11.709 Civil Penalties.
Any industrial user which has violated or continues to violate this chapter, any order or permit hereunder, or any other pretreatment requirement shall be liable to the WRD Manager for civil penalties of $1,000 to $25,000 per violation per day. In the case of a monthly or other long-term average discharge limit, penalties shall accrue for each business day during the period of this violation.
(1) The WRD Manager may recover reasonable attorney’s fees, court costs, and other expenses associated with the enforcement activities, including sampling and monitoring expenses, and the cost of any actual damages incurred.
(2) In determining the amount of civil liability, the Court shall take into account all relevant circumstances, including, but not limited to, the extent of harm caused by the violation, the magnitude and duration, any economic benefit gained through the industrial user’s violation, corrective actions by the industrial user, the compliance history of the user, and any other factors as justice requires.
(3) Where appropriate, the WRD Manager may accept mitigation projects in lieu of the payment of civil penalties where the project provides a valuable service and the industrial user’s expense in undertaking the project is at least 150 percent of the civil penalty.