(A) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any storm water, surface water, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, uncontaminated industrial cooling water, air conditioner cooling water or unpolluted industrial process waters to any sanitary sewer.
(B) Storm water and all other unpolluted drainage shall be discharged to the sewers as are specifically designated as storm sewers, or to a natural outlet approved by the City Engineer. Industrial cooling water or unpolluted process waters shall be discharged, on approval of the City Engineer and the issuance of a discharge permit by the state’s Pollution Control Agency, to a storm sewer or natural outlet.
(C) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the following described waters or wastes to any public sewers:
(1) Any liquids, solids or gases which by reason of their nature of 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 wastewater disposal system or to the operation of the system. 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 (LEL) of the meter. Prohibited materials include, but are not limited to, gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, benzene, toluene, xylene, ethers, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, peroxides, chlorates, perchlorates, bromates, carbides, hydrides and sulfides;
(2) Any waters or wastes containing toxic or poisonous solids, liquids or gases in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with other wastes, to injure or interfere with any wastewater treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals, create a public nuisance, or create any hazard in the receiving waters of the wastewater treatment plant:
(a) Hazardous wastes include, but are not limited to, the following concentrations of materials in the wastes as received at the influent of the wastewater treatment plant or any pollutant identified pursuant to § 307(a) of the Act:
Materials | Amount (mg/l) |
Materials | Amount (mg/l) |
Arsenic | 0.1 |
Cadmium | 0.02 |
Chloroform | 1.0 |
Copper | 0.2 |
Cyanide (HCN) | 1.0 |
Fats, oils, grease, waxes | 100 |
Lead | 0.1 |
Mercury | 0.1 |
Nickel | 1.0 |
Phenolic compounds which cannot be removed by the wastewater treatment processes | 0.01 |
Silver | 0.1 |
Total chromium | 3.0 |
Zinc | 2.0 |
(b) When the influent concentration of any of these pollutants exceeds its limit, the city shall immediately investigate to determine the source of the loading increase to the collection system. If the loading increase originates at a single source, corrective action will be to assess fines if a permit violation at the source is occurring or to revise permit limitations to more stringent levels if a violation is not occurring. If the loading increase originates from several sources, fines will be assessed if permit violations are occurring, limitations will be established where no limitations existed previously, or limitations may be revised to more stringent levels.
(3) Any wastewater having a pH less than 5.0 or having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment and personnel of the wastewater disposal system;
(4) Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than 150°F (65°C) or causing, individually or in combination with other wastewater, the influent at the wastewater treatment plant to have a temperature exceeding 104°F (40°C);
(5) Solid or viscous substances in quantities or of a size capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers, or other interference with the proper operating of the sewage works such as, but not limited to, ashes, spent lime, cinders, stone or marble dust, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, gas, tar, plastics, wood, grease, unground garbage with particles greater than one-half inch in any dimension, whole blood, paunch manure, bones, hair and hides or fleshings, animal guts or tissues, entrails, disposable diapers, paper towels and paper dishes, cups, milk containers and the like, either whole or ground by garbage grinders, grass clippings, spent grains, spent hops, waste paper, asphalt residues, residues from refining or processing of fuel or lubricating oil, glass grinding or polishing wastes;
(6) Any chlorinated solvents, pesticides or other substances in the form of noxious or malodorous liquids, gases or solids which either singly or by interaction with other wastes are capable of creating a public nuisance or hazard to life or are sufficient to prevent entry into the sewers for their maintenance and repair;
(7) Any substance which may cause the wastewater disposal system’s effluent or any other product of the wastewater treatment process 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 wastewater disposal system cause the system 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 or disposal developed pursuant to the Solid Wastes Disposal Act, the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act or state standards applicable to the sludge management method being used;
(8) Any substance which will cause the wastewater disposal system to violate its NPDES and/or state disposal system permit or the receiving water quality standards; and
(9) Any wastewater which creates conditions at or near the wastewater disposal system which violates any statute or any rule, regulations or ordinance of any public agency or state or federal regulatory body.
