A. The terms as used in this chapter or in any resolution or standard adopted by the city council pursuant to this chapter, shall have the following meanings:
"Authorized inspector" shall mean the city engineer and all persons designated by him or her and under his or her instruction and supervision, who are assigned to investigate compliance with, detect violations of, and/or take actions pursuant to this chapter.
"Best management practices" or "BMPs" shall mean, as defined in 40 C.F.R. 122.2, schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of waters of the United States. BMPs also include site design, source control, treatment requirements, operating procedures and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material storage.
"City engineer" shall mean the director of public works/city engineer of the city of Murrieta or his or her designee.
"Co-NPDES permittee" shall mean the county of Riverside, the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District and the city of Temecula, city of Wildomar and city of Murrieta which are responsible for compliance with the terms of the NPDES permit.
"CWA" shall mean the Clean Water Act.
"Discharge" shall mean any release, spill, leak, flow, escape, leaching (including subsurface migration or deposition to groundwater), dumping or disposal of any liquid, semi-solid or solid substance.
"Discharge exception" shall mean those activities not restricted or prohibited by this chapter or exempted in the NPDES permit or a subsequent NPDES permit.
"Discharger" shall mean any person, any property owner, or any occupant of any unit, building, premises or lot within the city, who either discharges or causes to discharge any of the substances listed under "discharge," above, either directly or indirectly into the city's storm drain system.
"Existing development and operations" shall mean existing fixed or mobile industrial and commercial business facilities and non-commercial facilities that are not residential in nature (such as not-for-profit entities,) facilities in the city operated by other governmental entities, common interest areas, homeowners' associations, and property management organizations.
"Illicit connection" shall mean any physical connection to the storm drain system that conveys an illicit discharge.
"Illegal discharge" shall mean any discharge to the storm drain system that is not composed entirely of stormwater runoff except discharges made pursuant to a NPDES permit and discharges resulting from fire fighting activities (40 C.F.R. 122.26(b)(2)).
"Invoice for costs" shall mean the actual costs and expenses of the city, including but not limited to administrative overhead, salaries and other expenses recoverable under California law, incurred during any inspection conducted pursuant to this chapter or where a notice of noncompliance, administrative compliance order or other enforcement option under this chapter is utilized to ensure compliance with this chapter or the NPDES permit.
"JRMP" or "jurisdictional runoff management plan" shall mean a written description of the specific jurisdictional runoff management measures and programs that the city will implement to comply with the NPDES permit and to ensure that stormwater pollutant discharges in runoff are reduced to the MEP and do not cause or contribute to a violation of water quality standards.
"Maximum extent practicable" ("MEP") shall mean the technology-based standard established by Congress in CWA Section 402(p)(3)(B)(iii) for stormwater that operators of MS4s must meet as contained within the most-current NPDES permit. Technology-based standards establish the level of pollutant reductions that dischargers must achieve, typically by treatment or by a combination of source control and treatment control BMPs. MEP generally emphasizes pollution prevention and source control BMPs primarily (as the first line of defense) in combination with treatment methods serving as a backup (additional line of defense). MEP considers economics and is generally, but not necessarily, less stringent than best available technology economically achievable. A definition for MEP is not provided either in the statute or in the regulations. Instead the definition of MEP is dynamic and will be defined by the following process over time: municipalities propose their definition of MEP by way of their runoff management programs. Their total collective and individual activities conducted pursuant to the runoff management programs becomes their proposal for MEP as it applies both to their overall effort, as well as to specific activities (e.g., MEP for street sweeping, or MEP for MS4 maintenance). In the absence of a proposal acceptable to the Regional Board, the Regional Board defines MEP.
"Modifications to existing development" shall mean the creation or addition of impervious surfaces or the making of improvements to an existing structure on an already developed site; replacement of impervious surfaces that are not part of a routine maintenance activity; and land-disturbing activities related to structural or impervious surfaces. Modifications to existing development does not include trenching and resurfacing associated with utility work; resurfacing existing roadways; new sidewalk construction, pedestrian ramps, or bikelane on existing roads; and routine replacement of damaged pavement, such as pothole repair. This definition is consistent with the term "redevelopment" as referenced in the NPDES permit.
"New development" shall mean all public and private residential (whether single-family, multi-unit or planned unit development), industrial, commercial, retail, and other non-residential construction projects, or grading for future construction, for which a land use approval, grading permit, building permit or nonresidential plumbing permit is required.
