(Entire Chapter 916 amended by Ordinance No.
21-155, passed May 25, 2021)
916.01 Definitions.
916.02 Use of Public Sewers.
916.03 Obligations of Dischargers - Application and Reports.
916.04 Obligations of Dischargers - Facilities and Equipment.
916.05 Issuance of Local Permit
916.06 Fees.
916.07 Prohibitions.
916.08 Enforcement.
916.99 Penalty.
CROSS REFERENCES
Compulsory sewer connections—see Ohio R.C. 729.06
Sewer regulations—see Ohio R.C. 729.51
Untreated sewage—see Ohio R.C. 3701.59
Private sewage disposal systems—see OAC Ch. 3701.29
Whenever used in this chapter:
(a) "Act" means the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq) as amended.
(b) "BOD" (denoting biochemical oxygen demand) means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the carbonaceous and nitrogenous biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at twenty degrees Celsius, expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/L).
(c) "Best Management Practice" (BMP): Any schedule of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in OAC 3745-3-04. BMP's also 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.
(d) CBOD (Denoting Carbonaceous Biochemical Oxygen Demand) means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at twenty degrees Celsius, expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/L).
(e) "Categorical Pretreatment Standards" means the National Pretreatment Standards of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq) specifying quantities or concentrations of pollutants or pollutant properties which may be discharged or introduced into the Springfield POTW by specific industrial dischargers.
(f) "CFR" means code of federal regulations.
(g) "Chronic violation" means that sixty six percent (66%) or more of the measurements in a six (6) month period have exceeded the limits in the Local Permit issued by the City to the Discharger as measured at a monitoring point designated in the Local Permit.
(h) "Combined sewer" means a sewer designated to receive both surface runoff and sewage.
(i) "Compatible pollutant" shall mean pollutants which the treatment plant was designed to treat which are BOD, suspended solids, fecal coliform, phosphorous and ammonia.
(j) "Composite wastewater sample" means a combination of individual samples of water or wastewater taken at selected intervals, either time proportional or flow proportional, as to minimize the effect of the variability of the individual sample. The individual aliquots comprising the time and flow proportional samples will be of roughly equal volume.
(k) "Director" means the Director of the Service Department of the City, or the Director's authorized deputy, agent, or representative.
(l) "Industrial discharger" means any non-residential user who releases any effluent into the POTW by means of pipes, conduits, pumping stations, force mains, construction drainage ditches, intercepting ditches, and all constructed devices and appliances appurtenant thereto.
(m) "Garbage" means solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking and dispersing of food, and from the handling, storage and sale of produce.
(n) "Grab Sampling:" An individual sample, taken at one specific point in time, and not combined with any other samples taken.
(o) "Hazardous waste" means any waste or combination of wastes which pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or living organisms because such wastes are non-biodegradable or persistent in nature or because they can be biologically magnified, or because they can be lethal, or because they may otherwise cause or tend to cause detrimental cumulative effects, including any substance, combination of substances or mixtures as defined as "hazardous wastes"
in 40 CFR Part 261.
(p) "High Strength sewage" is defined as sewage containing more than 500 mg/L total Suspended Solids, 400 mg/L BOD, and/or 30 mg/L Ammonia Nitrogen.
(q) "Industrial wastes" means the liquid or solid wastes from industrial manufacturing processes, trade or business as distinct from sanitary sewage.
(r) "Industrial user" means any source of the introduction of pollutants into the POTW from any non- domestic source regulated under Section 307 (B)(C)(D) of the Act.
(s) "Interference" means the inhibition or disruption of the POTW, treatment processes or operations which contributes to a violation of any requirement of its NPDES permit. The term includes prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal by the POTW in accordance with Section 405 of the Act or any criteria, guidelines, or regulations developed pursuant to the Clean Air Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act (including Title II, more commonly known as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act), the Toxic Substance Control Act, the Marine Protection Research And Recovery Act, or any more stringent state criteria.
(t) "National Pretreatment Standard" means any regulation of the U.S. EPA, containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the administrator in accordance with sections 307(b) and (c) of the act, that applies to industrial users. This term includes prohibitive discharge limits established pursuant to 40 C.F.R. 403.5, 40 C.F.R. 403.3(I) and OAC 3745-3-01(N).
