Words, phrases and terms not specifically defined herein, and having a technical or specialized meaning, shall be defined as set forth in the latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, published by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation. Reference to waste constituents and characteristics shall have the meanings ascribed thereto in the aforesaid Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, and measurements thereof shall be as set forth in such publication or as established by Federal or State regulatory agencies. In addition, as used in this chapter, unless the context indicates otherwise:
(1) "Act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended by the Clean Water Act and the Water Quality Act of 1987, 33 U.S.C. Part 1251, et seq., as may otherwise be amended, as the context may indicate or require.
(2) "Authorized representative of industrial user" means:
A. If the user is a corporation:
1. The president, secretary, treasurer, or a vice-president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function, or any other person who performs similar policy or decision-making functions for the corporation; or
2. The manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operating facilities, provided the manager is authorized to make management decisions that govern the operation of the regulated facility including having the explicit or implicit duty of making major capital investment recommendations, and initiate and direct other comprehensive measures to assure long-term environmental compliance with environmental laws and regulations; can ensure that the necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and accurate information for individual wastewater discharge permit requirements; and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
B. If the user is a partnership or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, respectively.
C. If the user is a Federal, State, or local governmental facility: a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility, or their designee.
D. The individuals described in subsections A. through C. above, may designate a Duly Authorized Representative if the authorization is in writing, the authorization specifies the individual or position responsible for the overall operation of the facility from which the discharge originates or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company, and the written authorization is submitted to the Department.
(3) “Backflow” means an undesirable reversal of flow of water of questionable quality, wastes or other contaminants into a public water supply.
(4) “Beneficial uses” means uses of the waters of the City, subscribing agencies or the State which may, or do, require protection against quality degradation thereof, including, but not limited to, waters for domestic, Municipal, agricultural, industrial, power generation, recreation, aesthetic enjoyment or navigation purposes, or for the protection and enhancement of fish, wildlife or other aquatic resources or reserves, and such other uses, both tangible and intangible, as are or may be specified by Federal or State law as beneficial uses.
(5) “Best Management Practices” (BMP) means schedules or activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in 40 C.F.R. 403.5(a)(1) and (b). BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material storage.
(6) “Billable parameters” means those parameters (i.e. flow, BOD, SS, volume and I/I) which the treatment works is designed to treat and for which average user charge unit costs are calculated.
(7) “BOD (biochemical oxygen demand)” means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter in five days at twenty degrees Centigrade, expressed in milligrams per liter, as determined in accordance with standard laboratory procedure after laboratory settling of waste, as set out in the latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater.
(8) “Building drain” and “building sewer” mean the lowest part of the wastewater drainage pipes and sumps of a building which convey wastewater to the building sewer, terminating at the public sewer or monitoring station within a public right-of-way.
(9) “Bypass” means the intentional diversion of waste streams from any portion of an industrial user’s treatment facility.
(10) “Capital costs” means the debt service requirements and the costs of depreciable assets that are purchased from current year revenues.
(11) “Charge” means a rental fee or other fee established pursuant to this chapter for services and facilities furnished by the City and/or subscribing agencies to any premises in connection with the operation of the water supply and sewerage facilities.
(12) “City” means the City of Battle Creek, Michigan, acting by and through its officers and agents.
(13) “Commercial user” means any nonresidential user who, in the determination of the Director of Public Works, introduces into the sewerage system primarily segregated domestic wastes or waste from sanitary conveniences.
(14) “Compatible pollutant” means BOD, suspended solids, pH and fecal coliform bacteria and such additional pollutants as are identified and controlled in the City’s NPDES permit for its wastewater treatment plant where such plant has been designed and used to reduce or remove such pollutants.
(16) “Contamination” means an impairment of the quality or the waters of the City, subscribing agencies or the State, by waste, to a degree which creates a hazard to public health. Contamination shall include any equivalent effect resulting from the disposal of wastewater, whether or not waters of the City, subscribing agencies or the State are affected thereby.
(17) “Contract capacity” means the industrial capacity contracted for with the City.
(18) “Contract user” means any private entity which contracts to use the City’s water supply or sewerage disposal system.