"Non-stormwater" shall mean all discharges to and from a MS4 that do not originate from precipitation events (i.e., all discharges from a MS4 other than stormwater). Non-stormwater includes illicit discharges, non-prohibited discharges, and NPDES permitted discharges.
"NPDES" or "National Pollution Discharge Elimination System" shall mean the national program for issuing, modifying, revoking and reissuing, terminating, monitoring and enforcing NPDES permits, and imposing and enforcing pretreatment requirements, under Sections 307, 318, 402, and 405 of the CWA.
"NPDES permit" shall mean any NPDES permit setting waste discharge requirements for discharges from the MS4s draining the county of Riverside, the incorporated cities of Riverside County, and the Riverside County Flood Control and Water Conservation District within the San Diego Region and which also includes the city of Murrieta.
"Owner or operator" shall mean the owner or operator of any facility or activity subject to regulation under the NPDES permit.
"Permittee" shall mean any person, property owner, contractor, or authorized agent to whom a NPDES permit is issued pursuant to this chapter.
"Person" shall mean an individual, association, partnership, corporation, municipality, state or federal agency, or any agent or employee thereof (40 C.F.R. 122.2).
"Pollutant" shall mean anything that causes the deterioration of water quality such that it impairs subsequent and/or competing uses of the water. Pollutants may include but are not limited to paints, oil and other automotive fluids, soil, rubbish, trash, garbage, debris, refuse, waste, fecal coliform, fecal streptococcus, enterococcus, heavy metals, hazardous waste, chemicals, fresh concrete, yard waste from commercial landscaping operations, animal waste, materials that result from the process of constructing a building or structure, nauseous or offensive matter of any kind.
"Prohibited discharge" shall mean any discharge which contains any pollutant, from public or private property to: (i) the storm drain system; (ii) any upstream flow, which is tributary to the storm drain system; (iii) any groundwater, river, stream, creek, wash or dry weather arroyo, wetlands area, or marsh; or (iv) which is otherwise prohibited by the NPDES permit. The term "prohibited discharge" shall not include discharges allowable under the discharge exception.
"Receiving waters" shall mean the waters of the United States. This applies to natural drainage channels, active or not, including all tributaries leading to streams, creeks, rivers, and other water bodies.
"Regional board" or "SDRWQCB" shall mean the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board which has jurisdiction over the city.
"Runoff shall mean all flows in a stormwater conveyance system, including the city's storm drain system, that consists of the following components: (i) stormwater (wet weather flows) and (ii) non- stormwater including dry weather flows.
"Site" shall mean the real property on which activities subject to this chapter may occur.
"State Board" or "SWRCB" shall mean the State Water Resources Control Board.
"State general NPDES permit" shall mean either the State General Industrial Stormwater NPDES permit or the State General Construction NPDES permit, as the same may be amended from time to time, and the terms and requirements of either or both NPDES permits. In the event the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) revokes the in-lieu NPDES permitting authority of the state board, then the term state general NPDES permit shall also refer to any EPA-administered stormwater control program for industrial activities, construction activities, or any other type of activity that is subsequently regulated through a state general NPDES permit.
"Storm drain system" or "MS4" (municipal separate storm sewer system) shall mean any facility within the city limits by which stormwater may be conveyed to waters of the United States. "Storm drain system" includes but is not limited to any roads with drainage systems, streets, gutters, catch basins, natural and artificial channels, ditches, aqueducts, storm drains, inlets, conduit, lined diversion structures, streams, creeks, or other drainage structures within the city limits, which is a part of or tributary to the county-wide stormwater runoff system and owned, operated, maintained or controlled by the city, the county of Riverside, the Riverside County Water Conservation and Flood Control District or any co-NPDES permittee, and used for the purpose of collecting, storing, transporting, or disposing of stormwater.
"Stormwater" shall mean stormwater runoff, snowmelt runoff and surface runoff and drainage. Surface runoff and drainage pertains to runoff and drainage resulting from precipitation events.
"WQMP" means a water quality management plan and is also known as the standard stormwater mitigation plan ("SSMP"); it shall be prepared by a professional civil engineer licensed in the State of California.
B. To the extent any defined term in this chapter conflicts with the meaning of the same term in the NPDES permit, the definition provided by the NPDES permit shall govern.
C. This chapter is to be construed and interpreted to be consistent with the NPDES permit. The NPDES permit shall be used to further construe any term or requirement contained in this chapter.
(Ord. 472 § 1, 2012)