(D) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged the following described substances, materials, waters or wastes if it appears likely in the opinion of the City Engineer that the wastes can harm either the sewers, wastewater treatment process or equipment, have an adverse effect on the receiving stream, or can otherwise endanger life, limb, public property or constitute a nuisance. In forming his or her opinion as to the acceptability of these waste, the City Engineer will give consideration to the factors as the quantities of subject wastes in relation to flows and velocities in the sewers, materials of construction of the sewers, nature of the wastewater treatment process, capacity of the wastewater treatment plant, degree of treatability of wastes in the wastewater treatment plant and other pertinent factors. The substances prohibited are:
(1) Any water or waste containing fats, wax, grease or oils, whether emulsified or not, in excess of 100 mg/l or containing substances which may solidify or become viscous at temperatures between 32°F and 150°F (0°C and 65°C);
(2) Any waters or wastes containing strong acid iron pickling wastes, or concentrated plating solutions whether neutralized or not;
(3) Any waters or wastes containing phenols or other taste-or-odor producing substances, in concentrations exceeding limits after treatment of the composite wastewater, to meet the requirements of the state, federal or other public agencies of jurisdiction for the discharge to the receiving waters;
(4) Any radioactive wastes or isotopes of the half-life or concentration as may exceed limits in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations;
(5) Any waters or wastes having a pH in excess of 9.5; or
(6) Materials which exert or cause:
(a) Unusual concentrations of inert suspended solids (such as but not limited to, Fullers earth, lime slurries and lime residues) or of dissolved solids (such as but not limited to, sodium chloride and sodium sulfate);
(b) Excessive discoloration (such as but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions);
(c) Unusual BOD, chemical oxygen demand or chlorine requirements in quantities as to constitute a significant load on the wastewater treatment works;
(d) Unusual volume or concentration of wastes constituting (slugs), as defined herein; or
(e) Any unpolluted water including, but not limited to, cooling water, storm water or ground water.
(E) (1) Federal pretreatment standards. Federal pretreatment standards promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) pursuant to the Act shall be met by all users which are subject to standards in any instance where they are more stringent than the limitations in this subchapter unless the City Engineer has applied for, and obtained from the MPCA approval to modify the specific limits in the federal pretreatment standards. When requested, an application for modifications of the federal pretreatment standards will be considered for submittal by the City Engineer when the wastewater treatment system achieves consistent removal of all the pollutants. CONSISTENT REMOVAL shall mean reduction in the amount of pollutant or alteration of the nature of a pollutant which is in the influent to the wastewater treatment system to a less toxic or harmless state by the time it is discharged in the effluent. The reduction or alteration will be demonstrated by averaging the lowest 50% of the removals measured by 12 or more samples according to the procedures set forth in 40 C.F.R. § 403.7(c)(2) of the General Pretreatment Regulations for Existing and New Sources of Pollution.
(2) State requirements. State requirements and limitations on discharges shall be met by all users which are subject to standards in any instance in which they are more stringent than federal requirements and limitations or those in this subchapter.
(3) City’s right of revision. The city reserves the right to establish, by ordinance, more stringent limitations or requirements on discharges to the wastewater disposal system if deemed necessary to comply with the objectives presented in § 53.20 of this chapter.
(4) Dilution. No user shall increase the use of process water, or in any way, attempt to dilute a discharge as a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve compliance with the limitations contained herein, contained in the federal pretreatment standards or contained in any state requirements.
(F) Each user shall provide protection from accidental discharge of prohibited materials or other substances regulated by this subchapter. Where necessary, facilities to prevent accidental discharge of prohibited materials shall be provided and maintained at the owner or user’s own cost and expense. Detailed plans showing facilities and operating procedures to provide this protection shall be submitted to the City Engineer for review, and shall be approved by the City Engineer before construction of the facility. Review and approval of plans and operating procedures shall not relieve the industrial user from the responsibility to modify the user’s facility as necessary to meet the requirements of this subchapter.
(G) If any waters or wastes are discharged, or are proposed to be discharged to the public sewers, which waters contain the substances or possess the characteristics enumerated in divisions (G)(3) and (G)(4) below, and which, in the judgment of the City Engineer, may have a deleterious effect upon the wastewater disposal system processes, equipment or receiving waters or which otherwise create a hazard to life or constitute a public nuisance, the City Engineer may:
(1) Reject the wastes;
(2) Require pretreatment to an acceptable condition for discharge to the public sewers;
(3) Require control over the quantities and rates of discharge; and/or
(4) Require payment to cover the added cost of handling and treatment of the wastes not covered by existing taxes or sewer charges. If the City Engineer permits the pretreatment or equalization of waste flows, the design and installation of the plants and equipment shall be subject to the review and approval of the City Engineer, and subject to the requirements of all applicable laws.
