(A) General prohibited discharges. No user shall contribute or cause to be contributed, directly or indirectly, any pollutant or wastewater which will cause pass through or interfere with the operation or performance of the POTW. These general prohibitions apply to all industrial users of the POTW whether or not they are subject to categorical pretreatment standards or any other National, State or Local pretreatment standards or requirement. No user shall contribute any of the following substances to any sanitary sewer or POTW:
(1) Inflows or infiltration, including but not limited to storm water, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, noncontact cooling water, or from sources such as downspouts, yard drains, swimming pools, yard fountains or ponds, or lawn sprinklers unless specifically authorized by the city;
(2) Liquids, solids, or gases which by reason of their nature or quantity are, or may be, sufficient either alone or by interaction with other substances, likely to cause fire or explosion or be injurious in any other way to the wastewater facilities. At no time shall two successive readings on an explosion hazard meter, at the point of discharge into the system (or at any point in the system), be more than 5% nor any single reading over ten percent of the lower explosive limit (LEL) of the meter;
(3) Waste streams with a closed cup flashpoint of less than 140° Fahrenheit or 60° Celsius, as determined by a Pensky-Martens Closed Cup Tester, using the test method specified in ASTM Standard D-93-79 or D-93-80, or a Setaflash Closed Cup Tester, using the test method specified in ASTM Standard D-3278-78, or as determined by an equivalent test method approved by the city under procedures set forth in 40 CFR 260.20 and 260.21;
(4) Solid or viscous substances which may cause obstruction of the flow in the POTW resulting in interference. In no case shall solids greater than half inches in any dimension be discharged to the POTW;
(5) Wastewater having a pH of less than 5.5 or higher than 9.5 or otherwise causing corrosive structural damage to the POTW or equipment;
(6) Pollutants which result in the presence of toxic gases, vapors, or fumes within the POTW in a quantity that may cause acute worker health and safety problems;
(7) Noxious or malodorous liquids, gases, solids, or other wastewater either singly or by interaction with other wastes, are sufficient to create a public nuisance, a hazard to life, or to prevent entry into the sewers for maintenance and repair;
(8) Wastewater having a temperature which will inhibit biological activity in the wastewater treatment plant or results in interference with the operations of the facility, but in no case wastewater with a temperature at the control manhole which exceeds 150°F (65°C) or which causes the temperature of the waste at the entrance to the wastewater treatment plant to exceed 104°F (40°C). In addition, no wastewater with such a temperature that will cause the temperature of the wastewater at the entrance to the wastewater treatment plant to rise more than 10°F per hour;
(9) Pollutants, including oxygen-demanding pollutants (BOD, COD, etc.), released in a discharge at a flow rate and/or pollutant concentration which, either singly or by interaction with other pollutants, will cause interference with the POTW;
(10) Wastewater containing fats, oils, or greases of animal or vegetable origin in excess of 100 mg/l, unless authorized under a wastewater discharge permit issued by the city, in accordance with § 53.155 of this chapter;
(11) Petroleum oil, non-biodegradable cutting oil, or products of mineral oil origin in amounts that will cause interference or pass through;
(12) Wastewater containing any radioactive wastes or isotopes except in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations;
(13) Trucked or hauled pollutants, except at discharge points designated by the pretreatment coordinator and approved under a wastewater discharge permit in accordance with § 53.155 of this chapter;
(14) Sludges, screenings, or other residues from the pretreatment of industrial wastes, unless authorized under wastewater discharge permit issued by the city, in accordance with § 53.155 of this chapter;
(15) Wastewater causing, alone or in conjunction with other sources, the POTW's effluent to fail a toxicity test; a violation of the city's NPDES permit; or cause a sanitary sewer overflow;
(16) Wastewater containing detergents, surface active agents, or other substances which may cause excessive foaming in the POTW;
(17) Wastewater which imparts color which cannot be removed by the POTW, such as, but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions;
(18) Medical wastes, unless authorized under a wastewater discharge permit issued by the city, in accordance with § 53.155 of this chapter.
