This article is adopted under the authority granted by §§ 62.18,
62.185 and 62.19, Wis. Stats.
This article shall be known as, referred to and cited as the
"User Charge, Industrial Cost Recovery and Sewer Use Ordinance for
the City of Lancaster, State of Wisconsin."
The Council hereby finds that the requirements for the construction
of waste treatment works to improve the quality of effluent discharges
from the City establish the necessity of:
A. Adopting a user charge system that would be proportionate to all
classes of users and produce the revenue required to sustain the sewage
collection and waste treatment system.
B. Enacting regulations that control the use and inflow into waste treatment
works.
The purpose of this article is to promote the public health,
safety, prosperity, aesthetics and general welfare of the citizens
of the City. It is further intended to provide for administration
and enforcement of this article and to provide penalties for its violation.
It is not intended by this article to repeal, abrogate, annul,
impair or interfere with any existing easements, covenants, deed restrictions,
agreements, rules, regulations, ordinances or permits previously adopted
or issued pursuant to law. However, wherever this article imposes
greater restrictions, the provisions of this article shall govern.
In their interpretation and application, these provisions shall
be held to be minimum requirements and shall be liberally construed
in favor of the City and shall not be deemed a limitation or repeal
of any other power granted by the Wisconsin Statutes.
For the purpose of this article, the following definitions shall
be used. Words used in the present tense include the future; the singular
number includes the plural number; and the plural number includes
the singular number. The word "shall" is mandatory and not directory,
while the word "may" is permissive.
ACT
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Amendments of 1972,
as amended, Public Law 92-500, as amended, 33 U.S.C. § 1251
et seq. (Supp. IV, 1974), Clean Water Act of 1977, Federal Register,
Vol. 43, No. 188.
ADMINISTRATOR
The Regional Administrator of Region V of the U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency.
AUDIT
An audit as a separate report from other funds and shall
cover the following: financial operations are properly conducted;
financial reports are presented fairly; applicable laws and regulations
have been complied with; resources are managed and used in an economical
and efficient manner; desired results and objectives are being achieved
in a financially effective manner.
BILLABLE FLOW
A user's recorded quarterly water usage as metered by
the appropriate water utility, plus metered water from wells and other
sources, and less any sewer-exempt metered data, times the City-approved
percentage factor for wastewater entering the sewer system out of
the metered water. Residential users on unmetered wells and users
with no history of billable flow shall have their billable flow estimated
by averaging the billable flow of other residential users of the same
class.
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD)
The quantity of oxygen, expressed in milligrams per liter
(mg/l), utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under
standard laboratory procedures in five days at 20° C.
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD), BILLABLE
A user's loading in pounds of BOD calculated using the
billable flow and concentration of BOD in the waste as determined
by the Director of Public Works. Minimum waste strength of BOD shall
be the domestic waste concentration of 200 mg/l for the purpose of
billing for user charges.
BUILDING DRAIN – SANITARY
That part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system
which receives sanitary or industrial sewage only, is located inside
the walls of a building and conveys the sewage to the building sewer,
which begins three feet outside the building wall.
BUILDING DRAIN – STORM
That part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system
which receives stormwater or other clear water discharge but receives
no wastewater from sewage or other drainage pipes, is located inside
the walls of a building and conveys the sewage to the building sewer,
which begins three feet outside the building wall.
BUILDING SEWER – SANITARY
The extension from the building drain to the public sewer
or other place of disposal and conveys only sanitary or industrial
sewage. This is also known as a "house connection."
CITY
The City of Lancaster.
DEPOSITED
Placing funds in control of the City, and, if the deposit
is in the form of a bank check, deposit shall not be deemed collected
within this definition until the applicable rules of the bank's
collection procedures are fulfilled.
DEPRECIATION
An annual operating cost reflecting capital consumption and
obsolescence (reduction of future service potential) of real and personal
properties.
EASEMENT
An acquired legal right, less than fee simple, for the specific
use of land owned by others.
EXPENDITURES, AUTHORIZED
Those expenditures authorized by the Common Council and made
payable from the accounts kept for the expenditures of the user charge
and industrial funds shall be limited to those for which the fund
was created.
FECAL COLIFORM
Any number of organisms common to the intestinal tract of
man and animals whose presence in sanitary sewage is an indicator
of pollution.
FORCE MAIN
A pipe in which wastewater is carried under pressure.
FUNCTIONAL BETTERMENT
A process improvement in the increased size facilities or
a process improvement in existing facilities that is directly anticipated
to preclude physical betterments or is an indirect improvement to
the process as a result of renewal on a cost-effective basis.
FUNCTIONAL OBSOLESCENCE
The process deficiency of a functional element of a plant
beyond the capacity of a preventive maintenance program to such extent
that a new process device or piece of equipment would be more cost
effective.
GARBAGE
Solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation,
cooking and dispensing of food and from the commercial handling, storage,
and sale of produce.
GARBAGE, SHREDDED
Garbage that has 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
(1.25 centimeters) in any dimension.
INDUSTRY, SIGNIFICANT
Any industry that will contribute greater than 10% of the
design flow and/or design pollutant loading of the treatment works.
INFILTRATION
The water unintentionally entering the public sewer system,
including sanitary building drains and sewers, from the ground through
such means as, but not limited to, defective pipes, pipe joints, connections
or manhole walls. Infiltration does not include and is distinguished
from inflow.
INFILTRATION/INFLOW
The total quantity of water from both infiltration and inflow
without distinguishing the source.
INFLOW
The water discharge into a sanitary sewer system, including
building drains and sewers, from such sources as, but not limited
to, roof leaders; cellar, yard and area drains; foundation drains;
unpolluted cooling water discharges; drains from springs and swampy
areas; manhole covers; cross-connections from storm sewers and/or
combined sewers; catch basins; stormwaters; surface runoff; and street
wash waters or drainage. Inflow does not include and is distinguishable
from infiltration.
NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION PERMIT
A permit issued under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination
System (NPDES) for discharge of wastewaters to the navigable waters
of the United States pursuant to § 402, Public Law 92-500,
as amended.
NATURAL OUTLET
Any outlet, including storm sewers and combined sewer overflows,
into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or
groundwater.
NORMAL DOMESTIC STRENGTH SEWAGE
Wastewater or sewage having an average daily suspended solids
(SS) concentration of not more than 250 mg/l and an average daily
BOD of not more than 200 mg/l.
OIL, FLOATABLE
Oil, fat or grease in a physical state such that it will
separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment in a pretreatment
facility approved by the City.
OPERATION AND MAINTENANCE COSTS
All costs, direct and indirect, not including debt service
but inclusive of expenditures attributable to administration, replacement
of equipment and treatment and collection of wastewaters necessary
to ensure adequate wastewater collection and treatment on a continuing
basis which conforms to applicable regulations and assures optimal
long-term facility management.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation
or group discharging any wastewater to the wastewater treatment facility.
PERSONAL PROPERTY
For the purpose of the user charge system, all equipment
owned by the City and used in the transport and treatment of sewage.
Such equipment must be mechanical, electronic or electrical, or have
movable parts.
pH
The term used to express the intensity of the acid or base
condition of a solution, calculated by taking the logarithm of the
reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration. The concentration is
the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.
PHYSICAL BETTERMENT
The expansion of a physical facility to increase capacity
of the treatment works.
PHYSICAL OBSOLESCENCE
The material deficiency of a functional element of a treatment
plant to a point that repair as normal or preventive maintenance is
not cost-benefit effective.
POLLUTANT, COMPATIBLE
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), suspended solids (SS), pH,
and fecal coliform bacteria, plus additional pollutants identified
in the NPDES permit, if the publicly owned treatment works was designed
to treat such pollutants and, in fact, does remove them to a substantial
degree.
