Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used hereafter in this ordinance, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated.
a. Act or “the Act”. The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq.
b. Approval Authority. The State of Indiana, with an approved State Pretreatment Program, which currently is under the Commissioner of Environmental Management.
c. Authorized or Duly Authorized Representative of the User.
(1) If the user is a corporation:
(a) 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
(b) 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 requirements; and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures. (Definition revised per Specimen Ordinance).
(2) If the user is a partnership or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, respectively.
(3) 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.
(4) The individuals described in paragraphs (1) through (3), inclusive, 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 Town.
d. Biochemical Oxygen Demand or BOD5. The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five days at 20 degrees centigrade, usually expressed as a concentration (e.g., mg/l).
e. Best Management Practices or BMPs. The schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in
§ 9-178 a. and b. [40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b)]. BMPs include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.
f. Categorical Industrial User. An industrial user subject to a categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard.
g. Categorical Pretreatment Standard or Categorical Standard. Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with sections 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1317) that apply to a specific category of users and that appear in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405-471.
h. Town. The Town of Schererville, Lake County, Indiana, its Utility Board of Trustees, or its duly elected Legislative Body, the Town Council.
i. Color. The optical density at the visual wave length of maximum absorption, relative to distilled water. One hundred percent (100%) transmittance is equivalent to zero (0.0) optical density.
j. Composite Sample. The sample resulting from combination of individual wastewater samples taken at selected intervals based on an increment of either flow or time.
k. Environmental Protection Agency or EPA. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or where appropriate, the term may be used as a designation for the Regional Water Management Division Director or other duly authorized Official of said agency.
l. Daily Maximum. The arithmetic average of all effluent samples for a pollutant collected during a calendar day.
m. Daily Maximum Limit. 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.
n. Existing Source. (Definition revised per Specimen Ordinance) Any source of discharge that is not a “New Source”.
o. Grab Sample. (Definition revised per Specimen Ordinance) A sample that is taken from a waste stream without regard to the flow in the waste stream and over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.
p. Indirect Discharge or Discharge. (Definition revised per Specimen Ordinance)The introduction of pollutants into the POTW from any nondomestic source.
q. Industrial User or User. A source of indirect discharge.
r. Instantaneous Limit. 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.
s. Interference. A discharge that, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or operations or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and therefore, is a cause of a violation of the Town’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 thereunder, 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.
t. Local Limit. Specific discharge limits developed and enforced by the Town upon industrial or commercial facilities to implement the general and specific discharge prohibitions listed in 40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b).
u. Medical Waste. 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.
v. New Source.
(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 § 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:
(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 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, 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 division (l)(b) or (c) of this definition but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
(3) Construction of a new source, as defined under this paragraph, has commenced if the owner or operator has:
(a) Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous onsite construction program:
(i) Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment; or
(ii) 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 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.
w. Noncontact Cooling Water. Water used for cooling that does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product.
x. Pass Through. A discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the United States 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 the Town’s NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
y. Person. Any individual, partnership, copartnership, 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.
z. pH. A measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, expressed in standard units.
aa. Pollutant. 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).
bb. Pretreatment. 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.
cc. Pretreatment Requirements. Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.
dd. Pretreatment Standards or Standards. Pretreatment standards shall mean prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.
ee. Prohibited Discharge Standards or Prohibited Discharges. Absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in § 9-178.
ff. Publicly Owned Treatment Works or POTW. A treatment works, as defined by Section 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1292), which is owned by the state or the Town. 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.
gg. Septic Tank Waste. Any sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks.
hh. Sewage. Human excrement and gray water (household showers, dishwashing operations, and the like).
ii. Significant Industrial User (SIU). A significant industrial user is:
(1) An industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; and
(2) An industrial user that:
(a) Discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater);
(b) Contributes a process wastestream which makes up 5% or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant; or
(c) Is designated as such by the Town or the Superintendent on the basis that the user has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
jj. Slug Load or Slue Discharge. Any discharge at a flow rate or concentration, which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in § 9-178 or 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.
kk. Storm Water. Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation, including snowmelt.
ll. Superintendent. The person designated by the Town to supervise the operation of the POTW, and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this ordinance. The term also means a duly authorized representative, of the Superintendent.
mm. Total Suspended Solids or Suspended Solids. 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.
nn. Toxic Pollutant. One of 126 pollutants, or combination of those pollutants, listed as toxic in regulations promulgated by the EPS under the provisions of Section 307 (33 U.S.C. § 1317) of the Act.
oo. Treatment Plant Effluent. Any discharge of pollutants from the POTW into the waters of the state.
pp. Wastewater. 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.
qq. Wastewater Treatment Plant or Treatment Plant (WWTP). That portion of the POTW which is designed to provide treatment of municipal sewage and industrial waste.
(Ord. No. 1862, § 1.3, 2-11-15)