Definitions. As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have
the meanings indicated:
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.
APPROVAL AUTHORITY
The Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection
Agency or his authorized representative.
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF INDUSTRIAL USER
An authorized representative of an industrial user may be:
(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 in Subsections
(1) and
(2) of this definition, if such representative is responsible for the overall operation of the facilities from which the indirect discharge originates.
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD)
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation
of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure, five days at
20° C., expressed in terms of weight and concentration [milligrams
per liter (mg/l)].
BUILDING SEWER
The extension from the building drain to the public sewers.
COLLECTION SYSTEM
The equipment, structures, and processes used for the collection,
transportation, and pumping of sewage.
COMPATIBLE POLLUTANT
The constituents of BOD, suspended solids, pH, and fecal
coliform bacteria, and such additional pollutants identified in the
applicable Rhode Island Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (RIPDES)
permit where the POTW is designed to treat such pollutants to the
degree required by the RIPDES permit.
CONTROL AUTHORITY
The approval authority as defined in this section or the
Town, where the Town has an approved pretreatment program under the
provisions of the Act.
COOLING WATER
The water discharged from any use such as air conditioning,
cooling or refrigeration, or to which the only pollutant added is
heat.
DIRECT DISCHARGE
The discharge of treated or untreated wastewater directly
to the waters of the State of Rhode Island.
DIRECTOR
The Director of Public Works, Town of East Greenwich, or
his authorized representative, designated by the Town to supervise
the operation of the publicly owned treatment works.
DOMESTIC WASTES
Liquid wastes (i) from the noncommercial preparation, cooking,
and handling of food or (ii) containing human excrement and similar
matter from the sanitary conveniences of dwellings, commercial buildings,
industrial facilities, and institutions. It shall not contain groundwater,
stormwater, surface water, or cooling water or industrial wastewater.
DWELLING UNIT
A house, an apartment, a group of rooms, or a single room
occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters. Separate
living quarters are those in which the occupants have either:
(1)
Direct access from the outside of the building or through a
common hall; or
(2)
Complete kitchen facilities for the exclusive use of the occupants.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY or EPA
The United States Environmental Protection Agency or, where
appropriate, the term may also be used as a designation for the Administrator
or other duly authorized official of such agency.
FLOATABLE OIL
Floatable oil is oil, fat, or grease in a physical state
such that it will separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment
in an approved pretreatment facility. A wastewater shall be considered
free of floatable oil when it is properly pretreated prior to entry
into the sewage facilities and does not interfere with the collection
system.
GARBAGE
Solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation,
cooking, and dispensing of food, and from the handling, storage and
sale of produce.
GRAB SAMPLE
A sample which is taken from a waste stream on a one-time
basis with no regard to the flow in the waste stream and without consideration
of time.
HOLDING TANK WASTE
Any waste from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets,
campers, trailers, septic tanks, and vacuum pump tank trucks.
INDIRECT DISCHARGE
The discharge or the introduction of nondomestic pollutants
from any source regulated under Section 307(b) or (c) of the Act (33
U.S.C. § 1317), into the POTW (including holding tank waste
discharged into the system).
INDUSTRIAL USER
A source of wastewater discharge into the POTW which constitutes
an indirect discharge.
INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER
The liquid wastes resulting from the processes employed in
industrial, manufacturing, trade, or business establishments, as distinct
from domestic wastes.
INFECTIOUS WASTE
Waste which contains pathogens with sufficient virulence
and quantity so that exposure to the waste by a susceptible host could
result in disease. Under this definition, the normal microflors of
the body are not classified as infectious. Categories of waste designated
as infectious are as follows:
(1)
HUMAN BLOOD, BODY FLUIDS, and BLOOD PRODUCTSAll waste human blood, blood products (such as serum, plasma, and other blood components) and body fluids (such as suction fluid and wound drainage) which exist in non-absorbed liquid form in more than trace quantities.
(2)
CONTAMINATED SHARPSConsists of discarded sharps, e.g., hypodermic needles, syringes, pasteur pipettes, broken glass, and scalpel blades which may have come into contact with infectious agents during use in patient care or in medical research or have been removed from their original sterile container.
(4)
DISCARDED CULTURES AND STOCKS OF INFECTIOUS AGENTS AND ASSOCIATED BIOLOGICALConstitute infectious wastes because pathogenic organisms are present at high concentration in these materials. Included in this category are pathological laboratories and pharmaceutical companies and wastes from the production of biological and discarded live and attenuated vaccines. Also, culture dishes and devices used to transfer, inoculate and mix cultures shall be designated as infectious waste.
