A. For use in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this subsection:
ACT OR THE ACT: Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 USC 1251 et seq.
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE: The individual designated by the City Council with authority to act on the City's behalf in regard to a specific issue.
AVERAGE DAILY FLOW: The volume of flow compiled over a given period of time and converted to a daily average by dividing the total flow by the number of days represented in the time period for which data has been compiled. Where individual day's flow readings are recorded, the average will be based on the number of days for which flows are recorded and not necessarily the total number of days in the time period. For computing average daily flow for industrial users, only production days shall be included in the computation. Weekends and/or holidays, shutdowns, etc., shall not generally be considered by the City in computing the average daily flow.
AVERAGE DAILY LOADING: The measure of a particular constituent, generally BOD, TSS and/or TKN, compiled over a period of time and converted to a daily average by dividing the cumulative concentration and/or volume of the constituent by the number of days represented in the time period for which data has been compiled. Where individual day's loadings are recorded, the average shall be based on the number of days for which loadings are recorded and not necessarily the total number of days in the time period. For computing average daily loadings for industrial users, only production days shall be included in the computation. Weekends and/or holidays, shutdowns, etc., shall not generally be considered by the City in computing the average daily loading.
BASIC WASTEWATER CHARGE: The monthly charge based on volume of flow by a contributor which is intended to recover the cost of operation and maintenance of the City's share of POTWs and associated programs.
BILLABLE FLOW: The volume of wastewater generated by a user as measured by a water meter or other approved metering system.
BIOSOLIDS/SLUDGE: The solids, semisolids, residues and/or precipitates that result from the treatment of wastewater.
BYPASS: The diversion of wastewater from or around any portion of the collection system and/or treatment facility.
CBOD (CARBONACEOUS BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND): That portion of the BOD attributable to the biochemical oxidation of the carbonaceous organic matter. This is determined through standard laboratory analyses using a nitrification inhibitor in performing the BOD test, and generally expressed in milligrams per liter.
COD (CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND): The quantity of oxygen used in the chemical decomposition of organic matter in wastewater as determined by the appropriate laboratory procedure, usually expressed in milligrams per liter.
CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARDS: The national pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with section 307(b) and (c) of the Clean Water Act, which apply to specific categories of industrial users (40 CFR 403.6 and 405 - 471). Unless noted otherwise, categorical pretreatment standards shall always refer to the latest approved limits.
CITY ENGINEER: The City Engineer of the City and is an individual/company designated by the City Council with the authority to act on the City's behalf in specific issue(s).
COMBINED SEWER: A sewer that receives both sanitary sewage and storm sewage.
COMPOSITE SAMPLE: The sample resulting from the combination of individual wastewater samples taken at selected intervals based on an increment of either flow or time.
CONTRIBUTOR/DISCHARGER/OR USER: Any person, firm, corporation or other entity or organization responsible for the production of domestic, commercial or industrial wastewater which is discharged to the wastewater collection and treatment system.
CROSS CONNECTION: A connection between a storm drain system and a sanitary collection system, and/or a connection between two (2) sections of a collection system to handle anticipated overloads of one system.
CURRENT LICENSE: One which is current, valid, unsuspended and unrevoked.
DEBT SERVICE: The funds necessary to recover annual principal and interest payments for bonds issued for the wastewater system.
DEMAND CHARGE: The charge which recovers debt service costs associated with the wastewater treatment system.
DIRECTOR: The individual or company appointed by the City Council as the Public Utilities Director of the City with the authority to act on the City's behalf in specific issue(s).
DOMESTIC USER: The discharge of wastewater originating in a residential facility or dwelling. In this use, it means the type and quantity of wastes are different from commercial and industrial or agricultural wastes.
DOMESTIC WASTEWATER: Household type wastes discharged from places of human habitation, including sanitary convenience, kitchen and laundry waste. Domestic strength wastewater is accepted as having the following strengths, or less:
BOD | 300 mg/L |
FOG | 100 mg/L |
NH3-N | 15 mg/L |
TKN | 30 mg/L |
TSS | 350 mg/L |
EFFLUENT: Discharge from a particular facility, unit, treatment process or system.
EFFLUENT LIMITS/EFFLUENT STANDARDS: The numerical limits on pollutants in effluents generally reported in milligrams per liter or pounds per day.
