For the purpose of this subchapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
AUTHORIZED ENFORCEMENT AGENCY. The City Department of Storm Water Management.
BOARD. The Decatur Board of Public Works and Safety which controls the Department of Storm Water Management.
COMPLIANCE. The act of correcting a violation or violations within the time frame specified by the Department.
DEPARTMENT. The City Department of Storm Water Management.
DISCHARGE. In the context of water quantity provisions, usually the rate of water flow, i.e., a volume of fluid passing a point per unit time commonly expressed as cubic feet per second, cubic meters per second, gallons per minute, or millions of
gallons per day. In the context of water quality provisions, the
DISCHARGE means any addition of liquids or solids to a water body or a flow conveyance facility.
EROSION AND SEDIMENT CONTROL. A practice, or a combination of practices, to minimize sedimentation by first reducing or eliminating erosion at the source and then as necessary, trapping sediment to prevent it from being discharged from or within a project site.
ILLICIT DISCHARGE. Any discharge to a conveyance that is not composed entirely of storm water except naturally occurring floatables, such as leaves or tree limbs. ILLICIT DISCHARGES include polluted flows from direct and indirect connections to the MS4 conveyance, illegal dumping, and contaminated runoff.
LAND-DISTURBING ACTIVITY. Any man-made change of the land surface, including removing vegetative cover that exposes the underlying soil, excavating, filling, transporting and grading.
OFFENCE. Both a violation and a failure of compliance on a particular project constitute an "offense." If there are multiple violations or multiple failures of compliance on the same project, each shall be considered a separate offense.
PROJECT SITE OWNER. The person required to submit a storm water permit application and required to comply with the terms of this chapter, including a developer or a person who has financial and operational control of construction activities, and project plans and specifications, including the ability to make modifications to those plans and specifications.
STORM WATER DRAINAGE SYSTEM. All means, natural or man-made, used for conducting storm water to, through or from a drainage area to any of the following: conduits and appurtenant features, canals, channels, ditches, storage facilities, swales, streams, culverts, streets and pumping stations.
STORM WATER POLLUTION PREVENTION PLAN. A plan developed to minimize the impact of storm water pollutants resulting from construction activities.
VIOLATION. Any action or inaction which violates the provisions of this chapter, the requirements of an approved storm water management design plan or permit, and/or the requirements of a recorded storm water maintenance agreement may be subject to the enforcement actions outlined in this subchapter. Any such action or inaction is deemed to be a public nuisance and may be abated by injunctive or other equitable relief, in addition to and separate from the imposition of any of the enforcement actions described below.
(Ord. 2023-11, passed 8-1-2023)