(A) General discharge prohibitions.
(1) No user shall discharge or cause to be discharged to the City’s sewerage systems, or to any public sewer that directly or indirectly connects to the City’s sewerage system, any wastes which will interfere with the operation or performance of the POTW and may have an adverse or harmful effect on sewers, maintenance personnel, personnel or equipment, treatment plant processes or the quality of treatment plant effluent or residue, public or private property, or wastes which may otherwise endanger the public, the environment, or create a public nuisance. No user shall discharge or cause to be discharged to the City’s sewerage systems, or to any public sewer that directly or indirectly connects to the City’s sewerage systems, any wastes which adversely affect water reclamation processes or the quality of reclaimed water, cause a violation of any POTW permit requirements, or place the City in noncompliance with any of the statutory authorities listed in 40 C.F.R. Part 403.3(i). These general prohibitions apply to all such users of a POTW whether or not the user is subject to federal categorical pretreatment standards or any other federal, state, City, or local pretreatment standards or pretreatment requirements.
(2) (a) The following wastes are prohibited:
1. Any liquids, solids, or gases which by reason of their nature or quantity are, or may be, sufficient either alone or by interaction with other substances to cause fire or explosion or be injurious in any other way to the sewerage system, the POTW, or to the operation of the POTW. This includes, but is not limited to, wastestrearns with a closed cup flashpoint of less than 140°F or 60°C using the test methods specified in 40 C.F.R. Part 261.21. At no time shall two successive readings on an explosion hazard meter, at the point of discharge into the system or at any point in the system, be more than 5% nor any single reading over 10% of the lower explosive limit (LED) of the meter. Prohibited materials include, but are not limited to, gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, benzene, toluene, xylene, ethers, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, solvent, fuel oil, peroxides, chlorates, perchlorates, bromates, carbides, hydrides, and sulfides;
2. Solid or viscous substances which may cause obstruction to the flow in a sewer or other interference with the operation of the wastewater treatment facilities such as, but not limited to, grease, any garbage or waste, other than domestic wastewater, that is not ground sufficiently to pass through a three-eighths inch screen, dead animals, animal guts or tissues, paunch manure, bones, hair, hides or fleshing, entrails, whole blood, feathers, offal, ashes, cinders, sand, spent lime, stone or marble dust, metal, glass, straw, industrial process shavings, diatomaceous earth, grass clippings, rags, spent grains, spent hops, wood, plastics, tar, asphalt residues, mud, or glass grinding wastes or polishing wastes, paper dishes, paper cups, milk containers, or other similar paper products, whole or ground, or materials which tend to solidify in the sewer and obstruct wastewater flow;
3. Any wastewater having a pH less than 5.0 and greater than 9.0, or having any other corrosive or detrimental characteristics capable of causing damage or hazard to the sewerage system or to structures, equipment, and/or personnel of the POTW. Where a user is required by its permit to continuously monitor the pH of its wastewater discharge, the user shall maintain the pH within the range set forth in its permit;
4. Any wastewater containing toxic or poisonous solids, liquids, or gas pollutants in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with other pollutants, to injure or interfere detrimentally with any wastewater treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans, animals, or the environment, create a toxic effect in the receiving waters of the POTW, cause a public nuisance, cause any hazardous condition to occur in the sewerage system, or to exceed the limitation set forth in a categorical pretreatment standard;
5. Any wastewater containing toxic pollutants which result in the presence of toxic gases, vapors, or fumes within the POTW and/or the sewerage system in a quantity that may cause acute worker health and safety problems;
6. Any noxious or malodorous liquids, gases, or solids which either singly or by interaction with other wastes are sufficient to create a public nuisance or hazard to life or are sufficient to prevent entry into the sewers for maintenance and repair;
7. Any substance which may cause the POTW’s effluent or any other product of the POTW, such as residues, sludges, or scums, to be unsuitable for reclamation and reuse or to interfere with the reclamation process. In no case shall a substance discharged to the POTW cause the POTW to be in non-compliance with sludge use or disposal criteria, guidelines, or regulations developed under § 405 of the Act; any criteria, guidelines, or regulations affecting sludge use of disposal developed pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, or state criteria applicable to the sludge management method being used;
