§ 58-61. Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Act or the act means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 USC 1251 et seq.

Approval authority means an NPDES state with an approved state pretreatment program; otherwise, the regional water management division director of the U.S. EPA.

Authorized representative of the industrial user means one of the following:

(1)

If the industrial user is a corporation, authorized representative means:

a.

The president, secretary, treasurer or a vice-president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function or any other person who performs similar policy- or decision-making functions for the corporation; or

b.

The manager of one or more manufacturing, production or operation facilities employing more than 250 persons or having gross annual sales or expenditures exceeding $25,000,000.00 (in second-quarter 1980 dollars), if authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporation procedures.

(2)

If the industrial user is a partnership, association or sole proprietorship, an authorized representative means a general partner or the proprietor.

(3)

If the individual user is representing federal, state or local government or an agent thereof, an authorized representative means a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility.

(4)

The individuals described in subsections (1) through (3) of this definition may designate another authorized representative if the authorization:

a.

Is in writing;

b.

Specifies the individual or position responsible for the overall operations of the facility from which the discharge originates or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company; and

c.

Is submitted to the city.

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure, five days at 20 degrees Celsius expressed in terms of weight and concentration (milligrams per liter (mg/l)).

Building sewer means a sewer conveying wastewater from the premises of a user to the POTW.

Categorical pretreatment standard and categorical standard mean any regulation containing pollutant discharge limit promulgated by the U.S. EPA in accordance with section 307(b) and (c) of the act (33 USC 1317) which applies to a specific category of industrial users and which appears in 40 CFR 405—471, incorporated in this article by reference.

Color means the optical density at the visual wavelength of maximum absorption, relative to distilled water. Transmittance of 100 percent is equivalent to zero optical density.

Composite sample means the sample resulting from the combination of individual wastewater samples taken at selected intervals based on either an increment of flow or time.

Control authority means the superintendent, once the city has an EPA-approved pretreatment program according to 40 CFR 403.11.

Cooling water means the water discharged from any use, such as air conditioning, cooling or refrigeration, or to which the only pollutant added is heat.

Discharge means the discharge or the introduction of nondomestic pollutants into the municipal wastewater system by an industrial user.

Environmental Protection Agency and U.S. EPA and EPA mean the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the term may also be used as a designation for the regional water management division director or other duly authorized official of such agency.

Existing source means any source of discharge, the construction or operation of which commenced prior to the publication of proposed categorical pretreatment standards under section 307(b) and (c) (33 USC 1317) of the act which will be applicable to such source if the standard is thereafter promulgated in accordance with section 307 of the act.

Grab sample means a sample which is taken from a waste stream on a one-time basis without regard to the flow in the waste stream and without consideration of time.

Holding tank waste means any waste from holding tanks, such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks and vacuum-pump tank trucks.

Industrial user means any person who is a source of discharge.

Industrial wastewater means a nondomestic wastewater originating from a nonresidential source.

Interference means a discharge which causes or contributes to the inhibition or disruption of the municipal wastewater system, including sewage collection facilities, the processes or operations of the retreatment plant or the use or disposal of sewage sludge in accordance with the city's NPDES permit or any of the following regulations or permits issued thereunder or more stringent state or local regulations:

(1)

Section 405 of the Clean Water Act;

(2)

The Solid Waste Disposal Act, including title II commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA);

(3)

Any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act;

(4)

The Clean Air Act;

(5)

The Toxic Substance Control Act; and

(6)

The Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act.

Medical waste means isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood byproducts, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, fomites, etiologic agents, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes, potentially contaminated laboratory wastes and dialysis wastes.

Municipal wastewater system and system mean a treatment works as defined by section 212 of the act (33 USC 1292) which is owned by the state or city. This definition includes any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of sewage or industrial wastes and any conveyances which convey wastewater to a treatment plant. The term also means the city entity having responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the system.

