In this subtitle, the following words have the meanings indicated.
(1) "Accidental discharge" means an exceptional incident in which a user unintentionally and temporarily does not comply with the standards established in this subtitle due to factors beyond the reasonable control of the user, but the term does not include improperly designed treatment facilities; inadequate treatment facilities; lack of preventive maintenance; or careless or improper operation.
(2) "Act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or the Clean Water Act, as amended.
(3) "Administrator" means the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or the Administrator's designee.
(4) "Authorized representative" means an officer of a corporation, a general partner of a partnership, a sole proprietor, or the authorized agent of each that is responsible for the operation of a facility that is an industrial user.
(5) "Biochemical oxygen demand" means the quantity of oxygen, expressed in mg/l, used in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter during incubation at 20°C for a period of five days, in accordance with procedures given in Standard Methods.
(6) "Bypass" means the intentional diversion of waste streams from any portion of an industrial user's treatment facility.
(7) "Categorical user" means a user subject to federal categorical pretreatment standards.
(8) "Chemical oxygen demand" means the quantity of oxygen, expressed in mg/l, used in the chemical oxidation of organic matter in accordance with procedures given in Standard Methods.
(9) "County system" means any and all devices, appurtenances, and equipment, whether owned by the County or under a license, lease, or contract to provide service to the County, including devices, equipment, methods, and systems used or designed to recycle or reuse wastewater; devices, equipment, methods, and systems used or designed to prevent, abate, reduce, store, treat, separate, or dispose of wastewater and stormwater, and waste in combined stormwater and sanitary sewer systems; and any device, equipment, or system that conveys wastewater to the County system from outside the County that by contract or agreement with the County becomes a user of the County system.
(10) "Discharge" means the direct or indirect introduction of pollutants into the County system from any source, by any means.
(11) "Domestic waste" means water-carried wastes discharged into the County system from the sanitary conveniences of all types of dwellings, office buildings, factories, institutions, and commercial establishments, and that are free from surface stormwater and non-domestic wastes.
(12) "Engineer" means a registered professional engineer licensed to practice in the State.
(13) "Existing source" means any building, structure, or installation connected to the County system prior to the effective date of this subtitle.
(14) "Garbage" means solid waste and residue from the preparation, cooking, dispensing, handling, storage, and sale of food.
(15) "Hauled wastes" means any combination of domestic or nondomestic waste that together with any treated or untreated groundwater, surface water, and stormwater comes from any source and is transported from its point of generation for discharge into the County system.
(16) "Hexane extractable materials" means fats, greases, or oils extractable from wastes in accordance with Standard Methods.
(17) "Interference" means a discharge that alone or in conjunction with one or more discharges from other sources:
(i) inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use, or disposal; and
(ii) causes a violation of any requirement of the POTW's NPDES permit or the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with the following statutory provisions and regulations or permits issued thereunder or more stringent State or local regulations: §405 of the Clean Water Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) including Title II, more commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and including State regulations contained in any State sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the SWDA; the Clean Air Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; and the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act.
(18) "Local limits" means wastewater discharge standards developed by the County to protect the treatment plant against interference, pass-through, sludge contamination, and worker health and safety.
(19) "Manhole" means a structure designed to provide access to a sewer in order to permit examination, cleaning, sampling, or flow measurement.
(20) "National categorical pretreatment standards" means any pretreatment regulation that contains pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with §307(b) and (c) of the Act and that applies to specific categories of users.
(21) "New source" has the meaning stated in 40 CFR Part 403.
(22) "Non-domestic waste" means solid, liquid, or gaseous waste resulting from an industrial, manufacturing, trade, or business process or commercial or institutional operation or from the development, recovery, or processing of natural resources, including all substances except domestic sewage.
(23) "Nonresidential user" means any user other than a residential user.
(24) "Nonsignificant commercial user" means a nonresidential user that discharges only domestic waste.
