Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of the terms used in this chapter shall be as follows:
"Act” means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 USC 1251 et seq.
“Apartment house” shall mean any building containing three or more dwelling units with separate plumbing facilities, but shall not include any building commonly known as a hotel, motel or auto court.
“Authorized representative” shall mean:
(a) A responsible corporate official, if the user is a corporation, of the level of president, secretary, treasurer or vice president in charge of a principal business function, or any other person who performs similar policy or decision-making functions for the corporation; or the manager of one or more manufacturing, production or operating facilities, if authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures; or
(b) A general partner or proprietor if the user submitting the required reports is a partnership or sole proprietorship respectively; or
(c) By a duly authorized representative of the individual designated in subsection (a) and (b), if:
1. The authorization is made in writing by the individual designated in subsection (a) and (b);
2. The authorization specifies either an individual or a position having responsibility for the overall operation of the facility from which the industrial discharge originates, such as the position of plant manager, or a position of equivalent responsibility, or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company; and
3. The written authorization is submitted to the City or Director.
“Best Management Practices (BMPs)”shall mean the schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in 40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b). BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.
“Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)” shall mean the quantity of oxygen, utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter in five days at 20°C, expressed in mg/l, required to biologically oxidize material in a waste sample.
“Categorical pretreatment standards” shall mean any regulations promulgated and adopted by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) containing pollutant discharge limits and prohibitions, as stated in 40 CFR Chapter 1, Subchapter N, Parts 403 and 405-471, for each identified Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) or subcategory.
“Categorical user” shall mean all industrial users subject to National Categorical Pretreatment Standards as listed by the United States Environmental Protection Agency in 40 CFR 403.
“CFR” means the Code of Federal Regulations.
“Chemical oxygen demand (COD)” shall mean the quantity of oxygen required to chemically oxidize material in a waste sample, expressed in mg/l, under specific conditions of oxidizing agent, temperature and time.
“City” shall mean the City of Corona, California, its officials, all departments and all employees of the city.
“City Council” shall mean the City Council of the City of Corona.
“Class I user” shall mean those industrial users with wastewater discharges of more than 25,000 gallons per day; all significant industrial users; and all categorical users who have a regulated process discharge.
“Class II user” shall mean those industrial users with wastewater discharges of between 10,000 and 24,999 gallons per day.
“Class III user” shall mean those industrial users with wastewater discharges of between 100 and 9,999 gallons per day.
“Class IV user” shall mean those categorical users which do not discharge industrial process wastewater into the city's collection system.
“Class V user” shall mean those industrial users which have a need to temporarily discharge wastewater into the city's collection system.
“Class VI user” shall mean those industrial users which haul by truck or other means wastewater from septic tanks, cesspools, seepage pits and private disposal systems, or industrial users discharging less than 100 gallons per day.
“Collection agency” shall mean the city or a public agency with which the city has an interagency agreement covering the collection of sewage and discharge of sewage by such agency into the city's sewerage system for transmission, treatment and disposal.
“Collection system” shall mean the combined pipes, conduits, manholes and other structures, alone and below ground, and all wastewater conveyance and sewerage systems owned, operated and maintained by the city, including, but not limited to, the city's POTW.
“Community service areas” shall mean the Green River Area, the City of Norco and other areas which utilize the city's POTW by discharging into the city's sewerage system.
“Cooling water” shall mean all water used solely for the purpose of cooling equipment, products or a manufacturing process.
“Costs” shall mean total labor, materials, supplies, transportation expenses, supervision, inspection, engineering and other overhead.
“CSDOC” shall mean County Sanitation Districts of Orange County.
“Dilution” shall mean the increase in use of water or any other substance as a means to dilute a wastestream as a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve discharge requirements.
"Director" shall mean the Director of Utilities of the Utilities Department of the City of Corona, his or her designee or any other designated city employee responsible for administration of the Utilities Department.
“Discharger” shall mean any person who discharges or causes a discharge of wastewater directly or indirectly into the city's collection system.
“Domestic wastewater” shall mean wastewater from private residences and wastewater from other premises resulting from the personal use of water for washing, bathing or sanitary purposes.
“Dwelling unit” shall mean a suite of one or more rooms occupied or intended to be occupied by one person or one family.
“Effluent” shall mean the liquid outflow or treated wastewater flowing from the city's POTW or a user's pretreatment equipment.
“Enforcement response plan” shall mean that written plan created by the city setting forth the city's procedures to enforce this chapter.
“EPA” shall mean the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
“Federal Categorical Pretreatment Standard” shall mean the National Pretreatment Standards specifying quantities or concentrations of pollutants or pollutant properties which may be discharged or introduced into the city's collection system or POTW, by existing or new industrial users, in specific industrial categories established as separate regulations under the appropriate subpart of 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, as it exists and as it may be amended from time to time.