(19) “Cooling water” means non-contact water discharged from any use during which the only pollutant added to the water is heat, such as that from air conditioning, refrigeration units or boilers.
(20) “Cross connection” means a connection or arrangement of piping or appurtenances through which a backflow could occur.
(21) “Cubic foot” means the equivalent of 7.48 gallons (U.S. liquid). “Gallon” means the equivalent of 0.13368 cubic foot.
(22) “Department” means the Department of Public Works.
(23) “Director” means the Utilities Director and his or her designees.
(24) “DNR” means the Department of Natural Resources of the State.
(25) “Domestic wastes” means liquid wastes from the noncommercial preparation, cooking or handling of food or containing human excrement and similar matter from the sanitary conveniences of dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities and institutions.
(26) “EPA” means the Federal Environmental Protection Agency.
(27) “Fiscal year” means July 1 through June 30.
(28) “Garbage” means solid wastes resulting from the domestic, commercial and industrial preparation, cooking, dispensing, handling, storage or sale of food.
(29) “Health Officer” means the County Health Officer, his or her assistant or authorized deputy acting as Health Officer of the City and subscribing agencies.
(30) “Holding tank waste” means any waste from holding tanks, including, but not limited to, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks and tank trucks.
(31) “ICR” means industrial cost recovery.
(32) “Incompatible pollutant” means any pollutant which is not a compatible pollutant, interferes with, is not removed by, or is otherwise incompatible with, the sewage treatment process or sludge management.
(33) “Industrial users” means all establishments engaged in producing, manufacturing or processing operations; other establishments engaged in any activity resulting in the production of industrial wastes which have sewer service; or any wastewater contributor identified in the SIC Manual, latest edition, prepared and published by the Executive Office of Management and Budget of the United States, classified with divisions A, B, D, E and I therein. A user in the divisions listed is excluded if the user discharges less than 25,000 gallons per day of equivalent sanitary flows with domestic waste loadings or if the user is a governmental or residential user, provided that its waste discharge does not contain pollutants which are toxic or incompatible, which interfere with treatment plant processes or which may otherwise contaminate or reduce the utility of the sludge.
(34) “Industrial waste” means the waterborne waste and wastewater from any production, manufacturing or processing operation of whatever nature, including institutional and commercial operations where water is used for the removal of significant quantities of waste other than from human habitation of premises connected to the public sewers. Contents of chemical toilets, septic tanks, waste holding tanks and waste sumps shall be classed as industrial waste.
(35) “Infiltration/Inflow (I/I)” means the ground water and surface water which enters through collection system defects and cross connections from storm sewers.
(36) “Institutional user” means any hospital or public or private school that introduces into the sewerage system primarily segregated domestic waste or wastes from sanitary conveniences.
(37) “Interceptor sewer line” means a sewer line whose basic function is to collect wastewater from two or more trunk sewers and conduct the wastewater to a point for treatment or disposal. A trunk or primary sewer is that which receives wastewater from a number of branch or transverse sewers or outlets.
(38) “Interference” means an inhibition or disruption of the sewerage system and its sludge processes, use or disposal, which is a cause of or significantly contributes to either a violation (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation) of any requirement of the Wastewater Treatment Plant’s NPDES permit, State-approved Program for Effective Residuals Management (PERM) or any other Federal, State or local statutory provision, regulation or permit. A user significantly contributes to such a violation whenever such user:
A. Discharges a daily pollutant loading or concentration in excess of that allowed by contract, by Federal or State law or by other sections of this chapter; or
B. Discharges wastewater which substantially differs in quantity, nature or constituents from the user's average discharge.
(39) “Local costs” means those costs which are borne in their entirety by each subscribing agency and the City and includes all expenses incurred up to the point of delivery to the regional system.
(40) “Major user” means an industrial or nonindustrial user discharging more than 25,000 gallons per day of equivalent sanitary, domestic waste loading flows directly into a sewer line.
(41) “Mass emission rate” means the weight of material discharged to the sewerage system during a given time interval. Unless otherwise specified, the mass emission rate means pounds per day of a particular constituent or combination of constituents.
(42) “MG” means million gallons; “mgd” means a million gallons per day; and “M lb/d” means a thousand pounds per day.