(u) "Natural outlet" means any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake, or other body of surface or groundwater.
(v) "New source or new discharger" 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 the 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: (1) the building, structure, facility or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or (2) the building, structure, facility or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or (3) the production or wastewater generating process of the building, structure, facility or installation are substantially independent of existing source at the same site.
(w) "Normal sewage" is defined as sewage containing not more than 250 mg/L Suspended Solids, or 200 mg/L BOD, or 15 mg/L Ammonia Nitrogen.
(x) "NPDES permit" shall mean the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit in effect as issued by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency to the City for the operation of the POTW which regulates the strength of the POTW effluent at its discharge point to the Mad River.
(y) "Pass through" means 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 violation of any requirements of the NPDES Permit.
(z) "Person" means any individual, firm, company association, society, corporation, or group.
(aa) "pH" means the logarithm of the reciprocal of the concentration of hydrogen ions in gram equivalents per liter of solution.
(bb) "POTW" means Publicly Owned Treatment Works or any sewage treatment works and the sewers and conveyances appurtenances discharging thereto, owned and operated by the City of Springfield.
(cc) "Pretreatment" means the reduction of the amounts of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater to a less harmful state prior to or in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing such pollutants into the POTW.
(dd) "Pretreatment regulations" is defined as a discharge limit related to pretreatment that is imposed on an industrial discharger by the Ohio Administrative Code Chapter 3745-3, Chapter 916 of the Codified Ordinances of the City of Springfield, Ohio, any control mechanism (including a Local Permit), categorical pretreatment standards, prohibitive discharge limits established pursuant to rule 3745-3-04 of the Ohio Administrative Code, local limits established pursuant to paragraph (C)(4) of rule 3745-3-03 and paragraph (D) of rule 3745-3-04 of the Ohio Administrative Code, and any enforceable schedule designed to achieve compliance with such limit.
(ee) "Pretreatment Requirement" means any substantive or procedural requirement related to Pretreatment, other than a National Pretreatment Standard, imposed on an Industrial User, per 40 CFR 403.3(t).
(ff) "Priority pollutant" means any of the pollutants classified by the USEPA in 40 CFR Part 122, Appendix D, and amendments. These generally consist of volatile and semi-volatile organic compounds, pesticides, poly-chlorinated biphenols and metals.
(gg) "Properly shredded garbage" means the 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 in any dimension.
(hh) "Public sewer" means a sewer which is controlled by public authority.
(ii) "Regulated industrial categories" means those categories defined in the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq) as being regulated.
(jj) "Sanitary sewer" means a sewer which carries sewage and to which storm, surface and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.
(kk) "Sewage" means a combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions, and industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface and storm waters as may be present.
(ll) "Sewer" means a pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
(mm) "Shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissive.
(nn) "Significant Non-Compliance" means a violation which remains uncorrected forty five (45) days after notification of noncompliance; which is part of a pattern of noncompliance over a twelve month period, either chronic violations or technical review criteria violations; which involves a failure to accurately report noncompliance; or which resulted in the POTW exercising its emergency authority under 40 CFR, Part 403.8(f)(1)(vi)(B).
(oo) "Significant industrial user" means all categorical industries and any non-categorical industry that has either, 1) a discharge averaging 25,000 gallons per day of process wastewater per billing period, or 2) discharges less than 25,000 GPD [determined by the average daily discharge per billing period] and contributes a process consistent waste-stream which makes up five percent (5%) or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the treatment plant and/or 3) has a reasonable potential, in the opinion of the director, to adversely affect the POTW.
(pp) "Slug" means any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or a non-customary batch discharge that 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. The results of these activities shall be made available to the director upon request.
(qq) "Storm sewer" means a sewer which carries storm and surface waters and drainage, but excludes sewage and industrial wastes, other than unpolluted cooling water.
(rr) "Suspended solids" means any solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in water, sewage or other liquids, and which are removable by laboratory filtering.
(ss) "Technical Review Criteria (TRC) violations" means that thirty three percent (33%) or more of all the measurements for each pollutant parameter taken during a six month period have equaled or exceeded the product of the daily maximum limit or average limit multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC=1.4 for fats, oil and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH) as measured at a monitoring point designated in the Local Permit.
