Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this chapter, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated.
(1) "Act" means the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.,) as amended, Public Law 92-500, and any amendments thereto, as well as any guidelines, limitations and standards promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to the Act.
(2) "Director" means the Director of Public Utilities.
(3) "Applicable Treatment Standard" means any pretreatment limit or prohibitive standard (federal, state, and/or local) contained in this chapter deemed to be the most restrictive which non-domestic users will be required to comply with.
(4) "Approval authority" means the Director in an NPDES state with an approved State Pretreatment Program and the Administrator of the EPA in a non-NPDES state without an Approved State Pretreatment Program. The State of Ohio is an NPDES state with an Approved State Pretreatment Program.
(5) Authorized or Duly Authorized Representative of the User.
A. If the User is a corporation:
1. 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 or decision-making functions for the corporation; or
2. 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, and initiate and direct 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 [or general permit] requirements; and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
B. If the User is a partnership or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, respectively.
C. If the User 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.
D. The individuals described in subsections (5)A. through C., 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 City. "Authorized representative of industrial user" means an authorized representative of an industrial user which may be:
(6) "Average monthly discharge limitation" means the highest allowable average of "daily discharges" over a calendar month, calculated as the sum of all daily discharges measured during a calendar month divided by the number of daily discharges measured during that month.
(7) "Average weekly discharge limitation" means the highest allowable average of "daily discharges" over a calendar week, calculated as the sum of all daily discharges measured during a calendar week divided by the number of daily discharges measured during that week.
(8) "Best Management Practices" means schedules of activities, prohibition of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in OAC 3745-3-04. 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 material storage.
(9) "Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD5)" means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five (5) days at 20 degrees centigrade, usually expressed as a concentration (e.g., mg/l).
(10) "Building drain" means that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system carrying wastewater which receives discharge from soil, waste and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building, and conveys it to the Building Sewer, which begins five feet outside the inner face of the building wall.
(11) "Building sewer" means the extension from the Building Drain to the Public Sewer or other place of disposal, also called "House Connection."
(12) "Bypass" means the intentional diversion of waste streams from any portion of an industrial user's treatment facility as per 40 CFR 403.17(a).
(13) "Categorical Industrial User" means An Industrial User subject to a Categorical Pretreatment Standard or Categorical Standard.
(14) "Categorical Pretreatment Standard or Categorical Standard" means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with sections 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. section 1317) that apply to a specific category of Users and that appear in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405-471."
(15) "Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)" means the quantity of oxygen required to oxidize all compounds. Both organic and inorganic, in water under standard laboratory procedures and expressed in milligrams per liter.
(16) "City" means the City of Mount Vernon, State of Ohio.
(17) "Combined sewer" means a sewer which is designed to carry sanitary wastewater, industrial wastewater, and storm water.
(18) "Compatible pollutant" means BOD5 or suspended solids, pH, and fecal coliform bacteria, plus additional pollutants identified in the NPDES Permit if the publicly owned treatment works was designed to treat such pollutants, and in fact does remove such pollutants to a substantial degree. Examples of such additional pollutants may include:
A. COD;
B. Total organic carbon;
C. Phosphorus and phosphorus compounds;
D. Nitrogen and nitrogen compounds
(19) "Composite sample" means a sample that should contain a minimum of eight discrete samples taken at equal time intervals over the compositing period or proportional to the flow rate over the compositing period. More than the minimum number of discrete samples will be required where the wastewater loading is highly variable.
(20) "Control Authority" means the City of Mount Vernon.
(21) "Daily discharge" means the discharge or a pollutant measured during a calendar day or any twenty-four hour period that reasonably represents the calendar for purposes of sampling.
(22) "Daily Maximum" means the arithmetic average of all effluent samples for a pollutant collected during a calendar day.
(23) "Daily Maximum Limit" means the maximum allowable discharge limit of a pollutant during a calendar day. Where Daily Maximum Limits are expressed in units of mass, the daily discharge is the total mass discharged over the course of the day. Where Daily Maximum Limits are expressed in terms of a concentration, the daily discharge is the arithmetic average measurement of the pollutant concentration derived from all measurements taken that day.