FOUNDATION DRAIN OR FOOTING DRAIN: The piping system around the foundation of a structure or building which is intended to carry groundwater away from the structure to relieve hydraulic pressure and help keep the structure walls dry. This may also refer to the sump pump used in the footing drain system, where applicable.
GRAB SAMPLE: A single sample which is taken from a waste stream without regard to the flow in the waste stream and without consideration of time.
GRAVITY SEPARATION INTERCEPTOR: A facility designed for removal of dangerous, deleterious or prohibited matter from the waste stream by differential gravity separation (i.e., grease traps and/or catch basins).
GRAVITY SEWER: A sewer that flows by the force of gravity, and generally operates hydraulically as an open channel.
HAZARDOUS WASTE: Waste defined as hazardous by 40 CFR part 261.
HOUSE SERVICE CONNECTION/BUILDING SEWER: The sewer connection from the house/building plumbing system to a lateral or branch sewer. The building sewer may begin at the outside of the building's foundation wall. Also called a "house connection" or "service connection".
INDUSTRIAL USER: Source of discharge of wastewater into a POTW from any source other than a domestic user.
INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER: Wastewater and waterborne wastes of the community, excluding domestic wastewater and uncontaminated water, and includes all wastewater from any production, manufacturing, processing, institutional, commercial, agricultural or other operation where the wastes discharged include significant quantities of wastes from nondomestic sources.
INSPECTOR: An authorized representative of the Public Utilities Department, Public Works Department, Building Inspection Department, City Engineer or other individual authorized by the Otsego City Council.
INTERCEPTOR SEWER: A public sewer which generally collects wastewater from lateral sewers and transports it to another interceptor, pumping station or treatment facilities.
INTERFERENCE: A discharge, alone or in conjunction with discharges from other sources, which:
1. Inhibits or disrupts a POTW, its treatment process or operations, or its sludge process, use or disposal; and/or
2. Causes a violation of any requirement of the POTW's NPDES permit (including an increase in magnitude of duration of a violation) or prevents sewage sludge use or disposal in accordance with section 405 of the Act, or any criteria, guidelines or regulations of EPA or MPCA.
JURISDICTIONAL LIMITS: The area within the corporate limits of the City and all of the territory outside the corporate limits of the City which is within one mile of the corporate limits but exclusive of that part of such territory which lies within the corporate limits of another city, town or village.
LATERAL SEWER: A public sewer which generally collects wastewater from house sewers and/or industrial sewers and transports it to an interceptor sewer.
LOCAL GOVERNMENT: The Mayor and Council of the City.
MILLIGRAM PER LITER (mg/L): The measure of concentration of a substance in a liquid generally accepted to equal parts per million.
NPDES PERMIT (NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM PERMIT): A permit issued pursuant to section 402 of the Act.
NEW SOURCE: As defined in 40 CFR 403.3(k):
1. 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:
a. The building, structure, facility, or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or
b. The building, structure, facility, or installation totally replaces the process of production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or
c. 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.
2. 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 subsection 1b or 1c of this definition but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
3. Construction of a new source, as defined herein, has commenced if the owner or operator has:
a. Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous on site construction program, any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment; or 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
b. Entered into a binding contractual obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment that is intended to be used in its operation within a reasonable time. Options to purchase or contracts that can be terminated or modified without substantial loss, and contracts for feasibility, engineering, and design studies do not constitute a contractual obligation under this subsection.
POTW TREATMENT PLANT: The treatment works portion of a POTW.
PASS THROUGH: A discharge which exits a POTW into a water of the State in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any of the requirements of a POTW's NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation) or other permit issued to the POTW by the MPCA or USEPA.
pH: The negative logarithm of the hydrogen ion activity. It generally refers to a measure of the acidity of a solution; pH 7 is neutral, pH greater than 7 is alkaline and pH less than 7 is acidic.
PRETREATMENT: The reduction of pollutants or conditioning of the waste stream to enhance treatability prior to discharge to a POTW for treatment.
PUBLIC SEWER: A sewer constructed for public use under the control of the City.
PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS (POTW): The system of public sewers, pumping facilities and treatment facilities used to collect, convey and treat wastewater and manage wastewater sludges which is owned, managed and regulated by the City or its authorized representative.
