(a) As used in this chapter and in Chapter 1046, unless the context specifically indicates otherwise:
(1) “Annual notification” refers to the requirement that each sewer user be notified, at least annually, in conjunction with a regular bill, of the rate of charge for wastewater treatment services, as well as what portion of such charge is attributable to operation, maintenance and replacement (OM&R) costs.
(2) “Authorized Representative of an Industrial User” means
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 to 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 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 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.
(3) “Best Management Practices” or “BMPs” means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in Rule 3745-3-04 of the Ohio Administrative Code (OAC). BMPs include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or any drainage from raw materials storage.
(4) “Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)” means 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.
(5) “Building drain” means that part of the lowest horizontal 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, beginning five feet (1.5 meters) outside of the inner face of the building wall.
(6) “Building sewer”, also called house connection, means the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.
(7) “Bypass” means the intentional diversion of wastestreams from any portion of a discharger's facility.
(8) “Chemical oxygen demand (COD)” means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the chemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures expressed in milligrams per liter.
(9) “City” means the City of Ravenna, Ohio.
(10) “Combined sewer” means a sewer intended to receive both wastewater and storm or surface water.
(11) “Compatible pollutant” means BOD, 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: COD; total organic carbon; phosphorus and phosphorus compounds; nitrogen and nitrogen compounds; and fats, oils and greases of animal or vegetable origin, except as prohibited in Section 1044.05(c).
(12) “Contracts” means the right of the treatment authority to contract to provide service to users outside of the service area.
(13) “Cooling water” means the water discharged from any use, such as air conditioning, cooling or refrigeration, or to which the only pollutant added is heat.
(14) “Director” means the Director of Public Service or his or her authorized deputy, agent or representative.
(15) “Engineer” means the City Engineer or an authorized representative.
(16) “Environmental Protection Agency” or “EPA” means the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Where appropriate, the term may also be used as a designation for the Administrator or other duly authorized official of said Agency.
(17) “Federal Act” or “Act” means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972, 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.
(18) “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.
(19) “Garbage” means the animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and serving of food.
(20) “Governmental/institutional user” means any public or private facility, such as hospitals, schools, nursing homes, churches and Municipal or State-owned buildings or parks.
(21) “Incompatible pollutant” means any pollutant which is not a compatible pollutant as defined in subsection (a)(11) hereof.
(22) “Industrial discharger” or “discharger” means any nonresidential user who discharges industrial wastes into either of the City sewage treatment plants by means of pipes, conduits, pumping stations, force mains, constructed drainage ditches, surface water intercepting ditches and all constructed devices and appliances appurtenant thereto.
(23) “Industrial permit reports means reports required from extra-strength users or users discharging controlled substances.
(24) “Industrial wastes” means the wastewater from industrial processes, trades or businesses as distinct from domestic or sanitary wastes.
(25) “Interference means a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources:
A. Inhibits or disrupts the wastewater treatment plant, its treatment processes or operations or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and
B. Is therefore a cause of a violation of any requirement of the wastewater treatment plant's NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation) or the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with the State of Ohio approved sludge management plan for the City.
(26) “Limiting connections” means the right to limit connections or reserving the right to do so in the future if sufficient capacity is not available in all facilities.
(27) “May” is permissive.
(28) “National Categorical Pretreatment Standard” or “Pretreatment Standard” means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with Section 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1347) which applies to a specific category of industrial dischargers.
(29) “Natural outlet” means any outlet, including storm sewers and combined sewer overflows, into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or ground water.
(30) “New source” means 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 Federal 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;
B. The building, structure, facility or installation totally replaces the process or 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 will be considered.
(31) “Normal sewage”, as defined for the purpose of determining surcharge, means sewage having an average daily suspended solids concentration of not more than 250 mg/l and an average daily BOD of not more than 200 mg/l, and containing not more than 100 mg/l of grease and oil.
(32) “NPDES” permit means the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit.
(33) “Pass through” means a discharge which exits the wastewater treatment plant into waters of the State of Ohio 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 requirement of the wastewater treatment plant's NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).
(34) “Person” means any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group.
