For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ACT. The Federal Waster Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 USC 1251 et seq.
ACT 342. The County Public Improvement Act of 1939, as amended, being M.C.L.A. §§ 46.171 et seq., which Act authorizes, in pertinent part, the establishment by the county of a system or systems of sewer, or sewage disposal improvements and services and disposal facilities and services within or between cities, villages, townships, charter townships, or any duly authorized and established combinations thereof, within or without the county, and mains, trunks, connecting lines, and disposal facilities thereof.
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE TOWNSHIP. The Water and Waste Services Division of the Genesee County Drain Commission.
B.O.D. (BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND). The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in 5 days at 20º C., expressed in milligrams per liter.
BOARD. The Township Board of Clayton Charter Township.
BUILDING DRAIN. That part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil land waste pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning 5 feet outside of the inner face of the building wall.
BUILDING SEWER. The extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal (such as a grinder pump). The BUILDING SEWER shall be deemed to begin 5 feet outside the inner face of the building wall.
COUNTY. The County of Genesee, Michigan.
COUNTY AGENCY. The Genesee County Water and Waste Services Division (“GCWWSD”) which as designed by the Genesee County Board of Commissioners, shall administer, implement and enforce the provisions of Act 342 and this chapter.
COUNTY CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT FEE or CCIF. The charge authorized to be assessed to all new applicants for a connection permit to the POTW after May 1, 2002, which charge is used to defray the costs of new construction and expenses related thereto for increasing the capacity of the county sewage disposal, transportation, and/or treatment system components, respectively, to accommodate new users.
DAYS. For purposes of computing a period of time prescribed or allowed by this chapter, consecutive calendar days.
DWELLING, DETACHED SINGLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL. A stand-alone structure in which only 1 family is intended to reside and that is not attached to any other residential dwelling unit.
DWELLING, MULTIPLE-FAMILY RESIDENTIAL. Any structure used for residential dwelling purposes, other than a single-family detached dwelling.
DWELLING, RESIDENTIAL. Any structure designed for habitation, including but not limited to houses, mobile homes, apartment buildings, condominiums, and townhouses.
GARBAGE. Solid wastes from the preparation, cooking, serving, or dispensing of food, from the handling, storage, processing or sale of produce, or from the canning or packaging of food. It is composed largely of putrescible organic matter and its natural or added moisture content.
GARBAGE, PROPERLY SHREDDED OR OTHER SOLID MATERIAL. Garbage or other solid material that has been shredded to a degree that all particles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in the POTW (or so as to otherwise not result in interference), with no particle greater than ½- inch in any dimension.
INDUSTRIAL WASTES. The liquid wastes for industrial, manufacturing processes, trade or business as distinct from sanitary sewage.
INFILTRATION. Waters entering the POTW 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. Any waters entering the POTW from sources such as, but not limited to, building downspouts; roof leaders; cellar, yard and area drains; foundation and footing drains; connections from storm sewers and combined sewers; catch basins; storm waters; surface runoff; street wash waters; or drainage.
INSPECTION FEE. The amount charged to each applicant by the POTW and/or Clayton Charter Township at the time an application is made to the POTW and/or Clayton Charter Township solely for permission to connect to the public sewer. This sewer connection inspection fee includes, but is not limited to, covering the routine cost of inspecting and approving the physical connection of a building sewer and service connection to the public sewer, and the issuance of a sewer connection permit.
INSPECTOR. Any person (and the person’s authorized representatives) designated by the POTW and/or the township to observe the construction of and connection of building sewers to the public sewer system, to ensure conformance with the sewer connection requirements of this chapter, and to otherwise act as provided by this chapter.
MAC. The Michigan Administrative Code.
MDEQ. The Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
mg/l. Milligrams per liter.
NAICS or NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM. The system of classification for business establishments adopted by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, as amended.
NATURAL OUTLET. Any naturally formed outlet into a water-course, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or ground water.
NONDOMESTIC WASTE. Any wastewater (or water- or liquid-carried waste) other than domestic waste.
NPDES PERMIT. A permit issued pursuant to Section 402 of the Act.
OUTFALL. The point(s) of discharge by a user to the POTW, approved by the POTW and specified in a user permit.
PERSON. Any individual, partnership, co-partnership, firm, company, association, society, corporation, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity, or any other legal entity or their legal representatives, agents or assigns. The masculine gender shall include the feminine, the singular shall include the plural where indicated by the context.
pH. The logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.
POTW (PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS). The complete sewage disposal, transportation and treatment system of Genesee County, Michigan, as defined by the Act, the County Public Improvement Act, and this chapter, including any devices, processes and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling or reclamation of wastewater, sewage or sludge, as well as sewers (including all main, lateral and intercepting sewers), pipes and other conveyances used to collect or convey wastewater or sewage to the treatment works, as now or hereafter added to, extended or improved. The term POTW shall also include any sewers that convey wastewaters to the POTW. References in this chapter to approvals, determinations, reviews, and the like, by the POTW shall mean by the County Agency, the POTW Manager, or their authorized representatives. The term POTW may also be used to refer to the GCWWSD (acting through the County Agency) as the entity that has jurisdiction over the discharges to, and discharges from, the POTW (the “control authority”), as appropriate to the context in which the term is used.
PREMISES. A lot, tract, or parcel of land, or a building or structure, having any connection, directly or indirectly, to the POTW, or from which there is a discharge to the POTW.
PRIVATE WASTEWATER DISPOSAL SYSTEM. A cesspool, septic tank, or similar device which discharges to a suitable drainage field.
