A.
Word usage. "Shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissive.
B.
ABUTTER
APPLICANT
AUTHORIZED ENFORCEMENT AGENCY
AVERAGE DAILY FLOW
BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES (BMP)
BOD (denoting "biochemical oxygen demand")
BUILDING DRAIN
BUILDING SEWER
BUSINESS UNIT
CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARDS
CITY
CLEAN WATER ACT
COMBINED SEWER
COMMERCIAL USER
DEP or DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION
DEPARTMENT OF PUBLIC WORKS
DETENTION POND or RETENTION POND
DISCHARGE
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
DRAINAGE SYSTEM
DRAIN LATERAL OR CONNECTION
DRY INDUSTRY
DUMPING
DWELLING UNIT
EPA or ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY
EXCESSIVE
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
EXISTING DISCHARGE
FLOW ATTENUATION
GARBAGE
GENERAL BENEFIT AREA
GROUNDWATER RECHARGE
HYDROLOGY MODEL
(1)
(2)
(3)
ILLICIT CONNECTION
ILLICIT STORMWATER DISCHARGE
IMPROVEMENT AREA
INDIRECT STORMWATER DISCHARGE
INDUSTRIAL USER
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
INDUSTRY
INTERFERE
LOT
MAXIMUM DAILY FLOW
MS4 or MUNICIPAL SEPARATED STORM SEWER SYSTEM
NATURAL OUTLET
NPDES: NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM
NON-STORMWATER DISCHARGE
OWNER
PARCEL
PASS-THROUGH
PERMITTING AUTHORITY
PERSON
pH
POLLUTANT
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)
POTENTIAL UNIT
PRIVATE WAY
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE
PUBLIC SEWER
PUBLIC WAY
SANITARY LATERAL OR CONNECTION
SANITARY SEWER
SD PERMIT or STORM DRAIN PERMIT
SERVICE AREA
SERVICED PROPERTY
SEWAGE
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT
SEWAGE WORKS
SEWER
SEWERED STREET
SLUG
STORM DRAIN (sometimes termed "storm sewer")
STORM DRAINAGE SYSTEM
STORMWATER DISCHARGE
SUPERINTENDENT
SURFACE WATER DISCHARGE PERMIT
SUSPENDED SOLIDS
TOTAL NUMBER OF UNITS
UNDEVELOPED LAND
USER
WASTEWATER
WATERCOURSE
WATER RESOURCE
WATERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH
WET INDUSTRY
YARD DRAIN
Definitions. Unless the context specifically indicates
otherwise, the meanings of terms used in this chapter shall be as
follows:
One who holds title to real property within the limits of
an improvement area, and his successors in title.
[Added 8-12-1981]
Any abutter, his agent, representative or assign requesting
approval to discharge wastewater into Town sewer facilities or to
connect to the Town drainage system.
[Added 8-12-1981]
The Department of Public Works, its employees, or agents
designated to enforce this chapter on the behalf of the Superintendent.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
The total volume of sewage in gallons measured at a metering
station or other point during a continuous period of 365 days divided
by 365.
[Added 1-21-1986 by TOR-85-4]
Structural or nonstructural practices which temporarily store
or treat urban stormwater runoff to reduce flooding, remove pollutants,
or reduce pollutants at their source.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation
of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days
at 20° C., expressed in milligrams per liter.
That part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system
which receives the discharge from soil, waste and other drainage pipes
inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer,
beginning 10 feet outside the inner face of the building wall.
The extension from the building drain to the public sewer
or other place of disposal.
An individual commercial user or dry industry, but excluding
any wet industry as defined herein, such that each individual business
in a shopping center or industrial complex shall constitute one business
unit.
[Added 8-12-1981; amended 7-10-1989 by TOR-89-9]
Pollutant discharge limitations for specific industrial user
categories promulgated under federal law by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency.
[Added 1-21-1986]
The City of Springfield, its Director of Public Works or
other designated representative.
[Added 1-21-1986 by TOR-85-4]
The federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. §
1251 et seq.), and any subsequent amendments thereto.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
A sewer receiving both surface runoff and sewage.
