(a) As used in this chapter certain terms are defined as follows:
(1) "Act" means the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq. as amended).
(2) "Applicable pretreatment standard" means any pretreatment limit or prohibitive standard (federal, State and/or local) contained in this Code that is applicable to a particular sewer user deemed to be the most restrictive.
(3) "Ashtabula City Health District Plumbing Code" means the 1962 edition of the Plumbing Code updated so as to be compatible with this Code.
(4) "Authorized representative of industrial user" means:
A. A president, secretary, treasurer or vice president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function, or any other person who performs similar policy or decision-making function, or any other person who performs similar policy or decision-making function for the corporation; or
B. The manager of one or more manufacturing, production or operation 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 permit requirements; if authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures; or
C. A general partner or proprietor if the industrial user is a partnership or sole proprietorship respectively; or
D. A duly authorized representative of the individual designated in subsection (a)(4) A, B or C hereof.
(5) "Authorization" means:
A. The authorization is made in writing by the individual described in subsection (a)(4) A, B or C hereof.
B. The authorization specifies either an individual or a position having responsibility for the overall operation of the facility from which the industrial waste originates, such as the position of plant manager, or a position of equivalent responsibility, or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company; and
C. The written authorization is submitted to the City.
(6) "Average monthly discharge limitation" means the highest allowable average of "daily discharges" over a calendar month, calculated as the sum of all daily discharges, measured during the calendar month divided by the number of daily discharges measured during the month.
(7) "Beneficial uses" means but is not limited to, domestic, municipal, agricultural and industrial use, power generation, recreation, aesthetic enjoyment, navigation, and the preservation and enhancement of fish, wildlife and other aquatic resources or preserves, and other uses, both tangible or intangible as specified by State or Federal law.
(8) "Best Management Practices or BMPs" means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in Section 933.09
(a). BMPs include treatment requirements, operating procedures and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage. BMPs also include alternative means (i.e. management plans) of complying with or in place of certain established Categorical Pretreatment Standards and effluent limits.
(9) "Building drain" means that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste and other drainage pipes inside the walls of a building and conveys it to the building sewer. Building drains shall be classified as follows:
(10) "Building drain, combined" means a building drain which conveys sanitary sewage, storm water, or industrial wastes, or any combination thereof.
(11) "Building drain, industrial" means a building drain which conveys industrial waste only.
(12) "Building drain, sanitary" means a building drain which conveys sanitary sewage only.
(13) "Building drain, storm" means a building sewer which conveys storm water or other drainage, but no sanitary sewage.
(14) "Building Sewer" means the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal. Building sewers are classified as follows:
(15) "Building sewer, combined," means a building sewer which conveys sanitary sewage, storm water or industrial wastes or any combination thereof.
(16) "Building sewer, industrial," means a building sewer which conveys industrial wastes only.
(17) "Building sewer, sanitary" means a building sewer which conveys sanitary sewage only.
(18) "Building sewer, storm" means a building sewer which conveys storm water or other drainage, but no sanitary sewage.
(19) "Categorical Industrial User or CIU" means an Industrial User subject to a Categorical Pretreatment Standard or Categorical Standard.
(20) "Categorical Pretreatment Standard" means the standards and/or other requirements promulgated by the EPA in accordance with Section 307(b), and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) which applies to a specific category of industrial users specifying quantities or concentrations of pollutants or pollutant properties which may be discharged or introduced into the sewerage system by specific industrial discharges.
(21) "City" means the City of Ashtabula, Ohio.
(22) "City Council" means the elected Council of representatives for the City of Ashtabula, Ohio. "City Engineer" means the duly appointed engineer for the City of Ashtabula acting under the authority of the City Manager.
(23) "City Manager" means the City Manager of Ashtabula, Ohio or his duly authorized appointee acting on his behalf.
(24) "Combined sewer" means a sewer which is designed to carry sanitary sewage or industrial wastes and storm water.
(25) "Composite sample" means a sample of wastewater that shall be comprised of a series of grab samples collected over a twenty-four hour period and proportionate in volume to the sewage flow rate at the time of sampling. Such samples shall be collected at such times and locations and in such a fashion, as to be representative of the facility's overall performance.
(26) "Construction" includes the acquisition of any and all rights-of-way or real property necessary for the performance and completion of the work referred to wherever authority is given to the City for any construction.
(27) "Cooling water" means the water discharged from any system of condensation, air conditioning, cooling, refrigeration, or any other source that does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product or finished product.
(28) "County" means Ashtabula County, Ohio.
(29) "Department of Sewers" means the Waste Water Treatment Division or other Department established by the City for the purpose of maintaining and operating the City sewer systems.
(30) "Daily discharge" means the discharge of a pollutant measured during a calendar day or any continuous twenty-four hour period for purposes of sampling.
