(A) For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ACT or THE ACT. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq.
APPROVAL AUTHORITY. The Director of the Division of Environmental Management of the North Carolina Department of Environment, Health, and Natural Resources or his or her designee.
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE INDUSTRIAL USER.
(a) If the industrial user is a corporation,
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE shall mean:
1. The president, secretary, or a vice-president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function, or any other person who performs similar policy or decision-making functions for the corporation; or
2. The manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operation facilities employing more than 250 persons or having gross annual sales or expenditures exceeding $25,000,000 (in second-quarter 1980 dollars), if authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
(b) If the industrial user is a partnership or sole proprietorship, an
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE shall mean a general partner or the proprietor, respectively.
(c) If the industrial user is a federal, state, or local government facility, an
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE shall mean a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility, or their designee.
(d) The individuals described in divisions (a) through (c) above may designate another
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE if the authorization is in writing, the authorization specifies the individual or position responsible for the overall operation of the facility from which the discharge originates or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company, and the written authorization is submitted to the county.
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD). The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five days at 200°C, usually expressed as a concentration (e.g., mg/l).
BUILDING SEWER. A sewer conveying wastewater from the premises of a user to the POTW.
BYPASS. The intentional diversion of wastestreams from any portion of a user's treatment facility.
CATEGORICAL STANDARDS. National Categorical Pretreatment Standards or Pretreatment Standard.
DIRECTOR. The person designated by the county to supervise the operation of the publicly owned treatment works and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this chapter, or his or her duly authorized representative.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY (EPA). The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or where appropriate the term may also be used as a designation for the Administrator or other duly authorized official of the agency.
GRAB SAMPLE. A sample which is taken from a waste stream on a one-time basis without regard to the flow in the waste stream and over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.
HOLDING TANK WASTE. Any waste from holding tanks, including, but not limited to, the holding tanks as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks, and vacuum-pump tank trucks.
INDIRECT DISCHARGE or DISCHARGE. The discharge or the introduction from any nondomestic source regulated under § 307(b), (c), or (d) of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1317), into the POTW (including holding tank waste discharged into the system).
INDUSTRIAL USER or USER. Any person which is a source of indirect discharge.
INTERFERENCE. The inhibition or disruption of the POTW treatment processes, operations, or its sludge process, use, or disposal, which causes or contributes to a violation of any requirement of the POTW's NPDES or non-discharge permit or prevents sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with specified applicable state and federal statutes, regulations, or permits. The term includes prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal by the POTW in accordance with § 405 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1345) or any criteria, guidelines, or regulations developed pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) (42 U.S.C. §§ 6901 et seq.), the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuary Act (MPRSA) or more stringent state criteria (including those contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Title IV of SWDA) applicable to the method of disposal or use employed by the POTW.
MEDICAL WASTE. Isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes, potentially contaminated laboratory wastes, and dialysis wastes.
NATIONAL CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARD or CATEGORICAL STANDARD. Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with § 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1317) which applies to a specific category of industrial users, and which appears in 40 C.F.R. Chapter 1, Subchapter N, Parts 405-471.
NATIONAL POLLUTION DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM PERMIT (NPDES PERMIT). A permit issued pursuant to § 402 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1342), or pursuant to G.S. § 143-215.1 by the state under delegation from EPA.
NATIONAL PROHIBITIVE DISCHARGE STANDARD or PROHIBITIVE DISCHARGE STANDARD. Absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in this chapter and are developed under the authority of § 307(b) of the Act and 40 C.F.R. § 403.5.
NEW SOURCE.
(a) Any building, structure, facility, or installation from which there may be a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after the publication of proposed categorical pretreatment standards under § 307(c) of the Act which will be applicable to the source if the standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with § 307(c), provided that:
1. The building, structure, facility, or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located;
2. The building, structure, facility, or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or
3. The production or wastewater generating processes of the building, structure, facility, or installation are substantially independent of an existing source at the same site. In determining whether these are substantially independent, factors such as the extent to which the new facility is integrated with the existing plant, and the extent to which the new facility is engaged in the same general type of activity as the existing source, should be considered.
(b) Construction on a site at which an existing source is located results in a modification rather than a
NEW SOURCE if the construction does not create a new building, structure, facility, or installation meeting the criteria of divisions (a)2. or (a)3. above but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
(c) For purposes of this definition, construction of a
NEW SOURCE has commenced if the owner or operator has:
1. Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous on-site construction program:
a. Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment; or
b. Significant site preparation work including clearing, excavation, or removal of existing buildings, structures, or facilities which is necessary for the placement, assembly, or installation of new source facilities or equipment.
2. Entered into a binding contractual obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment which are intended to be used in its operation within a reasonable time. Options to purchase or contracts which can be terminated or modified without substantial loss, and contracts for feasibility, engineering, and design studies do not constitute a contractual obligation under this definition.
NONCONTACT COOLING WATER. Water used for cooling which does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product.
NON-DISCHARGE PERMIT. A disposal system permit issued by the state pursuant to G.S. § 143-215.1.
PASS THROUGH. A discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the state in quantities or concentrations which, alone or with discharges from other sources, causes a violation, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation, of the POTW's NPDES or non-discharge permit, or a downstream water quality standard.
PERSON. Any individual, partnership, copartnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity or any other legal entity, or their legal representatives, agents, or assigns. This definition includes all federal, state, and local government entities.
pH. A measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance, expressed as standard units, and calculated as the logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the concentration of hydrogen ions expressed in grams per liter of solution.