(tt) "TKN" means Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen determined by the kjeldahl method as nitrogen in the form of organic proteins and/or their decomposition product ammonia expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/L).
(uu) "Total Toxic Organics" (TTO) means the sum of masses or concentrations of specific toxic organic compounds found in the industrial discharger's process discharge at a concentration greater than 0.01 mg/L. Each categorical standard is listed in 40 CFR Part 403, the specific toxic organic compounds that are to be included in the summation to define TTO for the category. If the industry is not defined under the categorical standards, then total toxic organics means the organic constituents that are considered federal priority pollutants.
(vv) "Toxic pollutants" means those substances considered by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency as priority pollutants.
(ww) "Upset" means an exceptional incident in which a discharger unintentionally and temporarily is in a state of non-compliance with the standards set forth in this ordinance due to factors beyond the reasonable control of the discharger, and excluding non-compliance to the extent caused by operational error, improperly designed treatment facilities, lack of preventive maintenance, or careless or improper operation thereof.
(xx) "Watercourse" means a channel in which flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.
(yy) "Wastewater Treatment Plant" means any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.
(zz) "Non-polar fat, grease, and oil material" means that portion of the Hexane Extractable Material (HEM) not absorbed by silica gel used in USEPA testing Method 1664A.
(aaa) "Polar fat, grease, and oil material" means that portion of the Hexane Extractable Material (HEM) that is absorbed by silica gel used in USEPA testing Method 1664A.
(a) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any storm water, surface water, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, uncontaminated cooling water, or unpolluted industrial process waters to any sanitary sewer. All existing connections allowing such discharge may be reviewed and approved or rejected by the Director upon consideration of the resulting hardships and related factors.
(b) Non-contact cooling water may be discharged to a storm sewer or natural outlet. Non-contact cooling water may be discharged to a combined sewer only with approval of the Director.
(c) Pursuant to 40 CFR 403.8(f)(1)(B)(1-6) and OAC 3745-03-03(C)(1)(c)(ivi), individual wastewater discharge permits and general permits must contain:
(1) A statement that indicates the wastewater discharge permit issuance date, expiration date and effective date;
(2) Effluent limits, including Best Management Practices, based on applicable Pretreatment Standards
(3) Self monitoring, sampling, reporting, notification, and recordkeeping requirements. These requirements shall include an identification of pollutants (or best management practice) to be monitored, sampling location, sampling frequency, and sample type based on Federal, State, and local law.
(4) A statement of applicable civil and criminal penalties for violation of Pretreatment Standards and Requirements, and any applicable compliance schedule. Such schedule may not extend the time for compliance beyond that required by applicable Federal, State, or local law.
(5) Requirements to control Slug Discharge, if determined by the Director to be necessary.
(d) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the following described waters or wastes to any public sewers:
(1) Any liquids, solids, or gasses which by reason of their nature or quantity are, or may be, sufficient either alone or by interaction with other substances to cause fire or explosion or be injurious in any other way to the sewer system or the POTW or to the operation of the POTW, including, but not limited to, waste-streams with a closed cup flashpoint of less than 140 degrees Fahrenheit or 60 degrees Celsius using the test method specified in 40 CFR 261.21. Prohibited substances include, but are not limited to, gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, benzene, toluene, xylene, ethers, ketones, aldehydes, peroxides, chlorates, alcohols, bromates, carbides, hydrides, perchlorates, sulfides and any other substance which the City, the state, or EPA has notified the user is a fire hazard or hazard to the system.
(2) Any waters or wastes containing toxic or poisonous pollutants as solids, liquids, or gases in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with other wastes, to injure or interfere with any sewage treatment process, constitute a hazard to human or animals, create a public nuisance or create any hazard in the receiving waters of the POTW.
(3) Any waters or wastes having a corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment, and personnel of the sewage works.
(4) Solid or viscous substances in quantities or of such size capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers, or other interference with the proper operation of the sewage works, such as, but not limited to, ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, wood, glass, rags, feathers, tar, flashings, entrails, and paper dishes, cups, milk containers, etc., either whole or ground by garbage grinders.
