As used in this chapter:
“Alternative discharging sewage system” shall mean any device or system which results in a point source discharge of treated sewage for which the State Board of Health may issue a permit authorizing construction and operation when such system is regulated by the State Water Control Board pursuant to a general Virginia Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (VPDES) permit issued for an individual single family dwelling with flows less than or equal to 1,000 gallons per day.
“Alternative onsite sewage system AOSS” shall mean a treatment works that is not a conventional onsite sewage system or an alternative discharging sewage system.
“Approved method of the disposal of sewage” means water carriage disposal of sewage to an approved public or private sewage treatment system; water carriage disposal of sewage to an approved onsite sewage treatment system; or non-water carriage disposal of human excrement only to an approved pit privy, portable toilet, or other approved privy facility.
“Conventional onsite sewage system” shall mean a treatment works consisting of one or more septic tanks with gravity, pumped, or siphoned conveyance to a gravity distributed subsurface drain field.
“County” means Loudoun County, Virginia.
“Cr horizon” means weathered or soft bedrock and is used to indicate root restrictive layers of bedrock or saprolite.
“Drainage way” means the concave portion of the landscape in which surface water or rain water runoff gathers intermittently to flow to a lower elevation.
“Enhanced flow distribution” means a pumping system designed to have a minimum capacity of 36 gallons per minute at system head per 1200 linear feet of percolation piping.
“Flood plain” means the land bordering a stream, built-up to unconsolidated sediments from overflow of the stream and subject to inundation when the stream is at flood stage.
“Health Department” means the same as the Health Director.
“Health Director” means the Loudoun County Health Director or his or her duly authorized agent.
“Inspection” means surveillance procedures as used by the Health Department to determine compliance with the provisions of this chapter and State regulations.
“Limestone Overlay District” means those areas of the County, as shown on the County's Zoning Map, which are subject to the Limestone Overlay Zoning District, as set forth in the Revised 1993 Loudoun County Zoning Ordinance, as amended from time to time.
“Lithic rock” means partially weathered rock material which cannot be bored using a standard, hand-operated three and one-quarter inch barrel auger and sixteen-inch cross handle.
“Maintenance” means, (i) performing adjustments to equipment and controls or (ii) in- kind replacement of normal wear and tear parts that do not require a construction permit for adjustment or replacement of the component such as light bulbs, fuses, filters, pumps, motors, or other like components. “Maintenance” does not include replacement of tanks, drainfield piping, subsurface drainfields, or work requiring a construction permit; it also does not include replacement of sewer lines, inlet and outlet structures, conveyance lines, distribution boxes, or header lines.
“Microbial induced corrosion” means corrosion caused or promoted by microorganisms, usually chemoautotrophs.
“Natural outlet” means any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or ground water.
“Onsite Sewage Treatment System” means a complete system for the collection, treatment and disposal of sewage constructed on the property it serves or by easement on another parcel. This includes conventional, alternative and alternative discharging systems.
“Onsite soil evaluator” means a person licensed or certified under Chapter 23 (§ 54.1- 2300 et seq.) of Title 54.1 of the Code of Virginia.
“Paralithic rock” means weathered rock material which may be found above lithic rock and below the natural soil.
“Percolation test” means a standardized water test used to determine the rate of water absorption by soil.
“Pit privy” means a pit for receiving non-water carriage of human waste, over which is placed a privy house with seats.
“Portable Toilet” means a manufactured, portable structure maintained by a licensed operator containing chemicals to neutralize odors, and made specifically for the use of waste disposal.
“Professional Engineer” means a person licensed or certified under Chapter 4 (§ 54.1-400 et seq.) as a professional engineer.
“Restrictive strata” means soil or soil materials with an estimated or measured percolation rate in excess of 120 minutes per inch, including lithic rock, paralithic rock and Cr horizons.
“Sanitary sewer or public sewer” is a carriage system specifically for transporting sewage from houses and commercial buildings through pipes to a public sewage treatment plant.
“Seasonal water table” means an observed water table and/or that portion of the soil profile where a color change has occurred as a result of saturated soil conditions. Typically gray and other low chroma redoximorphic deletions as described in Munsell soil color charts.
“Septage” means the mat of grease and scum on the surface of septic tanks, the accumulated sludge at the bottom of tanks and the sewage present at the time of pumping.
“Septic tank” means a settling tank in which part of the heavy solids are settled and the organic solids decompose by anaerobic bacterial action.
“Sewage” means human excrement and the liquid wastes derived from dwellings, business establishments, institutions and other structures or places used for human habitation, employment or congregation, exclusive of those wastes derived from industrial processes.
“Slope” means the incline surface of a hill, mountain, etc., or any part of the surface of the earth. “Slope” also means the angle at which such surfaces deviate from the horizontal, commonly expressed in percent.
“Soil/site evaluation” means a systematic approach to evaluation of soil conditions by a Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Professional and Occupational Regulation (DPOR) licensed onsite soil evaluator.
“Soil absorption area or soil absorption system” means a physical location in the naturally occurring soil medium where final treatment and dispersal of effluent occurs.
“Standard disinfection” means a disinfection process that results in a fecal coliform concentration of less than or equal to 200 colonies/100 ml.
“Stream” a body of water with a current that contains water year round during average rainfall conditions.
“Sullage” means waste from household, sinks, showers and baths but not toilets.
“Time dose distribution” means a pumping system designed to dose effluent evenly throughout a given time period.
“Treatment level 2 effluent” or “TL-2 effluent” means secondary effluent that has been treated to produce five-day biochemical oxygen demand BOD5 and total suspended solids TSS concentrations equal to or less than 30 mg/l each.
“Treatment level 3 effluent” or “TL-3 effluent” means effluent that has been treated to produce BOD5 and TSS concentrations equal to or less than 10 mg/l each.
“Vault privy” means a watertight chamber for receiving non-water carriage of human waste, over which is placed a privy house with seats.
“Virginia pollutant discharge elimination system permit VPDES” means a permit issued by the State Water Control Board SWCB under the authority of the federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System NPDES program.
(Ord. 94-05. Passed 2-16-94; Ord. 10-02. Passed 2-17-10; Ord. 10-05. Passed 5-4-10; Ord. 17-03. Passed 1-19-17; Ord. 19-17. Passed 11-13-19; Ord. 23-15. Passed 10-11-23.)