(43) “National categorical pretreatment standard” or “categorical pretreatment standard” means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with Section 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. Part 1317), which applies to a specific category of industrial users.
(44) “New source” means any building, structure, facility or installation the construction of which commenced after the publication of proposed pretreatment standards under Section 307(c) (33 U.S.C. Part 1317) which will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section, provided that:
A. The construction is a site at which no other source is located;
B. The process or production equipment that caused the discharge of pollutants at an existing source is totally replaced; or
C. The production or wastewater generating processes are substantially independent of an existing source at the same site.
(45) “Nondomestic User” means an industry, commercial establishment, or other entity that discharges wastewater to a publicly owned treatment works other than, or in addition to, sanitary sewage.
(46) “Nonmajor user” includes all users, except industrial users and major users discharging into a sewer line.
(47) “Normal domestic strength” means wastewater with concentrations that do not exceed the following:
A. BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) in an amount of 300 parts per million; or
B. TSS (total suspended solids) in an amount of 300 parts per million.
(48) “NPDES permit” means a permit issued pursuant to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Systems, as prescribed in Section 402 of Public Law 92-500.
(49) “Operation and maintenance costs” means all costs for labor, power, chemicals, materials and supplies, replacements, contractual services, billing and administration chargeable to water supply and wastewater operations.
(50) “Outlet” means any natural or man-made exit which terminates into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface water, or an exit into the ground water.
(51) “Owner” means the owner of any real property from which sewage is discharged.
(52) “Pass-through” means a discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the State in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, causes a violation of any requirement of the POTW’s NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).
(53) “Person” means any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation, municipal corporation, governmental unit or group.
(54) “pH” means the logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.
(55) “P.L. 92-500” means Public Law 92-500, being the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972 and amendments.
(56) “P.L. 95-217” means Public Law 95-217, being the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1977.
(57) “Pollutant” means any dredged soil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, commercial and agricultural waste or any other contaminant.
(58) “Pollution” means an alteration of the quality of the waters of the City, subscribing agencies or the State by waste which unreasonably affects such waters for any beneficial use or affects facilities serving such beneficial use. “Pollution” may also include contamination.
(59) “Premises” means each lot, parcel of land, or portion thereof, including any improvement thereon, which is directly or indirectly connected to the water supply or sewage facilities or treatment facilities of the City. Each dwelling unit of a duplex, apartment or any other multifamily residence shall be deemed a separate premises.
(60) “Pretreatment” or “treatment” means the reduction, elimination or alteration of pollutant properties to a less harmful state prior to or in lieu of discharge or introduction into a POTW. This can be accomplished by physical, chemical or biological processes, process changes or other means, except as prohibited by 40 CFR Section 403.6(d).
(61) “Pretreatment standards” means all applicable Federal rules and regulations implementing Section 307 of Public Act 95-217, as well as any nonconflicting State or local standards. In cases of conflicting standards or regulations, the more stringent thereof shall apply.
(62) “Public water” means waters of the City or waters of the State.
(63) “Publicly owned treatment works” or “(POTW)” means a treatment works as defined by Section 212 of the Act, including any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal sewage and industrial waste. The systems include sewers, pipes and equipment used to convey wastewater to the treatment facility. The term also includes the municipality as defined in Section 502(4) of the Act which has jurisdiction over the indirect discharges to and the discharges from such a treatment works.
(64) “Reclaimed water” means water which, as a result of treatment of waste, is suitable for direct beneficial use or a controlled use that would not otherwise occur.
(65) “Regional costs” means the costs shared by all subscribing agencies and the City in accordance with the cost of providing regional service for each subscribing agency and the City.
(66) “Regional Sewer Reserve Fund” means the regional sewer service charge revenue deposited in a fund to be used to defray any regional costs incurred by the City.
(67) “Residential equivalent” means water discharged in the amount of 11,000 cubic feet annually.
(68) “Residential user” means a user whose premises are primarily for providing living accommodations, have no significant producing or processing activity of a commercial or industrial nature and primarily produce domestic waste.
(69) “Service Installation” means the construction and installation of service lines including all excavation and restoration; appurtenances and attachments thereto; and all necessary equipment charges, material and labor.
