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 know as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251, et seq.
ADMINISTRATOR. The Administrator of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
APPROVING AUTHORITY. The Water Superintendent of the city.
BASIC USER CHARGE. The basic assessment levied on all users of the public sewer system.
BOD or BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND. 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.
BUILDING DRAIN. The part of the lowest 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 or other approved point of discharge, beginning five feet (1.5 meters) outside the inner face of the building wall.
BUILDING SEWER. The extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.
CAPITAL IMPROVEMENT CHARGE. A charge levied on users to improve, extend, or reconstruct the sewage treatment works.
COMBINED SEWER. A sewer which is designed and intended to receive wastewater, storm, surface, and groundwater drainage.
COMMERCIAL USER. Transit lodging, retail, and wholesale establishments or places engaged in selling merchandise or rendering services.
CONTROL MANHOLE. A structure located on a site from which industrial wastes are discharged. Where feasible, the manhole shall have an interior drop. The purpose of a “control manhole” is to provide access for the city representative to sample and/or measure discharges.
DEBT SERVICE CHARGE. The amount to be paid each billing period for payment of interest, principal, and coverage of (loan, bond, and the like) outstanding.
DIRECTOR. The Director of the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency.
EASEMENT. An acquired legal right for the specific use of land owned by others.
EFFLUENT CRITERIA. The same as defined in any applicable NPDES Permit.
FEDERAL ACT. The Federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. §§ 466 et seq.) as amended (Pub. Law No. 95-217).
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 and implementing regulations.
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. A 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 food.
INDUSTRIAL USERS. Establishments engaged in manufacturing activities involving the mechanical or chemical transformation of materials of substance into products.
INDUSTRIAL WASTE. Any solid, liquid, or gaseous substance discharged, permitted to flow, or escaping from any industrial, manufacturing, commercial, or business establishment or process or from the development, recovery, or processing of any natural resource as distinct from sanitary sewage.
INSTITUTIONAL/GOVERNMENTAL USER. Schools, churches, penal institutions, and users associated with federal, state, and local governments.
LOCAL CAPITAL COST CHARGE. Charges for costs other than the operation, maintenance, and replacement costs, including debt service and capital improvement costs.
MAJOR CONTRIBUTING INDUSTRY. An industrial user of the publicly-owned treatment works that meets the following conditions:
(1) Has a flow of 50,000 gallons or more per average work day;
(2) Has a flow greater than 10% of the flow carried by the municipal system receiving the waste;
(3) Has in its waste, a toxic pollutant in toxic amounts as defined in standards issued under section 307(a) of the Federal Act; and
(4) Is found by the permit issuant authority, in connection with the issuance of the NPDES permit to the publicly-owned treatment works receiving the waste, to have significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing industries, on that treatment works or upon the quality of effluent from that treatment works.
MILLIGRAMS PER LITER. A unit of the concentration of water or wastewater constituent. It is 0.001 g of the constituent in 1,000 ml of water. It has replaced the unit formerly used commonly, parts per million, to which it is approximately equivalent, in reporting the results of water and wastewater analysis.
NATURAL OUTLET. Any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake, or other body of surface or groundwater.
NPDES PERMIT. Any permit or equivalent document or requirements issued by the Administrator, or, where appropriated by the Director, after enactment of the Federal Clean Water Act to regulate the discharge of pollutants pursuant to section 402 of the Federal Act.
pH. The logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the hydrogen-ion concentration expressed by one of the procedures outlined in the IEPA Division of Laboratories Manual of Laboratory Methods.
POPULATION EQUIVALENT. 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 200 mg/l of BOD and 240 mg/l of suspended solids.
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 one-half inch (1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.
PUBLIC SEWER. A sewer provided by or subject to the jurisdiction of the city. It shall also include sewers within or outside the city boundaries that serve one or more persons and ultimately discharge into the city sanitary (or combined) sewer system, even though those sewers may not have been constructed with city funds.
REPLACEMENT. Expenditures for obtaining and installing equipment, accessories, or appurtenances which are necessary during the useful life of the treatment works to maintain the capacity and performance for which such works were designed and constructed. The term OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE (O&M or OM&R) includes replacement.
RESIDENTIAL USER. All dwelling units such as houses, mobile homes, apartments, and permanent multi-family dwellings.
SANITARY SEWER. A sewer that conveys sewage or industrial wastes or a combination of both, and into which storm, surface, and ground waters or polluted industrial wastes are not intentionally admitted.
SEWAGE. Interchangeable with wastewater.
SEWER. A pipe or conduit for conveying sewage or any other waste liquids, including storm, surface, and groundwater drainage.
SEWER, LATERAL. The section of a pipe that connects a property owner’s building sewer to the city’s main sewer line.
SEWERAGE. The system of sewers and appurtenances for the collection, transportation, and pumping of sewage.
SEWERAGE FUND. The principal accounting designation for all revenues received in the operation of the sewerage system.
SHALL. Is mandatory.
SLUG. Any discharge of water, sewage, or industrial waste which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of low exceeds for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes more than five times the average 24-hour concentration or flows during normal operation.
STATE ACT. The Illinois Anti-Pollution Bond Act of 1970 (ILCS Ch. 30, Act 405, §§ 1 et seq.).
STATE GRANT. The State of Illinois participation in the financing of the construction of treatment works as provided for by the Illinois Anti-Pollution Bond Act (ILCS Ch. 30, Act 405, §§ 1 et seq.) and for making the grants as filed with the Secretary of State of the State of Illinois.
STORM SEWER. A sewer that carries storm, surface, and groundwater drainage but excludes sewage and industrial wastes other than unpolluted cooling water.
STORM WATER RUNOFF. The portion of the precipitation that is drained into the sewers.
SURCHARGE. The assessment in addition to the basic user charge and debt service charge which is levied on those persons whose wastes are greater in strength than the concentration values established.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS (SS). Solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in water, sewage, or industrial waste, and which are removable by a laboratory filtration device. Quantitative determination of suspended solids shall be made in accordance with procedures set forth in the IEPA Division of Laboratories Manual of Laboratory Methods.
UNPOLLUTED WATER. Water 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 collection system and/or treatment works will be operated.
USER CHARGE. A charge levied on users of treatment works for the cost of operation, maintenance, and replacement.
USER CLASS. The type of user, “residential, institutional/governmental, commercial, or industrial,” as defined herein.
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 groundwater, 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 transport effluent to a watercourse.
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.
WATER QUALITY STANDARDS. The same as defined in the Water Pollution Regulations of Illinois.
WATERCOURSE. A channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.
(Ord. 88-57, passed 12-27-1988; Am. Ord. 2008-09, passed 4-29-2008)