(31) "District" means the County collection system area contiguous to the City as delineated in the most current City/County agreement.
(32) "Discharge" means and liquid, solids or gas flowing out of any domestic, commercial or industrial establishment.
(33) "Discharger" means any person discharging to the sewer system any waste other than sanitary waste.
(34) "Easement" means an acquired legal right to the specific use of land owned by others as further defined in the Ohio Revised Code.
(35) "Effluent" means sewage, water or other liquid after some degree of treatment, flowing out of any treatment device or facility.
(36) "Existing source" means any source of discharge that is not a "New Source".
(37) "Garbage" means any solid waste from the preparation, cooking or dispensing of food and from handling, storage or sale of produce.
(38) "Ground garbage" means garbage that is shredded to such a degree that all particles shall be carried freely in suspension under the conditions normally prevailing in the sewerage system, with no particle being greater than one-half inch in dimension.
(39) "Grab sample" means a sample which is taken from a waste stream on a one time basis.
(40) “Hazardous waste" means any waste or combination of wastes in solid, liquid, semisolid, or contained gaseous form that in the determination of the Director, because of its quantity, concentration, or physical or chemical characteristics, may do either of the following:
A. Cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating illness;
B. Pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or safety or to the environment when improperly stored, treated, transported, disposed of or otherwise managed.
(41) "Hazardous waste" includes any substance identified by regulation as such under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) of 1976, 90 Stat. 2806, 42 U.S.C.A. 6921, as amended, and does not include any substance that is subject to the Atomic Energy Act of 1954, 68 Stat. 919, 42 U.S.C.A. 2011, as amended.
(42) “Industrial user" means any industrial or commercial establishment or manufacturing or processing operation that discharges waste to a sewerage facility.
(43) "Industrial waste" means any liquid, solid or gaseous substance or forms of energy or combination thereof, resulting from any process of industrial, commercial, governmental and institutional concerns, manufacturing, business, trades or research, including the development, recovery or processing of natural resources.
(44) "Indirect discharge" means the discharge or the introduction of nondomestic pollutants from a source regulated under Section 307(b) or (c) of the Act.
(45) "Influent" means water, together with any wastes that may be present, flowing into a drain, sewer, receptacle or outlet.
(46) "Insignificant user" means a nondomestic establishment that is not a significant industrial user and that operates an industrial process that discharges to the sanitary sewer.
(47) "Instantaneous limit" means the maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from the analysis of any discrete or composited sample collected, independent of the industrial flow rate and the duration of the sampling event.
(48) "Interference" means a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources:
A. Inhibits or disrupts the Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW), its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and
B. Therefore is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the City's NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation) or contributes to the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in accordance with the following statutory provisions and regulation or permits issued there under (or more stringent State or local regulations), Section 405 of the 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 SWDA, the Clear Air Act and the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act.
(49) "Laboratory determination" means the measurement, tests and analyses of the characteristics of waters and wastes in accordance with the provisions of 40 CFR Part 136 - Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analyses of Pollutants. These methods are contained in the latest edition of these publications:
A. "Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater" which means the joint publication of the American Public Health;
B. "ASTM" which means the Annual Book of Standards, Part 23, Water, Atmospheric Analyses, a publication of the American Society for Testing Materials;
C. "EPA Methods" which means "Methods for Chemical Analyses of Water and Wastes", a publication of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA);
D. Any other equivalent method prescribed by the Manager.
(50) "Major contributor" or "major significant discharger" means significant industrial user (SIU) as subsequently defined in this section.
(51) "Manager" means the Ashtabula City Manager or his duly appointed representative.
(52) "Maximum daily discharge limitations" means the highest allowable daily discharge.
(53) "May" indicates a discretionary condition.
(54) "mg/L" means milligrams per liter.
(55) "Medical waste" means isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes, potentially contaminated laboratory wastes and dialysis wastes.
(56) "New source" means:
A. Any building, structure, facility or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after the publication of the proposed pretreatment standards under Section 307(c) of the Act which shall be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section, provided that:
1. Construction on a site at which an existing source is located results in a modification rather than a new source if the construction does not create a new building, structure, facility or installation meeting the criteria of Section A. (1) or (2) above but otherwise alters, replaces or adds to existing process or production equipment.
2. Construction of a new source is defined under this paragraph has commenced if the owner or operator has:
i. Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous onsite construction program
(a) Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment; or
(b) Significant site preparation work including clearing, excavation, or removal of existing buildings, structures or facilities which is necessary for placement, assembly or installation of new source facilities or equipment; or
ii. Entered into binding contractual obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment which are intended to be used in its operation within a reasonable time. Options to purchase or contracts which can be terminated or modified without substantial loss, and contracts for feasibility, engineering and design studies do not constitute a contractual obligation under this paragraph.