(70) “Severe property damage” means substantial physical damage to the treatment facilities which causes them to become inoperable, or substantial and permanent loss of natural resources which can reasonably be expected to occur in the absence of a bypass. Severe property damage does not mean economic loss caused by delays in production.
(71) “Sewage” means the waterborne wastes received from human habitation and use of premises for residential, commercial, institutional or industrial purposes.
(72) “Sewer,” “sanitary sewer” and “public sewer” mean a pipe or conduit which carries sewage and/or industrial wastes and to which storm, surface and ground waters are not intentionally admitted. Unless otherwise qualified, “sewer,” when used in this chapter, means “sanitary sewer.” A City sewer or public sewer is any sewer located within an easement or public right-of-way and which is maintained by the City.
(73) “Sewerage system” means all sewers, facilities and appurtenances owned or operated by the City or a subscribing agency for the carrying, collecting, pumping and treatment of sewage.
(74) “Shall” is mandatory; “may” is permissive.
(75) “SIC” means Standard Industrial Classification. (See also “Industrial user.”)
(76) “Significant industrial user” means, except as provided in paragraph (74)C. hereof:
A. All industrial users subject to categorical pretreatment standards under 40 CFR Section 403.6 and 40 CFR Chapter 1, Subchapter N; and
B. Any other industrial user that:
1. Discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater);
2. Contributes a process waste stream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant; or
3. Is designated as a significant industrial user by the POTW on the basis that the industrial user has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement (in accordance with 40 CFR Section 403.(f)(6)).
C. Upon a finding that an industrial user meeting the criteria in paragraph (74)A. hereof has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement, the POTW may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from an industrial user or POTW, and in accordance with 40 CFR Section 403.8(f)(6), determine that such industrial user is not a significant industrial user.
(77) “Significant noncompliance (SNC)” means:
A. Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined here as those in which sixty-six percent (66%) or more of all of the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) a numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(1).
B. Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which thirty-three percent (33%) or more of all of the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(1) multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC = 1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil, and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH); and
C. Any other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(1) (daily maximum, long-term average, instantaneous limit, or narrative standard that the Director determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass-through (including endangering the health of POTW personnel or the general public);
D. Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health or welfare or to the environment or has resulted in the POTW’s exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge;
E. Failure to meet, within ninety days after the schedule date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a local control mechanism or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction or attaining final compliance;
F. Failure to provide, within thirty days after the due date, required reports under Section 1040.53, such as baseline monitoring reports, ninety-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;
G. Failure to accurately report noncompliance;
H. Any other violation or group of violations, which may include a violation of BMPs, which the Director determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program.
(78) “Slug” means any discharge of water or sewage in which the quantity or concentration of any component, including flow, exceeds the maximum allowable quantity or concentration by more than five times the allowable quantity or concentration, or is more than the allowable quantity or concentration, but not greater than five times the allowable quantity or concentration for a period of time exceeding fifteen minutes.
(79) “State” means the State of Michigan.
(80) “Storm sewer” means a public sewer which carries storm and surface waters and drainage, but which excludes sewage other than unpolluted cooling water.
(81) “Storm water” means that part of the rainfall which reaches the sewers as run-off from natural land surfaces, building roofs or pavements.
(82) “Subscribing agency” means any agency which contracts to use the City’s sewerage system, including the Federal Center, Veteran’s Administration, City of Springfield and the Townships of Emmett, Leroy, Pennfield and Bedford.
(83) “Suspended solids” means the solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in, water, sewage or other liquids, in accordance with the latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater.
(84) “System” means the combined water supply and sewerage disposal systems of the City including all works and instrumentalities necessary or useful in the supply of potable water or the collection and treatment of sanitary sewage including but not limited to all well, pumping, treatment and storage facility facilities and equipment, water main pressure systems, connections, service pipes, valves, hydrants, meters, sewer services, interceptors, pump stations, force mains, service connections, treatment works, and all other appurtenances to the System.
(85) “Toxic pollutant” means any pollutant or combination of pollutants identified as toxic pursuant to Section 307(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or other Federal statutes or in regulations promulgated by the State under State law.
