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Lompoc council adopts updated sewer‑use ordinance, citing EPA order and Dec. 22 deadline
Summary
The council unanimously approved revisions to the sewer‑use ordinance and an Enforcement Response Plan to bring the city's pretreatment program into line with federal and state requirements and to implement a FOG (fats, oils, grease) program required by a 2020 EPA administrative order; staff said the AOC requires adoption by 12/22/2025.
The Lompoc City Council unanimously approved Dec. 2 updates to the city's Sewer Use Ordinance (chapter 13.16) and the associated Enforcement Response Plan (ERP) after a detailed presentation by consultant Christine Wong of Ashworth Linger Group.
Wong told the council the updates respond to federal and state pretreatment regulations, findings from state and EPA compliance inspections going back to 2016–2019, and a 2020 administrative order on consent (AOC). She said the changes align the city’s local legal authority with EPA guidance, add an administrative‑fines framework, authorize a surcharge program for high‑strength waste, and create a formal legal basis for a FOG (fats, oils, grease) management program that the city’s sanitary sewer management plan already references.
"These adopted changes are required to be completed by 12/22/2025," Wong said, summarizing the AOC timetable and the practical need to finalize the ordinance and ERP now that both EPA and the State Water Board have provided approvals and comments.
Councilmembers sought clarifications on practical impacts. Councilmember Ball noted that the city had budgeted roughly $1.1 million annually for fuel and several councilmembers pressed staff on whether the updated legal authorities would require widespread new permits for local businesses. Wastewater staff and the consultant said the ordinance strengthens the utility director’s discretion to permit dischargers but does not mandate that every business be issued an industrial‑discharge permit; the city currently has fewer than a dozen permitted users and does not expect mass new permitting as a direct result of the update.
The ordinance requires contributing jurisdictions, including the Village, to adopt ordinances at least as stringent as Lompoc’s as part of their service agreements. Staff said the updated contract with the base and other contributing jurisdictions should be revised as needed and that EPA and the State Water Board will remain engaged until the AOC is closed.
Council approved the ordinance and ERP by a 5–0 vote and directed staff to notify contributing jurisdictions and to proceed with the implementation steps required by the AOC.
