WAC 246-290-050. Enforcement

When any purveyor is out of compliance with a law or rule regulating public water systems and administered by the department, the department may initiate appropriate enforcement actions, regardless of any prior approvals issued. These actions may include, but are not limited to, any one or combination of the following:

(1) Notice of violation instructing or requiring appropriate corrective measures;

(2) Compliance schedule for specific actions necessary to achieve compliance status;

(3) Departmental order requiring submission of project reports, construction documents, and construction report forms;

(4) Departmental order requiring specific actions or ceasing unacceptable activities within a designated time period;

(5) Departmental order to stop work and/or refrain from using any public water system or improvements thereto until all written approvals required by statute or rule are obtained;

(6) Imposition of civil penalties may be issued for up to five thousand dollars per day per violation, or, in the case of a violation that has been determined to be a public health emergency, a penalty of not more than ten thousand dollars per day per violation under authority of chapter 70A.125 RCW;

(7) Imposition of civil penalties may be issued to a person who constructs, modifies, or expands a public water system or who commences the construction, modification, or expansion of a public water system without first obtaining the required department approval. The amount of the penalty may be up to five thousand dollars per service connection, or, in the case of a system serving a transient population, a penalty of not more than four hundred dollars per person based on the highest average daily population the system serves or is anticipated to serve. The total penalty that may be imposed pursuant to this subsection and RCW 70A.125.040 (1)(b) is five hundred thousand dollars;

lty may be up to five thousand dollars per service connection, or, in the case of a system serving a transient population, a penalty of not more than four hundred dollars per person based on the highest average daily population the system serves or is anticipated to serve. The total penalty that may be imposed pursuant to this subsection and RCW 70A.125.040 (1)(b) is five hundred thousand dollars;

(8) Action that requires the purveyor to take preventive or corrective steps when results of a sanitary survey or special purpose investigation conducted by, or on behalf of, the department indicate conditions that are currently or may become a detriment to system operation;

(9) Legal action may be taken by the attorney general or local prosecutor. The legal action may be criminal or civil.