PRETREATMENT
The treatment of industrial sewage from privately owned industrial
sources by the generator of that source prior to introduction of the
waste effluent into a publicly owned treatment works.
PUMPING STATION
A station positioned in the public sewer system at which
wastewater is pumped to a higher level.
REAL PROPERTY
For the purpose of the user charge, all fixed physical facilities
owned by the City and used in the transport and treatment of sewage
which do not have movable parts, such as buildings, tanks, sewers,
structures and the like.
RENEWAL COSTS
The expenditures from reserve funds or other funds to overcome
physical and/or functional consumption of plant capacity or function
or obsolescence of the same, in order that the equivalent in function
of plant is present at the end of the anticipated useful life.
REPLACEMENT COSTS
The expenditures for obtaining and installing equipment,
accessories, or appurtenances necessary during the service life of
the treatment works to maintain the capacity and performance for which
such works were designed and constructed. The term "operation and
maintenance costs," as defined herein, includes replacement costs.
REPLACEMENT RESERVE
An account for the segregation of resources to meet capital
consumption of personal or real property.
RESERVES, ACCRUED
A method of keeping accounts of the segregated resources
over several years to determine the funds available to offset capital
expenditures to maintain an ongoing, on-line waste treatment facility.
RETAINED AMOUNT
The amount of money held in trust and deposit for the expansion
of the facilities, together with the interest earned thereon, for
the proration of the industrial cost recovery system fund.
SEWAGE
The combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from
residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions,
including polluted cooling water and unintentionally admitted infiltration/inflow.
SEWAGE, COMBINED
Wastes, including sanitary sewage, stormwater, infiltration
and inflow, carried to the wastewater treatment facilities by a combined
sewer.
SEWAGE, INDUSTRIAL
A combination of liquid and water-carried wastes discharged
from any industrial establishment and resulting from any trade or
process carried on in that establishment, and shall include the wastes
from pretreatment facilities and polluted cooling water.
SEWAGE, SANITARY
The combination of liquid and water-carried wastes discharged
from toilet and other sanitary plumbing facilities.
SEWER, COLLECTION
A sewer whose primary purpose is to collect wastewaters from
individual point source discharges.
SEWER, COMBINED
A sewer intended to receive both wastewater and stormwater
or surface water.
[Amended 11-17-2014 by Ord. No. 2014-05]
SEWER, INTERCEPTOR
A sewer whose primary purpose is to transport wastewater
from collection sewers to a treatment facility.
SEWER, PUBLIC
A sewer which is owned and controlled by the City and is
separate from and does not include sewers owned by other governmental
units.
SEWER, SANITARY
A sewer which carries only sanitary or sanitary and industrial
wastewaters from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants
and institutions and to which storm, surface and groundwater are not
intentionally admitted.
SEWER, STORM
A sewer that carries only stormwaters, surface runoff, street
wash and drainage, and to which sanitary and/or industrial wastes
are not intentionally admitted.
SLUDGE
Any discharge of water or wastewater which in concentration
of any given constituent or in any quantity of flow exceeds for any
period of duration longer than 15 minutes more than five times the
allowable concentration or flows during a normal working day (i.e.,
one-, two- or three-shift operation) and shall adversely affect the
collection system and/or performance of the wastewater treatment works.
SOLIDS, DISSOLVED
That concentration of matter in the sewage consisting of
colloidal particulate matter one micron in diameter or less, and both
organic and inorganic molecules and ions present in solution.
SOLIDS, SUSPENDED (SS) OR TOTAL SUSPENDED (TSS)
Total suspended matter that either floats on the surface
of or is in suspension in water, wastewater or other liquids and is
removable by laboratory filtration as prescribed in "standard methods"
defined herein.
SOLIDS, TOTAL SUSPENDED (TSS) BILLABLE
A user's loading in pounds of TSS calculated using the
billable flow and concentration of TSS in the waste as determined
by the City Engineer. Minimum waste strength of TSS shall be the domestic
waste concentration of 250 mg/l for the purpose of billing for user
charges.