A classification of user which includes all retail and wholesale
establishments, institutions and offices, including but not limited
to office buildings, restaurants, retail and wholesale outlets, service
agencies, agents, brokers, professional offices, etc., both for profit
and nonprofit.
[Added 8-12-1981]
A department of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts which regulates
environmental concerns, including but not limited to the Wetland Protection
Act and as co-permittee-of certain NPDES permits with the EPA.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
The administrative body for public works in the Town of Agawam.
A natural or man-made drainage holding area and appurtenances,
including outlet or control structure, dam, emergency spillway, etc.
[Added 7-9-1984]
The following are the definitions of terms used in this section:
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
DIRECT STORMWATER DISCHARGEThe discharge of treated or untreated stormwater directly to the MS4, which may or may not subsequently discharge to the waters of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including rivers, streams, brooks, or wetlands.
ILLICIT STORMWATER DISCHARGEAny nonstormwater discharge into the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4), except as specifically exempted in this code. DischargeS which are in compliance with a NPDES stormwater discharge permit are not illicit discharges.
INDIRECT STORMWATER DISCHARGEThe discharge of treated or untreated stormwater to the waters of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including rivers, streams, brooks, or wetlands, without a connection to or discharge to the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) before flows reach the water resource.
STORMWATER DISCHARGEThe discharge of treated or untreated stormwater to the Town’s MS4.
Same as stormwater system, storm sewer system.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
Drainage service connections are private structures to be
owned and maintained by the property owner to the point where it connects
to a stormwater main, manhole, or catch basin in the street right-of-way
or Town’s easement.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
A classification of user which includes all industries which
do not use water for processes, do not use large volumes of water
for cleaning, or for which total annual wastewater production is less
than 100,000 cubic feet.
[Added 8-12-1981]
An act or omission of any person or entity, the proximate
result of which is the introduction of pollutant(s) to the MS4, which
is an illicit discharge.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
A single-family house, one apartment or one condominium unit
shall constitute one dwelling unit.
[Added 8-12-1981; amended 7-10-1989 by TOR-89-9]
The United States Environmental Protection Agency, a department
of the federal government that requires compliance with the Clean
Water Act and NPDES permitting.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
Amounts of concentration of a constituent of a wastewater
which in the judgment of the municipality:
Will cause damage to any facility;
Will be harmful to a wastewater treatment process;
Cannot be removed in the treatment works to
the degree required in the limiting streams classification standards
of the Connecticut River and/or its tributaries;
Can otherwise endanger life and/or property;
or
Can constitute a nuisance.
Any discharge to the MS4 which is under construction or operation
at the time of the enactment of this definition.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
Prolonging the flow time of runoff to reduce the rate of
the peak discharge.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
Solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation,
cooking and dispensing of food and from the handling, storage and
sale of produce.
The part of Town that is served, or has the potential to
be served, directly or indirectly, by the existing and proposed system
of sewerage or drainage, which shall include the area within the improvement
area.
[Added 8-12-1981]
The process by which groundwater is replenished by precipitation
through the percolation of runoff and surface water through the soil.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
TR20, a watershed hydrology model developed
by the Natural Resources Conservation Service that is used to route
a design storm hydropgraph through a pond.
TR55, Urban Hydrology for Small Watersheds,
a publication developed by the Natural Resources Conservation Service
to calculate stormwater runoff and an aid in designing detention basins.
HydroCAD, a computer model which utilizes the
TR20 or TR55 method for stormwater runoff modeling.
Any surface flow or conveyance of flows to the MS4 which
contains nonstormwater discharges except as exempted within this chapter.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
Any nonstormwater discharge into the municipal separate storm
sewer system (MS4), except as specifically exempted in this chapter.
Discharges which are in compliance with a NPDES stormwater discharge
permit are not illicit discharges.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
The area served by the proposed sewerage or drainage project,
the boundaries of which shall include only those parcels or portions
of parcels that could be directly connected to the proposed common
sewers or drains, such that a building sewer or drain would not have
to pass through adjacent private land to serve each parcel.
[Added 8-12-1981]
The discharge of treated or untreated stormwater to the waters
of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, including rivers, streams, brooks,
or wetlands without a connection to or discharge to the municipal
separate storm sewer system (MS4) before flows reach the water resource.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
An industry discharging industrial wastewater to a public
sewer.