(25) "Nonsignificant industrial user" means a user that is not a significant user and has a discharge consisting of domestic and non-domestic waste; manufactures or produces a product which involves the use and storage of chemicals in varying quantities; or has the potential through an accidental or normal discharge to impact the collection system or a treatment plant.
(26) "Oil and grease user" means a nonresidential user who has a grease interceptor or oil separator onsite or whose business purchases, generates, or discharges food-related oils, grease, or petroleum-based oils or grease.
(27) "Pass-through" means a discharge that exits a POTW into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations alone or in conjunction with discharges from other sources and that causes a violation of any requirement of the POTW's NPDES permit.
(28) "Person" has the meaning stated in § 1-1-101 of this Code and, in addition, includes a governmental body.
(29) "pH" means the base 10 logarithm of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration, expressed in moles per liter, determined in accordance with Standard Methods.
(30) "Pollutant" means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, septage, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, industrial, municipal, or agricultural waste discharged into water, or any other substance the Director determines and can demonstrate to be unacceptable or harmful for discharge into the County system.
(31) "Pretreatment" means the reduction in the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater to a less harmful state prior to or instead of discharging or otherwise introducing pollutants into the County system.
(32) "Pretreatment standards" means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with §307(b) or (c) of the Act that applies to a specific category of industrial users or any federal, State, or local discharge limitation that applies to users of the County system.
(33) "Severe property damage" means substantial physical damage to property, damage to the treatment facilities that causes them to become inoperable, or substantial and permanent loss of natural resources that may reasonably be expected to occur in the absence of a bypass, but the term does not include economic loss caused by delays in production.
(34) "Significant commercial user" means a user that has a discharge that consists of predominantly domestic waste.
(35) "Significant industrial user" means any nonresidential user of the County system that:
(i) is or may be subject to national categorical pretreatment standards;
(ii) has a discharge flow that contains more than 25,000 gallons of wastewater per day;
(iii) contributes a waste stream that makes up 5% or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the treatment plant; or
(iv) except for a user who discharges hauled waste into the County system in accordance with § 13-5-507, is determined by the Director to have a significant impact or potential for significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing factors, on the wastewater treatment system, the quality of sludge, the system's effluent quality, or air emissions generated by the system in accordance with this subtitle.
(36) "Slugload" means any discharge of significant quantities of water, sewage, or industrial waste that in concentration of any constituent or quantity of flow could cause interference of the treatment works, pass through the POTW, endanger employee and public safety and health, contaminate the sludge, or cause a violation of any permit issued to the POTW.
(37) "Standard Methods" means the procedures outlined at the time of analysis in the latest EPA-approved edition of "Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater," published jointly by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association, and the Water Pollution Control Federation.
(38) "Suspended solids" means solids that either float on the surface of or are in suspension in water, wastewater, or other liquids and that are removable by laboratory filtering in accordance with Standard Methods.
(39) "Toxic substances" means any substance, whether gaseous, liquid, or solid, discharged into the County system that may interfere with a waste treatment process, constitute or create a hazard to human beings or animals, inhibit aquatic life, or create a hazard to recreation in the water receiving the effluent from the wastewater treatment process.
(40) "Upset" means an exceptional incident in which there is unintentional and temporary noncompliance with industrial pretreatment standards because of factors beyond the reasonable control of the industrial user, but the term does not include noncompliance caused by operational error, improperly designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of preventative maintenance, or careless or improper operation.
(41) "User" means a person who contributes or causes or permits the contribution of wastewater into the County system.
(42) "Wastewater" means any combination of domestic and nondomestic water-carried wastes that discharges into the County system from dwellings, business structures, institutions, and commercial and industrial establishments, together with groundwater, surface water, and stormwater that may be present.
(1985 Code, Art. 25, § 25-5-501) (Bill No. 72-88; Bill No. 40-90; Bill No. 55-91; Bill No. 97-96; Bill No. 80-03; Bill No. 63-04)