(5) Any waters or wastes containing objectionable or toxic substances in excess of the allowable limits determined by the Director and listed in the "Index of Restricted Substances" posted at the Wastewater Treatment Plant, the City Service Center and on the City's website.
(6) Any waters or wastes which may cause the POTW to exceed NPDES Permit conditions.
(e) No discharger shall increase the use of potable or process water in any way, nor mix separate waste streams for the purpose of diluting a discharge to partially or completely substitute adequate treatment to achieve compliance with the standards set forth in this ordinance.
(f) No person shall discharge any hazardous wastes to the POTW by truck, rail, or dedicated pipeline. Industrial dischargers are required to notify the POTW if they are disposing of any Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) listed or characteristic hazardous wastes, as defined in 40 CFR 261, by discharging it into the POTW. Exempt from this notification requirement are these industrial dischargers who discharge 15 kilograms or less per month of non-acute hazardous wastes. All industrial dischargers shall promptly notify the Director in advance of any substantial changes in the volume or character of pollutants in their discharge, including the listed or characteristic hazardous wastes for which the industrial discharger has submitted initial notification under 40 CFR 403.12(p).
(g) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged the following described substances, materials, waters, or wastes if it appears likely in the opinion of the Director that such wastes can harm either the sewers, sewage treatment process or equipment, have an adverse effect on the receiving stream or can otherwise endanger life, limb, public property or constitute a nuisance. In forming his opinion as to the acceptability of these wastes, the Director will give consideration to such factors as the quantities of subject wastes in relation to flows and velocities in the sewers, materials of construction of the sewers, nature of sewage treatment process, capability of the POTW, and other pertinent factors. The substances prohibited are:
(1) Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than 150 degrees Fahrenheit, or 65 degrees Celsius at the discharge point into the sewer and/or any temperature which would cause the POTW to have an influent temperature of 104 degrees Fahrenheit or 40 degrees Celsius at any time.
(2) Any water or wastes containing substances which may solidify or become viscous at temperatures between 32 degrees and 150 degrees Fahrenheit, or between 0 degrees and 65 degrees Celsius.
(3) Any garbage that has not been properly shredded. The installation and operation of any garbage grinder equipment with a motor of three-fourths horsepower or greater shall be subject to the review and approval of the Director.
(4) Any waters or wastes containing strong acid iron pickling wastes, or concentrated plating solutions.
(5) Any waters or wastes containing taste or odor producing substances in such concentrations as exceed limits which may be established by any State, Federal, or other public agency having jurisdiction over the discharge of such substances to the receiving waters.
(6) Any radioactive waste or isotopes of such half-life or concentration as may exceed limits established by the Director in compliance with applicable State or Federal regulations.
(7) Materials which exert or cause:
A. Unusual concentration of inert suspended solids (such as, but not limited to, Fullers earth, lime slurries, and lime residue) or of dissolved solids, (such as, but not limited to, sodium chloride and sodium sulfate).
B. Excessive discoloration, such as, but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tapping solutions.
C. Unusual requirements of BOD, suspended solids, or chlorine demand in such quantities as to constitute a significant load on the POTW.
D. Unusual volume of flow or concentration of wastes constituting "slugs" as defined in Section 916.01(pp).
(8) Waters or wastes containing substances which are not amenable to treatment or reduction by the sewage treatment processes employed, or are amenable to treatment only to such degree that the POTW effluent cannot meet the requirements of other agencies having jurisdiction over the discharge of such substances to the receiving waters or will contaminate the sludge thereby rendering it unsuitable for reclamation.
(h) No discharger subject to the National Categorical Pretreatment Standards as promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) shall fail to meet by the applicable standards.
(i) The Director is authorized to establish Local Limits pursuant to 40 CFR 403.5(c-d) and OAC 3745-3-03(C)(4).
(j) The pollutant limits, recorded in the Manager's Journal, are established to protect against Pass Through and Interference. No person shall discharge wastewater containing in excess of those limits.
(k) The Director may develop Best Management Practices (BMPs), by ordinance, in individual wastewater discharge permits, or general permits, to implement Local Limits and other requirements in this section.
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