§ 541.01 Definitions
   For the purposes of this chapter, the following words, letters, and phrases, or pronouns used in their stead, shall be construed as follows:
   (a)   "BOD" means biochemical oxygen demand, or the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory conditions in five (5) days at twenty degrees Centigrade (20°C), expressed in milligrams per liter.
   (b)   "Building drain" means that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives, inside the walls of the building, the discharge from soil, waste, and other drainage pipes, sump pumps, and other similar conduits, and conveys it to the building sewer which begins three (3) feet outside the building wall.
   (c)   "Building sewer" means that part of the horizontal piping of a drainage system which extends from the end of the building drain, receives discharge and conveys it to the public sewer, a private sewer, an individual wastewater-disposal system, or other points of discharge.
   (d)   "C" means Centigrade degrees.
   (e)   "Capital financing charge" means that portion of the total sewer charge assigned to each user to defray the cost of debt service on the sewer system.
   (f)   "City" means the City of Cleveland, its officials and employees.
   (g)   "Clean Water Act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) and any subsequent amendments.
   (h)   "Combined sewer" means a sewer which intentionally serves as both a sanitary sewer and a storm sewer.
   (i)   "Commissioner" means the Commissioner of Water Pollution Control.
   (j)   "Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses" means the Commissioner of Assessments and Licenses of the City's Department of Finance.
   (k)   "Cooling water" means the water discharged from any use, including without limitation air conditioning, cooling or refrigeration, in the course of which discharge the only pollutant added is heat.
   (l)   "Director" means the Director of Public Utilities.
   (m)   "Division of Streets" means the Division of Streets of the City's Department of Public Works.
   (n)   "Domestic waste" means wastewater which originates as waste from kitchens, water closets, lavatories, bathrooms and showers and which derives principally from residences, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, and institutions.
   (o)   "F" means Fahrenheit.
   (p)   "Garbage" means solid waste from domestic or commercial preparation, cooking and/or dispensing of food or from the handling, storage and/or sale of produce.
   (q)   "Grease or fats" means any material which may be extracted from an acidified sample of waste by the use of hexane or any other solvent designated by the NEORSD or the Division of Water Pollution Control.
   (r)   "Hazardous materials" means any material, including any substance, waste, or combination thereof, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may cause, or significantly contribute to, a substantial present or potential hazard to human health, safety, property, or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed.
   (s)   "Illicit connection" means either of the following:
      (1)   Any drain or conveyance, whether on the surface or subsurface that allows an illegal discharge to enter the storm drain system or natural watercourse including, but not limited to, any conveyances that allows any non-stormwater discharge including sewage, process wastewater, and wash water to enter the storm drain system or natural watercourse and any connections to the storm drain system from the indoor drains and sinks, regardless of whether said drain or connection is new or preexisting; or
      (2)   Any drain or conveyance from a commercial or industrial land use to the storm drain system or natural watercourse that has not been documented in plans, maps, or equivalent records and approved by the Division of Water Pollution Control.
   (t)   "Illicit discharge" means any discharge to the local stormwater system that is not composed entirely of stormwater with the exception of discharges authorized under an NPDES permit (other than the NPDES permit for discharges from the municipal sewer system) and discharges listed in the City of Cleveland Division of Water Pollution Control's Illicit Discharge Detection and Elimination Program Manual as not significant contributors.
   (u)   "Industrial activity" means activities subject to the NPDES Industrial Storm Water Permits as defined in 40 C.F.R. 122.26(b)(14).
   (v)   "Industrial waste" means liquid waste resulting from processes employed in industrial, manufacturing, trade or business establishments, and does not include domestic waste of such establishments.
   (w)   "Lateral" means a tap made to the public sewer when said sewer is originally installed, for the purposes of enabling future sewer connections to be made.
   (x)   "Licensee" means a person to whom a sewer builder's license is issued.
   (y)   "Stormwater system" means the entire system of natural watercourses, stormwater conveyance structures, or stormwater control and shall include those natural watercourses that are wholly or partially within the political subdivision of the City of Cleveland.
   (z)   "mg/l" means milligrams per liter.
   (aa)   "Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4)" means the system of conveyances (including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels, or storm drains) owned or operated by the Federal government, State government, municipality, township, county, district or other public body (created by or under State or Federal law) including special districts under State law such as a sewer district, flood control district, or drainage district, or similar entity or a designated and approved management agency under Section 208 of the Clean Water Act that discharges into surface waters of the State; and designed or used for collecting or conveying solely stormwater, that is not a combined sewer, and that is not part of a publicly owned treatment works.