POLLUTANT. Any "waste" as defined in G.S. § 143-213(18) and dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste and certain characteristics of wastewater (e.g., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, or odor).
POTW DIRECTOR. The County Manager of Public Works.
POTW TREATMENT PLANT. The portion of the POTW designed to provide treatment to wastewater.
PRETREATMENT or TREATMENT. The reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater prior to or in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing the pollution into a POTW. The reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical, or biological processes, or process changes or other means, except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable pretreatment standard.
PRETREATMENT PROGRAM. The program for the control of pollutants introduced into the POTW from non-domestic sources which was developed by the county in compliance with 40 C.F.R. § 403.8 and approved by the approval authority as authorized by G.S. § 143-215.3 (a)(14) in accordance with 40 C.F.R. § 403.11.
PRETREATMENT REQUIREMENTS. Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a pretreatment standard.
PRETREATMENT STANDARDS. Prohibited discharge standards, categorical standards, and local limits.
PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS (POTW) or MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER SYSTEM. A treatment works as defined by § 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1292), which is owned in this instance by the county. This definition includes any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature. It also includes sewers, pipes, and other conveyances only if they convey wastewater to the POTW treatment plant. For the purposes of this chapter, POTW shall also include any sewers that convey wastewaters to the POTW from persons outside the county who are, by contract or agreement with the county, or in any other way, users of the county's POTW.
SEVERE PROPERTY DAMAGE. Substantial physical damage to property, damage to the user's treatment facilities which causes them to become inoperable, or substantial and permanent loss of natural resources which can reasonably be expected to occur in the absence of a bypass. SEVERE PROPERTY DAMAGE does not mean economic loss caused by delays in production.
SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER. Any industrial user of the wastewater disposal system who:
(a) Has an average daily process wastewater flow of 50,000 gallons or more;
(b) Contributes more than 5% of any design or treatment capacity (i.e., allowable pollutant load) of the wastewater treatment plant receiving the indirect discharge;
(c) Is required to meet a national categorical pretreatment standard; or
(d) Is found by the county, the Division of Environmental Management, or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to have the potential for impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing industrial users, on the wastewater treatment system, the quality of sludge, the system's effluent quality, or compliance with any pretreatment standards or requirements.
SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPLIANCE or REPORTABLE NONCOMPLIANCE. A status of noncompliance defined as follows:
(a) Violations of wastewater discharge limits:
1. Chronic violations - 66% or more of the measurements exceed (by any magnitude) the same daily maximum limit or the same average limit in a six-month period;
2. Technical review criteria (TRC) violations - 33% or more of the measurements are more than the TRC times the limit (maximum or average) in a six-month period. There are two groups of TRCs:
a. For conventional pollutants, BOD, TSS, fats, oil, and grease TRC = 1.4; and
b. For all other pollutants TRC = 1.2.
3. Any other violation(s) of an effluent limit (average or daily maximum) that the control authority believes has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass-through; or endangered the health of the sewage treatment plant personnel or the public; and/or
4. Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health/welfare or to the environment and has resulted in the POTW's exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge.
(b) Violations of compliance schedule milestones, contained in a pretreatment permit or enforcement order, for starting construction, completing construction, and attaining final compliance by 90 days or more after the schedule date;
(c) Failure to provide reports for compliance schedule, self-monitoring data, baseline monitoring reports, 90-day compliance reports, and periodic compliance reports within 30 days from the due date;
(d) Failure to accurately report noncompliance; and/or
(e) Any other violation or group of violations that the control authority considers to be significant.
SLUG LOAD. Any discharge at a flow rate or concentration which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in § 51.015.
STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION (SIC). A classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, 1987.
STORM WATER. Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation and resulting therefrom.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS. The total suspended matter that floats on the surface of, or is suspended in, water, wastewater or other liquids, and which is removable by laboratory filtering.
UPSET. An exceptional incident in which there is unintentional and temporary noncompliance with categorical pretreatment standards because of factors beyond the reasonable control of the user. An UPSET does not include noncompliance to the extent caused by operational error, improperly designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities lack of preventive maintenance, or careless or improper operation.
WASTEWATER. The liquid- and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, mobile sources, treatment facilities and institutions, together with any groundwater, surface water, and storm water that may be present, whether treated or untreated, which are contributed into or permitted to enter the POTW.
WASTEWATER PERMIT. As set forth in § 51.051.
WATERS OF THE STATE. All streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourse, waterways, wells, springs, reservoirs, aquifers, irrigation systems, drainage systems and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface or underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through, or border upon the state or any portion thereof.
(B) For the purpose of this chapter, the following abbreviations shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
BOD. Biochemical Oxygen Demand.
C.F.R. Code of Federal Regulations.
COD. Chemical Oxygen Demand.
EPA. Environmental Protection Agency.
gpd. Gallons per day.
l. Liter.
mg. Milligrams.
mg/l. Milligrams per liter.
G.S. North Carolina General Statutes.
NPDES. National Pollution Discharge Elimination System.
O&M. Operation and Maintenance.
POTW. Publicly-Owned Treatment Works.
RCRA. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
SIC. Standard Industrial Classification.
SWDA. Solid Waste Disposal Act.
TSS. Total Suspended Solids.
TKN. Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen.
U.S.C. United States Code.
(Ord. passed 8-22-1994; Ord. passed 3-21-2022)