(57) "Normal sewage" means sewage which, when analyzed according to standard laboratory methods approved by the EPA shall have pollutant concentrations not exceeding 700 mg/L Total Solids, 200 mg/L Suspended Solids, 200 mg/L BOD, 500 mg/L COD, 40 mg/L Total Nitrogen, 12 mg/L Total Phosphorus or 100 m/L oil and grease.
(58) "NPDES permit" means the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued to the City's Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA) which sets conditions for the discharge of pollutants or combination of pollutants to the waters of the United States pursuant to Section 402 of PL 92-500.
(59) "Pass through" means a discharge which exits the POTW into the waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the POTW's NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation or violates the water quality standards set by OEPA for the receiving water.
(60) “Person" means any or all persons, natural or artificial, including any individual, firm, company, municipal or private corporation, partnership, copartnership, joint stock company, trust, estate, association, society, institution, enterprise, governmental agency, the State of Ohio, the United States of America or other legal entity, or their legal representatives, agents or assigns. The masculine gender shall include the plural and female as indicated by the context.
(61) "Pollutant" means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, municipal, agricultural and industrial wastes, and certain characteristics of wastewater (e.g. pH, temperature TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, or odor).
(62) "Pollution" means an alteration of the waters of the State by waste to a degree which unreasonably affects such waters for beneficial uses of facilities which serve such beneficial uses as defined by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency through its regulations and the Ohio Administrative Code. The manmade or man induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water.
(63) "Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW)" means a treatment works, as defined by Section 212 or the Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1292), which is owned by the City. This definition includes any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature and any conveyances which convey wastewater to a treatment plant.
(64) "Private sewer" means a sewer which is not owned by the public authority.
(65) "Properly shredded garbage" means the wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that have been shredded to such a degree that all particles shall be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers.
(66) "Public authority" means any governmental agency having jurisdiction by law.
(67) "Public sewer" means any sewer, other than a house connection sewer, which has been constructed in a public street, alley, walk or other public place, or in a sewer easement, and is a part of the public street, alley, walk or other public place, or in a sewer easement, and is a part of the public sewer system of the City. A sewer which is owned and controlled by the public authority.
(68) "Pollution parameters" includes but is not limited to:
A. "Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)" means the quantity of dissolved oxygen in milligrams per liter required during stabilization of the decomposable organic matter by aerobic biochemical action under standard laboratory procedures for five days at twenty degrees Centigrade. The laboratory determination shall be made in accordance with procedures set forth in "Standard Methods."
B. “Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)" means a measure of the oxygen equivalent of that portion of the organic material in a sample that is susceptible to oxidation by a strong chemical oxidant. The laboratory determination shall be in accordance with procedures set forth in "Standard Methods."
C. "Escherichia coli (E coli)" means bacteria that is part of the group of bacteria known as Fecal coliforms. It's presence in sanitary sewage is an indicator or pollution.
D. "Fecal coliform" means bacteria that live in intestinal tract of man and animals and associated with human or animal wastes, whose presence in sanitary sewage is an indicator of pollution.
E. "Floatable oil" means oil, fat or grease in a physical state, such that will separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment in an approved pretreatment facility.
F. "Grease and oil" means a group of substances including hydrocarbons, fatty acids, soups, fats, waxes, oils or any other material that is extracted by a solvent from an acidified sample and that is not volatized during the laboratory test procedures. Greases and oils are defined by the method of their determination in accordance with procedure set forth in "Standard Methods."
G. "Grease and oil of animal and vegetable origin" means substances that are more readily biodegradable in nature such as are discharged by meat packing, vegetable oil and fat companies, food processors, canneries and restaurants.
H. "Grease and oil of mineral origin" means substances that are less readily biodegradable than grease and oil of animal or vegetable origin and are derived from a petroleum source. Such substances include machinery lubricating oils, gasoline station wastes, petroleum refining wastes and storage depot wastes.
I. "pH" means logarithm (to the base ten) of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution expressed in gram atoms per liter of solution.
J. "Suspended solids" means solids which either float on the surface of or are in suspension in water, sewage or other liquid and which are removable by laboratory filtration. Their concentration shall be expressed in milligrams per liter. Quantitative determination shall be made in accordance with procedures set forth in "Standard Methods."
K. "Total solids" means the sum of suspended and dissolved solids.
L. "Volatile organic matter" means the material in the sewage solids which transforms to gases or vapors when heated at 550 Centigrade for fifteen to twenty minutes.
(69) "Pretreatment" means the reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alternation of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater to a less harmful state prior to or in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing such pollutants to the public sewer system.
(70) "Pretreatment facility" means structures, devices or equipment for the purpose of removing deleterious waste from sewage generated from premises prior to its discharge into the public sewer system.
(71) "Pretreatment requirements" means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a User, other than a Pretreatment Standard.
(72) "Pretreatment Standards" means prohibited discharge standards, Categorical Pretreatment Standards, and Local Limits.
