Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the following terms, words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section. This chapter is gender-neutral and the masculine gender shall include the feminine and vice-versa. The use of the singular shall be construed to include the plural and the plural shall include the singular as indicated by the context of its use. Definitions for other terms not specified in this chapter shall come from Glossary, Water and Wastewater Control Engineering, 1981, APHA, ASCE, AWWA, WPCF or most recent edition. Abbreviations are defined in § 51.03.
ACCIDENTAL DISCHARGE. An incident in which there is unintentional and temporary noncompliance with categorical pretreatment standards or the provisions of this chapter.
ACT or THE ACT. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.
APPROVAL AUTHORITY. The Director of the Division of Environmental Management of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources, or his or her designee.
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF USER.
(1) If the industrial user is a corporation, AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE shall mean the president, secretary or a vice-president of a principal business function or any other person who performs similar policy- or decision-making functions for the corporation.
(2) If the industrial user is a partnership or sole proprietorship, an AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE shall mean a general partner or the proprietor, respectively.
(3) If the industrial user is a federal, state or local government facility, an AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE shall mean a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility, or their designee.
(4) The individuals described in divisions (1) through (3) above may designate another authorized representative if the authorization is in writing, the authorization specifies the individual or position responsible for the overall operation of the facility from which the discharge originates or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company, and the written authorization is submitted to the county.
AVERAGE FLOW. The total flow in gallons in a normal operating day of 24 hours.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES. Practices, such as preventive maintenance, scheduling of activities or process alterations, that enable the user to comply with the provisions of this chapter or any applicable state and/or federal guidelines.
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND. A standard test used in assessing wastewater strength. The measure of decomposable organic material in domestic or industrial wastewater as represented by the system utilized over a period of five days, at 20°C, and as determined by the appropriate standard procedures.
BYPASS. The intentional diversion of waste streams from any portion of a user’s treatment facility.
CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARDS. Regulations promulgated by the State of North Carolina or local agencies or by the EPA designated as national categorical pretreatment standards or pretreatment standards.
CATEGORICAL STANDARDS. National categorical pretreatment standards or pretreatment standards.
COMMISSIONERS. The Davidson County Board of Commissioners.
COMPATIBLE POLLUTANTS. Wastewater constituents for which the POTW was designed or is operated to adequately treat.
CONTRACTOR. Any person or persons who transport or dispose of septage is a septic tank contractor.
CONTROL AUTHORITY. The County Manager of Davidson County, or his or her authorized representatives.
COUNTY. Davidson County, North Carolina, or any duly authorized agent (s) or official(s) acting on behalf of the county.
DEVELOPER. An individual or group of individuals that seeks to construct new facilities on a property.
DIRECTOR. The County Manager or the person designated by the county to supervise the operation of the county’s wastewater collection and treatment system, or his or her authorized representative(s) .
EFFLUENT. Sewage, water or other liquid flowing out of any basin, treatment device or facility.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY or EPA. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the term may also be used as a designation for the administrator or other duly authorized official of that agency.
FEDERAL REGISTER. A federal government periodical dealing with federal legislation, published weekdays by the National Archives and Records Service.
40 C.F.R. 403. Section 40, Part 403 of the Code of the Federal Register that mandates protection of the environment.
GARBAGE. The animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and/or serving of foods. It is composed largely of putrescible organic matter and its natural moisture content.
GRAB SAMPLE. A sample taken from a waste stream on a onetime basis, with no regard to the flow in the waste stream, and over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.
GREASE INTERCEPTOR OR GREASE TRAP. A pretreatment device designed and installed to separate fats, oils and grease from wastewater.
INDIVIDUAL IN RESPONSIBLE CHARGE. The person at the local level who is in charge of the pretreatment facility and whose responsibility it is to ensure that the wastewater discharge is in compliance with this chapter and state and federal requirements.
INDUSTRIAL USER. Any user of a publicly owned treatment works identified in the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification Manual, or latest revision under the following divisions:
Division A - Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing;
Division B - Mining Division;
D - Manufacturing;
Division E - Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas and Sanitary Services;
Division I - Services;
Division J - Public Administration;
Division K - Nonclassifiable Establishments.
INDUSTRIAL WASTE CONTROL. A section of the Public Works Department that is in charge of controlling industrial discharges to the sewer system and supervising the industrial pretreatment program.
INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER. All water-carried wastes and wastewater, excluding domestic wastewater and unpolluted water. Includes all wastewater from any producing, manufacturing, processing, institutional, commercial, agricultural and/or other operations where the wastewater discharged includes wastes of nonhuman origin.