New source means:

(1)

Any source of a discharge, the construction or operation of which commenced after the publication of proposed categorical pretreatment standards under section 307(c) (33 USC 1317(c)) of the act which will be applicable to such source if the standard is thereafter promulgated in accordance with section 307(c), provided that:

a.

No other source is located at that site;

b.

The source completely replaces the process or production equipment of an existing source at that site; or

c.

The new wastewater generating process of the source is substantially independent of an existing source at that site; and the construction of the source creates a new facility rather than modifying an existing source at that site.

(2)

For purposes of this definition, construction or operation has commenced if the owner or operator has:

a.

Begun or caused to begin as part of a continuous onsite construction program:

1.

Any placement, assembly or installation of facilities or equipment; or

2.

Significant site preparation work including clearing, excavation or removal of existing buildings, structures or facilities which is necessary for the placement, assembly or installation of new source facilities or equipment; or

b.

Entered into a binding contractual obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment which are intended to be used in its operation within a reasonable time. Options to purchase or contracts which can be terminated or modified without substantial loss and contracts for feasibility, engineering and design studies do not constitute a contractual obligation under this definition.

Nondomestic pollutants means any substances other than human excrement and household gray water (shower, dishwashing operations, etc.). Nondomestic pollutants include the characteristics of the wastewater, i.e., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, odor.

Pass through means a discharge which exits the treatment plant effluent into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with an indirect discharge or discharges from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the city's NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.

Person means any individual, partnership, copartnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity or other legal entity or their legal representatives, agents or assigns. This definition includes all federal, state or local governmental entities.

pH means a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance, expressed in standard units; neutral wastewaters are numerically equal to 7 while the number increases to show increasing alkalinity and decreases to show increasing acidity.

Pollutant means any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, industrial wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and agricultural wastes.

Pretreatment and treatment means the reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater thereby rendering them less harmful to the municipal wastewater system prior to introducing such pollutants into the system. This reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological processes, by process changes, or by other means, except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable pretreatment standard.

Pretreatment standard and requirements means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, including national categorical pretreatment standards and prohibitive discharge standards imposed on an industrial user.

Prohibited discharge standards and prohibited discharges mean absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain defined types of industrial wastewater. These prohibitions appear in section 58-131.

Receiving stream or water of the state means 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 or any portion thereof.

Residential users means persons only contributing sewage wastewater to the municipal wastewater system.

Sewage means human excrement and gray water (household showers, dishwashing operations, etc.).

Significant industrial user means:

(1)

Industrial users subject to categorical pretreatment standards; and

(2)

Any other industrial user who:

a.

Discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more of process wastewater;

b.

Contributes a process waste stream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the treatment plant; or

c.

Is designated as significant by the city on the basis that the industrial user has a reasonable potential for causing pass through or interference.

Slug load means any pollutant, including BOD, released in a discharge at a flow rate or concentration which will cause a violation of the specific discharge prohibitions in sections 58-131 through 58-137.

Standard industrial classification (SIC) code means a classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget.

Stormwater means any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation and resulting therefrom, including snowmelt.

Superintendent means the person or his duly authorized representative designated by the city to supervise the operation of the municipal wastewater system and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this article.

Suspended solids means the total suspended matter that floats on the surface of or is suspended in water, wastewater or other liquid and which is removable by laboratory filtering.

Toxic pollutant means one of 126 pollutants or combination of those pollutants listed as toxic in regulations promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency under the provisions of section 307 (33 USC 1317) of the act.

Treatment plant means that portion of the municipal wastewater system designed to provide treatment of sewage and industrial waste.

Treatment plant effluent means any discharge of pollutants from the municipal system into waters of the state.

User means any person who contributes or causes or allows the contribution of sewage or industrial wastewater into the municipal wastewater system, including persons who contribute such wastes from mobile sources.

Wastewater means the liquid and water-carried industrial wastes or sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which is contributed to the municipal wastewater system.

(Ord. No. 91-4, § 1.3, 12-11-1991)

Cross reference

Definitions and rules of construction generally, § 1-2.