(73) "Prohibited Discharge Standards" means absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in Section 933.09(a) of this ordinance.
(74) "Receiving water" means the watercourse, stream or body of water receiving the waters finally discharged from the wastewater treatment plant.
(75) "Sanitary sewage" means a combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions and commercial and industrial establishments contributed by reason of human occupancy.
(76) "Sanitary sewer" means a sewer which carries sanitary sewage and industrial wastes and to which storm, surface and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.
(77) "Sewer agreement" means the agreement between the City and County for the conveyance, treatment and disposal of wastewater which is in force and which may be amended, revised or replaced from time to time.
(78) "Sewerage works" means all facilities for collection, pumping, treating and disposing of sanitary sewage and industrial wastes.
(79) "Shall" is mandatory.
(80) "Significant Industrial User (SIU)" means any user of the City Wastewater Treatment Plant where:
A. The user is subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or
B. The user discharges 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater (process wastewater excludes sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewaters); or
C. The user contributes a process wastestream which makes up five percent (5%) or more to the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the treatment plant; or
D. The user's discharge has a reasonable potential, in the judgment of the pretreatment Director, to cause pass through and/or interference at the wastewater treatment plant; or
E. The user's discharge into the wastewater treatment plant has caused or has the potential to cause any violation of the terms and conditions of any permit under which the wastewater treatment plant is operating, including plan approval.
(81) "Sludge" means any solid, semi-solid or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility or any other waste having similar characteristics and effects as defined in the standards issued under Sections 402 and 405 of the Federal Act and in the applicable requirements under Sections 3001, 3004 and 4004 or the Solid Waste Disposal Act PL-94-580.
(82) "Slug load or Slug discharge" means any discharge at a flow rate or concentration, which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in Section 933.09 of this ordinance. A Slug Discharge is a discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or non-customary batch discharge that has a reasonable potential to cause interference or pass through, or in any other way violate the POTW's regulations, Local Limits or permit conditions.
(83) "Special drainage connection" means any house connection sewer or storm drain connection from any swimming pool, wading pool, fountain, pond, tank, vat or receptacle which receives or disposes of rainwater or surface water for which a permit is required.
(84) "Special house connection sewer" means any house connection sewer from a lot, or part of a lot, which does not have a public sewer directly in front, rear or at the side of such lot, or part of such lot, and which has not been directly assessed for a public sewer.
(85) "Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)" means a classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, 1972.
(86) "Storm sewer" means a sewer which carries storm, surface waters and drainage, but which excludes sanitary sewer and industrial wastes other than polluted cooling water.
(87) "Storm water" means the excess running off the surface of a drainage area as a result of precipitation. It is that portion of the precipitation and resulting surface flow that is in excess of that which can be absorbed by the soil.
(88) "Superintendent" means the duly appointed Superintendent of the City's wastewater treatment plant acting under authority of the City Manager. Also referred to as Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) Superintendent or Water Pollution Control (WPC) Superintendent.
(89) "System" means the sewerage system of the City including all treatment and disposal facilities and interceptor sewers owned and operated by the City and all sewerage collection systems and all other appurtenances connected thereto.
(90) "Toxic substance" means any substance whether gaseous, liquid or solid, which when discharged to the sewer system in sufficient quantities may tend to interfere with any sewage treatment process, or to constitute a hazard to human beings or animals, or to inhibit aquatic life or create a hazard to recreation in receiving waters of the effluent from the sewage treatment plant, or substances listed in the Federal Regulations promulgated pursuant to Section 307 of the Clean Water Act.
(91) "Unpolluted water" means water discharged in its original state or water discharged after use for any purpose, is at least equal chemically, physically, and biologically, to the water from its original source, such as potable water, groundwater, river and stream water.
(92) "Upset" means an exceptional incident in which a discharger unintentionally and temporarily is in a state of noncompliance with the standards set forth in the applicable pretreatment requirements due to factors beyond the reasonable control of the discharger, and excluding noncompliance to the extent caused by operational error, improperly designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of preventative maintenance, or careless or improper operation thereof.
(93) "User" means any person that discharges, causes or permits the discharge of wastewater into the sewerage system.
(94) "Wastewater" means liquid and water carried industrial wastes and sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which are contributed to the POTW.
(95) "Wastewater constituents and characteristics" means the individual, chemical, physical, bacteriological and radiological parameters, including volume, flow rate, and such other parameters that serve to define, classify or measure the contents, quality, quantity and strength of wastewater.
(96) "Wastewater discharge permits" means the permit required by Section 933.11(a).
(97) "Water works" means the City Water Works Company or other water companies supplying water to the City.
(98) "Watercourse" means a channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.
(99) "Wastewater Treatment Plant or WWTP" means any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.
(Ord. 2016-50. Passed 3-21-2016.)