(24) "Discharger" or "industrial discharger" means any non-residential user who discharges an effluent into a POTW by means of pipes, conduits, pumping stations, force mains, constructed drainage ditches, surface water intercepting ditches, intercepting ditches, and all constructed devices and appliances appurtenant thereto.
(25) "Domestic" means a residential user of the wastewater treatment works.
(26) "Dry discharger" means a contributor that meets all the following criteria:
A. Discharges only sanitary waste.
B. Has no reasonable potential for toxic spills to the wastewater collection system.
C. Does not affect the wastewater treatment plant either by the quantity or quality of the discharge.
(27) "Environmental Protection Agency or EPA" means The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the Regional Water Management Division Director, the Regional Administrator, or other duly authorized official of said agency.
(28) "EPA Methods" means "Methods for Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastes", 1971, Environmental Protection Agency, Analysis Quality Control Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio, or subsequent revisions.
(29) "Existing Source" means any source of discharge that is not a "New Source."
(30) "Floatable oil" means oil, fat, or grease in a physical state such that it will separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment in an approved pretreatment facility.
(31) "Fats, Oils, and Grease" means organic polar compounds derived from animal and/or plant sources that contain multiple carbon chain triglyceride molecules. These substances are detectable and measurable using analytical test procedures established in 40 CFR 136, as may be amended from time to time. All are sometimes referred to herein as FOG.
(32) "Food Service Establishments" means Cooking establishments (also known as Food Service Establishments or FSEs): Those establishments primarily engaged in activities of preparing, serving, or otherwise making available for consumption foodstuffs, and that use one or more of the following preparation activities: cooking by frying (all methods), baking (all methods), grilling, sautéing, rotisserie cooking, broiling (all methods), boiling, blanching, roasting, toasting, or poaching. Also included are infrared heating, searing, barbequing, and any other food preparation activity that produces a hot, non-drinkable food product in or on a receptacle that requires washing. Examples include, but are not limited to: restaurants, hotels, motels, hospitals, nursing homes, jails, schools, cafeterias, churches, camps, group homes, and caterers.
(33) "Garbage" means solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food, and from the handling, storage, and sale of produce.
(34) "Grab sample" means a sample that is taken from a wastestream without regard to the flow in the wastestream and over a period of time not to exceed fifteen (15) minutes.
(35) "Incompatible pollutant" means any pollutant which is not a "compatible pollutant" as defined in subsection (18) hereof.
(36) "Industrial user" or "Industry" or "User" means a source of indirect discharge.
(37) "Indirect discharge" means the discharge or the introduction of pollutants from a nondomestic source regulated under Section 307(b), (c) or (d) of the Act into the sewage works.
(38) "Industrial wastes" (sometimes called "process water") means the liquid, solid, or gaseous wastes from industrial manufacturing processes, or processing of natural resources.
(39) "Instantaneous Limit" means the maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from the analysis of any discrete or composited sample collected, independent of the industrial flow rate and the duration of the sampling event.
(40) "Interceptor" means a device designed and installed so as to separate and/or retain deleterious, hazardous or undesirable matter from normal sewage, and permits normal wastewater or discharge into the disposal terminal by gravity.
(41) "Interference" means a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, both;
A. Inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and,
B. Therefore is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the City's NPDES Permit or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with any of the following statutory/regulatory provisions or permits issued there under, or any more stringent State or local regulations: section 405 of the Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act, including Title II commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); any State
regulations contained in any State sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act; the Clean Air Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; and the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act.
(42) "Local Limit" means specific discharge limits developed and enforced by the City upon industrial or commercial facilities to implement the general and specific discharge prohibitions listed in 40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b).
(43) "Maximum daily discharge limitations" means the highest allowable "daily discharge".
(44) "May" is permissive, "shall" is mandatory.
(45) "Medical Waste" means 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.
(46) "Monthly Average" means the sum of all "daily discharges" measured during a calendar month divided by the number of "daily discharges" measured during that month.
(47) "Monthly Average Limit" means the highest allowable average of "daily discharges" over a calendar month, calculated as the sum of all "daily discharges" measured during a calendar month divided by the number of "daily discharges" measured during that month.
