Section 283.55. Monitoring and reporting; access to premises.

 

(1)   Monitoring and reporting requirements. Every owner or operator of a point source who is required to obtain a permit issued under s. 283.31 shall do all of the following:

(a) Establish and maintain records of the volume of effluent discharged and the amount of each pollutant discharged from each point source under the owner's or operator's ownership or control.

(b) Make regular reports to the department on the volume of effluent discharged and the amount of each pollutant discharged from each point source under the owner's or operator's ownership or control.

(c) Install, use and maintain such monitoring equipment or methods, including where appropriate, biological monitoring methods, as are necessary to determine the volume of effluent discharged and to identify and determine the amount of each pollutant discharged from each point source under the owner's or operator's ownership or control.

(d) Sample the effluents discharged from each point source under the owner's or operator's ownership or control in accordance with such methods, at such locations and in such manner as the department shall by rule prescribe.

(dm) Report any unscheduled discharge of untreated sewage or other wastewater to the department orally within 24 hours of the discharge and in writing within 5 days after the discharge.

(e) Provide such other information as the department finds is necessary to identify the type and quantity of any pollutants discharged from the point source.

(1m)   Reports to water utilities. The department shall determine, after consultation with the owner or operator of the point source, whether to notify a public utility, as defined in s. 196.01 (5) , that furnishes water to the public about a discharge reported under sub. (1) (dm) that may affect the public utility. The department shall base the determination on the public health risk caused by the discharge.

(2)   Access to monitoring equipment and records.

(a) Any duly authorized officer, employee or representative of the department shall have right to enter upon or through any premises in which an effluent source that is required to be covered by a permit issued under s. 283.31 is located or in which any records required to be maintained by this section are located, and may at reasonable times have access to and copy any records, inspect any monitoring equipment or method required by this section, and sample any effluents which the owner and operator of such source is required to sample under this section.

(b) No person shall refuse entry or access to any authorized representative of the department who requests entry under this subsection, and who presents appropriate credentials nor shall any person obstruct, hamper or interfere with any such inspection.

(c) Any records or other information furnished to or obtained by the department in the administration of this chapter, including effluent data, shall be a public record as provided in subch. II of ch. 19 . Any records or other information, except effluent data, provided to the department may be treated as confidential upon a showing to the secretary that said records or information is entitled to protection as a trade secret as defined in s. 134.90 (1) (c) . Nothing herein shall prevent the use of any confidential records or information obtained by the department in the administration of this section in compiling or publishing general analyses or summaries, if such analyses or summaries do not identify a specific owner or operator.

(3)   Construction of law. Subsection (1) shall be construed so as not to require actions unnecessarily redundant with s. 299.15 . When a publicly owned treatment facility is required under state or federal law to monitor discharges into its system, records of such monitoring provided to the department, if substantially in compliance with the requirements of this section, shall serve in the place of the monitoring which would ordinarily be required of a person discharging into such system. Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the validity of s. 299.15 , nor shall that section be construed to limit the application of this section.

1973 c. 74 ; 1979 c. 221 s. 2202 (39) ; 1981 c. 335 s. 26 ; 1985 a. 236 ; 1993 a. 16 , 482 ; 1995 a. 227 s. 865 ; Stats. 1995 s. 283.55; 1999 a. 85 . Cross-reference: See also chs. NR 210 , 211 , 218 , and 219 , Wis. adm. code.