8. Any substance which will cause the POTW to violate its permit, state or federal regulations, or the receiving water quality standards;
9. Any wastewater having a temperature of 60°C (140°F) or higher, or which may cause the temperature of the treatment plant influent to exceed 40°C (104°F). Limits established by the control authority in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations;
10. Any waste containing substances that may precipitate, solidify, gel, polymerize, or become viscous under conditions normally found in the sewerage system;
11. Recognizable portions of the human anatomy;
12. Any hazardous waste discharged to any portion of the POTW treatment plant by truck, rail, or dedicated pipe line;
13. Any discharge of pollutants, including oxygen demanding pollutants (BOD and the like), released at a flow rate and/or pollutant concentration which a user knows or has reason to know will cause interference to the POTW. An affirmative defense for a user requires the user to satisfy two conditions as follows: it did not know, or have reason to know, that its discharge would cause pass-through or interference; and it was in compliance with existing limits for each pollutant in its discharge; or, if a limit was not enacted for such pollutant(s), its discharge directly before and during, the pass-through or interference did not change substantially from its prior discharge(s) which occurred when the POTW remained in compliance with its national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) or other operating permit;
14. Any wastewater containing any radioactive waste or isotopes of such half life or concentration as may exceed limits established by the control authority in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations;
15. Any wastewater which causes a hazard to human life or creates a public nuisance;
16. Wastewater which imparts color which cannot be removed by the treatment process such as, but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions;
17. Petroleum oil, nonbiodegradable cutting oil, or products of mineral oil origin;
18. Any waste containing dispersed biodegradable oils, fats, and greases such as lard, tallow, or vegetable oil;
19. Any waste containing detergents, surface active agents, or other substances which may cause foaming in the sewerage system;
20. Storm water, surface water, ground water, artesian well water, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, condensate, deionized water, noncontact cooling water, and unpolluted wastewater;
21. Sludges, screenings, or other residues from the pretreatment of industrial wastes;
22. Medical wastes; and
23. Wastewater causing, alone or in conjunction with other sources, the treatment plant’s effluent to fail a toxicity test.
(b) When the control authority determines that a user(s) is contributing to the POTW any of the above enumerated substances in such amounts as to interfere with or pass-through of the operation of the POTW, the control authority shall advise the user(s) of the impact of the discharge on the POTW and require the user to correct the interference with the POTW pursuant to the provisions of §§ 51.115 through 51.121. Wastewater discharges in excess of the limits established by the City or applicable categorical pretreatment standards shall constitute excessive concentrations or quantities prohibited by this chapter.
(B) Medical and infectious wastes. No person shall discharge solid wastes from hospitals, clinics, offices of medical doctors, dentists, mortuaries, morgues, long term health care, medical laboratories, or other medical facilities to the POTW including, but not limited to, “red bag” wastes, hypodermic needles, syringes, instruments, utensils, or other paper and plastic items of a disposal nature, or wastes excluded by other provisions of this chapter.
(C) Prohibition of dilution and excessive POTW hydraulic loading. No user shall dilute and/or cause excessive POTW hydraulic loading problems, including, but not limited to:
(1) Any water added for the purpose of diluting wastes which would otherwise exceed maximum concentration limits;
(2) Any rain water, storm water runoff, groundwater, street drainage, roof drainage, yard drainage, lawn sprays, or uncontaminated water except where prior approval for such discharge is given by the control authority;
(3) Any deionized water, steam condensate, or distilled water in amounts which cause problems with hydraulic loading;
(4) Any blow-down or bleed water from heating, ventilating, air conditioning, or other evaporative systems exceeding one-third of the makeup water in a two-hour period; and
(5) Any single-pass cooling or heating water.
(Prior Code, § 12-8-2) (Ord. 13-05, passed 3-25-2013) Penalty, see § 51.999