(86) “Treatment plant.” See “Wastewater treatment plant.”
(87) “Unpolluted water” means water not containing any pollutants limited or prohibited by the effluent standards in effect, or water whose discharge will not cause any violation of receiving water quality standards.
(88) “Upset” means an exceptional incident in which there is unintentional and temporary noncompliance with categorical pretreatment standards because of factors beyond the reasonable control of the user. An upset does not include noncompliance to the extent caused by operational error, improperly designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of preventive maintenance, or careless or improper operation. An upset shall constitute an affirmative defense to an action brought for noncompliance with categorical pretreatment standards if the requirements of subsections A. through C. below are met. A user who wishes to establish the affirmative defense of upset shall demonstrate, through properly signed, contemporaneous operating logs, or other relevant evidence that:
A. An upset occurred and the user can identify the cause(s) of the upset;
B. The facility was at the time being operated in a prudent and workman-like manner and in compliance with applicable operation and maintenance procedures; and
C. The user has submitted the following information to the Director within twenty- four hours of becoming aware of the upset (if this information is provided orally, a written submission must be provided within five days):
1. A description of the indirect discharge and cause of noncompliance;
2. The period of noncompliance, including exact dates and times or, if not corrected, the anticipated time the noncompliance is expected to continue; and
3. Steps being taken and/or planned to reduce, eliminate, and prevent recurrence of the noncompliance.
In any enforcement proceeding, the user seeking to establish the occurrence of an upset shall have the burden of proof. Users shall have the opportunity for a judicial determination on any claim of upset only in an enforcement action brought for noncompliance with categorical pretreatment standards. Users shall control production of all discharges to the extent necessary to maintain compliance with categorical pretreatment standards upon reduction, loss, or failure of its treatment facility until the facility is restored or an alternative method of treatment is provided. This requirement applies in the situation where, among other things, the primary source of power of the treatment facility is reduced, lost, or fails.
(89) “User” means any person or premises which either directly or indirectly is supplied water by the City or who directly or indirectly discharges, causes or permits the discharge of wastewater into a City sewer.
(90) “Waste” means sewage and any and all other water substances, whether liquid, solid, gaseous or radioactive, associated with human habitation, or of human or animal origin, or from any producing, manufacturing or processing operation of whatever nature, including such waste placed within containers of whatever nature prior to, and for the purposes of, disposal.
(91) “Wastewater” means waste and water, whether treated or untreated, discharged into or permitted to enter a City sewer.
(92) “Wastewater components, constituents and characteristics” means the individual chemical, physical, bacteriological and radiological parameters, including volume and flow rate and such other parameters that serve to define, classify or measure the contents, quality, quantity and strength of wastewater.
(93) “Wastewater treatment plant” means any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage, whether publicly or privately owned.
(94) “Water Connection” means that part of the water distribution system connecting the water main with the premises served.
(95) “Water Main” means that part of the water distribution system located within the easement lines or streets which is designed to supply more than one water connection.
(96) “Water quality requirements” means the requirements for the City's treatment plant effluent established by an NPDES permit or by State or Federal regulatory agencies for the protection of receiving water quality. Water quality requirements include effluent limitations and waste discharge standards, limitations or prohibitions which may be established or adopted from time to time by State or Federal laws or regulatory agencies.
(97) “Watercourse” means a channel, natural or artificial, lined or unlined, in which a flow of storm water, ground water or clean water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.
(98) “Waters of the City” means any water, surface or underground, within the boundaries of the City or subscribing agencies.
(99) “Waters of the State” means and includes:
A. Both surface and underground waters within the boundaries of this State subject to its Jurisdiction, including all ponds, takes, rivers, streams, public ditches, tax ditches and public drainage systems within this State, other than those designed and used to collect, convey or dispose of sanitary sewage;
B. The flood plain free-flowing waters determined by the Department of Natural Resources on the basis of 100-year flood frequency, and
C. Any other waters specified by State law.
(Ord. 14-01. Passed 10-16-01; Ord. 05-08. Passed 3-18-08; Ord. 01-2015. Passed 3-17-15; Ord. 03-2017. Passed 4-11-17.)