PROCESS WASTEWATER. Any water which, during manufacturing or processing, comes into direct contact with or results from the production or use of any raw material, intermediate product, finished product, by-product, or waste product.
REU (RESIDENTIAL EQUIVALENT UNIT). A standard basis of measuring the relative quantity of sewage, including the benefits derived from the disposal thereof, arising from the occupancy of a single-family detached residential dwelling (but such term shall not necessarily relate to actual use arising from any particular dwelling). The relative relationship between the various users of the system shall be as determined by the County Agency. The assignment of REUs to a particular user shall be determined from time to time by the County Agency based upon the use to which the user’s property is put. The assignment of REUs for an use shall, in the sole discretion of the County Agency, be based upon the most similar use and shall be enumerated in the Table of Unit Factors which is marked “Exhibit A” and attached to Ordinance 432.
SEEPAGE PIT. A cistern or underground enclosure constructed of concrete blocks, bricks or similar material loosely laid with open joints so as to allow the overflow or effluent to be absorbed directly into the surrounding soil.
SEPTIC TANK. A watertight receptacle receiving sewage and having an inlet and outlet designed to permit the separation of suspended solids from sewage and to permit retained solids to undergo decomposition therein.
SERVICE CONNECTION. The portion of the public sewer which extends either to or onto the parcel of land adjacent to the path of the public sewer, and includes the sewer main, tee/wye, valve,
check valve, connector pipes, and sewer lead, the grinder pump system, electrical controls and connections at the electric meter (but not including the meter) and appurtenances, but not including the building sewer.
SEWAGE. See WASTEWATER.
SEWAGE, SANITARY. See DOMESTIC WASTE.
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT. All facilities consisting of any arrangement of devices and structures used for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage.
SEWER. A pipe, tile, tube or conduit for carrying sewage/wastewater or drainage water.
SEWER, COUNTY. The County Interceptor or any other sewer constructed by the county and the possession, control, and operating responsibility of which is not vested in the township.
SEWER, LATERAL. That portion of the sewer system located under the street or within the public right-of-way from the property line to the trunk line and which collects sewage from a particular property for transfer to the trunk line.
SEWER LEAD. That portion of the service connection which connects to the sewer main located in the public right-of-way and extends to the property line.
SEWER, PUBLIC. A sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights and which is controlled by a public authority.
SEWER, SANITARY. A sewer intended to carry liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions, and to which storm, surface and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.
SEWER SERVICE CHARGE. The sum of the applicable connection fee, inspection fee, user charge, surcharges and debt service charges.
SEWER, STORM OR STORM DRAIN. A sewer or drain, either natural or artificial, intended to carry storm water, snowmelt, and surface runoff and drainage, but not wastewater.
SEWER, TOWNSHIP. Any of the sewers comprising the township arms as identified in the preamble to this chapter or any other sewer as to which the Township has or shall have possession, control, and operating responsibility.
SEWER, PUBLIC. A sewer, located within the township in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights and which is controlled by the county and/or township.
SLUDGE. Accumulated solid material separated from liquid waste as a result of the wastewater treatment process.
SLUG. Any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including, but not limited to, and accidental spill or a non-customary batch discharge.
STATE. The State of Michigan. The term shall include, where applicable, any administrative agency of the state having jurisdiction in the subject matter of this chapter, including (but not limited to) the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
STORM WATER. Any flow (such as storm water runoff, snow melt runoff, and surface runoff and drainage) occurring during or following, and resulting form any form of natural precipitation, and is that portion of flow in excess of that which infiltrates into the soil of the drainage area.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS (SS) or TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS (TSS). Solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in water, wastewater, or other liquids, and which are removed by laboratory filtering or other standard methods.
TOWNSHIP. The Charter Township of Clayton (Clayton Township), Genesee County, Michigan.
TRUNK LINE. The main sewer line located under any street or within any public right-of-way which collects and transmits the sewage of the various properties served by the sewer system.
ug/l. Micrograms per liter.
USER. Any person who contributes, causes or permits the contribution, introduction or discharge of wastewater into the POTW, whether intention or unintentional, and whether directly or indirectly.
USER, NONDOMESTIC. Any user other than a domestic user (such as, any user that discharges anything other than segregated normal strength domestic waste in the POTW).
USER DEBT RETIREMENT CHARGE. The charge levied on all users of the POTW for the cost of any bond debt of which debt repayment is to be met from the revenues of such works.
USER OPERATING AND MAINTENANCE CHARGE. The charge levied on all users of the POTW for the cost of operation and maintenance, including replacement and depreciation of such treatment works.
USER PERMIT. A general user permit or industrial user permit.
WASTEWATER. The liquid and water-carried domestic or industrial waste from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, that is contributed, introduced or discharged into the POTW. The term includes any water that has in any way been used and degraded or physically or chemically treated.
WATERCOURSE. A channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.
WATERS OF THE STATE. All rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, reservoirs, aquifers, irrigation systems, drainage systems, and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface, or underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through, or border upon the state or any portion thereof, and as otherwise specified by applicable laws and regulations.
WATERS OF THE UNITED STATES. All waters as defined by 40 CFR 122.2 and as otherwise specified by applicable laws and regulations.
WYE BRANCH. A local service connection to the sewer that is made at an angle similar to a wye so that a sewer cleaning rod will not come into the sewer at a right angle and penetrate the far side, but will travel down the course of the sewer.
(Ord. 432, passed 10-11-2007)