[Added 1-21-1986 by TOR-85-4]
The liquid wastes from industrial manufacturing processes,
trade or business as distinct from sanitary sewage.
An establishment with facilities for manufacturing, processing,
fabricating, finishing, assembling, testing or packaging goods, including
materials, chemicals, by-products and finished and unfinished products.
And furthermore, "industry" shall mean any nongovernmental user of
publicly owned treatment works identified in the Standard Industrial
Classification Manual, 1972, Office of Management and Budget, as amended
and supplemented, under the following divisions:
A discharge by an industrial user which, along or in conjunction
with discharges by other sources, inhibits or disrupts the Town's
wastewater work, its treatment processes or operations or its sludge
processes, use or disposal and which is a cause of a violation of
any requirement of the Town's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration
of a violation, or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal
by the Town in accordance with the following statutory provisions
and regulations or permits issued thereunder for more stringent state
or local regulations: § 405 of the Clean Water Act, the
Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) [including Title II, more commonly
referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA),
and including state regulations contained in any state sludge management
plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the SWDA], the Clean Water
Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act and the Marine Protection Research
and Sanctuaries Act.
[Added 1-21-1986 by TOR-85-4]
An area of land in one ownership, with definite boundaries,
used or available for use as the site for one or more dwelling or
business units.
[Added 8-12-1981; amended 7-10-1989 by TOR-89-9]
The highest volume in gallons measured at a metering station
or other point during any continuous twenty-four-hour period.
[Added 1-21-1986]
The system of conveyances of mains, laterals, swales, catch
basins, roadway gutters, and other BMPs located within public ways
and easements established and conveyed and accepted by the Town for
utility and drainage purposes. Drainage structures constructed in
accordance with Planning Board requirements for subdivisions and meeting
DPW requirements shall also be part of the MS4.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
Any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other
body of surface or ground water.
Permitting required by the EPA for various types of discharges
to the waters of the United States.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
Discharge which is composed of constituents which are not
stormwater except as specifically exempted within the chapter.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
The owner or occupant of land, and in the case of permit applications under Article III, any person intending to acquire an ownership interest in land.
[Added 7-9-1984]
Real property within the limits of an improvement area, or
general benefit area, consisting of one lot; or two or more potential
lots, calculated on the basis of zoning in effect at the time of assessment,
which are under one ownership.
[Added 8-12-1981; amended 7-10-1989 by TOR-89-9]
The discharge of pollutants through the Town's wastewater
works into navigable waters in quantities or concentrations which,
alone or in conjunction with discharges from other sources, are a
cause of a violation of any requirement of the Town's National Pollutant
Discharge Elimination System permit, including an increase in the
magnitude or duration of a violation.
[Added 1-21-1986]
The Department of Public Works.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation
or group, including a city, county or other governmental unit.
The logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen
ions in grams per liter of solution.
Any element or property of sewage, agricultural, industrial
or commercial waste, runoff, leachate, heated effluent, or other matter,
whether originating at a point or nonpoint source, that is or may
be introduced into any sewage treatment works or waters of the commonwealth.
Pollutants shall include, without limitation:
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
Paint, varnish, and solvents.
Oil, anti-freeze, and other automotive fluids.
Nonhazardous liquid and solid wastes and yard
wastes.
Refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter, or other discarded
or abandoned objects, ordnance, accumulations and floatables.
Pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers.
Hazardous materials and wastes.
Sewage, fecal coliform and pathogens.
Dissolved and particulate metals.
Animal wastes and pet wastes.
Rock, sand, salt and soils.
Construction wastes and residues.
Noxious or offensive matter of any kind.
A dwelling or business unit not in existence at the time
of assessment, but which could be built on a parcel or a portion thereof
and connected to a common sewer or drain at a later date, provided
that potential units shall be calculated on the basis of zoning in
effect at the time the assessment is made.