INFLOW/INFILTRATION. INFLOW is the result of extraneous water entering the sewer system. INFLOW includes water discharged into service connections and sewer pipes from foundation and roof drains, outdoor paved areas, unpolluted cooling water from air conditioners, and unpolluted discharges from businesses and industries. INFILTRATION is the entry of water into the sewer system from surrounding soil. Common points of entry include broken pipe and defective joints in the pipe or walls of manholes. INFILTRATION may result from sewers being laid below the groundwater table or from saturation of the soil by rain or irrigation water.
INFLUENT. Sewage, water or other liquid flowing into any basin, treatment device or facility.
INSTANTANEOUS FLOW RATE. The flow rate at any given moment, measured in gallons per day.
INTERFERENCE. The inhibition or disruption of the POTW treatment processes, operations or its sludge process, use or disposal, which causes or contributes to a violation of any requirement of the POTW’s NPDES or non-discharge permit, or prevents sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with specified applicable state and federal statutes, regulations or permits. The term includes prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal by the POTW in accordance with Section 405 of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1345), or any criteria, guidelines or regulations developed pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) (42 U.S.C. §§ 6901 et seq.), the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuary Act (MPRSA), or more stringent state criteria (including those contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Title IV of SWDA) applicable to the method of disposal or use employed by the POTW.
MAY. Is permissive.
MEDICAL WASTE. Isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes, potentially contaminated laboratory wastes and dialysis wastes.
NATIONAL CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARD or CATEGORICAL STANDARD. Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with Section 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1317), which applies to a specific category of industrial users and which appears in 40 C.F.R., Ch. 1, Subch. N, pts. 405-471.
NATIONAL PROHIBITIVE DISCHARGE STANDARD or PROHIBITIVE DISCHARGE STANDARD. Absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in § 51.48 and are developed under the authority of Section 307(b) of the Act and 40 C.F.R. § 403.5.
NEW SOURCE.
(1) Any building, structure, facility or installation from which there may be a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after the publication of proposed categorical pretreatment standards under Section 307(c) of the Act which will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with Section 307(c), 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.
(2) 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 division (l)(a) or (l)(b) above, but otherwise alters, replaces or adds to existing process or production equipment.
(3) For purposes of this definition, construction of a new source has commenced if the owner or operator has:
(a) Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous on-site construction program:
1. Any placement, assembly or installation of facilities or equipment; or
2. 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
(b) 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 that can be terminated or modified without substantial loss and contracts for feasibility, engineering and design studies do not constitute a contractual obligation under this definition.
NONCOMPATIBLE POLLUTANTS. Those pollutants that are forbidden or regulated by national pretreatment standards, that will pass through a POTW inadequately treated, that interfere with the POTW operations or contaminate the resulting residuals, or that can injure personnel.
NONCONTACT COOLING WATER. Water used for cooling that does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product or finished product.
NORMAL OPERATING DAY. A 24-hour day in which the standard and routine operations and work of the facility are conducted. It would include, but is not limited to: daily cleaning, routine maintenance and production. It would not include: work stoppages, scheduled and unscheduled shutdowns, holiday schedules, major cleanups and the like.
NORMAL SEWAGE. Waters having the following characteristics:
BOD5 - 1,668 pounds per million gallons (200 mg/l) or less;
SS - 1,668 pounds per million gallons (200 mg/1) or less;
Oil and grease - (Hydrocarbon) 834 pounds per million gallons (100 mg/1) or less; and
pH - Not less than 5.0 and not more than 10.0 units.
NORTH CAROLINA PLUMBING CODE. The most recent edition of the North Carolina State Building Code, entitled Plumbing, published by the North Carolina Building Code Council and the North Carolina Department of Insurance.
OIL AND GREASE. Any material (animal, vegetable or hydrocarbon) that is extractable from an acidified sample of a waste by Freon or other designated solvents, and as determined by the appropriate standard procedure.
ANIMAL/VEGETABLE OIL AND GREASE. The oil and grease apart from that differentiated by Method 502 E of Standard of Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater, 17th Edition.
HYDROCARBON OIL AND GREASE. That oil and grease differentiated by Method 502 E of Standard of Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater, 17th Edition.
OUTFALL SEWER. An underground conduit or pipe lying in easements across private property and in areas other than street rights-of-way. The primary purpose of an outfall sewer is to collect sewage flow from street sewers or other outfall sewers, and to convey it further downstream to another outfall or trunk sewer network. While not strictly prohibited, it is neither desired nor advisable to utilize outfall sewers as the primary connection point for service laterals from buildings or structures unless there is no other economically feasible method of providing sewer service to a property.
