(1) Definitions. For the purpose of this chapter and unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the following terms shall have the following meanings.
(a) "The Act" means the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.
(b) "Approval Authority." The Tennessee Division of Water Resources Director or his/her representative(s).
(c) "Authorized representative." An authorized representative of an industrial user may be:
(i) A principal executive officer of at least the level of vice-president, if the industrial user is a corporation;
(ii) A general partner or proprietor if the industrial user is a partnership or proprietorship, respectively;
(iii) A duly authorized representative of the individual designated above, if such a representative is responsible for the overall operation of the facilities from which the indirect discharge originates. The authorization must be made in writing by an individual described in subparagraphs (i) or (ii) of this paragraph, must specify either an individual or position having responsibility for the overall operation of the facility from which the Industrial discharge originates and/or the overall responsibility for the environmental matters for the company, and the written authorization must be submitted to the Control Authority. A new written authorization must be submitted to the Control Authority when a different individual or position has responsibility for the overall operation of the facility.
(d) "Best Management Practices" or "BMPs" means schedules or activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in Tennessee Rule 0400-40-14-.05 (1)(a) and (2). BMP's also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage and leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.
(e) "BOD, (biochemical oxygen demand)" shall mean the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures (standard methods) in five days at 20 degrees Centigrade (68° Fahrenheit) expressed in milligrams per liter.
(f) "Building drain" shall mean 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 the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning five (5) feet (1.5 meters) outside the inner face of the building wall.
(g) "Building sewer" shall mean the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.
(h) "Categorical Pretreatment Standards" are limitations on pollutant discharges to publicly owned treatment works (POTWs), promulgated by EPA in accordance with Section 307 of the Clean Water Act that apply to specific process wastewaters of particular industrial categories.
(i) "City" shall mean the City of Cookeville, Tennessee.
(j) "Combined sewer" shall mean a sewer receiving all wastewater including a surface runoff. Combined sewers, as defined, are prohibited by any user.
(k) "Commercial and industrial use" shall mean all uses with the exception of domestic use as defined in this chapter.
(l) "Compatible pollutant" means BOD, suspended solids, nitrogen, animal and vegetable oil and grease, pH, and fecal coliform bacteria, and such additional pollutants as are now or may be in the future specified and controlled in this city's NPDES permit for its wastewater treatment works where said works have been designed and used to reduce or remove such pollutants.
(m) "Composite sample." A sample consisting of several effluent portions collected during a 24-hour period. When used in this chapter it shall mean a sample in which the portions of sample are proportionate to the flow and combined to form a representative sample.
(n) "Connection" shall mean any physical tie or hookup made to a sewer line owned, operated and maintained by the city.
(o) "Connection charge" shall mean that charge levied to defray the expenditure required to process the application, make the connection, inspect the sewer lateral and service, and approve the discharge permit.
(p) "Control Authority" refers to the City of Cookeville Department of Water Quality Control and its Director or his authorized representative(s).
(q) "Cooling water" shall mean the water used for heat exchange and discharged from any system of condensation, air conditioning cooling, refrigeration, or other such system, but which has not been in direct contact with any polluting material.
(r) "Customer" shall mean any person who receives sewer service from the city under either an express or implied contract requiring such person to pay the city for such service.
(s) "Department of Water Quality Control or Department" shall mean the Department of Water Quality Control of the City of Cookeville, Tennessee.
(t) "Direct discharge." The discharge of treated or untreated wastewater directly to the waters of the State of Tennessee.
(u) "Director" shall mean the Director of the Department of Water Quality Control for the City of Cookeville, Tennessee, or his authorized representative.
(v) "Domestic use" of the facilities of the wastewater system shall be defined and limited to single family, multi-family, apartment or other dwelling unit or dwelling unit equivalent containing sanitary facilities for the disposal of domestic wastewater and used for residential purposes only.
(w) "Environmental Protection Agency " or "EPA" means the Environmental Protection Agency, an agency of the United States. Where appropriate the term may also be used as a designation for the Administrator or other duly authorized officials of said agency.
(x) "Extra strength wastewater" shall be defined as any wastewater that has any characteristic or combination of characteristics exceeding the characteristics of normal domestic wastewater and that require effort or expenditure over and above that required for treatment of normal domestic wastewater.
(y) "Garbage" shall mean solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food, and from the handling, storage, and sale of produce.
(z) "Grab sample." An individual sample collected over a period of time not exceeding 15 minutes.
(aa) "Holding tank waste." Any waste from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks, and vacuum pump tank trucks.
(bb) "Incompatible pollutant" means any pollutant which is not a compatible pollutant as defined in this chapter.
(cc) "Indirect discharge." The discharge or the introduction of non-domestic pollutants from any source regulated under section 307(b) or (c) of the Act (33 USC 1317), into the POTW, including holding tank wastes.