(B) Storage and process area drains. Wastes prohibited by this section shall not be processed or stored in such a manner that they could be discharged to the POTW. All floor drains located in process or material storage areas where prohibited wastes are present must discharge to the industrial user's pretreatment facility before connecting with the POTW or contained for collection and disposal by means other than discharge to the POTW.
(C) Local limits. The following pollutant limits are established to protect against pass through and interference. No person shall discharge wastewater containing pollutants in excess of the maximum daily concentration limits listed in Table I of this section. The city may impose mass limitations and/or BMP/P3s in addition to, or in place of, the concentration-based limitation of Table I. These limits apply at the "end-of-pipe" defined as the point where the wastewater enters the city's sewer collection system. All concentrations for metallic substances are for "Total Metals" unless indicated otherwise. Where a user is subject to a categorical pretreatment standard and a local limit for a given pollutant, the more stringent limit or applicable pretreatment standard shall apply.
Table I. Local Limits | ||
Pollutants (Total Metals) | Symbol | Maximum Daily Concentration (mg/1) |
Table I. Local Limits | ||
Pollutants (Total Metals) | Symbol | Maximum Daily Concentration (mg/1) |
Arsenic | As | 0.6 |
Cadmium | Cd | 0.08 |
Chromium | Cr | 4.9 |
Copper | Cu | 2.6 |
Cyanide | CN | 0.4 |
Lead | Pb | 0.4 |
Mercury | Hg | 0* |
Nickel | Ni | 4.8 |
Silver | Ag | 0.3 |
Zinc | Zn | 1.9 |
Note* Industrial user permit compliance/noncompliance determinations will be based on the minimum analytical level (MAL) for mercury. Effluent concentrations measured as less than the MAL are deemed to be compliant with the permit limit for mercury. When an analysis of an effluent sample for mercury results in a measurement of less than the MAL, then the parameter shall be reported as less than the MAL value (<MAL) and this shall be interpreted as a value of zero for compliance purposes. | ||
(D) Dilution.
(1) No industrial user shall ever increase the use of process water or, in any other way; attempt to dilute a discharge as a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve compliance with a pretreatment standard, a discharge permit, or this chapter.
(2) The pretreatment department may impose mass limitations on industrial users which are using dilution to meet applicable pretreatment standards or requirements or in other cases when the imposition of mass limitations is appropriate.
(E) Federal categorical pretreatment standards. The national categorical pretreatment standards found at 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405-471 are hereby incorporated.
(1) Where a categorical pretreatment standard is expressed only in terms of either the mass or the concentration of a pollutant in wastewater, the city may impose equivalent concentration or mass limits in accordance with 40 CFR 403.6(c).
(2) When wastewater subject to a categorical pretreatment standard is mixed with wastewater not regulated by the same standard, the city shall impose an alternate limit using the combined wastestream formula in 40 CFR 403.6(e).
(3) A user may obtain a variance from a categorical pretreatment standard if the user can prove, pursuant to the procedural and substantive provisions in 40 CFR 403.13, that factors relating to its discharge are fundamentally different from the factors considered by EPA when developing the categorical pretreatment standard.
(4) A user may obtain a net gross adjustment to a categorical standard in accordance with 40 CFR 403.15.
(F) State pretreatment standards. The Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (TPDES) adopts 40 CFR 403 by reference under 30 TAC Chapter 315 as authorized under V.T.C.A., Water Code § 26.047. The Texas Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Pretreatment rules, specified in 30 TAC Chapter 315 are hereby incorporated.
(G) City's right of revision. The city reserves the right to establish, by ordinance or in wastewater discharge permits, more stringent standards or requirements on discharges to the POTW if deemed necessary to comply with the objectives presented in § 53.151 of this chapter or the general and specific prohibitions in § 53.153 of this chapter.
(Ord. 17-1121, passed 11-21-2017)