(A) Abbreviations and acronyms. The following abbreviations and acronyms, when used in this chapter, shall have the designated meanings:
C.F.R. | Code of Federal Regulations |
EPA | U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
gpd | Gallons per day |
mg/l | Milligrams per liter |
NPDES | National pollutant discharge elimination system |
POTW | Publicly owned treatment works |
RCRA | Resource Conservation and Recovery Act |
U.S.C. | United States Code |
(B) Definitions. For the purpose of this chapter, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
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.
ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER. An enforcement document which directs a user to undertake or to cease specified activities. Types of ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS are: cease and desist orders; consent orders; show cause orders; and compliance orders.
BASELINE MONITORING REPORT. A report to be submitted at least 90 days prior to commencement of discharge containing the following: identifying information; environmental permits; description of operation; flow measurements; measurements of pollutants; certification; compliance schedule; and signatures and certification.
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMPs).
(a) Schedules of activities, prohibition of practices, maintenance procedures and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in 40 C.F.R. § 403.5(a)(1) and (b). BMPs 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.
(b) The authority, at its sole discretion, may develop BMPs. Such BMPs shall be considered local limits and pretreatment standards for the purposes of 40 C.F.R. part 403 and § 307(d) of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. § 1317(b)). The authority, also at its sole discretion, may allow a user to implement BMPs to meet the prohibitions listed in §§ 53.015 and 53.016 of this code of ordinances.
(c) Noncompliance with BMPs shall be considered exceedances of permit limits and enforcement will be implemented in accordance with the steps shown for discharge limit violations in the Table A: Enforcement Response Procedures.
CONTROL AUTHORITY. The Easton Area Joint Sewer Authority.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY or EPA. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or where appropriate the term may also be used as a designation for the Administrator or other duly authorized official of said agency, including the Regional Water Management Division Director.
INDUSTRIAL PRETREATMENT COORDINATOR. The person designated by the control authority to supervise the operation of the POTW, and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this chapter, or a duly authorized representative, delegated by the Pretreatment Coordinator.
INDIRECT DISCHARGE or DISCHARGE. The introduction of pollutants (including holding tank waste), into the POTW, from any nondomestic source regulated under § 307(b), (c) or (d) of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1317).
INDUSTRIAL USER or USER. A source of indirect discharge, from an establishment, which discharges or introduces industrial wastes into the POTW.
INDUSTRIAL WASTE(S). Any liquid, gaseous, radioactive, solid or other substances, not sewage, resulting from any manufacturing or industry, or from establishment as herein defined, and mine drainage, refuse, silt, coal mines, coal collieries, breakers or other coal processing operation.
INTERFERENCE. A discharge, which alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, causes the inhibition or disruption of the POTW’s treatment processes or operations or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and therefore, is a cause of a violation of the control authority’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: § 405 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1345); the Solid Waste Disposal Act, including Title II commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) (42 U.S.C. §§ 6901 et seq.); any state regulations contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 6941 et seq.); the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. §§ 7401 et seq.); the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. §§ 2601 et seq.); and the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (16 U.S.C. §§ 1431 et seq. and 33 U.S.C. §§ 1401 et seq.)
ISOLATED. Single incident that shall be followed by 12 consecutive months of compliance for the same parameter or requirement.
NOTIFICATION. Depending on the situation, generally, the submission of information in response to event or request to characterize nature of event, condition, identification and/or estimation of information, as required by this chapter.
PASS THROUGH. A discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the state in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with discharge or discharges from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the control authority’s NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
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. The masculine gender shall include the feminine, the singular shall include the plural where indicated by the context.
POLLUTION. The human-made or human-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological and radiological integrity of water, such that harm to human health or the environment results.
POLLUTANT. Any 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).
PRETREATMENT. The reduction of the amount 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. This reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological processes; process changes; or by other means, except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable pretreatment standard.
PRETREATMENT REQUIREMENTS. Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.
PRETREATMENT STANDARDS or STANDARDS. Prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards and local limits.
PUBLIC NOTIFICATION. The annual publishing, in the largest daily newspaper published in the service area in which the POTW is located, of all violators who have been determined to be in significant noncompliance with applicable pretreatment requirements, during the previous 12 months.
PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS or POTW. A treatment works, as defined by § 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1292), which is owned by the control authority. 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 POTW treatment plant.
PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS PENALTY LAW or POTW ACT. As defined by Act 9 of 1992, 35 P.S. §§ 752.1 et seq.
SELF MONITORING REPORT or SMR. The user’s compliance report as mandated by the user’s permit and/or the control authority’s rules and requirements that are submitted on schedule, cover the proper time period, include all information required, and are properly signed. The report shall include the parameters required, the number of measurements for each parameter, sampling procedures, the discharge concentration and completeness of other information required.
SHALL. Mandatory; MAY is permissive.
SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER.
(a) 1. A user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or
2. A user that:
a. Discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, cooling, 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 control authority on the basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
(b) Upon a finding that a user meeting the criteria in division (a)2. above has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement, the control authority may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from a user, and in accordance with procedures in 40 C.F.R. § 403.8(f)(6), determine that such user should not be considered a SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER.
SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPLIANCE (SNC). An industrial user or user is in significant noncompliance if its violation meets one or more of the specific criteria set forth in 40 C.F.R. § 403.8(f)(2)(viii). For purposes of this definition, a user is in SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPLIANCE if its violations meets one or more of the following criteria:
(a) Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined here as those in which 66% or more of wastewater measurements taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) a numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 C.F.R. § 403.3(l);
(b) Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which 33% or more of wastewater measurements taken for each pollutant parameter during a six-month period equals or exceeds the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 C.F.R. § 403.3(l) multiplied by the applicable criterion (1.4 for BOD, CBOD, TSS, fats, oils and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH);
(c) Any other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement as defined by 40 C.F.R. § 403.3(l) (daily maximum, long-term average, instantaneous limit or narrative standard) that the Pretreatment Coordinator determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass through (including endangering the health of borough personnel or the general public);
(d) Any discharge of pollutants that has caused imminent endangerment to the public health and welfare or to the environment, or has resulted in the Pretreatment Coordinator’s exercise of his or her emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge;
(e) Failure to meet, within 90 days of the scheduled date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a wastewater discharge permit or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction or attaining final compliance;
(f) Failure to provide within 45 days after the due date, any required reports, including baseline monitoring reports, reports on compliance with categorical pretreatment standard deadlines, periodic self-monitoring reports and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;
(g) Failure to accurately report noncompliance; or
(h) Any other violation(s), which may include violation of best management practices, which the Pretreatment Coordinator determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program.
SLUG DISCHARGE. Any pollutant released in a discharge at a flow rate or concentration which will cause a violation of the specific discharge prohibitions in 40 C.F.R. § 403.5(b) and/or any discharge of non-routine nature, episodic nature, including. but not limited to, accidental spills or non-customary batch discharges, which has a reasonable potential to cause interference or pass through, or in any other way violate the authority’s regulations, prohibited discharge standards in the rules and regulations, local limits or NPDES permit conditions.
STATE. The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
USER or INDUSTRIAL USER. See INDUSTRIAL USER or USER.
VIOLATION. An instance of noncompliance with any requirement of this chapter.
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.
WASTEWATER DISCHARGE LIMITS. Any applicable local, state or federal wastewater limit for a specific industrial classification.
WATERS OF THE STATE. All streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, reservoirs, aquifers, irrigation systems, drainage systems and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface or underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through or border upon the state of any portion thereof.
(Res. 1998-10-18-B, passed 10-19-1998; Ord. 180, passed 12-21-1998; Ord. 233-2008, passed 3-3-2008)