Borough of Old Forge, PA Article XII Regulations and Standards

§ 269-44 General prohibitions.

A. No user located within the Borough of Old Forge shall contribute or cause to be contributed, directly or indirectly, any pollutants or wastewater which will interfere or cause pass-through with the operation or performance of the LLVSA. These general prohibitions apply to all such users of the LLVSA, whether or not the user is subject to categorical pretreatment standards or any other federal, state, or local pretreatment standards or requirements. A user may not contribute the following substances to the LLVSA's treatment plant:

(1) Any liquids, solids or gases which, by reason of their nature or quantity, are, or may be, sufficient, either alone or by interaction with any other substance, to cause fire or explosion or be injurious in any other way to the LLVSA or to the operation of the LLVSA's treatment plant or to the Borough of Old Forge sewage system. Discharges prohibited under this section shall include, but not be limited to, waste streams with a closed-cup flashpoint of less than 140° F. or 60° C. using the test methods specified in 40 CFR 261.21. At no time shall two successive readings on an explosion hazard meter, at the point of discharge into the system (or any point in the system), be more than 5%, nor any single reading over 10%, of the lower explosive limit (LEL) of the meter. Prohibited materials include, but are not limited to, gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, benzene, toluene, xylene, ethers, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, peroxides, chlorates, perchlorates, bromates, carbides, hydrides and sulfides and any other substances which are a fire hazard to the system.

(2) Any wastewater having a pH value less than 5.0 or greater than 12.5, or a wastewater having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment, and/or personnel.

(3) Solids or viscous substances which may cause obstruction to the flow in a sewer or other interference with the operation of the wastewater treatment facilities such as, but not limited to, garbage with particles greater than 1/2 inch in any dimension, animal guts or tissues, paunch manure, bones, hair, hides or fleshings, entrails, whole blood, feathers, ashes, cinders, sand, spent lime, stone or marble dust, metal, glass, straw, shavings, grass clippings, rags, spent grains, spent hops, wastepaper, wood, plastic, gas, tar, asphalt residues, mud, or glass grinding or polishing wastes.

(4) Any pollutants, including oxygen-demanding pollutants (BOD, etc.) released at a flow rate and/or pollutant concentration which a user knows or has reason to know will cause interference to the LLVSA or the Borough of Old Forge sewage system. In no case shall a slug load have a flow rate or contain a concentration of pollutants that exceeds, for any time period longer than 15 minutes, more than five times the average twenty-four-hour flow or concentration of pollutants during normal operation.

(5) Any wastewater having a temperature which will inhibit biological activity in the LLVSA treatment plant resulting in interference, but in no case wastewater with a temperature at the introduction into the LLVSA plant which exceeds 40° C. (104° F.).

(6) Any wastewater containing toxic pollutants in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with any wastewater treatment process, which constitutes a hazard to humans or animals, creates a toxic effect in the receiving waters of the LLVSA, or exceeds the limitation set forth in a categorical pretreatment standard or local limit. A toxic pollutant shall include, but not be limited to, any pollutant identified pursuant in Section 307(a) of the Clean Water Act of 1977[1] and presently listed in Appendix B to 40 CFR Part 403.

[1] Editor's Note: See 33 U.S.C. § 1317(a).

(7) Any discharges which may result in the presence of toxic gases, vapors, or fumes within the treatment system in a quantity that may cause acute worker health and safety problems or is sufficient to create a public nuisance or hazard.

(8) Petroleum oil, nonbiodegradable cutting oil, or product of mineral oil origin in amounts that will cause interference or pass-through.

(9) Any trucked or hauled pollutants, except at discharge points designated by the LLVSA, acting as agent for the Borough of Old Forge.

(10) Any substance which may cause the LLVSA's effluent or any other product of the LLVSA, such as residues, sludge, or scums, to be unsuitable for the reclamation process. In no case shall a substance discharged to the LLVSA's treatment system cause the LLVSA to be in noncompliance with sludge use or disposal criteria, guidelines or regulations developed under Section 405 of the Act,[2] any criteria, guidelines or regulations affecting sludge use or disposal developed pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act,[3] the Clean Air Act,[4] the Toxic Substances Control Act[5] or state criteria applicable to the sludge management method being used.