RENDERING ESTABLISHMENT: Any establishment, plant, or premises at or within which dead animals, dead fowls, fish, inedible offal, meat scraps, bones, suet, feathers, unrendered animal fat, waste cooking greases, and similar animal matter, or the transportation of such matter to and from disposal at a rendering establishment, either as a separate business or in connection with any other established business.
SANITARY SEWER: A sewer which is intended to transport wastewater and to which storm sewage, surface water and groundwater are not intentionally connected.
SEWER SYSTEM: A network of wastewater collection, conveyance, pumping, treatment and disposal facilities connected with sewers and owned and controlled by the City.
SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER: An industrial user meeting any of the following criteria:
1. Discharges more than twenty five thousand (25,000) gallons per day of process wastewater.
2. Discharges a process wastewater which makes up five percent (5%) or more of the hydraulic or organic capacity of a POTW.
3. Is designated as significant by the Director because the discharge may adversely affect the operation of a POTW or for violating any pretreatment requirement.
4. Any industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards.
SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPLIANCE: 1. Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined here as those in which sixty six percent (66%) or more of wastewater measurements taken during a six (6) month period exceed, by any amount, the daily maximum limit or average limit for the same pollutant parameter;
2. Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which thirty three percent (33%) or more of wastewater measurements taken for each pollutant parameter during a six (6) month period equals or exceeds the product of the daily maximum limit or the average limit multiplied by the applicable criteria (1.4 for BOD, TSS, oil and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH);
3. Any other discharge violation the Director believes has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass through, including endangering the health of any POTW's personnel or the general public;
4. Any discharge of pollutants that has caused imminent endangerment to the public or to the environment, or has resulted in the Director exercising emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge;
5. Failure to meet, within ninety (90) days of the scheduled date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a wastewater discharge pretreatment agreement or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance;
6. Failure to provide, within thirty (30) days after the due date, any required reports, including baseline monitoring reports, reports on compliance with categorical pretreatment standard deadlines, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;
7. Failure to accurately report noncompliance; or
8. Any other violation(s) which the Director determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program.
SLUDGE/BIOSOLIDS: Solids, semisolids, residues and/or precipitates that result from the treatment of wastewater.
STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION (SIC): A classification of industrial facilities in accordance with the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the Office of Management and Budget or, whatever officially replaces it.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS (SS): Solids that float on the surface or are in suspension in wastewater which can be removed through standard laboratory filtering.
TOTAL KJELDAHL NITROGEN (TKN): The measure of nitrogen in wastewater determined in a laboratory by measuring ammonia after digesting organic nitrogen to convert it to ammonia nitrogen.
TOXIC POLLUTANT: Any pollutant or combination of pollutants listed as toxic in regulations promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
USER CHARGE: Rates, charges and fees charged to contributors for use of a POTW.
WASTEWATER COLLECTION SYSTEM: Network of sewers and pumping stations which collect wastewater from individual building sewers and convey it to the treatment facilities.
WASTEWATER/SEWAGE: A combination of waterborne wastes from residences, businesses, institutions and industrial facilities, along with the groundwater and surface runoff that may be present, which is discharged to a POTW.
WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITIES/WATER POLLUTION CONTROL FACILITIES: A system of unit processes which function to reduce pollutant discharges, and therefore, receiving water pollutant loading through physical, chemical and/or biological processes.
B. The following abbreviations shall have the designated meanings:
BOD | Biochemical oxygen demand |
CBOD | Carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand |
CFR | Code of Federal Regulations |
CFS | Cubic feet per second |
COD | Chemical oxygen demand |
EPA | Environmental Protection Agency |
FOG | Fats, oils, grease |
gpd | Gallons per day |
gpm | Gallons per minute |
ISTS | Individual sewage treatment system |
mg | Milligram |
MGD | Million gallons per day |
mg/L | Milligrams per liter |
MPCA | Minnesota Pollution Control Agency |
ng/L | Nanograms per liter |
NH3-N | Ammonia nitrogen |
NPDES | National pollutant discharge elimination system |
POTW | Publicly owned treatment works |
ppm | Parts per million |
RCRA | Resource Conservation and Recovery Act |
SIC | Standard industrial classification |
SIU | Significant industrial user |
TKN | Total kjeldahl nitrogen |
TSS | Total suspended solids |
WPCF | Water pollution control facilities |
WWTF | Wastewater treatment facility |
(Prior Code § 6-3-3)