For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
ALERT LEVEL. The concentration or loading at which a contaminate in the liquid or solid products of the POTW must be reported to regulators prior to a violation in the permit.
B.O.D. (BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND). The concentration of oxygen utilized by microorganisms in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter, under standard laboratory procedure, in five days at 20 Centigrade, expressed in milligrams per liter.
BUILDING SEWER. The extension from the building wastewater drain to the service connection from the city sanitary sewer, or to the sewer in case a service connection is not available.
BY-PASS. The intentional diversion of wastewater flows from any portion of a treatment process or the POTW.
CONCENTRATION. The chemical and physical results indicating the amount of a characteristic in a defined unit of mass.
CONTAMINANT. Any chemical, biologic mass, metal or non-metal that at some concentration may become a pollutant or combine with any other characteristic of the wastewater to become a pollutant.
DEVELOPER. Any person, firm, or corporation engaged in the organizing, financing and constructing of a wastewater sewer collecting system, and connection thereof to the wastewater
sewer system of the city. Such may be either a legally constituted improvement district or a subdivider, property owner, contractor, and/or person who purchases property therefrom.
DEVELOPMENT. The division of any piece of property into two or more parts or parcels, whether or not the same be for residential, commercial, industrial, or other purpose, a legally constituted improvement district, or a site of a new building requiring sewer service. It is not intended that the definition of subdivision contained in Chapter 151 of this code be affected in any way.
DISCHARGE. The disposal of sewage, pollutants, suspended solids, wastewater or any liquid from any user into the wastewater sewer and treatment system of the city.
DISCHARGE LIMIT. The concentration or loading defining the limitation of acceptable discharge of a contaminant in the liquid or solid products to a POTW.
GARBAGE. Solid wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food, and from the handling, storage and sale of produce.
INDUSTRIAL PROCESS WATER. Any liquid, pollutants, regulated substance, free-flowing waste, including polluted cooling water, resulting from any industrial or manufacturing process or from the development, recovery or processing of natural resources, with or without suspended solids, discharged from any non-single-family residential source.
GREASE TRAP or INTERCEPTOR. A device used to separate oil, grease, and sand or any flammable wastes from wastewater.
INDUSTRIAL USER. Any facility that discharges wastewater into the city's sewer system, including industrial facilities, commercial businesses, government agencies, food service and medical facilities, wastewater haulers, multi-family housing units consisting of five or more units, and or any other facility that is not designated as a single-family residential user.
INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER PERMIT. An individual control mechanism, authorization or contract issued by the Public Works Director, which allows the discharge to the POTW of industrial wastewater by a significant industrial user.
INTERCEPTOR SEWER. Any sewer line ten inches or more in diameter. Includes the term main or trunk sewer.
INTERFERENCE. A discharge that, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, either:
(1) Inhibits or disrupts the wastewater sewer system within the city; its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; or
(2) Is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the city's permits, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal.
LATERAL SEWER. Any sewer line eight inches or less in diameter. Includes the term branch sewer.
MULTI-FAMILY HOUSING UNIT. Any building designed exclusively for occupancy by five or more families living independently of each other.
OFF-SITE SEWER FACILITIES. Any sewer facilities, including lines and lift stations, constructed outside the boundaries of any property owned or not owned but being developed by the developer, unless the sewer facilities are determined by the City Engineer to not serve or not benefit other properties.
ON-SITE SEWER FACILITIES. Any sewer facilities, including lines and lift stations, constructed inside the boundaries of any property owned or not owned but being developed by the developer, including sewer facilities which may be constructed outside the boundaries, but determined by the City Engineer to not serve or not benefit other properties. For purposes of this chapter, off-site and ON-SITE SEWER FACILITIES do not include service connections or building sewers, and property owned or being developed includes public rights-of-way for streets and easements running through or adjacent to the property.
