City of Hornell, NY Article I Definitions

§ 252-1 Definitions and word usage.

A. Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meanings of terms used in this chapter shall be as follows:

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.

AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF INDUSTRIAL USER

(1) A principal executive officer of at least the level of vice president if the industrial user is a corporation.

(2) A general partner or proprietor if the industrial user is a partnership or proprietorship, respectively.

(3) A duly authorized representative of the individual designated above if such representative is responsible for the overall operation of the facilities from which the indirect discharge originates.

BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS

A duly appointed body of officials as defined in the City Charter.

BOARD OF REVIEW OR HEARING BOARD

That Board appointed according to provisions of Article X.

BOD (denoting "biochemical oxygen demand")

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.

BUILDING DRAIN

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 five feet [1.5 meters] outside the inner face of the building wall.

BUILDING SEWER

The extension from the building drain to the public or other place of disposal.

CATEGORICAL STANDARDS

National Categorical Pretreatment Standards or pretreatment standards.

CITY

The City of Hornell.

CITY CHAMBERLAIN

The duly elected fiscal officer of the City.

CITY COUNCIL or COMMON COUNCIL or COUNCIL

The duly elected legislative body of the City.

COMBINED SEWER

A sewer receiving both surface runoff and sewage.

COOLING WATER

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

EASEMENT

An authorization from a property owner for the use of his property by another for a specific purpose.

GARBAGE

Solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking and dispensing of food and from the handling, storage and sale of produce.

HEALTH OFFICER

The Health Officer of the City or his duly authorized representative.

INDUSTRIAL WASTES

The liquid, solid or gaseous wastes from industrial manufacturing processes, trade or business, as distinct from sanitary sewage.

MAYOR

The duly elected official of the City.

NATIONAL CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARD or PRETREATMENT STANDARD

Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency in accordance with Section 307(B) and (C) of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1347) which applies to a specific category of industrial users.

NATURAL OUTLET

Any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or ground water.

NYSDEC

The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation or duly authorized representatives of said Department.

OWNER

The titleholder of real property.

PERSON

Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group.

pH

The logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.

PLUMBING INSPECTOR

The duly appointed official of the City.

POTW

Publicly owned treatment works.

POTW TREATMENT PLANT

That portion of a POTW which is designed to provide treatment, including recycling and reclamation, of municipal sewage and industrial waste.

PRETREATMENT REQUIREMENTS

Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a National Pretreatment Standard imposed on an industrial user.

PRETREATMENT or TREATMENT

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 sewage works. The reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological processes or process changes and other means, except as prohibited by § 252-35 of this chapter.

PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE

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 the public sewers, with no particle greater than 1/2 inch [3.27 centimeters] in any dimension.

PUBLIC SEWER

A sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights and which is controlled by public authority.

SANITARY SEWER

A sewer which carries sewage and to which storm-, surface and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.

SEWAGE

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.

SEWAGE WORKS

All facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage.

SEWER

A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.

SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER or SIGNIFICANT USER

Any industrial user of the city's wastewater disposal system who:

(1) Is subject to Categorical Pretreatment Standards (NRDC consent degree industries);

(2) Is found by the City, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) or the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to have significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing industries, on the wastewater treatment system, the quality of sludge, the system's effluent quality or air emissions generated by the system;

(3) Is a manufacturing industry using substances of concern; or

(4) Has a process discharge flow of more than 5% of the flow carried by the Hornell POTW.

SLUDGE

Heavy, slimy deposit or sediment, as the waste, resulting from a wastewater treatment process.

SLUG

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 or flows during normal operation.

SPDES

The state pollutant discharge elimination system.

STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION

The standard industrial classification (SIC) system as found in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual. Bureau of the Budget, 1982, as amended.

STORM DRAIN (sometimes termed "storm sewer")

A sewer which carries storm- and surface waters and drainage but excludes sewage and industrial wastes, other than unpolluted cooling water.

SUPERINTENDENT

The duly appointed officer of the Department of Public Works who has responsible charge of the sewer system and water pollution control plant.

SUSPENDED SOLIDS

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.

USEPA

The United States Environmental Protection Agency or duly authorized representatives of said Agency.

WASTEWATER CONTRIBUTION PERMIT

An industrial wastewater contribution permit issued for industries' contribution to the City of Hornell's sewage collection system.

WATERCOURSE

A channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.

WATER POLLUTION CONTROL PLANT (WPCP)

Any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.

B. "Shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissive.