For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning:
APPLICANT. The owner of land requesting a drainage credit or his or her agent or his or her legal representative.
BOARD. The Storm Water Management Board.
CITY. The City of Richmond, Indiana or designated party.
COMBINED SEWER. Pipe or conduit primarily used to convey sanitary sewage and secondarily intended to convey storm water.
CUSTOMER (OR USER). A property owner benefitting from the storm water system.
DETENTION. The temporary storage of storm runoff in a basin, pond or other structural or non-structural device to control the peak discharge rates by holding the storm water for a lengthened period of time and which provides gravity-settling of pollutants.
DETENTION FACILITY. A facility constructed for the purpose of mitigating storm water runoff from a developed site to control the peak discharge rates that is normally maintained either as a dry basin or with a permanent pool of water.
DEVELOPED. The condition of real property altered from its natural state by the addition to or construction on such property of impervious surfaces or physical improvements such that the hydrology of the property or a portion thereof is affected.
DIRECTOR. The Director of Public Works and Engineering of the City of Richmond, Indiana.
DITCH, LEGAL. Any drainage system under the jurisdiction of the Wayne County Drainage Board as of the date of enactment of this chapter.
DITCH, OPEN. A relatively deep drainage channel which may have a continuous water flow. OPEN DITCHES are outlets for both surface, subsurface or storm sewer drainage systems.
DRAIN. Relative to storm water drainage, any sewer, tile, ditch, stream or other storm water runoff conveyance channel or conduit.
DRAINAGE EASEMENT. The land required for the installation of storm water sewers or drainage ditches, or required along a natural stream or watercourse for preserving the channel and providing for the flow of water therein to safeguard the public against flood damage.
DRAINAGE FACILITIES. All ditches, channels, conduits, retention-detention systems, tiles, drainage swales, sewers and other natural or artificial means of draining storm water from land.
DRAINAGE REQUIREMENTS.
(1) Minimum drainage standards as established by this subchapter;
(2) Regulations promulgated by the Board of Storm Water Management of the city;
(3) Obligations and requirements relating to drainage established under the subdivision control ordinance of the city;
(4) Requirements contained in the zoning ordinance of the city, including floodway zoning requirements;
(5) Obligations and requirements relating to drainage established under the Drainage Board of the county; and
(6) Conditions relating to drainage attached to a grant of variance by the Board of Zoning Appeals of the city.
DRAINAGE SUBSURFACE. A system of pipes, tile, conduit or tubing installed beneath the ground used to collect underground water from individual parcels, lots, building footings or pavements.
DRAINAGE SURFACE. A system by which the storm water runoff is conducted to an outlet. This would include the proper grading of parking lots, streets, driveways and yards so that storm runoff is removed without ponding and flows to a drainage swale, open ditch or a storm sewer.
DRAINAGE SWALE. A natural or constructed waterway, usually broad and shallow, covered with erosion-resistant grasses, used to conduct surface water from a field, diversion or other site feature.
DRAINAGE SYSTEM. Any combination of surface and/or subsurface drainage components fulfilling all applicable drainage requirements.
EASEMENT. A grant by the property owner of the use of a strip of land by the public, a corporation or other legal entity for specified purposes.
ERU. Equivalent residential unit, equal to the average amount of impervious area found on a typical single-family residential parcel, which is 2,980 square feet. Therefore, one ERU equals 2,980 square feet of impervious area.
IMPERVIOUS AREA. Area within developed land that prevents or significantly impedes the infiltration of storm water into the soil. Including in this definition are areas that have been paved and/or covered with buildings and materials which include, but are not limited to, concrete asphalt, rooftop and blacktop, such that the infiltration of water into the soil is prevented. Excluded from this definition are undisturbed land, lawns and fields.
INFILTRATION. A complex process of allowing runoff to penetrate the ground surface and flow through the upper soil surface.
LAND ALTERATION. Any action taken relative to land which either:
(1) Changes the contour;
(2) Increases the runoff;
(3) Changes the elevation;
(4) Decreases the rate at which water is absorbed;
(5) Changes the drainage pattern;
(6) Creates or changes a drainage facility;
(7) Involves construction, enlargement or location of any building on a permanent foundation; or
(8) Creates an impoundment. LAND ALTERATION includes (by way of example and not of limitation) terracing, grading, excavating, constructing earthwork, draining, installing drainage tile, filling and paving.
MAINTENANCE. Cleaning out of, spraying, removing obstructions from and making minor repairs in a drainage facility to that it will perform the function for which it was designed and constructed.
NPDES. The national pollutant discharge elimination system, the EPA program initiated to reduce and eliminate pollutants reaching water bodies of all types.
NPDES PERMIT. Storm water management permit required of municipalities and certain industries by the EPA pursuant to § 402 of the Clean Water Act.
PEAK DISCHARGE. The maximum rate of flow of water passing a given point during or after a rainfall event. Sometimes called PEAK FLOW.
PRIVATE STORM WATER FACILITIES. Various storm water and drainage works not under the control or ownership of the city, the county, the state or the federal government which may include inlets, conduits, pipes, pumping stations, manholes, structures, channels, outlets, retention or detention basins, other structural components and equipment designed to transport, move or regulate storm water.
PROPERTY OWNER. The individual, partnership, corporation or other legal entity holding the deed or record title to real property.
PUBLIC DRAINAGE SYSTEM. Various storm water and drainage works under the control and/or ownership of the city, the county, the state or the federal government which may include inlets, conduits, pipes, pumping stations, manholes, structures, channels, outlets, retention or detention basins, other structural components and equipment designed to transport, move or regulate storm water.
RESIDENTIAL PROPERTY. A lot or parcel of real estate on which a building or mobile home is situated which building contains a group of rooms forming a single inhabitable dwelling unit with facilities which are used or are intended to be used primarily for living, sleeping, cooking and eating.
RETENTION. The holding of storm water runoff in a constructed basin or pond or in a natural body of water without release except by means of evaporation, infiltration or emergency bypass.
RIGHT-OF-WAY. Any highway, street, avenue, boulevard, road, lane or alley and includes the entire right-of-way for public use thereof and all surface and subsurface improvements thereon including, without limitation, sidewalks, curbs, shoulders, utility lines and mains.
SEWER SEPARATION. A project intended to reduce the amount or rate of storm water entering the wastewater treatment plant. SEWER SEPARATION projects include, but are not limited to, new sanitary sewer construction with conversion of combined sewer to storm sewer; new storm sewer construction with conversion of combined sewer to sanitary sewer; combined sewage holding tanks; and equalization tanks at the treatment plant or in the system.
STORM SEWER. A sewer designed or intended to convey only storm water, surface runoff, street wash waters and drainage, and not intended for sanitary sewage and industrial wastes other than unpolluted cooling water. A STORM SEWER begins at the grating or opening where water enters said sewer, through the sewer and any other conduits to the outlet structure where water enters a channel, natural watercourse or combined sewer.
STORM WATER SERVICE CHARGE. A charge imposed on users of the storm water system.
STORM WATER SYSTEM. All constructed facilities, including combined sewers, structures and natural watercourses owned by or under the jurisdiction of the city used for collecting and conducting storm water to, through and from drainage areas to the point of final outlet, including, but not limited to, any and all of the following: inlets; conduits and appurtenant features; creeks; channels; catch basins; ditches; streams; culverts; retention or detention basins; and pumping stations.
(Prior Code, § 59.05)