[Amended 11-17-2014 by Ord. No. 2014-05]
STANDARD METHODS
The laboratory procedures set forth in the following sources:
Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 13th
Edition, as amended, prepared and published jointly by the American
Public Health Association, American Water Works Association and Water
Pollution Control Federation; Methods for Chemical Analysis of Water
and Wastes, 1971, prepared and published by the Analytical Quality
Control Laboratory, United States Environmental Protection Agency;
Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of Pollutants,
enumerated in 40 CFR 136; and any other procedures recognized by the
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the State Department of Natural
Resources.
[Amended 11-17-2014 by Ord. No. 2014-05]
SUMMER QUARTER
The user's quarter starting in June, July or August
and ending accordingly in August, September or October.
TOXIC AMOUNT
Concentration of any pollutant or combination of pollutants
which, upon exposure to or assimilation into any organism, will cause
adverse effects such as cancer, genetic mutations and physiological
manifestations, as defined in standards issued pursuant to § 307(a),
Public Law 92-500, as amended.
USEFUL LIFE
The anticipated term in years of physical and/or functional
productivity of elements and/or the whole of the wastewater treatment
system, which can be reevaluated as a result of preventive maintenance,
renewal which offsets physical and/or functional obsolescence, renewal
of capital elements due to consumption and physical and/or functional
betterments, direct or indirect.
USER CHARGE SYSTEM
The system of charges levied on users for the cost of operation
and maintenance, including replacement reserve requirements on new
and old wastewater collection and treatment facilities.
USER, COMMERCIAL
For the purpose of the user charge system, a user engaged
in the purchase or sale of goods or in a transaction or business or
who otherwise renders a service.
USER, DOMESTIC LEVEL OR RESIDENTIAL
For the purpose of the user charge system, a user whose premises
or building is used primarily as a domicile for one or more persons
and whose wastes originate from the normal living activities of its
inhabitants.
USER, INDUSTRIAL
Per Federal Register, Vol. 43, No. 188, September 27, 1978,
quoted as follows:
A.
Any nongovernmental, nonresidential user of a publicly owned
treatment works which discharges more than the equivalent of 25,000
gallons per day (gpd) of sanitary wastes and which is identified in
the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1972, Office of Management
and Budget, as amended and supplemented, under one of the following
divisions:
(1)
Division A, Agriculture, Forestry, and Fishing.
(3)
Division D, Manufacturing.
(4)
Division E, Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas and
Sanitary Services.
B.
Discharges in the above divisions that have a volume exceeding
25,000 gpd or the weight of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) or suspended
solids (SS) equivalent to that weight found in 25,000 gpd of sanitary
waste are considered industrial users. Sanitary wastes, for purposes
of this calculation of equivalency, are the wastes discharged from
residential users and containing 200 mg/l BOD and 250 mg/l SS.
USERS, CLASS OF
The division of wastewater treatment customers by waste characteristics
and process discharge similarities or function, such as residential,
commercial, institutional, industrial or governmental.
VOLATILE ORGANIC MATTER
The material in the sewage solids transformed to gases or
vapors when heated at 500° C. for 15 minutes.
WASTEWATER TREATMENT WORKS
The structures, equipment and processes required to collect,
transport and treat domestic and industrial wastes and to dispose
of the effluent and accumulated residual solids.
WATERCOURSE
A natural or artificial channel for the passage of water,
either continuously or intermittently.
WATER, UNPOLLUTED
Water of a quality equal to or better than the effluent criteria
in effect, or water that is of sufficient quality that it would not
be in violation of federal or state water quality standards if such
water were discharged into navigable waters of the state. Unpolluted
water would not be benefited by discharge to sanitary sewers and wastewater
treatment facilities provided.
WATERWORKS
All facilities for water supply, treatment, storage reservoirs,
water lines and services and booster stations for obtaining, treating
and distributing potable water.