For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ACT. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq.
ADMINISTRATOR. The Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
APARTMENT. Any single unit of living space having cooking, bathing, and sleeping facilities for the exclusive use of those living in the APARTMENT.
BIOHAZARDOUS MATERIAL. A material that contains pathogenic organisms that are known or reasonably believed to cause disease in humans.
BOD or BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND. The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in 5 days at 20°C, expressed in milligrams per liter.
BUILDING DRAIN. The 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 the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning 5 feet outside the inner face of the building wall.
BUILDING SEWER. The sewer pipe from the building drain to the connection point on the public sewer main or other place of disposal.
COMBINED SEWER. A sewer receiving both surface runoff and sewage.
COMMERCIAL USER. Any user of publicly owned treatment works identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1972, Office of Management and Budget, as amended and supplemented, under the following divisions:
(1) Division F: Wholesale Trade;
(2) Division G: Retail Trade;
(3) Division H: Finance, Insurance, and Real Estate; and
(4) Division I: Services except establishments which discharge industrial wastes.
COMPATIBLE POLLUTANT. Biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, pH, and fecal coliform bacteria, plus additional pollutants identified in the NPDES permit.
DEBT SERVICE CHARGE. A charge levied on users of treatment works for the cost of any bond debt to be paid by revenue generated from the operation of the treatment works.
DEPRECIATION. The decrease in the monetary value of an asset with time. Each component of the sewage works shall be assumed to depreciate at a constant rate over its anticipated service life.
DIRECTOR. The chief administrative officer of a state water pollution control agency or interstate agency. In the event responsibility for water pollution control and enforcement is divided among two or more state or interstate agencies, the term DIRECTOR means the administrative officer authorized to perform the particular procedure to which reference is made.
EASEMENT. An acquired legal right for the specific use of land owned by others.
FEDERAL GRANT. The U.S. government participation in the financing of the construction of treatment works as provided for by Title II, Grants for Construction of Treatment Works, of the Act.
FLOATABLE OIL. Oil, fat, or grease in a physical state such that it will separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment in an approved pretreatment facility. Wastewater shall be considered free of FLOATABLE FAT if it is properly pretreated and the wastewater does not interfere with the collection system.
GARBAGE. Solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food, and from the handling, storage, and sale of produce.
INCOMPATIBLE POLLUTANT. Any pollutant which is not a compatible pollutant as defined in this section.
INDUSTRIAL USER. Any user of publicly owned treatment works identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1972, 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, Communications, Electric, Gas, and Sanitary Services; and
(5) Division I: Services.
INDUSTRIAL WASTES. The wastewater discharges from industrial manufacturing processes, trade, or business separate from or in combination with their employees’ domestic wastes and wastes from sanitary conveniences.
INFLOW SOURCES. Include wastewater flows from rainfall, snowfall, or other precipitation through downspouts, footing drains, yard drains, culverts, storm sewers, and other sources.
MAJOR CONTRIBUTING INDUSTRY or SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER. An industrial user of the publicly owned treatment works who contributes a process waste stream that:
(1) Has a total flow of more than 5,000 gallons per day;
(2) Produces slug flows by intermittent discharges of process tank draindowns, rinses, washes, and the like, so that the flow rate of the discharge is greater than 50 gallons per minute;
(3) Contributes more than 15 pounds per day of BOD5 or suspended solids;
(4) Has in its waste a toxic pollutant as defined in standards issued under § 307(a) of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1317(a)); or
(5) Is found by the permit issuance authority, the State Environmental Protection Agency, to have significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing industries, on the treatment works or upon the quality of the effluent.
MILLIGRAMS PER LITER. A unit of the concentration of water or wastewater constituent. It is 0.001 g of the constituent in 1,000 milliliters of water. It has replaced the unit formerly used commonly (parts per million) to which it is approximately equivalent, in reporting results of water and wastewater analyses.
NATURAL OUTLET. Any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake, or other body of surface or ground water.
NPDES PERMIT. Any permit or equivalent document or requirements issued by the Administrator, or, where appropriate, by the Director, after enactment of the Federal Water Pollution Control Amendments of 1972, to regulate the discharge of pollutants pursuant to § 402 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1342).
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE. Those actions, materials, and services necessary for the proper functioning of treatment and collection facilities over their useful life.
pH. The logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.
POPULATION EQUIVALENT. A term used to evaluate the impact of industrial or other waste on a treatment works or stream. One POPULATION EQUIVALENT is 100 gallons of sewage per day, containing 0.17 pounds of BOD and 0.20 pounds of suspended solids. The impact on a treatment works is evaluated as the equivalent of the highest of the 3 parameters. Impact on a stream is the higher of the BOD and suspended solids parameters.
ppm. Parts per million by weight.
PRETREATMENT. The treatment of wastewaters from sources before introduction into the wastewater treatment works.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE. The 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, with no particle greater than 1/2 inch in any dimension.
PUBLIC SEWER. A sewer main in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights, and is controlled by public authority.
REPLACEMENT. Expenditures for obtaining and installing equipment, accessories, or appurtenances which are necessary during the service life of the treatment works to maintain the capacity and performance for which the works were designed and constructed. The term “operation and maintenance” includes REPLACEMENT.
RESIDENTIAL USER. Any single-family residence, or any single-family quarters as a part of a duplex, apartment house, or multiple-family dwellings and complexes.
SANITARY SEWER. A sewer which carries sewage and to which storm, surface, and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.
SEWAGE. A combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions, and industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface, and storm waters as may be present.
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT. Any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.
SEWAGE WORKS. All facilities for collection, pumping, treating, and disposal of sewage.
SEWER. A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
SEWER RATE. A charge for the use of and services supplied by the sewage works of the city. This charge shall consist of a “user charge” and a “debt service charge” as those terms are defined in this section.
SLUG. Any discharge of water, sewage, or industrial waste which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes more than 5 times the average 24-hour concentration or flow during normal operation.
STORM DRAIN or STORM SEWER. A sewer which carries storm and surface waters and drainage, but excludes sewage and industrial wastes, other than unpolluted cooling water.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS. Solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in water, sewage, or other liquids, and which are removable by laboratory filtering.
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 wastewater treatment facilities provided.
USEFUL LIFE. The estimated period during which the treatment works will be operated and is anticipated to exceed 30 years from the date of start-up of any wastewater facilities constructed with a federal grant.
USER CHARGE. A charge levied on users of treatment works for the cost of operation and maintenance, including replacement.
USER CLASS. The type of user, either “residential,” “commercial,” or “industrial,” as defined by this section.
WASTEWATER. The spent water of a community. From this standpoint, of course, it may be a combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants, and institutions, together with any ground water, surface water, and storm water that may be present.
WASTEWATER FACILITIES. The structures, equipment, and processes required to collect, carry away, and treat domestic and industrial wastes and dispose of the effluent.
WASTEWATER TREATMENT WORKS. An arrangement of devices and structures for treating wastewater, industrial wastes, and sludge. Sometimes used as synonymous with WASTE TREATMENT PLANT, or WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT, or POLLUTION CONTROL PLANT.
WATERCOURSE. A channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.
(1983 Code, § 21-16) (Ord. 2180, passed 12-6-1973; Am. Ord. 2273, passed 10-4-1979; Am. Ord. 2276, passed 12-6-1979; Am. Ord. 2528, passed 11-10-1988; Am. Ord. 2888, passed 6-8-2000)