(dd) "Industrial wastes" are the liquid wastes, other than domestic wastewater, resulting from processes or operations employed in industrial or commercial establishments.
(ee) "Industrial user" means a source of indirect discharge which does not constitute a discharge of pollutants under regulations issued pursuant to section 402, of the Act.
(ff) "Inspector" shall mean the Inspector of the Department of Water Quality Control of Cookeville, Tennessee.
(gg) "Interference" means a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment process or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal, or exceeds the design capacity of the treatment works or the collections system.
(hh) "National Categorical Pretreatment Standard," "Pretreatment Standard," or "Standard" means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with section 307 (b) and (c) of the Federal Clean Water Act, which applies to Industrial Users. This term includes prohibitive discharge limits established pursuant to Tennessee Rule 0400-40-14-.05.
(ii) "National Prohibitive Discharge Standard or Prohibitive Discharge Standard." Any regulation developed under the authority of section 307(b) of the Act and 40 CFR Section 403.5.
(jj) "National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System or NPDES permit." A permit issued to a POTW pursuant to section 403 of the Act, (33 U.S.C. 1342).
(kk) "Natural outlet" shall mean any point of discharge into a water course, pond, ditch, lake, stream, or other body of surface or ground water.
(ll) "New source."
(i) Any building, structure, facility or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which is commenced after the publication of proposed Pretreatment Standards under section 307(c) of the Federal Clean Water Act which will be applicable to such source, if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section, provided that:
(A) The building, structure, facility or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or
(B) The building, structure, facility or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or
(C) The production or wastewater generating processes of the building, structure, facility or installation are substantially independent of an existing source at the same site. In determining whether these are substantially independent, factors such as the extent to which the new facility is integrated with the existing plant, and the extent to which the new facility is engaged in the same general type of activity, as the existing source should be considered.
(ii) 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 parts 2 and 3 of this definition but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to the existing process or production equipment.
(iii) Construction of a new source as defined under this paragraph has commenced if the owner or operator has:
(A) Begun, or caused to begin as part of a continuous onsite construction program:
1. Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment; or
2. Significant site preparation work including cleaning, excavation, or removal of existing buildings, structures, or facilities which is necessary for the placement, assembly, or installation of new source facilities or equipment; or
(B) Entered into a binding contractual obligation for the purpose 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.
(mm) "Normal domestic wastewater or normal wastewater" shall contain a daily average of not more than 300 mg/l of suspended solids; 300 mg/l of BOD5; 800 mg/l of COD; 60 mg/l of TKN; 30 mg/l ammonia nitrogen; 100 mg/l animal and vegetable oil and grease; and contain only compatible pollutants as defined above.
(nn) "OSHA" refers to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
(oo) "Pass-through." means a discharge which exits the POTW into 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).
(pp) "Permit or wastewater discharge permit." A permit issued by the city to an industrial user describing the conditions for discharge into the POTW, as set forth in this chapter.
(qq) "Person, enterprise, establishment, or owner" shall mean any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group using the Cookeville Sewer System.
(rr) "pH" shall mean the logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution. A stabilized pH will be considered as a pH which does not change beyond the specified limits of 5 to 10.5 when the waste is subjected to aeration.
(ss) "Pollutant." Any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological material, radioactive material, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal and agricultural wastes discharged into water.
(tt) "Pretreatment." The reduction of 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 in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing such a pollutant into the POTW. The reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological processes, process changes or by other means, except as prohibited by 40 C.F.R. section 403.6(d).
(uu) "Pretreatment requirements." Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a National Pretreatment Standard imposed on an industrial user.
(vv) "Properly shredded garbage" shall mean the wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food that have been shredded to such a degree that all particles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than one-half (V2) inch (1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.
(ww) "Public sewer" shall mean a sewer controlled by the Control Authority.
(xx) "Publicly owned treatment works or POTW." A treatment works as defined by section 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1292) which is owned in this instance by the city. This definition includes any sewers that convey wastewater to a treatment works, but does not include pipes, sewers, or other conveyances not connected to a facility providing treatment. The term also means the City of Cookeville, a municipality, as defined in section 502 (4) of the Act, (33 U.S.C. 1362).
(yy) "Sanitary sewer" is a sewer intended to receive domestic wastewater and industrial waste, without the admixture of surface water and storm water.
(zz) "Sanitary wastewater" shall mean wastewater discharging from the sanitary conveniences of dwellings, including apartment houses and hotels, office buildings, factories or institutions, and free from industrial wastewater, storm and surface water.
(aaa) "Sewage" shall mean a combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions, and industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface, and storm waters as may be present.
(bbb) "Sewer system" shall mean all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of wastewater.
(ccc) "Sewer" shall mean a pipe or conduit for carrying wastewater.
(ddd) "Sewer lateral" shall consist of the pipe line extending from any sewer main of the city to private property.