(48) "Natural outlet" means any outlet, including storm sewers and combined sewer overflows, into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake, or other body of surface or groundwater.
(49) "New Source" means
A. 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 that 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.
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 Section A, 2 or 3 above but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
C. Construction of a New Source as defined under this paragraph has commenced if the owner or operator has:
1. 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; or
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 paragraph.
(50) "Noncontact Cooling Water" means water used for cooling that does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product
(51) "Non cooking Establishment" means those establishments primarily engaged in the preparation of pre-cooked foodstuffs that do not include any form of cooking. These include cold dairy and frozen foodstuffs preparation and serving establishments.
(52) "Normal strength sewage or wastes" as defined for the purpose of determining surcharge means wastewater having an average daily suspended solids concentration of not more than 250 mg/l, an average daily BOD5 concentration of not more than 200 mg/l and not containing any of the characteristic in excess of the limitations as prohibited and established by Section 911.04(e) and (f).
(53) "Orders" means the letter issued by the Water and Wastewater Commission setting forth conditions for the discharge of pollutants to the POTW pursuant to this chapter.
(54) "Owner" means any person in title or having an interest in real property in any of the sanitary sewer districts and their extensions and/or drainage area or areas now existing or subsequently created by Council, or covered by contract providing the City service to the area under contract.
(55) "Pass through" means any indirect discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations, which alone or in conjunction with a discharge(s) from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the POTW's NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).
(56) "Person" means any individual, partnership, co-partnership, 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 governmental entities.
(57) "pH" means a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, expressed in standard units.
(58) "Pollutant" means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, Medical Wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, municipal, agricultural and industrial wastes, and certain characteristics of wastewater (e.g., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, or odor).
(59) "Pretreatment" means 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, introducing such pollutants into the POTW. This reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical, or biological processes; by process changes; or by other means, except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable Pretreatment Standard.
(60) "Pretreatment Requirements" means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a User, other than a Pretreatment Standard.
(61) "Pretreatment Standard or Standards" means prohibited discharge standards, categorical Pretreatment Standards, and Local Limits.
(62) "Prohibited Discharge Standards or Prohibited Discharges" means absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances.
(63) "Properly shredded garbage" means the wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that have been shredded to such 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 in any dimension.
(64) "Publicly Owned Treatment Works or POTW". A treatment works, as defined by section 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. section 1292), which is owned by the City. 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 a treatment plant.
(65) "Public sewer" means a common sewer which is owned and controlled by the Utilities Commission of the City.
(66) "Receiving stream" means the watercourse, stream or body of water receiving the waters finally discharged from the POTW.
(67) "Sanitary sewer" means a sewer which carries wastewater and to which storm, surface, and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.
(68) "Septic Tank Waste" means any sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks.
(69) "Sewage" means human excrement and gray water (household showers, dishwashing operations, etc.).
(70) "Sewer" means a pipe or conduit for conveying wastewater.
(71) "Sewer district" means any of the sanitary sewer districts and their extension or extensions and/or any drainage area or areas now existing or subsequently created by the Council, or covered by contract providing for City service to the area under contract.
(72) "Sewage works" means all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating, and disposing of wastewater, including industrial wastewater.
(73) "SIC Manual" means the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1972, Office of Management and Budget, as amended and supplemented.
(74) "Significant Industrial User" means:
A. An Industrial User subject to Categorical Pretreatment Standards; or
B. An Industrial User that:
1. Discharges an average of twenty-five thousand (25,000) gpd or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater);
2. Contributes a process wastestream which makes up five (5) percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant; or
3. Is designated as such by [the City] on the basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any Pretreatment Standard or Requirement.
(75) "Sludge" means any solid, semi-solid, or liquid waste generated by a municipal, commercial, or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, or any other waste having similar characteristics and effects as defined in standards issued under Section 402, 405 of the Act and in the applicable requirements under Sections 3001, 3004 and 4004 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (PL 94-580).
(76) "Slug Load or Slug Discharge" means any discharge at a flow rate or concentration, which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in Section 911.04. A Slug Discharge is 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 Pass Through, or in any other way violate the POTW's regulations, Local Limits or Permit conditions.
