For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD). The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20ºC, expressed in milligrams per liter.
BUILDING DRAIN. The 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 feet (one and one-half meters) outside the inner face of the building wall.
BUILDING SEWER. The extension from the building drain to the sewer or other place of disposal, also called “house connection.”
COMBINED SEWER. A sewer intended to receive both wastewater and storm or surface water.
COMMERCIAL SERVICE. Includes service to each separate business enterprise, occupation or institution occupying for its exclusive use of any unit or units or space as an entire building, entire floor, suite of rooms or a single room, and using water for such incidental use as the schedule of rates applicable to the particular installation may permit. COMMERCIAL SERVICE shall apply to all stores, offices, hotels and motels, wholesale houses, garages, theaters, barber and beauty shops, churches, hospitals and nursing homes, auditoriums, lodge halls, schools, banks, bakeries, laundromats, and any other space occupied for commercial purposes. Any rooming house, lodging house, resort, inn or tavern renting rooms to strangers or transients without any previous agreement for accommodation or as to the duration of stay shall be classed as a hotel and as such, it comes under the commercial classification. This definition also includes, but is not limited to, RV parks and campgrounds, and other recreational structures. Interpretation of the use of a building is left to the discretion of the Public Works Director.
EASEMENT. A legal right for the use of land, legal title to which is in another person.
FLOATABLE OIL. Oil, fat or grease in a physical state such that it will separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment in an approved pretreatment facility. A wastewater shall be considered free of floatable fat if it is properly pretreated and the wastewater does not interfere with the collection system.
GARBAGE. The animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and serving of foods.
HEARING BOARD. The board appointed according to the provisions of Chapter 4.08.
INDUSTRIAL WASTE. The wastewater from industrial processes, trade or business as distinct from domestic or sanitary wastes.
MAY is permissive and not mandatory. (See SHALL.)
NATURAL OUTLET. Any outlet, including storm sewers and combined sewer overflows, into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or groundwater.
PERSON. Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group.
pH. The logarithm of the reciprocal of the hydrogen-ion concentration. The concentration is the weight of hydrogen-ions, in grams, per liter of solution. Neutral water, for example, has a pH value of seven and a hydrogen-ion concentration of ten.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE. 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 inch (1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.
PUBLIC SEWER. A common sewer controlled by a governmental agency or public utility.
PUBLIC WORKS DIRECTOR. The designee of the city, or his or her authorized deputy, agent or representative, who has charge of the Wastewater Department.
RESIDENTIAL SERVICE. Service to a householder or tenant living in a separate apartment in an apartment building, or shall mean any room or combination of rooms, including trailers and mobile homes, with facilities for cooking, designed for occupancy by one family, also known as a single-family residence.
SANITARY SEWER. A sewer that carries liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions together with minor quantities of ground, storm and surface waters that are not admitted intentionally.
SEWAGE. The spent water of a community. Also known as WASTEWATER.
SEWER. A pipe or conduit that carries wastewater or drainage water.
SHALL is mandatory and must be complied with. (See MAY.)
SLUG. Any discharge of water or wastewater which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes more than five times the average 24-hour concentration or flows during normal operation and shall adversely affect the collection system and/or performance of the wastewater treatment works.
STORM DRAIN (STORM SEWER). A drain or sewer for conveying water, groundwater, subsurface water or unpolluted water from any source.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS. Total suspended matter that either floats on the surface of, or is in suspension in water, wastewater or other liquids, and that is removable by laboratory filtering as prescribed in Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater and referred to as no filterable residue.
UNPOLLUTED WATER. Water of quality equal to or better than the effluent criteria in effect or water that would not cause violation of receiving water quality standards and would not be benefitted by discharge to the sanitary sewers and wastewater treatment facilities provided.
WASTEWATER. The spent water of a community. From the standpoint of source, it may be a combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions, together with any groundwater, surface water and stormwater that may be present.
WASTEWATER FACILITIES. The structures, equipment and processes required to collect, carry away, and treat domestic and industrial wastes and dispose of the effluent.
WASTEWATER TREATMENT WORKS. An arrangement of devices and structures for treating wastewater, industrial wastes and sludge. This term is also synonymous with “wastewater treatment plant,” “water pollution control plant” or “water resource recovery facility.”
WATERCOURSE. A natural or artificial channel for the passage of water either continuously or intermittently.
(Prior Code, § 4.01.010) (Ord. 1, passed 1-17-1980; Ord. 20, passed 11-21-1983; Ord. 2021-10, passed 12-20-2021)