   (bb)   "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Discharge Permit" means a permit issued by US EPA (or by the State of Ohio or NEORSD under authority delegated under 33 U.S.C. 1342) that authorizes the discharge of pollutants to waters of the United States, whether the permit is applicable to an individual, group, or general area-wide basis.
   (cc)   "NEORSD" means the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.
   (dd)   "Permittee" means a person to whom a sewer connection permit is issued.
   (ee)   "Person" means any individual, association, organization, partnership, firm, corporation, the state, or any political subdivision, or other entity including a property owner.
   (ff)   "pH" means the logarithm of the reciprocal of the concentration of hydrogen ions in gram equivalents per liter.
   (gg)   "Pollutant" means anything that causes or contributes to pollution. Pollutants may include, but are not limited to: dredged soil; paints, varnishes, and solvents; oil and other automotive fluids; non-hazardous liquid or solid wastes, or yard wastes; refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter, or other discarded or abandoned objects; ordinances, and accumulations, so that the same may cause or contribute to pollution; floatables, pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers; hazardous materials, substances and wastes; radioactive materials; biological materials; medical waste; sewage, sewage sludge, fecal coliform and pathogens; dissolved and particulate metals; animal wastes; human wastes; wastes or residues that result from constructing a building or structure; and noxious of offensive matter of any kind.
   (hh)   "Premises" means any building, lot, parcel of land, or portion of land, whether improved or unimproved, including adjacent sidewalks and parking strips.
   (ii)   "Pretreatment" means the application of physical, chemical, and/or biological processes to wastewater to reduce the amount of pollutants or to alter the nature of the pollutant properties of the wastewater prior to its discharge into a public sewer.
   (jj)   "Public sewer" means a sewer which is owned and/or controlled by a governmental entity.
   (kk)   "Roadway" means that portion of a street which is used for vehicular travel.
   (ll)   "Sanitary sewer" means a sewer which carries domestic, commercial, and industrial wastewater, and limited amounts of stormwater, surface or ground water.
   (mm)   "Sewer" means a pipe or conduit, other than a sewer connection, which is located in the street and carries stormwater, surface water, groundwater or wastewater.
   (nn)   "Sewer connection" means that privately owned portion of a building sewer that connects the privately owned portion of a building sewer to a public sewer.
   (oo)   "Sewer connection permit" means a permit issued by the City which authorizes the permittee to install, extend, maintain or repair a sewer connection or a portion.
   (pp)   "Sewer service charge" means the total sewer charge assigned to each user, which charge consists of a user charge and a capital financing charge.
   (qq)   "Sewer system" means the network of sewers within the City's corporate boundaries, which are owned by, or are under the jurisdiction of the City.
   (rr)   "Storm sewer" means a sewer which carries storm, surface or ground water, including cooling water and unpolluted industrial process water, but excluding wastewater and industrial waste.
   (ss)   "Storm water" or "Stormwater" means any storm water runoff, snow melt runoff, and surface runoff and drainage.
   (tt)   "Stormwater Management Plan" means a document that describes the BMPs and activities to be implemented by a person or business to identify sources of pollution or contamination at a site and the actions to eliminate or reduce pollutant discharges to stormwater, stormwater conveyance systems, and/or receiving waters to the maximum extent practicable.
   (uu)   "Street" means the entire width between the boundary lines of every way dedicated to the public use as a thoroughfare for the purpose of vehicular and pedestrian travel.
   (vv)   "Surcharge" means a charge added to the sewer service charge to cover operation and maintenance costs incurred in the treatment of extra- strength wastes.
   (ww)   "Suspended solids" means suspended matter that floats on the surface of or is suspended in water, wastewater or other liquids, and which is removable by laboratory filtering.
   (xx)   "Unpolluted industrial process water" means water used in industrial or manufacturing processes which is sufficiently free of pollutants to qualify for an NPDES permit.
   (yy)   "User" means a user of the sewer system.
   (zz)   "User charge" means that portion of the total sewer charge assigned to each user to defray the user's proportionate share of the cost of operation, maintenance and replacement of the sewer system.
   (aaa)   "Wastewater" means a combination of water-borne waste from residences, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, and institutions, and such ground, surface, or storm water as may be present.
(Ord. No. 609-17. Passed 6-4-18, eff. 6-5-18)