[Added 8-12-1981; amended 7-10-1989 by TOR-89-9]
A right-of-way which has been established by a Town Board,
but which has not been accepted as a public way. This right-of-way
may or may not have roadway or utility structures for use by the public
or abutters within its established area.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
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 1/2 inch (1.27 centimeters)
in any dimension.
Any sewer owned and maintained by the Town.
[Amended 1-21-1986 by TOR-85-4]
A right-of-way which has been established and accepted as
a public way by the appropriate Town entity. It shall include those
structures which have been built for the use of the public for highway
purposes including all utilities owned by the Town above and below
ground.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
Sanitary service connections are private structures to be
owned and maintained by the property owner to the point where it connects
to a sanitary main in the right-of-way or Town’s easement; same
as “building sewer.”
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
A sewer which carries sewage and to which storm-, surface
and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.
A permit given by the DPW to applicants which authorizes
the discharge of runoff directly to the MS4 and indirectly to the
waters of the commonwealth.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
The area served or capable of being served in the future
by the proposed pressure improvement system.
[Added 7-10-1989 by TOR-89-9]
A part or all of a parcel within an improvement area that
could be directly served by the new sewerage or drainage system, regardless
of whether or not any dwelling or business units are actually connected
to the sewers or drains.
[Added 8-11-1981; amended 7-10-1989 by TOR-89-9]
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.
Any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating
sewage.
All facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing
of sewage.
A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
A public way or a way which the Town Clerk certifies is maintained
and used as a public way, or a way shown on a plan approved in accordance
with the Subdivision Control Law, [1] or a way in existence when the Subdivision Control Law
became effective in the Town, which contains sewerage or drainage
facilities to serve the existing and potential dwelling and business
units abutting the street.
[Added 8-12-1981]
Any discharge of water, sewage or industrial waste which
in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds
for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes more than five times
the average twenty-four-hour concentration of flows during normal
operation.
A sewer, ditch or channel which carries storm- and surface
waters, other than unpolluted cooling water. Except where the context
would clearly designate one or the other, the term encompasses both
underground piping and surface drainage easements containing ditches,
swales, channels or detention or retention basins for the handling
of water.
[Amended 7-9-1984; 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
Publicly owned facilities by which stormwater is collected
and/or conveyed, including, but not limited to, public roads with
drainage systems.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
The discharge of treated or untreated stormwater to the Town’s
MS4.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
The Superintendent of Public Works of the Town of Agawam
or his authorized deputy, agent or representative.
A permit issued by the Department of Environmental Protection
(DEP) pursuant to 314 CMR 3.00 that authorizes the discharge of pollutants
to waters of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
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 and are referred to as nonfilterable residue in the laboratory
test prescribed in Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and
Wastewater.
The summation of all existing and potential dwelling and
business units in an improvement area or general benefit area.
[Added 8-12-1981; amended 7-10-1989 by TOR-89-9]
A part or all of a parcel that is devoid of any existing
dwelling or business units and does not abut a sewered street.
[Added 8-12-1981]
The person, as defined herein, who holds title to real property
within the limits of an area serviced by a sanitary sewer, and his
successors in title, who discharges a wastewater. The term "user"
shall exclude any entity having a specific agreement in force, approved
by the Environmental Protection Agency, for the handling and treating
of its wastewater by the Town.
[Added 8-12-1981]
The fluids flowing through the Town sewage system and may
be a combination of the liquid and liquid-borne wastes from residences,
commercial buildings, industrial plants or institutions.
[Added 8-12-1981]
A channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously
or intermittently.
Same as “waters of the commonwealth.”
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
All waters within the jurisdiction of the commonwealth, including,
without limitation, rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, springs, impoundments,
estuaries, wetlands, coastal waters, and groundwater. These are protected
water resources through state and/or federal regulation.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
A classification of user which includes any industry that
produces more than 100,000 cubic feet of wastewater per year, or an
industry that discharges any volume of wastewater of greater strength
than residential wastewater or contains constituents which require
pretreatment in accordance with this chapter shall be classified as
a "wet industry" for purposes of this chapter.
[Added 8-12-1981]
Private catch basin located within lawn area and connected
to the MS4 or discharges to a dry well or indirect discharge to waters
of the commonwealth.