“Floatable hydrocarbon oil” means the amount of hydrocarbon oil floating to the surface of a sample of the water under the same conditions as prescribed in the definition of floatable oil and grease.
“Floatable oil and grease” means the oil and grease floating to the surface of a sample of water when it is retained for one hour in a quiescent condition in a vessel with vertical walls, filled to the depth of 30 centimeters.
“Frontage” shall mean the portions of a parcel abutting a public or approved private right-of-way.
“Good faith” shall mean a user's honest intention to remedy noncompliance, together with actions which give support to the intention.
“Gravity separation interceptor” shall mean a detention chamber designed to remove floatable and settleable material from industrial wastewater prior to discharge into the city's collection system.
“Hazardous substance” or “hazardous material” shall mean any substance capable of creating imminent endangerment to health or the environment, including, but not limited to, any substance designated under 40 CFR 310.11(d) or any hazardous chemical substance subject to regulation under the Toxic Substances Control Act, 15 USCA 2601 et seq. In general, hazardous substances and materials include, but are not limited to, substances which are toxic, explosive, corrosive or flammable, or which generate pressure through heat or decomposition (for example, heavy metals and pesticides, strong acids or bases, distillate fuels and oxidants).
“Heating water” shall mean all water used solely for the heating of a manufacturing process, equipment or product.
“Indirect discharge” shall mean the introduction of pollutants into a POTW from any non-domestic source regulated under Section 307(b), (c) or (d) of the Act.
“Industrial user” shall mean any discharger or potential discharger of industrial wastewater into the city's collection system.
“Industrial user permit” shall mean the regulatory permit issued to users and enforced by the Director to control the discharge of wastewater into the city's collection system or POTW. At the discretion of the Director, the industrial user permit may be issued to an individual facility with specific site information and requirements, or as a general permit to businesses with similar process and treatment requirements, such as restaurants, car washes, film developing, and the like.
“Industrial wastewater” shall mean all water-carried wastes of the city and community service areas, excluding domestic wastewater as defined, and shall include all wastewater from any producing, manufacturing, processing, institutional, governmental, commercial, service, agricultural or other operation. These may also include wastes of human origin similar to domestic wastewaters. All liquid wastes hauled by truck, rail or other means shall be considered industrial wastewater, regardless of the original source of the wastes. Hauled domestic wastewater from septic tanks, cesspools, seepage pits and private disposal systems is also included in the category of industrial wastewater.
“Infectious waste” shall mean all wastes which normally cause or significantly contribute to the cause of increased morbidity or mortality of human beings.
“Inland Empire Brine Line” shall mean the pipeline that transports brine waste to the Orange County Sanitation District for further treatment.
“Interference” shall mean, as defined in 40 CFR 403.3(k), any discharge from a user which, alone or in conjunction with discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the city's collection system, treatment processes or operations or sludge processes, use or disposal, and which causes the city to violate any condition of its state or future NPDES permits.
“Ion exchange water softener” shall mean a water conditioning apparatus that is designed to remove hardness or other impurities from a user's incoming potable water supply.
“Liquid waste hauler” shall mean any business engaged in the hauling of liquid wastes from septic tanks, seepage pits, cesspools or any other private disposal systems.
“Local Limits” shall mean specific discharge limits developed and enforced by the city upon industrial or commercial facilities to implement the general and specific discharge prohibitions listed in 40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b).
“Lower explosive limit (LEL)” shall mean the minimum concentration of a combustible gas or vapor in the air which will ignite if an ignition source is present.
“Mass emission rate” shall mean the pounds per day discharged to the city's collection system of a particular constituent or combination of constituents as contained in an industrial user permit.
“May” means permissive.
“Monitoring equipment” shall mean any city-approved equipment and/or structure used for monitoring industrial wastewater discharges.
“National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES)” shall mean a wastewater discharge permit issued by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board (CRWQCB), in conjunction with and pursuant to Section 402 of the Act (33 USC 1342).
“New source” shall mean, as defined in 40 CFR 403.3(m)(1), (2) and (3):
(a) Any building, structure, facility or installation from which there is, or may be, a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after publication of proposed pretreatment standards, provided that:
1. The building, structure, facility or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located;
2. The building, structure, facility or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or
3. 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.
(b) 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 subsection (a) of this section, but otherwise alters, replaces or adds to existing process or production equipment.
(c) Construction of a new source has commenced if the owner or operator has:
1. Begun, or caused to begin as part of a continuous onsite construction program, any placement, assembly or installation of facilities or equipment or significant site preparation work, including clearing, excavation or removal of existing buildings, structures or facilities necessary for the placement, assembly or installation of new source facilities or equipment; or
2. Entered into a binding contractual obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment 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.
“Noncontact cooling water” shall mean water used for cooling that does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product.
