[Amended 1-26-2012 by Res. No. 12-01-003]
Discharges containing concentrations of biochemical oxygen demand
and/or total suspended solids in excess of 250 mg/l, or total phosphorous
in excess of 12 mg/l, or total nitrogen in excess of 40 mg/l shall
be subject to a surcharge in accordance with the Lancaster Area Sewer
Authority Schedule of Rates, Charges, and Fees.[1]
Discharges containing concentrations of biochemical oxygen demand
and/or total suspended solids in excess of 2,000 mg/l shall be subject
to an additional surcharge of three times the standard surcharge rate
for that portion of the concentration in excess of 2,000 mg/l, and
the standard surcharge rate for the portion of the concentration in
excess of 250 mg/l but less than 2,000 mg/l. Any surcharge levied
under this section is in addition to the enforcement remedies if a
discharge constitutes a violation.
A.
Purpose. The purpose of this policy is to create a fair and consistent
method of selecting, testing and applying a strength of waste surcharge
to industrial/commercial accounts in the LASA sewer system. This policy
is designed to maximize efforts in managing the strength of wastes
that are discharged to the LASA treatment facility.
B.
Background.
(1)
The Authority routinely samples commercial and industrial customers
to determine their strength of waste. Typical wastewater contains
250 mg/l of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), 250 mg/l of total suspended
solids (TSS), 12 mg/l of total phosphorous (TP), and 40 mg/l of total
nitrogen (TN). Samples are collected and tested for BOD, TSS, TP,
and TN. When BOD, TSS, TP, or TN exceeds the typical levels in typical
wastewater identified above, the customer will be billed for the additional
treatment costs incurred for its high-strength waste. The surcharge
program is designed to recover the cost of sampling, testing, and
treating these high-strength wastes.
(2)
Prior to this policy there was no specific criteria used by the Authority
to determine which customers to sample and test. This policy establishes
criteria for selecting customers for sampling, testing those customers,
and applying the strength of waste surcharge. Implementing this policy
will optimize the Authority's efforts by focusing limited resources
on those customers with the greatest potential for discharging high-strength
wastes.
C.
Procedure.
(1)
Step 1: Create a list of all metered customers.
(2)
Step 2: Determine the category that applies to each metered customer.
Categories are defined in Note 1.
(3)
Step 3: Send letters to all Category 1metered customers notifying
them of LASA's surcharge policy.
(4)
Step 4: Rank all customers in Category 1 based on flow.
(5)
Step 5: Sample an initial group of the customers in Category 1 which
have the highest volume of flow ranking.
(6)
Step 6: After sample results are received from the initial sample
group, calculate the mass loadings for those customers that have BOD
or TSS exceeding 250 mg/l, or TP exceeding 12 mg/l, or TN exceeding
40 mg/l. See Note 2.
(7)
Step 7: Rank the customers from the initial sample group based on
total BOD, TSS, TP, and TN load (mass load).
(8)
Step 8: Determine the surcharge customers based on the highest mass
loads. See Note 3 for definition of surcharge customer.
(9)
Step 9: Resample the surcharge customers and re-rank them based on
mass load on a quarterly basis.
(10)
Step 10: Revise surcharge customer list based on re-ranking.
Surcharge customers with lower mass loads may fall off the list, or
surcharge customers with higher mass loads may be added to the list
based on the re-ranking.
D.
Notes.
(1)
Metered customers will be defined by the following categories:
(a)
Category 1:
[1]
Restaurants.
[2]
Food processing or preparation facilities.
[3]
Shopping centers with restaurants.
[4]
Institutions such as schools and retirement facilities that
have kitchen facilities.
[5]
Customers in Manheim Township who were being surcharged prior
to November 2003. (See Note 4.)
[6]
Any other facility with high-strength discharges. (See Note
5.)
(b)
Category 2: All metered customers that are not in Category 1.
(2)
Surcharge customers will be prioritized based on mass loads. The
mass load will be the sum of the mass of TSS, BOD, TP, and TN. Mass
load is calculated by the following formula:
|
Mass Load
|
=
|
[TSS (mg/l) x flow (MGD) x 8.34] + [BOD (mg/l) x flow (MGD)
x 8.34]
+ [TP (mg/l) x flow (MGD) x 8.34] + [TN (mg/l) x flow (MGD)
x 8.34]
|
(3)
Surcharge customers are the highest priority customers for which
LASA has the resources to test each quarter. For example, if the Authority
has the resources to sample and test 60 customers per quarter, the
surcharge customers will be the 60 surcharge customers with the highest
mass loads. Some sampling resources will be reserved to sample and
test Category 1 customers who are not surcharge customers and who
have not been recently tested.
(4)
If LASA surcharged a metered customer in Manheim Township prior to
November 2003, then LASA may continue to surcharge that customer,
provided the customer meets the necessary criteria. If LASA did not
surcharge the metered customer in Manheim Township prior to November
2003, then the customer is exempt from surcharging, provided the customer
has not changed its use since November 2003. If the customer changed
its use, then LASA may consider placing the metered Manheim Township
customer into the surcharge program that is described by this policy.
(5)
There are certain commercial or industrial processes that do not
specifically fall into Category 1 but still have the potential to
generate wastes with high BOD, TSS, TP, and/or TN. In such cases,
the customer may be treated like a Category 1 customer and may be
sampled and evaluated to determine if it qualifies as a surcharge
customer. A customer can be suspected of having a mass loading that
could establish it as a surcharge customer for the following reasons:
(a)
The customer is similar to another customer that is currently,
or has in the past, qualified as a surcharge customer.
(b)
The customer has a sufficient BOD, TSS, TP, or TN concentration,
or discharge flow volume of sufficient size that it could add enough
mass load to qualify as a surcharge customer.
(c)
BOD, TSS, TP, or TN results obtained from other sources (i.e.,
industrial pretreatment monitoring) shows evidence of elevated concentration
or elevated mass loads.
(6)
For customers that are not surcharge customers, the sampling and
testing fee will not be charged for the sampling event when the test
results are below the surcharge level of 250 mg/l for BOD and TSS,
or 12 mg/l for TP, or 40 mg/l for TN. However, the customer could
still be sampled as part of our pretreatment monitoring requirements
or for reasons other than strength of waste surcharging. In these
cases, the sampling and testing fees would not be waived.
(7)
If customers feel that their sampling results were not representative
of their operation, they can request reconsideration based on additional
sampling results obtained at the customer's expense from accredited
outside laboratories. The Authority will review the results to determine
if the surcharge should be adjusted or if the customer should be re-categorized
or re-ranked.
(8)
Surcharge customers will continue to be sampled and tested on a quarterly
basis as long as they qualify as a surcharge customer. Category 1
customers that do not qualify as a surcharge customer will be resampled
and tested every five years.
(9)
The sampling frequency for surcharge customers will be quarterly,
unless otherwise specified by an IU permit or through agreement between
the Authority and customer.