(77) "Standard methods" means the Laboratory Procedures set forth in the latest edition, at the time of analysis, of "Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater" prepared and published jointly by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association and the Water Pollution Control Federation.
(78) "Storm sewer" or "storm drain" means a sewer which carries storm, surface waters, and drainage, but which excludes sanitary wastewater and industrial wastewater, other than unpolluted wastewater and non-contact cooling water.
(79) "Storm Water" means any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation, including snowmelt.
(80) "Suspended solids or Total Suspended Solids" means the total suspended matter that floats on the surface of, or is suspended in, water, wastewater, or other liquid, and that is removable by laboratory filtering.
(81) "Total solids" or "total residue" means the sum of suspended and dissolved solids.
(82) "Toxic amount" means concentrations of any pollutant or combination of pollutants which upon exposure to, or assimilation into, any organism will cause adverse effects such as cancer, genetic mutations and physiological manifestations, as defined in standards pursuant to Section 307(a) of PL 92-500.
(83) "Toxic pollutants" means those substances referred to in Section 307(2) of the Act as well as any other known potential substances capable of producing toxic effects.
(84) "Unpolluted water" means water of quality equal to or better than the effluent criterial in effect or water that would not cause violation of receiving water quality standards and would not be benefited by discharge to the sanitary sewers and wastewater treatment plant provided.
(85) "Upset" means an exceptional incident in which a User unintentionally and temporarily is in a state of non-compliance with the standards set forth in 40 CFR 403.16 or this chapter 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 preventative maintenance, or careless or improper operation thereof.
(86) "User or Industrial User" means a source of indirect discharge.
(87) "User Class" means the division of users within the City's service area, by the origin of the sewage discharge and by the similarity of the function of such Users. Stated in four general classes, they are:
A. The Domestic Class shall include all customers whose use of the sanitary sewerage system is domestic in nature. This includes all single and multiple family residences. It does not include commercial establishments such as hotels and motels.
B. The Commercial Class shall include those customers who are service oriented as distinguished from residential and manufacturing. Examples: automotive service business including filling stations and car washes; food handling businesses including restaurants and grocery stores; hair dressing and barber shops; office buildings; including all professional offices; retail establishments; hotels and motels; laundries and dry cleaning establishments, etc.
C. The Government/Institutional Class includes those customers who are service oriented and essentially non-profit in nature, such as hospitals, schools, government buildings, etc.
D. The Industrial Class includes all Users who discharge to the City sewage works liquid, solid, and/or gaseous wastes resulting from processes employed in industrial or manufacturing, or from the development of any natural resource.
(88) "Volatile organic matter" means the material in the wastewater solids transformed to gases or vapors when heated at 550 degrees C. for 15 to 20 minutes.
(89) "Wastewater" means liquid and water-carried industrial wastes and sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which are contributed to the POTW.
(90) "Wastewater Treatment Plant" or "Treatment Plant" means that portion of the POTW which is designed to provide treatment of municipal sewage and industrial waste.
(91) Utilities Commission of the City of Mount Vernon means the duly appointed body under the Department of Safety Service of the City, and shall be composed of:
A. Safety-Service Director who shall be Chairman;
B. Director of Public Utilities or their designee;
C. The City Engineer or their designee;
D. One (1) community member to be appointed by the Mayor, and approved by the City Council. The term of this member shall be two (2) years. The Mayor shall also appoint one (1) alternate member, with the approval of City Council, who may be called upon by the chairman to hear matters if the community member is unavailable or has a conflict of interest. The term of the alternate member shall be two (2) years. Each member shall serve until his successor is appointed and qualified.
E. Chair of the City Council's Utilities Committee who shall serve as an ex officio member, holding no voting authority.
F. The Mayor, who shall have no vote except in case of a tie.
(92) "Watercourse" or "waterway" means a channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.
(93) "Water and Sewer Department" or "Department" means the Department established by the City for the purpose of managing and operating the water works and sewage works of the City.
(94) "Water Works" means all facilities for water supply, filtration plant, pumping plant, storage reservoirs, water lines and services, and booster stations for obtaining, treating, and distributing potable water.
(Ord. 2016-21. Passed 11-28-16; Ord. 2019-38. Passed 12-23-19.)