(a) No person shall discharge to a public sewer any materials deleterious to any part of the City's sewerage systems. Such deleterious materials or substances shall include, but not necessarily be limited to any solid, liquid, vapor, substance or waste which:
(1) Is capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers or otherwise interferes with the proper operation of the sewerage system, e.g., construction materials, ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plastic, wood, fur, wax or grease.
(2) Is flammable or explosive such as gasoline, kerosene, benzine, naptha or any other chemical compound capable of causing flammable or explosive conditions.
(3) Would cause the sewage temperature in the public sewer to be higher than 100 degrees F (38 degrees Celsius).
(4) Is acid or alkaline in reaction, and has corrosive properties capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment or people. The acidic or alkaline character of such wastes must be neutralized prior to discharge to within 5.0 to 9.5 pH.
(5) Contains readily releasable cyanide (cyanide released at a temperature of 150 degrees F, sixty-six degrees C, and pH = 2.5) in excess of two mg/l or total cyanide in excess of five mg/l.
(6) Contains over 100 mg/l of readily biodegradable oils and grease which may become solid or viscous within the sewerage system, or over twenty-five mg/l of mineral or other nondegradable oils and greases, regardless of physical characteristics.
(7) Is toxic or poisonous in sufficient quantities or rate of flow to be injurious to or interfere with any treatment process; to constitute a hazard to life and limb of personnel engaged in inspection, maintenance and operation of the system; to constitute a hazard to human beings or animals; or to create any hazard in the receiving waters. Maximum limits for such materials may be established by the Director of Public Service but the maximum so established should not be conclusive as to the civil liability of the offender.
(8) Is of such volume or contains such organic or other material load which would cause the sewage treatment facility's design capacity to be exceeded or cause the City to incur additional expense in the handling or treating thereof.
(9) Is incompatible with the sewage treatment process or inhibits the performance of the treatment process at a City treatment facility.
(10) Can cause the wastewater treatment system's effluent to fail to meet the State and Federal regulatory agency's effluent requirements; or cause any other product of the treatment process, such as residues, sludges or scums, to be unsuitable for disposal, reclamation and reuse; or interfere with the reclamation process.
(11) Can cause a nuisance, air pollution or prevent the effective maintenance or operation of the sewerage system by the release of toxic or malodorous gases, or toxic or malodorous gas-producing substances.
(12) Contains sewage in a strength in excess of 200 ppm B.O.D. and/or 200 ppm suspended solids.
(13) Is in excess of the State and Federal regulatory agency's limitations or the following listed concentrations, whichever is the most stringent.
Substance or Material | Allowable Discharge mg/l |
Arsenic | 0.5 |
Barium | 8.0 |
Cadmium | 0.3 |
Chromium - Hexavalent | 1.0 |
Chromium - Total | 6.0 |
Copper | 0.5 |
Iron | 50.0 |
Lead | 0.5 |
Maganese | 5.0 |
Mercury | 0.01 |
Nickel | 10.0 |
Selenium | 0.1 |
Silver | 0.05 |
Zinc | 2.0 |
Chloride | 1000.0 |
Phenol | 1.0 |
(b) (1) No person shall discharge any wastewater treatment plant effluent, cooling water, or unpolluted water into any separate storm sewer or watercourse unless such discharge is authorized by an NPDES permit or is exempt from NPDES permit regulations and is not otherwise prohibited by this Section.
(2) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged into any separate storm sewer any stormwater associated with industrial activity as defined in 40 CFR 122.26(b) unless the discharge is in compliance with all applicable provisions of the NPDES stormwater regulations in 40 CFR 122.26 and any applicable State regulations and is in compliance with the terms and conditions of any system- wide stormwater discharge permit issued to the District pursuant to those regulations.
(3) No person shall place any dam or other flow restricting structure or device in any drainage facility or watercourse without first having obtained approval from the City Engineer.
(4) No person shall place or deposit into any outfall, drainage facility, storm sewer or watercourse within the City any garbage, trash, yard waste, soil, rock or similar material, or any other substance which obstructs flow in the system or damages the system or interferes with the proper operation of the system or which constitutes a nuisance or a hazard to the public.
(Ord. C25-04. Passed 4-5-04.)
(c) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged or permit to be discharged any storm water, ground water, surface water, roof water runoff, subsurface drainage water, cooling water or unpolluted industrial process waters into a sanitary sewer line of the City.
(Ord. C49-76. Passed 6-21-76.)