For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
APPROVING AUTHORITY. The City Council or its duly authorized board, agent or representative.
BOD (BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND). The quantity of oxygen expressed in parts per million by weight, utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory conditions in five days at 20°C. The laboratory determinations shall be made in accordance with procedures set forth in Standard Methods.
BUILDING DRAIN. The part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives waste from inside 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 (HOUSE CONNECTION). The extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.
CITY. The area within the corporate boundaries of the city, as presently established or as amended by legal actions at a future time. CITY may also be used to refer to the city or any authorized person acting in its behalf.
COD (CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND). The oxygen equivalent of that portion of the organic and inorganic matter in a sample of waste water, expressed in parts per million by weight, that can be oxidized by a strong chemical oxidizing agent. The laboratory determinations shall be made in accordance with procedures set forth in Standard Methods.
COLLECTION SYSTEM. The system of sewers and appurtenances for the collection, transportation and pumping of domestic waste water and industrial wastes.
COMBINED SEWER. A sewer intended to receive both waste water and storm or surface water. The city has no combined sewers.
COMPATIBLE POLLUTANT. Biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, pH and fecal coliform bacteria, plus additional pollutants identified in the city NPDES permit, if the city treatment works is capable of removing the pollutants, and in fact does remove the pollutants to a substantial degree. Examples of the additional pollutants may include: chemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon, phosphorus, phosphorus compounds, nitrogen and/or nitrogen compounds.
CONNECTION. Each connection to the collection system.
CONSTRUCTION COST. The total cost incurred in the construction of sewerage works, consisting of, but not limited to, the sums spent for the following purposes:
(1) Actual sums paid for construction of waste water treatment facilities and for land acquisition;
(2) Actual engineering fees paid for preliminary engineering studies, plans and specifications, services during construction, construction staking, operation and maintenance manuals and initial operator training;
(3) Actual sums paid for soils investigations, waste water sampling and materials testing required for the construction;
(4) Actual fees and wages paid for legal, administrative and fiscal services required by construction of waste water treatment facilities; and
(5) Actual interest paid on the total amount financed by debt obligation for construction of waste water treatment facilities.
DEBT SERVICE CHARGE. The total charge levied on users for purposes of paying construction costs (principal and associated interest) of obligations incurred to finance acquisition and/or construction of sewerage works.
DOMESTIC WASTE WATER. Water-borne wastes normally discharged into the sanitary conveniences of dwellings (including apartment houses and hotel), office buildings, factories and institutions, free of storm and surface water, and industrial wastes.
EASEMENT. An acquired legal right for the specific use of land owned by others.
FLOATABLE OIL. Oil, fat or grease in a physical state such that it will separate, by gravity, from waste water by treatment in an approved pretreatment facility. A waste water shall be considered free of floatable fat if it is properly pretreated and the waste water does not interfere with the collection system.
GARBAGE. The animal and vegetable waste resulting from handling, preparation, cooking and services of foods.
INCOMPATIBLE POLLUTANT. Any pollutant which is not a compatible pollutant.
INDUSTRIAL WASTES. As distinct from domestic or sanitary wastes, shall mean the waste water from industrial processes, trade or business.
INFILTRATION. The water entering the sanitary sewer system and service connections from the ground, through such means as, but not limited to, defective pipes, pipe joints, connections or manhole walls. INFILTRATION does not include, and is distinguished from, inflow.
INFILTRATION/INFLOW (I/I). The total quantity of water from both infiltration and inflow without distinguishing the source.
INFLOW. The water discharged into the sanitary sewer system from such sources as, but not limited to, roof leaders, cellar, yard, and area drains, foundation drains, cooling water discharges, drains from springs and swampy areas, manhole covers, cross connections to storm sewers, catch basins, storm waters, surface runoff, street wash waters or drainage. INFLOW does not include, and is distinguished from infiltration.
MAJOR CONTRIBUTING INDUSTRY. An industrial user of the city treatment works that has an equivalent waste water flow of 50,000 gallons or more per average work day; has a waste water flow greater than 5% of the flow carried by the city system receiving the waste water; has in its waste water a toxic pollutant in toxic amounts as defined in standards issued under 33 U.S.C. § 1317(a); or is found by the permit issuance authority, in connection with the issuance of an NPDES permit to the city treatment works receiving the waste water, to have significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing industries, on the city treatment works or upon the quality of effluent from the city treatment works.
NATURAL OUTLET. Any storm sewer or surface water which overflows into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or groundwater.
NORMAL DOMESTIC STRENGTH WASTE WATER. Normal strength waste water for the city in which the average concentration of suspended materials and five-day BOD is established at not greater than 200 parts per million by weight suspended materials and 200 parts per million by weight BOD. The BOD of normal domestic waste water shall not exceed 350 parts per million. The waste water does not include infiltration and/or inflow and it is composed of domestic waste water.
NPDES PERMIT. The national pollutant discharge elimination system permit held by the city. This permit, which establishes limits on quality and quantity of discharges from the city treatment works, was issued by the state and federal governments in accordance with the provisions of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, (33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq.; the “Act,” §§ 402 and 405).