INFECTIOUS WASTE TREATMENT
Any method, technique, or process designed to eliminate the
infectious hazard, i.e., to change the biological character or composition
of waste so as to remove any disease-causing potential and to render
such waste noninfectious by killing the infectious agents present
in the waste.
INTERCEPTING SEWER
A sewer which receives sewage flow from a number of main
sewers and conducts such flow to a point for treatment.
INTERFERENCE
A discharge which alone or in conjunction with a discharge
from other sources, both:
(1)
Inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or operation,
or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and
(2)
Therefore, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the
POTW's NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or
duration of a violation) or the prevention of sewage sludge use or
disposal in compliance with the following statutory provisions and
regulations or permits issued thereunder (or more stringent state
or local regulations): Section 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 Air Act, the Toxic Substance
Control Act, and the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act.
LATERAL SEWERS
A sewer that discharges into a main or other sewer and has
no other common sewer tributary.
NEW SOURCE
(1)
Any building, structure, facility, or installation from which
there is or may be a discharge of pollutants, the construction of
which commenced after the publication of proposed pretreatment standards
under Section 307(c) of the Act which will be applicable to such sources
if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that
section, provided that:
(a)
The building, structure, facility, or installation is constructed
at a site at which no other source is located;
(b)
The building, structure, facility, or installation totally replaces
the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants
at an existing source; or
(c)
The production or wastewater-generating processes of the building,
structure, facility, or installation are substantially independent
of an existing source at the same site. In determining whether these
are substantially independent, factors such as the extent to which
the new facility is integrated with the existing plant and the extent
to which the new facility is engaged in the same general type of activity
as the existing source should be considered.
(2)
Construction on a site at which an existing source is located
results in a modification rather than a new source if the construction
does not create a new building, structure, facility or installation
meeting the criteria of Paragraphs (k) and (I)(iii) of 40 CFR 403
but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production
equipment.
(3)
Construction of a new source as defined under this paragraph
has commenced if the owner or operator has:
(a)
Begun, or caused to begin as part of a continuous onsite construction
program:
[1]
Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment;
or
[2]
Significant site preparation work including clearing, excavation,
or removal of existing buildings, structures, or facilities which
is necessary for the placement, assembly, or installation of new source
facilities or equipment; or
(b)
Entered into a binding contractual obligation for the purchase
of facilities or equipment which are intended to be used in its operation
within a reasonable time. Options to purchase or contractors which
can be terminated or modified without substantial loss, and contracts
for feasibility, engineering, and design studies do not constitute
a contractual obligation under this subsection.
ONSITE WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM (OWTS)
[Formerly Individual Sewage Disposal System (ISDS).] A system
approved by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management
which provides sanitary sewage disposal by means other than discharge
into a public sewer.
OWNER
Any person who, alone or jointly, has a legal title to any
premises or has control of any premises, executor, administrator,
trustee, lessee or guardian of the estate of a holder of a legal title.
PASS-THROUGH
A discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the United
States in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction
with a discharge from other sources, is a cause of violation of any
requirement of the POTW's NPDES permit (including an increase
in the magnitude or duration of a violation).
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, co-partnership, firm, company,
corporation, association, joint-stock company, trust, estate, governmental
entity or any other legal entity, or their legal representatives,
agents or assigns. The masculine gender shall include the feminine;
the singular shall include the plural where indicated by the context.
pH
The logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the concentration
of hydrogen ions.
POLLUTANT
Any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage,
garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials,
radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock,
sand, cellar dirt, and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste
discharged into water.
POLLUTED WATERS
The man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical,
biological and radiological integrity of water.
PRETREATMENT
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 a POTW. The reduction
or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological
processes or process changes or other means, except as prohibited
by 40 CFR 403.6(d).
PRETREATMENT REQUIREMENTS
Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment,
other than a national pretreatment standard imposed on an industrial
user.
PRETREATMENT STANDARDS
All applicable federal rules and regulations implementing
Section 403 of the Act, as well as any nonconflicting state or local
standards. In cases of conflicting standards or regulations, the more
stringent thereof shall be applied.
PRIVATELY OWNED WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITIES
Pump station(s), collection system(s) and/or wastewater treatment
facility(ies) owned by a user and/or association that is connected
to a publicly owned wastewater treatment or collection system.
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 public sewers, with no particle greater than 1/2 inch in any dimension.
PUBLIC SEWER
A sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal
rights and is controlled by public authority.
PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS (POTW)
A treatment works, as defined by Section 212 of the Act (33
U.S.C. § 1292), which is owned in this instance by the Town.