(eee) "Shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissive.
(fff) "SIC" means the standard industrial classification of users based upon the SIC manual prepared by the Office of Management and Budget.
(ggg) "Significant Industrial User." Any industrial or commercial user of the city's wastewater disposal system who:
(i) Is subject to Categorical Pretreatment Standards,
(ii) Discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary non-contact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater), or
(iii) Contributes a process waste stream which makes up 5 percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the wastewater treatment plant, or
(iv) Is designated as such by the city on the basis that the industrial user has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
(hhh) "Significant Noncompliance." A violation of one or more of the following shall constitute significant noncompliance:
(i) Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined here as those in which sixty-six percent or more of all of the measurements for each pollutant taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) a numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by Tennessee Rule 0400-40-14-?03(1);
(ii) Technical Review Criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which thirty-three percent or more of all of the measurements for each pollutant parameter taken during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by Tennessee Rule 0400-40-14-.03(1) multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC=1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants). TRC calculations for pH are not required by this rule.
(iii) Any other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement as defined by Tennessee Rule 0400-40-14-.03 (daily maximum, long term average, instantaneous limit, or narrative standard) that the POTW determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass-through (including endangering the health of POTW personnel or the general public);
(iv) Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or to the environment and has resulted in the POTW's exercise of its emergency authority under State Pretreatment Requirements in Tennessee Rule 0400-40-14 under subpart (6)(a)6(ii) of this rule to halt or prevent such a discharge;
(v) Failure to meet, within 90 days after the schedule date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a local control mechanism or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance;
(vi) Failure to provide, within 45 days after the due date, required reports such as baseline monitoring reports, 90-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;
(vii) Failure to accurately report noncompliance;
(viii) Any other violation or group of violations, which may include a violation of Best Management Practices, which the POTW determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program.
(iii) "Slug." Any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including, but not limited to, an accidental spill or a non-customary batch discharge.
(jjj) "Standard methods" shall mean Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater," published by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association, and the Water Pollution Control Federation. Standard methods used shall be the latest approved methods recognized in 40 C.F.R. Part 136.
(kkk) "State." State of Tennessee.
(lll) "Storm sewer" or "storm drain" shall mean a pipe or conduit, ditch or canal which carries storm and surface waters and drainage, cooling water or other unpolluted water, but excludes wastewater.
(mmm) "Suspended solids" shall mean solids that either float on the surface of or are in suspension in wastewater, and which are measurable as prescribed by "standard methods" and expressed in milligrams per liter.
(nnn) "Unpolluted water or waste" shall mean any water or wastewater containing no free or emulsified grease or oil; acid or alkali, phenols or other substances imparting taste and odor in receiving waters, toxic and poisonous substances in suspension, colloidal state or solution, and noxious or odorous gases and/or other polluting materials.
(ooo) "User." Any customer who contributes, causes or permits the contribution of wastewater into POTW.
(ppp) "Wastewater" shall mean the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions and industrial establishments, singular or in any combination, together with such ground, surface and storm water as may be present.
(qqq) "Wastewater treatment plant" shall mean any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating wastewater, or, in the case of the city plant, may also be referred to as POTW (publicly owned treatment works.)
(rrr) "Waters of the state." All waters public or private, on or beneath the surface of the ground, which are contained within, flow through, or border upon the state or any portion thereof except those bodies of water confined to and retained within the limits of private property in single ownership which do not combine or effect a junction with natural surface or underground waters.
(sss) "Wye" shall mean any mechanical connection for a service lateral.
(ttt) "SFU or single family unit" means a single family unit is a single family house or its equivalent based on the volume of wastewater estimated to be used. A SFU is currently calculated to use 180 gpd.
Terms not otherwise defined herein shall be as adopted in the latest edition of "Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater", published by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association and the Water Pollution Control Federation.
(2) Abbreviations. In this chapter the following abbreviations shall stand for the following:
(a) "BOD" represents Biochemical Oxygen Demand.
(b) "CFR" represents Code of Federal Regulations.
(c) "COD" represents Chemical Oxygen Demand.
(d) "EPA" represents Environmental Protection Agency.
(e) "mg/l" represents milligrams per liter which is equivalent to parts per million.
(f) "NH3-N" represents ammonia-nitrogen.
(g) "NPDES" represent National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.
(h) "OSHA" represents Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
(i) "POTW" represents Publicly Owned Treatment Works.
(j) "RCRA" represents Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
(k) "SIC" represents Standard Industrial Code.
(l) "SWDA" represents Solid Waste Disposal Act.
(m) "TSS" represents Total Suspended Solids.
(n) "u/l" represents micrograms per liter which is the equivalent to parts per billion.
(o) "U.S.C." represents United States Code.
(Ord. #17-09-17, October 2017, as amended by Ord. #O22-10-24, November 2022)