chapter 62, or does not contribute pollutants that may cause interference or pass through; and
	 (3) 	 Sixty days in advance of any substantial change in volume or character of pollutants being introduced into such treatment works by a source introducing pollutants into such works at the time of issuance of the permit.
Such notice shall include information on the quality and quantity of effluent to be introduced into such treatment works and any anticipated impact of such change in the quantity or quality of effluent to be discharged from such publicly owned treatment works.
	  e.   	 That, if the permit is for a discharge from a publicly owned treatment works, the permittee shall require any industrial user of such treatment works to comply with the requirements of Sections 204(b), 307, and 308 of the Act. As a means of ensuring such compliance, the permittee shall require that each industrial user subject to the requirements of Section 307 of the Act give to the permittee periodic notice (over intervals not to exceed six months) of progress toward full compliance with Section 307 requirements. The permittee shall forward a copy of the notice to the director.
	  f.   	 That the permittee at all times shall maintain in good working order and operate as efficiently as possible any facilities or systems of treatment and control which have been installed or are used by the permittee to achieve compliance with the terms and conditions of the permit. Proper operation and maintenance also include adequate laboratory control and appropriate quality assurance procedures. This provision requires the operation of backup or auxiliary facilities or similar systems which have been installed by the permittee only when such operation is necessary to achieve compliance with the conditions of the permit.
	  g.   	 That if a toxic effluent standard or prohibition (including any schedule of compliance specified in such effluent standard or prohibition) is established under Section 307(a) of the Act for a toxic pollutant which is present in the permittee’s discharge and such standard or prohibition is more stringent than any limitation upon such pollutant in the NPDES permit, the director shall revise or modify the permit in accordance with the toxic effluent standard or prohibition and so notify the permittee.
	  h.   	 If an applicant for an NPDES permit proposes to dispose of pollutants into wells as part of a program to meet the proposed terms and conditions of an NPDES permit, the director shall specify additional terms and conditions of the issued NPDES permit which shall prohibit the proposed disposal or control the proposed disposal in order to prevent pollution of ground and surface water resources and to protect the public health and welfare. (See rule 567—62.9(455B) which prohibits the disposal of pollutants, other than heat, into wells within Iowa.)
	  i.   	 That the permittee shall take all reasonable steps to minimize or prevent any discharge in violation of the permit which has a reasonable likelihood of adversely affecting human health or the environment.
	  j.   	 It shall not be a defense for a permittee in an enforcement action that it would have been necessary to halt or reduce the permitted activity in order to maintain compliance with the terms of this permit.
	 64.7(6) POTW compliance—plan of action required. The owner of a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) must prepare and implement a plan of action to achieve and maintain compliance with final effluent limitations in its NPDES permit, as specified below:
	  a.   	 The director shall notify the owner of a POTW of the plan of action requirement, and of an opportunity to meet with department staff to discuss the plan of action requirements. The POTW owner shall submit a plan of action to the appropriate regional field office of the department within six months of such notice, unless a longer time is needed and is authorized in writing by the director.
	  b.   	 The plan of action will vary in length and complexity depending on the compliance history and physical status of the particular POTW. It must identify the deficiencies and needs of the system, describe the causes of such deficiencies or needs, propose specific measures (including an implementation schedule) that will be taken to correct the deficiencies or meet the needs, and discuss the method of financing the improvements proposed in the plan of action.
The plan may provide for a phased construction approach to meet interim and final limitations, where financing is such that a long-term project is necessary to meet final limitations, and shorter term projects may provide incremental benefits to water quality in the interim.
Information on the purpose and preparation of the plan can be found in the departmental document entitled “Guidance on Preparing a Plan of Action,” available from the department's regional field offices.
	  c.   	 Upon submission of a complete plan of action to the department, the plan should be reviewed and approved or disapproved within 60 days unless a longer time is required and the POTW owner is so notified.
	  d.   	 The NPDES permit for the facility shall be amended to include the implementation schedule or other actions developed through the plan to achieve and maintain compliance.
This rule is intended to implement Iowa Code chapter 455B, division III, part 1 (455B.171 to 455B.187).
[ARC 7625B, IAB 3/11/09, effective 4/15/09]