(35) “pH” means the logarithm, base ten, of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration expressed in moles per liter. It shall be determined in accordance with procedures set forth in Standard Methods, as defined in subsection (a)(46) hereof.
(36) “Pollutant” means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, wastewater, garbage, wastewater sludge, munitions, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal and agricultural waste discharged into water.
(37) “Pretreatment” means the treatment of waste waters from sources before introduction into publicly owned wastewater treatment facilities.
(38) “Properly shredded garbage” means 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.
(39) “Public sewer” means a common sewer controlled by a governmental agency or public utility.
(40) “Sanitary sewer” means a sewer that carries liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions, together with minor quantities of ground, storm and surface waters that are not admitted intentionally.
(41) “Severe property damage” means substantial physical damage to property, damage to the treatment facilities which causes them to become inoperable or substantial and permanent loss of natural resources which can reasonably be expected to occur in the absence of a bypass. Severe property damage does not mean economic loss caused by delays in production.
(42) “Shall” is mandatory.
(43) “Significant industrial user (SIU)” means:
A. Except as provided in paragraph (43)B. hereof, the term significant industrial user includes:
1. All industrial users subject to categorical pretreatment standards: and
2. Any other industrial user that:
a. Discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the wastewater treatment works (process wastewater excludes sanitary, non-contact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewaters);
b. Contributes a process wastestream which makes up five percent (5%) or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the wastewater treatment works treatment plant; or
c. Has a reasonable potential, in the opinion of the City, to adversely affect the operation of the wastewater treatment works or to violate any pretreatment standard or requirement.
B. The City may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from an industrial user, determine that a noncategorical industrial user is not a significant industrial user if the industrial user has no reasonable potential to adversely affect the operation of the wastewater treatment works or to violate any pretreatment standard or requirement.
(44) “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 Sections 402 and 405 of the Act and in the applicable requirements under Sections 2001, 3004 and 4004 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (PL 94-580).
(45) “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 1044.05. A slug discharge is any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or non-customary batch discharge that has reasonable potential to cause interference or pass through, or in any other way violate the City's WWTP NPDES permit, local limits or conditions of a permit issued to the discharger.
(46) “Standard Methods” means the current edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, as published by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association and the Water Pollution Control Federation.
(47) “Storm drain”, sometimes termed storm sewer, means a drain or sewer for conveying water, ground water, subsurface water or unpolluted water from any source.
(48) “Superintendent” means the Superintendent of the Wastewater Treatment Facilities or his or her authorized deputy, agent or representative.
(49) “Surcharge” means the assessment in addition to the user charge which is levied on those persons whose wastes are greater in strength than the concentration values established as representative of normal sewage.
(50) “Suspended solids” means total suspended matter that either floats on the surface of, or is in suspension in, water, wastewater or other liquids, and that is removable by laboratory filtering as prescribed in Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater and referred to as nonfilterable residue.
(51) “Toxic pollutants” includes, but is not necessarily limited to, aldrin-dieldrin, benzidine, cadmium, cyanide, DDT-endrin, mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) and toxaphene. Pollutants included as toxic mean those promulgated as such by the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
(52) “Unpolluted water” means water of quality equal to or better than the effluent criteria in effect or water that would not cause a violation of receiving water quality standards and would not be benefited by discharge to the sanitary sewers and wastewater treatment facilities provided.
(53) “Upset” means an exceptional incident in which there is unintentional and temporary noncompliance with the discharger's permit limitations because of factors beyond the reasonable control of the discharger.
(54) “Wastewater” means the spent water of a community. From the standpoint of source, it may be a combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions, together with any ground water, surface water and storm water that may be present.
(55) “Wastewater facilities” means the structures, equipment and processes required to collect, carry away and treat domestic and industrial wastes and dispose of the effluent.
(56) “Wastewater treatment works” means an arrangement of devices and structures for treating wastewater, industrial wastes and sludge. The term is sometimes used as synonymous with waste treatment plant, wastewater treatment plant or water pollution control plant.
(Ord. 2014-164. Passed 10-6-14.)