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
[Added 5-15-2006 by TOR-2006-2]
Notwithstanding other requirements of local,
state or federal law, as soon as a person responsible for a facility
or operation, or responsible for emergency response for a facility
or operation, has information of or suspects a release of materials
at that facility or operation resulting in or which may result in
discharge of pollutants to the municipal drainage system, the person
shall take all necessary steps to ensure containment and cleanup of
the release. In the event of a release of oil or hazardous materials,
the person shall immediately notify the municipal fire and police
departments and DPW. In the event of a release of nonhazardous material,
the reporting person shall notify the DPW no later than the next business
day. The reporting person shall provide to the DPW written confirmation
of all telephone, facsimile or in-person notifications within three
business days thereafter. If the discharge of prohibited materials
is from a commercial or industrial facility, the facility owner or
operator of the facility shall retain on-site a written record of
the discharge and the actions taken to prevent its recurrence. Such
records shall be retained for at least three years.
The Town may repair or replace water mains located
in an unaccepted street which has been dedicated for public use upon
presentation to the Department of Public Works of a plan of the street
and easements to water lines for the entire street, certified as to
correctness by an attorney acceptable to the Town Council.
Water bills are a lien upon the real estate
owner, and unpaid accounts will bear interest and be added to the
tax bill.
The Town, for the purpose of supplying itself
and its inhabitants with water for the extinguishment of fires and
for domestic and other purposes, upon the advice and approval of the
State Board of Health may from time to time, as in its opinion necessity
requires, take by purchase or otherwise and hold any lands within
the limits of such Town, together with any water or water rights therein,
and also all lands, rights-of-way and easements necessary for procuring,
holding, protecting and distributing such water, may purchase water
to be held by it protected and distributed for such purposes and upon
such condition from neighboring municipalities and in general may
do such things as are necessary for the purpose of securing, maintaining
and protecting such water system or supply. It may also establish
hydrants and fountains, regulate the use of such water and fix and
collect rates to be paid for the use of the same.
The Town may construct and maintain upon lands
so taken wells, either artesian or of other kinds, filter beds, reservoirs,
galleries, dams, standpipes, pumping stations and other necessary
work, machinery and structures, may make such excavations, procure
and operate such machinery and do such other things as may be necessary
for providing and maintaining an effective system of water supply
and it may lay and maintain such aqueducts, conduits, pipes and other
works over or under any ways within such Town in such manner as shall
not unnecessarily obstruct the same.
The Town shall file and cause to be recorded
in the Registry of Deeds for the county a description sufficiently
accurate for identification of all lands, rights-of-way, water rights,
watercourses or easements which it shall take hereunder, otherwise
than by purchase, together with a statement of the purpose for which
the same are taken, within 90 days of the date of such taking. Such
statements shall be signed by the Mayor.
The Town shall pay all damages to property sustained
by any person or corporation by the taking of any land, right-of-way,
water sources, water right or easement or by reason of any other thing
done by such Town under authority of this article. Any person or corporation
entitled to damages under this article who fails to agree with the
Town as to the amount thereof may have the same assessed and determined
in the manner provided by law in the case of land taken for the laying
out of highways by making application therefor within one year after
the taking of such land or other property or the doing of any other
injury under the authority of this article, but no application shall
be made after the expiration of such year. No application shall be
made for such assessment of damage for the taking of any water or
water rights or any injury thereto until the water is actually withdrawn
or diverted by the Town under the authority of this article, and in
such last named case, a description and statement shall be deemed
to have been filed for the purpose of such assessment and determination
until such water is actually withdrawn or diverted.
The Department of Public Works shall fix just
and equitable prices and rates for the use of water, subject to the
approval of the Town Council, and shall prescribe the time and manner
of payment. The income of the water works shall be applied to defraying
all operating expenses, interest charges and payments on principal
as they accrue upon any bonds, notes or scrip issued under the authority
of this article. If there should be a net surplus remaining after
providing for such charges, it shall be used for such new construction
as the Department of Public Works may determine upon; and in case
a surplus should remain after payment for such new construction, the
water rates shall be proportionately reduced. No money shall be expended
for new construction by the Department of Public Works except from
the net surplus, unless the Town appropriates money therefor.