“Oil and grease” shall mean any of the following, in part or in combination, but are not limited to the following:
(a) Petroleum-derived products, for example, oils, fuels, lubricants and solvents;
(b) Vegetable-derived products, for example, oils, shortenings and soluble cutting oils;
(c) Animal-derived products, for example, fats, greases, oils and lard.
“Pass through,” as defined in 40 CFR 403.3(p), shall mean any discharge of pollutants through the city's POTW or into the Inland Empire Brine Line, into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, causes a violation of any requirement placed on the city, including, but not limited to, an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
“Person” shall mean any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation, governmental agency or group, public or private, and includes the plural as well as the singular.
“Pesticides” shall mean those compounds classified as such under federal or state law or regulations. Pesticides include, but are not limited to, the following: DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichloro-ethane, both isomers), DDE (dichlorordiphenyl-ethylene), DDD (dichlorodiphenyldichloroethane), Aldrin, Benzene Hexachloride (alpha [α], beta [ ], and gamma isomers), Chlordane, Endrin, Endrin aldehyde, 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin (TCDD), Toxaphene, α-Endosulfan, Endosulfan Sulfate, Heptachlor, Heptachlor Epoxide, Dieldrin, Demeton, Guthion, Malathion, Methoxychlor, Mirex, and Parathion.
“pH” shall mean the measurement of acidity or alkalinity of a solution, expressed in standard units.
“Pollutant” shall mean, but is not limited to, any solid waste, infectious waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological matters, radioactive materials, rock, sand, dirt, industrial waste, governmental waste and agricultural waste.
“Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs)” shall mean those compounds classified as such under federal or state law or regulations. PCBs include, but are not limited to, the following: Aroclors 1016, 1221, 1228, 1232, 1242, 1248, 1254, 1260, and 1262.
“POTW” shall mean a Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW), including devices, equipment and systems used in the conveyance, storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal sewage, sludge or industrial wastes of a liquid nature, designed to provide treatment to wastewater generated by the city in community service areas, and maintained and operated by the city.
“Premises” shall refer to and include a lot or parcel of land, a building or an establishment.
“Pretreatment” shall mean the reduction in 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 pollutants into the city's collection system or the POTW. The reduction or alteration may be obtained by physical, chemical or biological processes, process changes or by any other means except as prohibited by dilution.
“Pretreatment Standards or Standards” shall mean prohibited discharge standards, Categorical Pretreatment Standards in 40 CFR 403.6, and Local Limits.
“Pretreatment wastes” shall mean all wastes, liquid or solid, removed from a waste stream or discharge by physical, chemical or biological means.
“Property” shall mean a parcel of real property of record as shown in the County Assessor's maps on file in the Planning Department of the City of Corona or the offices of the County Recorder of the County of Riverside.
“RCRA” shall mean the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act as contained in 40 CFR 260-266 and 270.
“Restaurant” shall mean all retail establishments selling prepared foods and drinks for consumption on or off the premises, and lunch counters and refreshment stands selling prepared foods and drinks for immediate consumption. Retail establishments selling prepared food and drink, lunch counters and drinking places operated as a subordinate service facility by other establishments shall also be included.
“Rooming house” shall mean any building other than apartment houses, motel, hotel or auto court, wherein two or more rooms are rented to others for lodging purposes by the person or entity having ownership or charge of such dwelling.
“Sampling and evaluation program” shall mean the determination of mass emission or concentration of constituents or other conditions specified in the industrial user's permit for a period of at least ten to 14 consecutive working days.
“Sanitary Sewer Overflow (SSO)” shall mean any overflow, spill, release, discharge or diversion of untreated wastewater from a sanitary sewer system. SSOs include:
(a) Overflows or releases of untreated or partially treated wastewater that reaches waters of the United States.
(b) Overflows or releases of untreated or partially treated wastewater that do not reach waters of the United States; and
(c) Wastewater backups into buildings and on private property that are caused by blockages or flow conditions within the publicly owned portion of the sanitary sewer system.
“SAWPA” shall mean the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority.
"Sewage" shall mean any water-borne or liquid wastes, including domestic sewage and industrial waste, but does not include or mean stormwater, groundwater, roof or yard drainage.
“Sewage system” shall mean those pipe lines, plant facilities and appurtenances constructed, maintained and operated by the city primarily for the collection of sewage and the conveyance thereof to a sewage treatment plant for the treatment of the sewage.
“Sewer System Management Plan (SSMP)” shall mean an approved plan adopted by the city to control and reduce the occurrence and impact of sanitary sewer overflows
“Shall” means mandatory.