(H) Grease, oil and sand interceptors shall be provided when, in the opinion of the City Engineer, they are necessary for the proper handling of the liquid wastes containing grease in excessive amounts or any flammable wastes, sand or other harmful ingredients; except that, the interceptors shall not be required for private living quarters or dwelling units. All interceptors shall be of a type and capacity approved by the City Engineer and shall be located as to be readily and easily accessible for cleaning and inspection. Where installed, all grease, oil and sand interceptors shall be maintained by the owner, at his or her expense, in continuously efficient operation at all times.
(I) Where preliminary treatment of flow-equalizing facilities are provided for any waters or wastes, they shall be maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective operation by the owner at his or her expense.
(J) (1) Monitoring facilities to allow inspections, sampling and flow measurement of the building sewer and/or internal drainage systems shall be provided and operated by all significant industrial users or other industrial user which may have a significant effect as determined by the City Engineer. The monitoring facility should normally be situated on the user’s premises, the City Engineer may, when a location would be impractical or cause undue hardship on the user, allow the facility to be constructed in the public street or sidewalk area and located so that it will not be obstructed by landscaping or parked vehicles. There shall be ample room in or near the sampling manhole or facility to allow accurate sampling and compositing of samples for analysis. The facility, sampling and measurement equipment shall be maintained at all times in a safe and proper operating condition at the expense of the user.
(2) Whether constructed on public or private property, the sampling and monitoring facilities shall be provided in accordance with the City Engineer’s requirements and all applicable construction standards and specifications. Construction shall be completed within 90 days following written notification by the City Engineer, unless a time extension is otherwise granted by the City Engineer. The City Engineer may in certain cases elect to delegate to the city the responsibilities for sampling or monitoring the wastewater from an industry if the City Engineer and the industry are in agreement, in which case total costs to the city for monitoring and sampling will be assessed to the industry.
(K) All measurements, tests and analyses of the characteristics of waters and wastes to which reference is made in this subchapter shall be determined in accordance with the latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, published by the American Public Health Association, and shall be determined at the control manhole provided, or upon suitable samples taken at the control manhole. In the event that no special manhole has been required, the control manhole shall be considered to be the nearest downstream manhole in the public sewer to the point at which the building sewer is connected. Sampling shall be performed in accordance with EPA approved methods contained in 40 C.F.R. part 136 to reflect the effect of constituents upon the wastewater disposal system and to determine the existence of hazards to life, limb and property. (The particular analyses involved will determine whether a 24-hour composite of all outfalls of a premises is appropriate or whether a grab sample or samples should be taken. Normally, but not always, BOD and suspended solids analyses are obtained from 24-hour composites of all outfalls whereas pH is determined from periodic grab samples.)
(L) No statement contained in this section shall be construed as preventing any special agreement or arrangement between the city and any industrial concern whereby an industrial waste of unusual strength or character may be accepted by the city for treatment, subject to payment therefor, by the industrial concern; providing that, federal categorical, prohibited discharge or NPDES permit limitations are not violated. The user pays operation, maintenance and replacement costs in proportion to the user’s proportionate contribution of wastewater flows and loadings to the treatment plant, and no user is charged at a rate less than that of normal domestic strength wastewater.
(M) Any person, owner, lessee or occupant, and any plumber or building contractor who has heretofore made or permitted to be made, or shall hereafter make or permit to be made, any connection to the sanitary system for the purpose of discharging into the system the substances described in this division shall immediately remove the connection. If the connection is not removed within 15 days after notice of the violation delivered personally to the person, owner, lessee or occupant or posted on the premises where the violation may occur, the Council may order the City Engineer to cause the connection to be removed at the expense of the city, and the expense of the removal shall be assessed against the premises and certified to the County Auditor for collection in the same manner as other special assessments, and the same shall become a lien on the property until paid. Any person, owner, lessee, occupant, plumber or building contractor may in addition be prosecuted for having committed a misdemeanor.
(2002 Code, § 3.91) (Ord. 120, Third Series, effective 7-1-1986; Ord. 157, Third Series, effective 12-1-1987; Ord. 107, Sixth Series, effective 5-22-2009; Ord. 25, Seventh Series, effective 6-5-2015) Penalty, see § 10.99