Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, as used in this chapter:
“Biochemical oxygen demand” (BOD) means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20°C, expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/l), as determined by Standard Methods.
“Building drain” means that 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 a building and conveys it to the building sewer.
“Building sewer” means the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.
“Categorical pretreatment standards” means national pretreatment standards promulgated by USEPA specifying quantities or concentrations of pollutants or pollutant properties which may be discharged or introduced to the sewage works by specific industrial users.
“Combined sewer” means a sewer which is designed to carry a combination of sanitary sewage and surface or storm water, with or without industrial wastes.
“Cooling water” means the water discharged from any system of condensation, air conditioning, cooling or refrigeration. It shall be free from odor and oil and shall contain no polluting substances.
“Director” means the Director of Public Works and Services.
“Federal Act” or “Act” means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, as amended by the Clean Water Act of 1977 (Pub. L. No. 95-217) 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq., as well as any guidelines, limitations and standards promulgated by USEPA pursuant to the Act.
“Garbage” means solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking and dispensing of food or from the handling storage and sales of produce.
“Holding tank waste” means any waste from holding tanks, including vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks and vacuum/pump tank trucks.
“Industrial user” means any nonresidential user who discharges wastes into the sewage works by means of pipes, conduits, pumping stations, force mains, constructed drainage ditches, intercepting ditches and constructed devices and appliances appurtenant thereto.
“Industrial wastes” means the solid, liquid or gaseous waste resulting from any industrial, manufacturing, trade or business process, or from the development, recovery or processing of natural resources, as distinct from sanitary sewage.
“Interference” means the inhibition of the sewerage system, treatment processes or operations contributing to a violation of any requirement of the NPDES permit.
“May” is permissive.
“Mg/l” means milligrams per liter.
“Natural outlet” means any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or ground water.
“Normal sewage” means sewage having an average daily suspended solids concentration of not more than 220 mg/l, and an average daily BOD of not more than 220 mg/l.
“NPDES permit” means a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued by the OEPA.
“Nuisance” means anything which is so injurious to health, is so indecent or offensive to the senses or is such an obstruction to the free use of property as to interfere with the comfort or enjoyment of life or property, or which affects, at the same time, an entire community or neighborhood or any considerable number of persons, although the extent of the annoyance or damage inflicted upon individuals may be unequal.
“OEPA” means the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
“Person” means any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group. In the case of a corporation, “person” means and includes a company officer directly in charge of wastewater discharges.
“pH” means the logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution. (Low values, 0 - 6.9, indicate the presence of acids or acid forming salts. High values, 7.1 - 14.0, indicate the presence of alkaline material. A pH of 7.0 is considered neutral.)
“Premises” means any parcel of real estate or portion of real estate, including any improvements, determined by the Director to be a single user for purposes of receiving, using and paying for services.
“Pretreatment” means reduction in the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater to a less harmful state, prior to or in lieu of discharging pollutants to the sewage works.
“Private sewer” means a sewer which is not subject to the jurisdiction of the city, in which sewer all owners of abutting properties do not have equal rights.
“Properly shredded garbage” means 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.
“Public sewer” means a sewer provided by or subject to the jurisdiction of the city, in which sewer all owners of abutting properties have equal rights.
“Sanitary sewage” means a combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions or commercial, industrial and manufacturing establishments, contributed by reason of human occupancy.
“Sanitary sewer” means a sewer which carries sanitary sewage and industrial wastes, and into which storm, surface and ground waters or unpolluted wastewaters are not intentionally admitted.
“Sewage” means a combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions, together with any ground, surface and storm water that may be present.
“Sewage works” means all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sanitary sewage and industrial waste.
“Sewer” means any pipe, conduit, ditch or other device used to collect and transport sewage or storm water.
“Shall” is mandatory.
“Slugload” means any discharge which exceeds, for longer than 15 minutes, more than five times the average 24 hour flow during normal operation, or more than five times the 24 hour allowable concentration of materials for which limits are specified.
“Standard Methods” means the laboratory procedures specified in the latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, prepared and published jointly by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association and the Water Pollution Control Federation.
“Storm sewer” means a sewer which carries storm and surface waters, but which excludes sanitary sewage and industrial wastes, other than unpolluted cooling water and unpolluted wastewater.
“Suspended solids” (SS) means the total suspended matter that floats on the surface of or is suspended in water, wastewater, sewage or other liquids, and which is removable by laboratory filtering, expressed in mg/l, as determined by standard methods.
“Unpolluted wastewater” means water of quality equal to or better than the effluent criteria in effect, or water that would not cause a violation of receiving water quality standards and would not be benefitted by discharge to the city’s sanitary sewers and wastewater treatment plant. Such water shall not contain free or emulsified grease or oil, acid or alkali, phenols or other substances which impart taste and odor, toxic or poisonous substances and noxious or odorous gases. Such water shall not contain more than 10,000 mg/l dissolved solids, of which not more than 2,500 mg/l shall be chlorides, ten mg/l BOD, ten mg/l suspended solids and 50 mg/l color.
“USEPA” means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
“User” means any person who discharges or causes or permits the discharge of wastewater into a public sewer.
“Wastes” means sewage and all other substances (liquid, solid, gaseous or radioactive) associated with human habitation or of human or animal origin; or from any producing, manufacturing or processing operation of any nature, including substances placed within containers of any nature prior to and for purposes of disposal.
“Wastewater” means industrial waste, sanitary sewage or any other waste, including that which may be combined with any ground water, surface water or storm water, that may be discharged to the sewage works.
“Wastewater treatment plant” means any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.
“Watercourse” means a channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.
“Water of the state” means any water, surface or underground, including saline waters, within the boundaries of the state.
(Ord. 86-32, passed 6-23-1986)