This definition includes any sewers that convey wastewater to the
POTW treatment plant, but does not include pipes, sewers or other
conveyances not connected to a facility providing treatment. For the
purposes of this chapter, "POTW" shall also include any sewers that
convey wastewaters to the POTW from persons outside the Town who are,
by contract or agreement with the Town, users of the Town's POTW.
RHODE ISLAND POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM (RIPDES)
The Rhode Island system for issuing, modifying, revoking
and reissuing, terminating, monitoring, and enforcing discharge permits
and imposing and enforcing pretreatment requirements pursuant to Title
46, Chapter 12 of the General Laws of Rhode Island and the Clean Water
Act.
SANITARY SEWER
A sewer which carries sewage and to which storm, surface
and groundwater are not intentionally admitted.
SEWER
A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER (SIU)
(1)
Except as provided in Subsections
(2) and
(3) of this definition, the term "significant industrial user" means:
(a)
All industrial users subject to categorical pretreatment standards
under 40 CFR 403.6 and 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N; and
(b)
Any other industrial user that discharges an average of 25,000
gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding
sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater); contributes
a process wastestream which makes up 5% or more of the average dry
weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant;
or is designated as such by the Town on the basis that the industrial
user has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's
operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement
[in accordance with 40 CFR 403.8 (f)(6)].
(2)
The Town may determine that an industrial user subject to categorical
pretreatment standards under § 403.6 and 40 CFR Chapter
I, Subchapter N, is a nonsignificant categorical industrial user rather
than a significant industrial user on a finding that the industrial
user never discharges more than 100 gallons per day (gpd) of total
categorical wastewater (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and
boiler blowdown wastewater, unless specifically included in the pretreatment
standard) and the following conditions are met:
(a)
The industrial user, prior to the Town's finding, has consistently
complied with all applicable categorical pretreatment standards and
requirements;
(b)
The industrial user annually submits the certification statement
required in § 403.12(q) together with any additional information
necessary to support the certification statement; and
(c)
The industrial user never discharges any untreated concentrated
wastewater.
(3)
Upon a finding that an industrial user meeting the criteria in Subsection
(1)(b) of this definition has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standards or requirement, the Town may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from an industrial user or POTW, and in accordance with 40 CFR 403.8(f)(6), determine that such industrial user is not a significant industrial user.
SLUG
Any discharge of water or wastewater 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 and
shall adversely affect the collection system and/or performance of
the wastewater treatment works.
STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION (SIC)
A classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification
Manual issued by the Executive Office of the President, Office of
Management and Budget, 1972.
STORM DRAIN
Also termed "storm sewer." A pipe which carries storm and
surface waters and drainage; but sewage and industrial wastes, other
than unpolluted cooling water, are intended to be excluded.
STORMWATER
Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural
precipitation and resulting therefrom.
SUPERINTENDENT
The Superintendent of wastewater treatment facility of the
Town or his duly appointed representative.
TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS
The total suspended matter that floats on the surface of,
or is suspended in, water, wastewater or other liquids, and which
is removable by laboratory filtering.
TOWN
The Town of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, or duly appointed
representative thereof.
TOXIC POLLUTANT
Any pollutant or combination of pollutants listed as toxic
in regulations promulgated by the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency under the provisions of CWA Section 307(a) or other
acts.
USER
Any person who contributes, causes or permits the contribution
of wastewater into the Town's POTW.
WASTEWATER
The liquid and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes
from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities and institutions,
together with any groundwater, surface water, and stormwater that
may be present, whether treated or untreated, which is contributed
into or permitted to enter the POTW.
WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM (or WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY)
Any devices, facilities, structures, equipment or works owned
or used by the town for the purpose of the transmission, storage,
treatment, recycling, and reclamation of industrial and domestic wastes,
or necessary to recycle or reuse water at the most economical cost
over the estimated life of the system, including intercepting sewer,
outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, pumping, power, and other
equipment and their appurtenances, extensions, improvements, remodeling,
additions, and alterations thereof; elements essential to provide
a reliable recycled supply such as standby treatment units and clear
well facilities; and any work, including site acquisition of the land
that will be an integral part of the treatment process or is used
for ultimate disposal of residues from such treatment.
WATERS OF THE STATE
All streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways,
wells, springs, reservoirs, aquifers, irrigation systems, drainage
systems and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface or
underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained
within, flow through, or border upon the state or any portion thereof.
Y CONNECTION
The point at which the individual sewer lateral connects
into the main sewer line (sometimes referred to as the "chimney connection").