For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning. Words used in the present tense include the future; the singular includes the plural; and the plural includes the singular. The word “shall” is mandatory and not directory, while the word “may” is permissive.
ACT. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, as amended, Pub. Law No. 92-500, as amended, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq. (Supp. IV, 1974).
ADJUNCT CUSTOMER. Any individual, family, business or institution who would typically be required to have his or her own meter to receive service, but who, with prior approval of the Administrator, is allowed to connect onto the town’s water system through the meter of another customer or to receive water through a meter assigned to another customer.
ADMINISTRATOR. The person or persons selected by the Town Manager or Town Council to carry out the provisions of this chapter.
AFFORDABLE OWNER-OCCUPIED DWELLING UNIT. A room or group of rooms within a dwelling forming a single independent habitable unit containing independent kitchen, sanitary and sleeping facilities, which complies with the town’s Minimum Housing Code and which has been sold or will be offered for sale for a gross price at which the monthly gross principal and interest payment, in a mortgage financing 90% of the purchase price, amortized over a period of 30 years and calculated with interest at the legal rate, is no greater than 25% of the monthly area median income for a family of four, as established annually by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and, if sold, the purchaser of which is a family in need of housing protection.
AFFORDABLE OWNER-OCCUPIED HOUSING DEVELOPMENT. One in which more than 50% of the included dwelling units are or, upon completion of the development, will be, affordable owner-occupied dwelling units, as that phrase is defined herein.
AFFORDABLE RENTAL DWELLING UNIT. A room or group of rooms within a dwelling forming a single independent habitable unit containing independent kitchen, sanitary and sleeping facilities, which complies with the town’s Minimum Housing Code, for which the monthly gross rental payment is no
greater than 25% of the monthly area median income for a family of four, as established annually by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and which is occupied by a family in need of housing protection.
AFFORDABLE RENTAL HOUSING PROJECT. One in which more than 50% of the included dwelling units are or, upon completion of the project, will be, affordable rental dwelling units, as that phrase is defined herein.
AVAILABILITY FEE. The fee charged:
(1) To all new customers to the town’s water and/or sewer system; and
(2) To all existing customers who expand their home or business, thereby increasing their demand for water and/or sewer service.
BILLABLE EXCESS BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD). A user’s loading in pounds of BOD, calculated using the billable flow and concentration of BOD in the waste in excess of 400 mg/l, as determined by the Superintendent.
BILLABLE EXCESS TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS (TSS). A user’s loading in pounds of TSS calculated using the billable flow and concentration of TSS in the waste in excess of 400 mg/l, as determined by the Superintendent.
BILLABLE FLOW. A user’s recorded water usage as metered by the appropriate water utility, plus metered water from wells and other sources, and less any sewer-exempt metered data, times the local government-approved percentage factor for wastewater entering the sewer system out of the metered water.
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD). The quantity of oxygen, expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/l) utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter, under standard laboratory procedures, in five days at 20°C.
BUILDING DRAIN. The part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives sanitary or industrial sewage only and is located inside the walls of a building and conveys the sewage to the building sewer, which begins five feet outside the building wall.
BUILDING SEWER. The extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal, and which conveys only sanitary or industrial sewage. This is also known as a HOUSE CONNECTION.
CLASSES OF USERS. The division of wastewater treatment customers by waste characteristics and process discharge similarities or function, such as residential, commercial, institutional, industrial or governmental.
COLLECTION SEWER. A sewer whose primary purpose is to collect wastewaters from individual point source discharge.
COMMERCIAL USER. For the purpose of the user charge system, a user engaged in the purchase or sale of goods or in a transaction or business or who otherwise renders a service. In addition, for billing purposes, COMMERCIAL USER shall refer to any commercial, industrial, public and/or institutional user, as well as any residential user with meter size greater than one inch.
COSTS OF LABOR AND MATERIALS. Actual costs of meters, fittings, pipe, adapters and replacement of paving as well as the necessary labor and equipment costs to accomplish the installation.
CUSTOMER. Any individual, family, business or institution who, after duly filing an application for service, with the permission of the Administrator, connects onto the town’s water and/or sewer system through a meter registered in his or her name.
DEVELOPED PROPERTY. All property that has a habitable residential, commercial, industrial or institutional structure existing on the property on or before the effective date of this chapter. Any existing subdivisions platted and recorded before the effective date of this chapter and not developed, as defined above, shall fall under the provisions of a new subdivision, as described herein.
EASEMENT. An acquired legal right, less than fee simple, for a specific use of land owned by others.