PASS-THROUGH. A contaminant or pollutant that may pass through and exit the POTW in concentrations that result in a violation or an alert of any end disposition of the liquid or solid products of the POTW. This shall include any contaminant or pollutant that may combine with any other characteristic of the wastewater and pass through the POTW that results in a violation of any end disposition of the liquid or solid products of the POTW.
pH. The logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.
PRETREATMENT. The physical, chemical, biological or other treatment of any wastewater stream prior to discharge to the POTW for the purpose of:
(1) Reducing the amount or concentration of any pollutant;
(2) Eliminating the discharge of any pollutant; or
(3) Altering the nature of any pollutant characteristic to a less harmful state.
POLLUTANT. Any concentration of contaminants that exceeds the established discharge limits, including but not limited to: solid waste; incinerator residue; sewage screenings; sewage sludge; chemical wastes; biological materials; radioactive materials; pesticides; herbicides; fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals; munitions; petroleum products; heat, rock, sand, and industrial,
municipal and agricultural garbage; wrecked or discarded equipment; cellar dirt and mining waste; industrial, municipal and agricultural wastes; or any other liquid, solid, gaseous, or any other hazardous substances discharged into the POTW.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE. Garbage that has been shredded to a degree that all particles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in sanitary sewers, with no particle greater than one-quarter inch in any dimension.
PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS (POTW). Any publicly owned and operated wastewater sewer, collection conveyance device, treatment system, or recharge/reuse facility.
REIMBURSEMENT AGREEMENT. A contract entered into between the city and a developer, providing for the construction by the developer of sewer facilities for the benefit of, or usable by, other properties inside or outside the city, and providing for the collection by the city of a reimbursement charge for the connection with the sewer facilities by any other party or parties, and providing for reimbursement to the developer out of the proceeds of such collections.
RESIDENTIAL USER. Any standalone, single-family residential dwelling that discharges wastewater into the POTW.
RESPONSIBLE PARTY. The entity responsible for payment of the monthly or bi-monthly service and rental charges for refuse services.
SEPTIC PUMPERS. Any mobile wastewater collection provider or contractor in the business of removing and disposing of septic waste.
SERVICE CONNECTION. A sewer for carrying wastewater from the private property or easement line to the sewer line located in the adjoining street or easement.
SEVERE NON-COMPLIANCE. Any willful, negligent or major violation of this code, or the documented, habitual failure of any sewer system user to comply with the meaning or intent of this code.
SEWER. A pipe or conduit that carries sewage to the publicly owned treatment works.
SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER.
(1) Any industrial user that is designated as such and required to obtain a permit by the Director, on the basis that the industrial user has the potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement; or
(2) Any industrial user that is subject to Categorical Pretreatment Standards as established by the EPA; or
(3) Any industrial user that discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewaters; or
(4) Any industrial user that contributes a process waste stream that makes up 5% or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW.
SIGNIFICANT NON-COMPLIANCE. Any single, accidental discharge resulting in an upset, or bypass caused by a user of the sewer system, or any minor failure of any sewer system user to comply with the meaning or intent of this code.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS. Solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in, wastewater or other liquids, and which are removable by laboratory filtering.
UPSET. Any incident in which there is unintentional and temporary noncompliance with discharge limits or alert limits because of factors beyond the reasonable control of the user. An UPSET is the chemical, biochemical, biological or physical failure of a process to properly treat or control the quality of the wastewater discharged to a sewer, or the liquid and solid products discharged from a POTW. An UPSET does not include a failure due to consistent operational error, improper design of treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, inadequate preventative maintenance, or careless operation.
WASTEWATER. A community's used water and water-carried solids that discharge into the POTW collection system. Also known as sewage.
WASTEWATER SLUDGE or BIOSOLIDS. The solids or semisolids, residues and precipitate separated from or created in wastewater.
('76 Code, Art. 11-2) (Ord. 189, passed 6-8-72; Am. Ord. 675, passed 5-24-84; Am. Ord. 1152, passed 11-14-04; Am. Ord. 2003-002, passed 2-27-03)