(A) No unpolluted water or storm water shall be discharged to the sanitary sewer. The water shall be discharged only to storm sewers or to natural outlets approved by the city and other regulatory agencies.
(B) No person(s) shall discharge any of the following substances to the public sewer:
(1) Liquids, solids, gases or other substances that singly or by interaction with others may cause fire or explosion;
(2) Solid or viscous substances that may cause obstruction to the flow in a sewer;
(3) Wastewater having a pH of less than 5.5 or greater than 9.5 or having any other corrosive or caustic property capable of causing damage or hazard; and/or
(4) Wastewater containing toxic pollutants, as defined in § 307(a) of the Water Pollution Control Act, being 33 U.S.C. § 1317(a) and M.S. § 115.01, subd. 20, as it may be amended from time to time.
(C) Discharges of the following substances shall be limited to concentrations or quantities that will not harm the wastewater facility, streams, soils, vegetation, ground water and will not otherwise create a hazard or nuisance. The authorized representative may set limitations lower than the prohibition limits outlined below. Consideration will be given to such factors as the quantity of waste in relation to flows and velocities, material of construction, the community’s NPDES and SDS permits, capacity of the treatment plant, degree of treatability of wastes and other pertinent factors:
(1) Wastewater having a temperature greater than 150°F (65.6°C), or causing, individually or in combination with other wastewater, the influent at the treatment facilities to have a temperature exceeding 104°F (40°C), or having heat in amounts which will be detrimental to biological activity in the treatment facilities;
(2) Wastewater containing fats, wax, grease or oils in excess of 100 mg/l or containing substances which may solidify or become viscous at temperatures between 32°F and 150°F (0°C and 65.6°C);
(3) A discharge of water or wastewater which in concentration or in quantity of flow exceeds for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes, more than five times the average 24-hour concentration of flows during normal operation;
(4) Food wastes not properly shredded to such as degree that all particles would be carried freely under normal flow conditions with no particle greater than one-half inch in any dimension;
(5) Noxious or malodorous liquids, gases or solids;
(6) Wastewater with objectionable color not removed in the treatment process;
(7) Wastewater containing inert suspended solids in quantities that would cause disruption to the wastewater treatment facilities;
(8) Radioactive wastes or isotopes in concentrations that exceed limits established by applicable state and federal regulations;
(9) Wastewaters with B0D5 or suspended solids levels that require additional treatment, except as may be permitted by specific written agreement with the city subject to § 53.05 of this chapter;
(10) Wastewater containing substances which cannot be treated to produce effluent quality required by the permit or causes a violation of any applicable local, state or federal regulation;
(11) In the event of discharges to the public sewers which contain substances or possess characteristics prohibited in division (B) above and this division (C) or which, in the judgment of the representative, may have a deleterious effects to the treatment facility, receiving waters, soils, vegetation or which create a hazard or nuisance, the representative may:
(a) Refuse to accept the waste;
(b) Require pretreatment to an acceptable condition for discharge to the public sewers pursuant to § 307(b) of the Act, being 33 U.S.C. § 1317(b) and all addenda thereof; and
(c) Require control over the quantities and rates of discharge.
(12) Require payment to cover all the added costs handling, treating and disposing of wastes not covered by existing taxes or sewer charges; and
(13) If the representative permits the pretreatment or equalization of waste flows, the design, installation, maintenance and efficient operation of the facilities and equipment shall be at the owner’s expense and shall be subject to review and approval by the city pursuant to the requirements of the MPCA.
(D) No user shall increase the use of process water or in any manner attempt to dilute a discharge as a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve compliance with the limitations contained in this section, the national categorical pretreatment standards and any state or local requirement.
(E) (1) Grease, oil and sand interceptors shall be provided at the owners expense when, in the opinion of the representative, they are necessary for the proper handling of liquid wastes containing floatable grease in excessive amounts, any flammable wastes, sand, other harmful ingredients. All interceptors shall be readily and easily accessible for cleaning and inspection. The owner shall be responsible for the maintenance of interceptors, including proper removal and disposal of the captured materials by appropriate means, and shall maintain a record of dates and means of disposal which are subject to review by the representative.
(2) Any material removal and hauling must be performed by the owner’s personnel or a currently licensed waste disposal firm and in compliance with all applicable laws and regulations.
(F) Where required by the representative, industrial users shall install and maintain, at their own expense, a suitable structure or control manhole with such necessary meters and other testing equipment needed to facilitate observation, sampling and measurement of wastewater. The manhole will be safe and accessible at all times. The Utilities Commission may require submission of laboratory analyses to illustrate compliance with this chapter any special conditions for discharge established by the Utilities Commission or responsible regulatory agency. All measurements, tests and analyses to which reference is made in this chapter shall be determined in accordance with the latest edition of Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater, published by the American Public Health Association, and kept for a period of two years.
(G) (1) Where required by the representative, users shall provide protection from an accidental discharge of substances regulated by this chapter. Where necessary, facilities to prevent accidental discharges of prohibited materials shall be provided and maintained at the owner’s expense. Detailed plans and operating procedures of the facilities shall be submitted to the representative for review and approval prior to construction of the facility. Approval of the plans and operating procedures shall not relieve use from the responsibility of modifying the facility as necessary to meet the requirements of this chapter.
(2) Users shall notify the representative immediately if a slug or accidental discharge of wastewater occurs in violation of this chapter. Notification will allow measures to be taken to minimize damage to the treatment facilities. Notification will not relieve users of liability for any expense, loss or damage to the treatment facilities, or for fines imposed on the city by any state or federal agency as a result of their actions.
(3) A notice shall be permanently posted on the user’s bulletin board or other prominent place advising employees of the emergency notification procedure in the event of a slug or accidental discharge.
(H) (1) No person shall permit any substance or matter that may form a deposit or obstruction of flow to be discharged into the public sewer. Whenever any service connection becomes clogged, obstructed, detrimental to the use of the public sewer or unfit for the purpose of drainage, the owner shall make repairs as directed by the representative.
(2) Each day after seven days that the owner neglects to make the repairs shall constitute a separate violation of this section. The representative may then cause the work to be done and recover related expenses from the owner or agent by an action in the name of the city.
(I) In addition to penalties that may be imposed for violation of any provision of this section, the city may assess against the user/owner the cost of repairing or restoring sewers and associated facilities damaged as a result of the discharge of prohibited wastes and may collect the assessment as an additional charge for the use of the public sewer system.
(J) No statement contained in this section shall prevent any special agreement or arrangement between the community or sewer district of the city and any industrial user. As alternatives to an agreement, the city may issue discharge permits to individual industrial users, or issue a general discharge permit to all industrial users, or use any combination of the preceding two alternatives in order to regulate the discharges of industrial users. Industrial waste of unusual strength or character may be accepted by the facility for treatment, subject to adequate payment by the industrial user; provided that, national categorical pretreatment standards and the city’s NPDES and SDS permit limitations are not violated.
(Prior Code, § 505.15) (Ord. passed 11-3-2004; Ord. passed 5-15-2007; Ord. passed 9-4-2012; Ord. passed 1-7-2014; Ord. passed 8-5-2014; Ord. passed 3-3-2015) Penalty, see § 53.99