FAMILY IN NEED OF AFFORDABLE HOUSING. A family in need of housing protection is one or more individuals related by blood, marriage or adoption, living with each other in a “common law” or spousal relationship without the benefit of marriage or as “domestic partners”, occupying a premises and living as a single, non-profit housekeeping unit, including domestic servants and/or live-in help, including: a single person or married couple; a single person or married couple’s biological, foster or adopted child, a step-child or other legal ward; a single person or married couple’s parents, siblings and persons preceding or succeeding generation denoted by the prefixes of grand, great or great-great; spouses of any persons named in the above groups; cousins, who are defined to be relatives who are descendants from a common grandparent, with an aggregate current income and aggregate income for the previous 12 months equal to or less than the area median income, as established annually by the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development, and for which the head of the household
is not claimed as a dependent on the federal tax return of any other person currently or in the most recently completed federal tax year, and for which any other adult occupant(s) is not and can not be currently claimed as a dependent(s) for federal tax purposes by any person(s) not residing in the dwelling unit.
FLOATABLE OIL. Oil, fat or grease in a physical state so that it will separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment in a pretreatment facility approved by the local government. Wastewater shall be considered free of FLOATABLE FAT if it is properly pre-treated and the wastewater does not interfere with the collection system.
GARBAGE. The animal or vegetable wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking and dispensing of food and from the commercial handling, storage and sale of produce.
GREY WATER. Water generated from the use of the shower, bathtub, spa bath, hand basin, laundry tub, clothes washing machine, kitchen sink and/or dishwasher. GREY WATER may not contain wastewater from the toilet, urinal or bidet.
HEALTH OFFICER. Any person designated by the Town Council to be responsible for maintaining sanitary conditions and reporting violations.
HOOK ON FEE. A fee equal to the actual labor, equipment and materials cost incurred by the town installing the necessary lines and meter for the customer.
INDUSTRIAL COST RECOVERY SYSTEM. The system of charges levied to recover from the industrial users of the wastewater disposal system the federal grant amount, issued under Pub. Law No. 92-500, as amended, allocatable to the construction of facilities for treatment of wastes from the industrial users. These charges are separate from and not a part of the wastewater treatment bill whose constituent elements include the user charge system and the billing and collection charge.
INDUSTRIAL USER.
(1) For the purpose of the user charge system, a manufacturing or processing facility which is engaged in a production or profit-making venture. For the purpose of the industrial cost recovery system, an industrial user shall mean any non-governmental user of public-owned treatment works, identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1972, as amended and supplemented, prepared by the Statistical Police Division, Office of Management and Budget, including, but not limited to, the following divisions:
(a) Division B, Mining;
(b) Division D, Manufacturing;
(c) Division E, Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas and Sanitary Services; and
(d) Division I, Services.
(2) A user identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual may be excluded from the industrial cost recovery system if it is determined by the Superintendent that the industry will introduce primarily segregated domestic wastes or wastes from sanitary convenience.
INDUSTRIAL WASTES. The wastewater from industrial processes, trade or business and distinguished from domestic or industrial wastes.
INFILTRATION. The water unintentionally entering the public sewer system, including sanitary building drains and sewers, from the ground through such means as, but not limited to, defective pipes, pipe joints, connections or manhole walls. INFILTRATION does not include, and is distinguished from, inflow.
INFLOW. The water discharge into a sanitary sewer system, including building drains and sewers, from such sources as, but not limited to: roof leaders, cellar, yard and area drains, foundation drains, unpolluted cooling water discharges, drains from springs and swampy areas, manhole covers, cross-connections from storm sewers and/or combined sewers, catch basins, storm waters, surface runoff, street wash waters or drainage. INFLOW does not include, and is distinguishable from, infiltration.
INTERCEPTOR SEWER. A sewer whose primary purpose is to transport wastewater to a treatment facility.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT. The Town of Boone, Watauga County, North Carolina, acting through its Mayor and Town Council members or other duly authorized representatives.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT USER. One of the following entities, as it relates to each entity's connection to the water and sewer system of the town: the county; and the County Board of Education.
NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION PERMIT. A permit issued under the national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) for discharge of wastewaters to the navigable waters of the United States, pursuant to § 402 of Pub. Law No. 92-500, as amended.
NATURAL OUTLET. Any outlet, including storm sewers into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or ground water.
NEW DEVELOPMENTS or NEW SUBDIVISIONS. Any property developed or subdivided after the effective date of this chapter. The term DEVELOPED as it relates to new developments is defined as any new construction relating, but not limited to, residential, commercial, industrial, public and/or institutional activity.
NORMAL DOMESTIC STRENGTH SEWAGE. Wastewater having an average daily suspended solids (SS) concentration of not more than 200 milligrams per liter and an average daily BOD of not more than 200 milligrams per liter.
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE COSTS. All costs, direct and indirect, not including debt service, but inclusive of expenditures attributable to administration, replacement of equipment and treatment and collection of wastewater collection and treatment on a continuing basis which conforms to applicable regulations and assures optimal long-term facility management.
