Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this chapter, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated.
(a) ACT. The Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.), as amended.
(b) AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF THE DISCHARGER MAY BE:
(1) If the discharger is a corporation:
A. The president, secretary, treasurer, or a vice-president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function, or any other person who performs similar policy decision-making functions for the corporation; or
B. The manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operating facilities, provided the manager is authorized to make management decisions that govern the operation of the regulated facility including having the explicit or implicit duty of making major capital investment recommendations, initiates and directs other comprehensive measures to assure long-term environmental compliance with environmental laws and regulations; can ensure that the necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and accurate information for individual wastewater discharge permit requirements; and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
(2) If the discharger is a partnership or sole proprietorship; a general partner or proprietor, respectively.
(3) If the discharger is a Federal, State, or local governmental facility; a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility, or their designee.
(4) The individuals described in paragraphs (1) through (3), above, may designate a Duly 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 authority.
(c) BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES OR BMPs. Means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in § 403.5(a)(1) and (b). BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage, or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.
(d) BYPASS. The intentional diversion of waste streams from any portion of a user's pretreatment facility.
(e) CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARDS or CATEGORICAL STANDARD. National Pretreatment Standards specifying quantities or concentrations of pollutants or pollutant properties which may be discharged to a POTW (Public Owned Treatment Works) by existing or new industrial users in specific industrial subcategories will be established as separate regulations under the appropriate subpart of 40 C.F.R. chapter I, subchapter N. These standards, unless specifically noted otherwise, shall be in addition to all applicable pretreatment standards and requirements set forth in this chapter.
(f) CITY. For this chapter, any of the persons listed in the “Control Authority” definition in division (h) below.
(g) COLLECTION AND TREATMENT FACILITIES. Sewers, pump stations and all wastewater and sludge treatment processes and equipment owned by the City of Middletown.
(h) CONTROL AUTHORITY. The City of Middletown’s POTW which has an approved pretreatment program pursuant to 40 C.F.R. 403.11, any of the POTW’s authorized representatives, the Public Works and Utilities Director, the City Manager or the elected City Council members.
(i) INDIRECT DISCHARGE. The discharge or introduction of non-domestic pollutants from a source regulated under Section 307(b) or (c) of the Act, into the collection and treatment facilities.
(j) INDUSTRIAL USER or USER. A source of indirect discharge.
(k) INDUSTRIAL WASTE. Solid, liquid or gaseous wastes resulting from any industrial, manufacturing, trade, or business process or from the development, recovery or processing of natural resources.
(l) INTERFERENCE. A discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, both: (1) inhibits or disrupts the City's wastewater treatment facility, its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and (2) therefore is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the City's NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation) or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal as defined in 40 C.F.R. 403.31.
(m) mg/l. Milligrams per liter.
(n) NATIONAL PRETREATMENT STANDARD, PRETREATMENT STANDARD or STANDARD. Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with section 307 (b) and (c) of the Act, which applies to industrial users. This term includes prohibitive discharge limits established pursuant to § 403.5.
(o) NEW SOURCE. Any building, structure, facility or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after the publication of proposed Pretreatment Standards under Section 307(c) of the Act which will be applicable to such source if such Standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section, provided that:
(1) The building, structure, facility or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or
(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.
(4) 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 would be considered a new user.
(5) Construction of a NEW SOURCE as defined under this division (o) has commenced if the owner or operator has begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous onsite 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.
(6) 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 division (6).
(p) NPDES. National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program as administered by the U.S. EPA or the State.
(q) O & M. Operation and maintenance.
(r) OTHER WASTES. Decayed wood, sawdust, shavings, bark, lime, refuse, ashes, garbage, offal, oil, tar, chemicals and all other substances except sewage and industrial wastes.
(s) PASSTHROUGH. A discharge which exits the City's wastewater treatment facility into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the City's NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).
(t) pH. Logarithm (base ten) of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration.
(u) POLLUTANT. Any substance listed in Appendix A or included in the City's NPDES permit, which is discharged into the collection and treatment facilities, or any substance which, upon exposure to or assimilation into any organism, will cause adverse effects such as cancer, genetic mutation or psychological manifestations as defined in standards issued pursuant to Section 307(a) of the Act.
(v) PRETREATMENT. The reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alternation of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater to a less harmful state prior to or in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing such pollutants into the treatment facilities.
(w) PRETREATMENT REQUIREMENTS. Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.
(x) PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS or POTW. A treatment works, as defined by Section 212 of the Act, which is owned by the City of Middletown. This definition includes any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature and any conveyances which convey wastewater to the treatment plant.
(y) SEPTIC TANK WASTE. Any sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, RVs and septic tanks.
(z) SEWAGE. Water-carried human wastes or a combination of water-carried wastes from residence, business building, institutions and industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface, storm or other water as may be present.
(aa) SEWER. Any pipe, conduit, ditch or other device used to collect and transport sewage or storm water from the generating source.
(bb) SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER.
(1) Except as provided in paragraph (bb)(2) below, the term SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER includes:
A. All industrial users subject to categorical pretreatment standards; and
B. Any other industrial user that: discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process waste stream to the POTW; discharges a process waste stream which makes up 5% or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW, or has a reasonable potential, in the opinion of the Director of Public Works & Utilities, to adversely affect the POTW's operation or to violate any pretreatment standard or requirement.
(2) The City may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from an industrial user, determine that a non-categorical industrial user is not a significant industrial user if the industrial user has no reasonable potential to adversely affect the POTW's operation or to violate any pretreatment standard or requirement.
(cc) SIGNIFICANT VIOLATION. A violation which remains uncorrected 45 days after notification of noncompliance; which is part of a pattern of noncompliance over a 12-month period; which involves failure to accurately report noncompliance; or resulted in the City exercising its emergency authority under § 1041.06(a). (NOTE: This definition pertains to the annual publication requirements listed under § 1041.06(g).)
(dd) SLUGLOAD. Any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or a non-customary batch discharge, which has a reasonable potential to cause interference or passthrough, or in any other way violate the POTW’s regulations, local limits or permit conditions. The results of such activities shall be available to the approval authority upon request. Significant industrial users are required to notify the POTW immediately of any changes at its facility affecting potential for a slug discharge.
(ee) TOXIC POLLUTANT. Any pollutant or combination of pollutants designated by Federal Regulations pursuant to Section 307 of the Act.
(ff) UPSET. An exceptional incident in which a user unintentionally and temporarily is in a state of noncompliance with applicable pretreatment standards due to factors beyond the reasonable control of the user and excluding noncompliance to the extent caused by operational error, improperly designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of preventive maintenance, or careless or improper operation thereof.
(gg) USER-INDUSTRIAL USER. Any user of the City's wastewater collection and treatment facilities identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual of the U.S. 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, Communication, Gas, Electric, and Sanitary Service; and
(5) Division I - Services.
(Ord. O91-24, passed 4-2-1991; Am. Ord. O2016-65, passed 12-6-2016; Am. Ord. O2021-22, passed 3-16-2021.)