“Significant industrial user” or “SIU” shall mean any industrial user of the city's collection system who:
(a) Is a user as defined in 40 CFR Subchapter N, parts 401 through 471; or
(b) Has a discharge flow rate of 25,000 gallons or more per average work day of processed wastewater, excluding sanitary, non-contact cooling and boiler-blown-down water, or contributes a process wastestream which makes up 5% or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the city's POTW; or
(c) Has in its wastewater toxic pollutants, as defined pursuant to Section 307 or the Act, or state statutes and rules; or
(d) Is found by the city, the CRWQCB or the EPA to have significant impact, either singularly or in combination with other wastewater discharges from contributing industries, on the operation of the POTW, the quality of sludge, the system's effluent quality or air emissions generated by the system.
“Significant noncompliance (SNC)” shall mean any significant industrial user violation(s) which meet any of the criteria below, or any industrial user that violates (c), (d), or (h) below:
(a) “Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits” are defined as those in which 66% or more of all of the measurements taken during a consecutive-six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) the numeric Pretreatment Standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 CFR 403.3 (1);
(b) “Technical review criteria (TRC) violations” are defined as those in which 33% or more of all of the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter during a consecutive-six-month period equal or exceed the product of the numeric Pretreatment Standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC =1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil and grease and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH);
(c) Any other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement (daily maximum, long-term average, instantaneous limit, or narrative standard) that the city determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass through (including endangering the health and safety of POTW personnel or the general public);
(d) Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or to the environment, or has resulted in the city's exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge;
(e) 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;
(f) Failure to meet, within 45 days after the schedule date, required reports such as baseline monitoring reports, 90-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;
(g) Failure to accurately report noncompliance;
(h) Any other violations or group of violations, which may include violations of Best Management Practices, which the city believes will adversely affect the operation and implementation of the city's pretreatment program or the city’s sewer system.
(i) In the case of pH, violations are considered significant if the pH value is more than 1.0 pH units above the upper pH limit or below the lower pH limit, based on any sampling performed.
“Single-pass cooling water” shall mean water that is used solely for the purpose of cooling and is used only once before being discharged.
“Single-pass heating water” shall mean water used solely for the purpose of heating and is used only once before being discharged.
“Slug discharge” shall mean any wastewater, material or waste with such a high flow rate and/or pollutant concentration which will cause significant damage, interference or pass through in the city's collection system, POTW or sludge processes, use or disposal.
“Source” shall mean any building, structure, facility or installation from which there is or may be the discharge of pollutants, including, but not limited to, photo finishing shops, laboratories, commercial laundries and dental/medical/veterinary clinics.
“Storm drain” shall mean a system of open channels, lined and unlined channels, surface channels, impound basins, ground water recharge basins, storm water holding ponds, underground pipes, curb and gutter, cross gutters, storm water pump and lift stations, parking lots, streets and natural water courses used to collect and direct storm precipitation and surface runoff to a receiving body of water or underground aquifer recharge basin.
“Surcharge” shall mean an assessment, in addition to the sewer service charge, levied on those users whose wastewater discharge constituents exceed permitted levels.
“Temporary user” shall mean any user who is granted temporary permission by the Director to discharge unpolluted water or wastewater to the collection system and controlled by a Class V industrial user permit.
“Total toxic organics (TTO)” shall mean the sum of all quantifiable values greater than 0.01 mg/l of the regulated toxic organic compounds found in the user's discharge.
“Unpolluted water” shall mean cooling and heating water, single-pass cooling and heating water, air conditioning condensate, ice melt, condensate, landscape irrigation, crop irrigation and rain water.
“User” shall mean any person, persons or entities (public or private) of a residential, industrial, commercial, governmental or institutional nature that discharges or causes to be discharged wastewater or waterborne wastes into the collection system of the city or community service areas.
"Utilities Department" shall mean the Utilities Department of the City of Corona and its employees.
“Waste” shall mean any discarded solid, semi-solid, liquid or gaseous material.
“Wastewater” shall mean the liquid and water carried along with industrial and/or domestic wastes from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, governmental facilities and institutions which may be present, whether treated or untreated, which is contributed into or permitted to enter the public sewage system.
“Water supply” shall mean the city's water supply serving the area tributary to the city's collection system or the city's monthly average water supply serving the area tributary to the city's POTW. Water supply to an individual establishment means specifically a composite analysis over a 12-month period of samples of the water served to an establishment or location, as determined by testing and compositing samples and analyses approved by the Director.
"WRCRWA" shall mean the Western Riverside County Regional Wastewater Authority.
(`78 Code, § 13.08.020.) (Ord. 3346 § 3, 2022; Ord. 3111 § 3 (part), 2012; Ord. 2985 § 1, 2009; Ord. 2932 § 1, 2008; Ord. 2454 § 1, 2000; Ord. 2330 § 1 (part), 1997; Ord. 2195 § 1 (part), 1994; Ord. 1682 § 2, 1983.)