PERSON. Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group.
pH. The term used to express the intensity of the acid or base condition of a solution, calculated by taking the logarithm of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration. The concentration is the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.
PRETREATMENT. The treatment of industrial wastes from privately-owned industrial sources by the generator of that source prior to introduction of the waste effluent into a publicly-owned treatment works.
PRIVATE SEWER. A sewer which is not owned by the town.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE. The wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of foods that have been shredded to a degree that it does not create a problem with equipment and piping apparatus.
PUBLIC SEWER. A sewer which is owned and controlled by the town and is separate from and does not include sewers owned by other governmental units.
RAINWATER HARVESTING AND REUSE. The collection, storage and treatment of rain from roofs or from surface catchments that is recycled back into the natural environment for safe allowable non-drinking purposes. The water is generally stored in rainwater tanks or directed into mechanisms which recharge ground water.
REPLACEMENT COSTS. The expenditures for obtaining and installing equipment, accessories or appurtenances necessary during the service life of the treatment works to maintain the capacity and performance for which the works were designed and constructed. The term OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE COSTS, as defined above, includes REPLACEMENT COSTS.
RESIDENTIAL USER FOR BILLING PURPOSES. Any residential dwelling with a meter size of one inch or less. It shall not refer to multi-family residential dwellings with common meters.
SANITARY SEWER. A sewer which carries only sanitary or sanitary and industrial wastewaters from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions and to which storm, surface and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.
SLUG. Any discharge of water or wastewater which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds for any period duration longer than 15 minutes more than five times the average 24-hour concentration or flows during normal operation and shall adversely affect the collection system and/or performance of the wastewater treatment works so as to prevent attainment of effluent limitations or to substantially increase operation and maintenance requirements.
STANDARD METHODS. The laboratory procedures set forth in the following sources: Standard Method for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 13th edition, as amended, prepared and published jointly by the American Public Health Association and Water Pollution Control Federation; Methods for Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastes, 1971, prepared and published by the Analytical Quality Control Laboratory, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of Pollutants, enumerated in 40 C.F.R. §§ 136.1 et seq. (1975), as amended; and/or any other procedures recognized by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the State Division of Environmental Management.
STORM SEWER. A sewer that carries only storm waters, surface runoff, street wash and drainage and to which sanitary and/or industrial wastes are not intentionally admitted.
SUPERINTENDENT. The Town Manager of the town or any authorized deputy, agent or representative.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS (SS) or TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS (TSS). Total suspended matter that either floats on the surface of or is in suspension in water, wastewater or other liquids and is removable by laboratory filtration as prescribed in the Standard Methods.
TOXIC. Any pollutant or combination of pollutants which upon exposure in sufficient quantity to or assimilation into an organism will cause adverse effects such as cancer, genetic mutations and physiological manifestations as defined in standards issued pursuant to § 307(a) of Pub. Law No. 92-500, as amended.
UNPOLLUTED WATER. Water of a quality equal to or better than the effluent criteria in effect or water that is of sufficient quality that it would not be in violation of federal or state water quality standards if the water were discharged into navigable waters of the state. UNPOLLUTED WATER would not be benefitted by discharge to the sanitary sewers and wastewater treatment facilities provided.
UNUSUAL CIRCUMSTANCE CASE. A situation in which the strict implementation of the water and/or sewer regulations or fees shall defeat the policy or rationale underlying the regulations or fees.
USEFUL LIFE. The anticipated term in years of physical and/or functional productivity of elements and/or the whole of the wastewater disposal system which can be reevaluated as a result of preventive maintenance, renewal which offsets physical and/or functional obsolescence, renewal of capital elements due to consumption and physical and/or functional betterments, direct or indirect.
USER CHARGE SYSTEM. The system of charges levied on users for the cost of operation and maintenance, including replacement reserve requirements on new and old wastewater collection and treatment facilities.
WASTEWATER. The combination of the liquid- and water-carried wastes from residence, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions, including polluted cooling water and unintentionally admitted infiltration and/or inflow.
(1) INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER. A combination of liquid- and water-carried wastes discharged from any industrial establishment and resulting from any trade or process carried on in that establishment, and shall include the wastes from pretreatment facilities and polluted cooling water.
(2) SANITARY WASTEWATER. The combination of liquid- and water-carried wastes discharged from toilets and other sanitary plumbing facilities.
WASTEWATER DISPOSAL SYSTEM. The structures, equipment and processes required to collect, transport and treat domestic and industrial wastes, and to dispose of the effluent and accumulated residual solids.
(Ord. passed 6-21-2011; Ord. passed 7-17-2012; Ord. passed 9-18-2014; Ord. passed 6-19-2018; Ord. passed 2-21-2019)