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE COST. Annual expenditures made by the city in the operation and maintenance of its sewerage works during the design or useful life, whichever is longer, of the sewerage works, consisting of, but not limited to, the sums spent for each of the following purposes:
(1) Wages and salaries of all operating, maintenance, administrative, and supervisory personnel, together with all premiums paid on the wages and salaries (state workers’ compensation coverage, for example);
(2) Actual sums paid for electricity for light and power used for waste water collection and treatment facilities;
(3) Actual sums paid for chemicals, fuel and other operating supplies;
(4) Actual sums paid for repairs to and maintenance of waste water collection and treatment facilities and the equipment associated therewith;
(5) Actual sums paid as premiums for hazard insurance carried on sewerage works;
(6) Actual sums paid as premiums for insurance providing coverage against liability imposed by law for the injury to persons and/or property (including death) of any person or persons resulting from the use and maintenance of the sewerage works;
(7) Actual sums paid for replacement of equipment during the design or useful life, whichever is longer, of the waste water treatment facilities, for example the cost to replace an electric motor or pump that fails, or a broken part in a pump; and
(8) Actual sums set aside in a sinking fund established to provide a future capital amount for replacement of sewerage works equipment.
PARTS PER MILLION. A weight-to-weight ratio; the parts per million value multiplied by the factor 8.345 shall be equivalent to pounds per million gallons of water. PARTS PER MILLION and MILLIGRAMS PER LITER (mg/l) shall be synonymous terms.
PERSON. Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation, municipal corporation, governmental unit 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 0.000,000, one gram/liter or ten to seven (10-7) grams per liter.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE. The wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that have been shredded to the 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.
REPLACEMENT. Expenditures for obtaining and installing equipment, accessories or appurtenances which are necessary during the design or useful life, whichever is longer of the sewerage works to maintain the capacity and performance for which the facilities were designed and constructed. As noted, OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE COST includes REPLACEMENT COSTS.
SANITARY SEWER. A sewer that carries liquid- and water-carried wastes from residencies, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions together with minor quantities of ground, storm and surface waters (infiltration/inflow) that are not admitted intentionally.
SEWAGE. The spent water of a community. The preferred term is WASTE WATER.
SEWER. A pipe or conduit that carries waste water or drainage water.
SEWER SERVICE CHARGE. The total charge levied on users for sewer service. SEWER SERVICE CHARGE is the sum of USER CHARGE and DEBT SERVICE CHARGE.
SEWERAGE WORKS. All facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of waste water and industrial wastes.
SLUG. Any discharge of water or waste water 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 waste water treatment works.
STANDARDS METHOD. The examination and analytical procedures set forth in the latest edition at the time of the analysis of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, as prepared, approved and published jointly by the American Public Health Association, the Water Pollution Control Federation, and the American Water Works Association. The STANDARD METHODS shall also conform to Federal Register Reprint, 40 C.F.R. part 136, “Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for Analysis of Pollutants” (10-16-1973).
STORM DRAIN (STORM SEWER). A drain or sewer for conveying water, ground water, subsurface water or unpolluted water from any source.
STORM WATER RUNOFF. The portion of the rainfall that it drained into the storm sewers or storm drains.
SUMP DUMP. A pump for disposing of storm drainage.
SUPERINTENDENT. The superintendent of waste water facilities of the city, or his authorized deputy, agent, or representative.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS or TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS or TSS. Total suspended matter that either floats on the surface of, or is in suspension in, water, waste water 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 nonfilterable residue.
UNIT. A unit of water is 1,000 gallons.
USER. Any person who discharges, causes, or permits the discharge of waste water into the city’s sanitary sewer system.
USER CHARGE. A charge levied on users to recover each user’s proportionate share of the cost of operation, maintenance, and replacement of sewerage works, pursuant to § 204(b) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended (33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq).
USER CLASS. The division of the users by waste water characteristic or discharge similarities (example; residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and governmental).
(1) COMMERCIAL USER. Any establishment listed in the Office of Management and Budget’s Standard Industrial Classification Manual (1972 edition) involved in a commercial enterprise, business or service which, based on a determination by the city, discharges primarily segregated domestic waste water or waste water from sanitary conveniences.
(2) GOVERNMENTAL USER. Any federal, state or local government user of the waste water treatment facilities.
(3) INDUSTRIAL USER.
(a) Any non-governmental user of the publicly-owned treatment facilities identified in the 1972 Standard Industrial Classification Manual (SICM), Office of Management and Budget, as amended and supplemented under the following divisions:
1. Division A: Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing;
2. Division B: Mining;
3. Division D: Manufacturing;
4. Division E: Transportation, Communication, Electric, Gas and Sanitary Services; and
5. Division I: Services.
(b) An industrial user is also defined as a user who discharges to the city sanitary sewer system any liquid wastes resulting from the processes employed in industry or manufacturing, or in the development of any natural resource.
(4) INSTITUTIONAL USER. Any establishment listed in the SICM involved in a social, charitable, religious or education function which, based on a determination by the city, discharges primarily segregated domestic waste water or waste water from sanitary conveniences.
(5) RESIDENTIAL USER. A user of the treatment facilities whose premises or building is used primarily as a residence for one or more persons, including dwelling units such as detached, semi-detached and row houses, mobile homes, garden and standard apartments or permanent multi-family dwellings. (Transit lodging, considered commercial in nature, is not included.)
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 waste water treatment facilities provided.
WASTE WATER. 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 storm water that may be present.
WASTE WATER FACILITIES. The structures, equipment and processes required to collect, carry away and treat domestic and industrial wastes and dispose of the effluent.
WASTE WATER TREATMENT FACILITIES. An arrangement of devices and structures for treating waste water, industrial wastes and sludge. Sometimes used as synonymous with WASTE TREATMENT PLANT, WASTE WATER TREATMENT PLANT or WATER POLLUTION CONTROL PLANT.
WATERCOURSE. A natural or artificial channel for the passage of water either continuously or intermittently.
(Ord. 201, passed 12-7-1988)