[2] Editor's Note: See 33 U.S.C. § 1345.

[3] Editor's Note: See 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq.

[4] Editor's Note: See 42 U.S.C. § 7401 et seq.

[5] Editor's Note: See 15 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq.

(11) Any substance which will cause the LLVSA to violate its NPDES and/or residual disposal permit or the receiving water quality standards.

(12) Any wastewater with objectionable color not removed in the treatment process, such as, but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions.

(13) Any wastewater containing any radioactive wastes or isotopes by such half-life or concentration as may exceed limits established by the Executive Director, acting as agent for the Borough of Old Forge, in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations.

(14) Any substance which causes hazard to human life or creates public nuisance.

(15) Medical wastes, except as specifically authorized by the LLVSA, acting as agent for the Borough of Old Forge, in a wastewater discharge permit.

(16) Wastewater causing, alone or in conjunction with other sources, the treatment plant's effluent to fail a toxicity test.

(17) Detergents, surface-active agents, or other substances which may cause excessive foaming in the LLVSA treatment plant.

B. When the Executive Director, acting as agent for the Borough of Old Forge, determines that a user is contributing to the LLVSA any of the above-enumerated substances in such amount as to interfere with the operation of the LLVSA, the Executive Director shall advise the user of the impact of the contribution on the LLVSA and develop effluent limitations for such user to correct the interference with the LLVSA.

§ 269-45 Conflicting provisions.

A. Upon the promulgation of categorical pretreatment standards for a particular industrial subcategory, the national standards, if more stringent than limitations imposed under this Part 4 for sources in that subcategory, shall immediately supersede the limitations imposed under this Part 4. The Executive Director, acting as agent for the Borough of Old Forge, shall notify all affected users of the applicable reporting requirements under 40 CFR 403.12.

B. Where a categorical pretreatment standard is expressed only in terms of either the mass or the concentration of a pollutant in wastewater, the Executive Director, acting as agent for the Borough of Old Forge, shall impose an alternate limit using the combined waste stream formula in 40 CFR 403.6(e).

§ 269-46 Excessive discharge prohibited.

No user shall contribute or cause to be contributed any discharge which, by nature, shall cause an upset in the performance of the LLVSA's treatment system or a pass-through of pollutants, which shall cause the LLVSA to exceed the limitations of its NPDES permit.

§ 269-47 Local limits.

A. The LLVSA, acting as agent for the Borough of Old Forge, shall develop technically based local limits approved by EPA, as set forth in 40 CFR 403.5. Such limitations shall be applied in all cases where they are more stringent than the federal or state requirements. The LLVSA, acting as agent for the Borough of Old Forge, shall continually develop these limits as necessary and reserves the right to alter any and all local limit permit parameters as necessary to comply with the objectives presented in Article XI of this Part 4.

B. The LLVSA may implement and/or accept best management practices (BMPs) in lieu of numeric local limits when it is determined that BMPs are a more appropriate or practical method for preventing pass-through and interference or for protecting treatment plant worker health and safety.

C. Any user incorporating BMPs in lieu of numeric local limits must provide BMP procedures to the LLVSA and, upon approval, are required to maintain BMP records to insure compliance.

§ 269-48 State requirements.

State requirements and limitations on discharge shall apply in any case where they are more stringent than federal and/or local requirements and limitations or those in this Part 4.

§ 269-49 Municipality's right of revision.

The Borough of Old Forge reserves the right to establish more stringent limitations or requirements on discharges to the wastewater disposal system if deemed necessary to comply with the objectives presented in Article XI of this Part 4.

§ 269-50 Excessive dilution.

No user shall ever increase the use of process water or, in any way, attempt to dilute a discharge as a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve compliance with the limitations contained in the categorical pretreatment standards, or in any pollutant-specific limitations developed by the LLVSA, acting as agent for the Borough of Old Forge, or the commonwealth. Dilution may be an acceptable means of complying with some of the prohibitions set forth in § 269-44, e.g., the pH prohibition.

§ 269-51 Prohibited discharges.

The LLVSA, acting as agent for the Borough of Old Forge, shall prohibit the discharge of any wastewater which includes stormwater, surface water, groundwater, roof runoff, or subsurface drainage. Any wastewater containing once-through cooling water shall be prohibited.