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U.S. EPA orders Bay Area company to comply with Clean Water Act

Release Date: 04/19/2007
Contact Information: Maggie Witt, 415-972-3370, [email protected]

(04/19/07) SAN FRANCISCO - The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has ordered Bay Ship and Yacht Co., a ship repair facility in Alameda, Calif., which discharges storm water to the San Francisco Bay, to comply with federal Clean Water Act requirements.

“We will ensure Bay Ship and Yacht will take the steps needed to protect San Francisco Bay from industrial runoff,” said Alexis Strauss, Water Division director for the EPA’s Pacific Southwest region. “We will continue to monitor industrial and construction activity to ensure adequate pollution controls are in place.”

The EPA is ordering Bay Ship and Yacht to perform regular inspections of industrial and construction activity areas, develop and implement an updated storm water pollution prevention plan and submit weekly inspection reports to the EPA.

On Feb. 28, EPA inspectors found that Bay Ship and Yacht had violated its discharge permit and the federal Clean Water Act by operating with inadequate storm water pollution controls and pollution prevention plans and failing to perform routine inspections and monitoring of storm water discharges.

Polluted runoff is the leading cause of water pollution in the San Francisco Bay. Storm water runoff can carry pollutants from industrial sources metals, oil and grease, acidic wastewater, bacteria, trash and other toxic pollutants into nearby water sources. The EPA requires industrial facilities to prevent water pollution by complying with federal and state water pollution requirements.

Failure to comply with the EPA order could bring penalties against the company for as much as $32,500 per day per violation.

For more information on the EPA’s storm water program, please visit: https://www.epa.gov/region09/water/npdes/stormwater.html