PASS-THROUGH. A discharge that exits the POTW into waters of the state in quantities or concentrations that, alone or with discharges from other sources, causes a violation, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation, of the POTW’s NPDES or non-discharge permit, or a downstream water quality standard.
PERSON. Any individual, partnership, co-partnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint-stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity or any other legal entity, or their legal representatives, agents or assigns. This definition includes all federal, state and local government entities.
pH. The logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration, expressed in moles per liter, that indicates the degree of acidity or alkalinity of a substance. A pH value of 7.0 is neutral, being neither acid nor alkaline. Values below 7.0 are acid and those above 7.0 are alkaline.
POLLUTANT. Any “waste” as defined in G.S. § 143-213(18) and dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal and agricultural waste, and certain characteristics of wastewater (e.g., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, metals, toxicity or odor).
PRETREATMENT or TREATMENT. The reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater prior to, or in lieu of, discharging or otherwise introducing such pollution into a POTW. The reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological processes or a process changes or other means, except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable, pretreatment standard.
PRETREATMENT PROGRAM. The program for the control of pollutants introduced into the POTW from non-domestic sources developed by the county in compliance with 40 C.F.R. 403.8, and approved by the approval authority as authorized by G.S. § 143-215.3(a)(14) in accordance with 40 C.F.R. 403.11.
PRETREATMENT REQUIREMENTS. Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a pretreatment standard.
PRETREATMENT STANDARD. Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the State of North Carolina or local agencies or by the EPA in accordance with Section 307(b) and (c) of the Act.
PRIVIES. Latrines, outhouses or any other permanently installed outdoor water closets.
PROPER CONNECTIONS. Those sewer pipe connections made in accordance with the North Carolina Plumbing Code or as stipulated by the Director.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE. Wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that have been so shredded that all particles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than one-quarter inch in any dimension.
QUALIFIED LABORATORY.
(1) For commercial laboratories, a laboratory accepted and approved by the North Carolina Department of Environment, Health and Natural Resources (NCDENR) and also approved by the Director.
(2) For all other laboratories, including in-house laboratories, a laboratory accepted and approved by the Director.
RESIDUALS. The solid or semi-solid waste generated from a biological wastewater treatment facility with a NPDES permit that is owned or operated by the Commissioners.
SANITARY SEWER. A pipe or conduit that carries domestic waste and/or industrial wastes, and to which storm, surface, ground waters and unpolluted waters are not intentionally admitted.
SCUM. A filmy layer of matter on the surface of wastewater, including materials that adhere to POTW structures.
SEPTAGE. The sludge produced in individual domestic on-site wastewater disposal systems, such as septic tanks and cesspools.
SERVICE LATERAL. The underground branch pipe connecting buildings or other structures to a street sewer, outfall sewer, trunk sewer or other collecting sewerage conduit, for the purpose of conveying wastewater from the point of origin within a building to the main collecting sewer conduit. SERVICE LATERALS may be of varying sizes, but are usually a minimum four inches diameter and seldom are larger than eight inches in diameter. SERVICE LATERALS may also be referred to as “building sewers”, “building connections” or “laterals”.
SEVERE PROPERTY DAMAGE. Substantial physical damage to property, damage to the user’s treatment facilities that causes them to become inoperable, or substantial and permanent loss of natural resources that can reasonably be expected to occur in the absence of a bypass. SEVERE PROPERTY DAMAGE does not mean economic loss caused by delays in production.
SEWAGE. A combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions and industrial establishments.
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT. Any arrangement of devices, equipment or structures used for treating sewage.
SEWER CONNECTION. A sewer pipeline, normally a four-inch pipe, running laterally from a street sewer, an off-street sewer, outfall sewer or a trunk sewer to an individual tract, lot or parcel of
land to serve one or more houses or other buildings, whether or not connected to any house or building.
SEWER SYSTEM. The structures, equipment and processes required to collect, carry away and treat domestic and industrial wastes, and dispose of the effluent.
SHALL. Is mandatory.
SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER. Any industrial user of the wastewater disposal system that:
(1) Discharges an average of 25,000 gallons or more per day of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact-cooling and boiler-blowdown wastewaters); or
(2) Contributes more than 5% of the design flow of the POTW treatment plant, or more than 5% of the maximum allowable headworks loading of the POTW treatment plant for any pollutant of concern; or
(3) Is required to meet a national categorical pretreatment standard; or
(4) Is, regardless of divisions (1), (2) and (3) of this definition, otherwise determined by the control authority to have a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation, or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement or receiving stream standard, or to limit the POTW’s sludge disposal options.
SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPLIANCE or REPORTABLE NONCOMPLIANCE. Noncompliance defined as follows:
(1) Violations of wastewater discharge limits.
(a) CHRONIC VIOLATIONS. Sixty-six per cent or more of the measurements exceed (by any magnitude) the same daily maximum limit or the same average limit in a six-month period.
(b) TECHNICAL REVIEW CRITERIA (TRC) VIOLATIONS. Thirty-three per cent or more of the measurements are more than the TRC times the limit (maximum or average) in a six-month period. There are two groups of TRCs: for conventional pollutants BOD, TSS, fats, oil and grease, TRC = 1.4; for all other pollutants, TRC = 1.2.
(c) Any other violation(s) of an effluent limit (average or daily maximum) that the control
authority believes has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass-through; or endangered the health of the sewage treatment plant personnel or the public.
(d) 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 to halt or prevent such a discharge.
(2) Violations of compliance schedule milestones, contained in a pretreatment permit or enforcement order, for starting construction, completing construction and attaining final compliance by 90 days or more after the schedule date.
(3) Failure to provide reports for compliance schedule, self-monitoring data, baseline monitoring reports, 90-day compliance reports and periodic compliance reports within 30 days from the due date.
(4) Failure to accurately report noncompliance.
(5) Any other, violation or group of violations that the control authority considers to be significant.
SLUDGE. The solid or semi-solid waste resulting from chemical treatment, coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, flotation, precipitation, filtration and/or biological oxidation of water or wastewater.
SLUG. Any discharge of water, sewage or industrial wastes that, in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow, exceeds, for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes, five times the average 24-hour flows or concentration during normal operating day, or that, in the opinion of the Director, adversely affects the sewer system.
STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION CODE. A four-digit number signifying a particular type of establishment identified in the U.S. Standard Industrial Classification Manual, or latest edition.
STANDARD PROCEDURES. Those methods outlined in the most recent edition of the EPA manual Methods for Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastes, and/or the APHA, AWWA, WPCF publication Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, or in 40 C.F.R. 136.
STORM SEWER or STORM DRAIN. A pipe or conduit designed, constructed and intended to carry stormwater, surface waters, drainage and other unpolluted waters, but not sewage or industrial wastes.
STORMWATER. Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation and resulting therefrom.
STREET SEWER. Underground conduit or pipe, lying within either private or public dedicated rights-of-way, that serves as the primary collection device for sewage flow emanating from buildings and structures by means of individual service laterals. STREET SEWERS may be of a variety of sizes (size is normally a minimum of eight inches in diameter) and may also be referred to as “street mains” or “local sewers”. STREET SEWERS are almost exclusively reserved for the collection of polluted wastewaters to be conveyed to a wastewater treatment facility.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS. Solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in, water, sewage or other liquids; solids that are not dissolved and are measured by the appropriate standard procedures.
TOXIC SUBSTANCES. Any substance or mixture, whether gaseous, liquid or solid, that, when discharged into the sewer system, may tend to interfere with any wastewater treatment process, constitute a hazard to human beings or animals, inhibit aquatic life, or create a hazard to recreation in the receiving waters of the effluent from the sewage treatment plant.
TRUNK SEWER. A major outfall installed along the valley line of a watershed to serve as a collector for street sewers and outfall lines serving subdivisions and developed property within an entire watershed. While not strictly prohibited, it is neither desired nor advisable to utilize TRUNK SEWERS as the primary connection point for service laterals from buildings or structures, unless there is no other economically feasible method of providing sewer service to a property.
UNPOLLUTED WATER. Water whose discharge will not cause any violation of receiving water standards of the State of North Carolina.
UPSET. An exceptional incident in which there is unintentional and temporary noncompliance with categorical pretreatment standards or the provisions of this chapter because of factors beyond the control of the industrial user. An UPSET does not include noncompliance to the extent caused by operational error of improperly designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of preventive maintenance, or careless or improper operation.
USER. An individual, establishment or industry using any part of the sewer system.
WASTEWATER. The liquid and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes, whether treated or untreated, from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities and institutions, together with any inflow and infiltration that may be present, which is discharged into or permitted to enter the county’s treatment works.
WATER CLOSETS. Any self-contained toilets, including those in recreational vehicles and portable units.
WATERS OF THE STATE. All streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourse 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, that are contained within, flow through or border upon the state or any portion thereof.
(Ord. passed 9-9-08)