Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this article, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated:
Agricultural stormwater runoff.Any stormwater runoff from orchards, cultivated crops, pastures, range lands and other non-point source agricultural activities, but not discharges from concentrated animal feeding operations as defined in 40 CFR section 122.23 or discharges from concentrated aquatic animal production facilities as defined in 40 CFR section 122.24.
Best management practices (BMP).Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures and other management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of waters of the United States. BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal or drainage from raw material storage.
City.The City of Azle, Texas, or the city council of Azle.
City engineer.The person appointed to the position of city engineer by the city council, or his/her duly authorized representative.
Commencement of construction.The disturbance of soils associated with clearing, grading or excavating activities or other construction activities.
Commercial.Pertaining to any business, trade, industry or other activity engaged in for profit.
Director of public works.The person appointed to the position of director of public works by the city council, or his/her duly authorized representative.
Discharge.Any addition or introduction of any pollutant, stormwater or any other substance whatsoever into the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) or into waters of the United States.
Discharger.Any person who causes, allows, permits or is otherwise responsible for a discharge, including without limitation any operator of a construction site or industrial facility.
Domestic sewage.Human excrement, gray water (from home clothes washing, bathing, showers, dishwashing and food preparation), other wastewater from household drains, and waterborne waste normally discharged from the sanitary conveniences of dwellings (including apartment houses and hotels), office buildings, factories and institutions, that is free from industrial waste.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).The United States Environmental Protection Agency, the regional office thereof, any federal department, agency or commission that may succeed to the authority of the EPA, and any duly authorized official of the EPA or such successor agency.
Facility.Any building, structure, installation, process or activity from which there is or may be a discharge of a pollutant.
Fertilizer.A solid or non-solid substance or compound that contains an essential plant nutrient element in a form available to plants and is used primarily for its essential plant nutrient element content in promoting or stimulating growth of a plant or improving the quality of a crop, or a mixture of two or more fertilizers. The term does not include the excreta of an animal, plant remains or a mixture of those substances, for which no claim of essential plant nutrients is made.
Final stabilization.The status when all soil-disturbing activities at a site have been completed, and a uniform perennial vegetative cover with a density of 70% of the cover for unpaved areas and areas not covered by permanent structures has been established, or equivalent permanent stabilization measures (such as the use of riprap, gabions, or geotextiles) have been employed.
Fire department.The fire department, or any duly authorized representative thereof.
Fire protection water.Any water and any substances or materials contained therein used by any person other than the fire department to control or extinguish a fire.
Garbage.Putrescible animal and vegetable waste materials from the handling, preparation, cooking or consumption of food, including waste materials from markets, storage facilities and the handling and sale of produce and other food products.
Harmful quantity.The amount of any substance that will cause pollution of water in the state.
Hazardous household waste (HHW).Any material generated in a household (including single and multiple residences, hotels and motels, bunk houses, ranger stations, crew quarters, camp grounds, picnic grounds, and day use recreational areas) by a consumer which, except for the exclusion provided in 40 CFR section 261.4(b)(1), would be classified as a hazardous waste under 40 CFR part 261.
Hazardous waste.Any substance identified or listed as a hazardous waste by the EPA pursuant to 40 CFR part 261.
Herbicide.A substance or mixture of substances used to destroy a plant or to inhibit plant growth.
Industrial waste.Any waterborne liquid or solid substance that results from any process of industry, manufacturing, mining, production, trade or business.
Motor vehicle fuel.Any vehicle crankcase oil, antifreeze, transmission fluid, brake fluid, differential lubricant, gasoline, diesel fuel, gasoline/alcohol blend and any other fluid used in a motor vehicle.
Municipal landfill (or landfill).An area of land or an excavation in which municipal solid waste is placed for permanent disposal, and which is not a land treatment facility, a surface impoundment, an injection well or a pile (as these terms are defined in regulations promulgated by the state commission on environmental quality).
Municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4).The system of conveyances (including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catchbasins, curbs, gutters, ditches, man-made channels or storm drains) owned and operated by the city and designed or used for collecting or conveying stormwater and which is not used for collecting or conveying sewage.
Municipal solid waste.Solid waste resulting from or incidental to municipal, community, commercial, institutional or recreational activities, and includes garbage, rubbish, ashes, street cleanings, dead animals, abandoned automobiles and other solid waste other than industrial waste.
NPDES permit.A permit issued by the EPA (or by the state under authority delegated pursuant to 33 USC section 1342(b)) that authorizes the discharge of pollutants to waters of the United States, whether the permit is applicable on an individual, group or general area-wide basis.
Non-point source.Any source of any discharge of a pollutant that is not a “point source.”
Notice of intent (NOI).A written submission to the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality’s executive director from an applicant requesting coverage under the general permit.
Notice of termination (NOT).A written submission to the executive director from a permittee authorized under a general permit requesting termination of coverage under the general permit.
Oil.Any kind of oil in any form, including but not limited to petroleum, fuel oil, crude oil or any fraction thereof which is liquid at standard conditions of temperature and pressure, sludge, oil refuse and oil mixed with waste.
Operator.The person or persons who, either individually or taken together, meet the following two criteria:
(1) They have operational control over the facility specifications (including the ability to make modifications in specifications); and
They have the day-to-day operational control over those activities at the facility necessary to ensure compliance with pollution prevention requirements and any permit conditions.
Owner.The person who owns a facility or part of a facility.
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. This definition includes all federal, state and local governmental entities.
Pesticide.A substance or mixture of substances intended to prevent, destroy, repel or mitigate any pest, or any substance or mixture of substances intended for use as a plant regulator, defoliant or desiccant (as these terms are defined in section 76.001 of the Texas Agriculture Code).
Petroleum product.A petroleum product that is obtained from distilling and processing crude oil and that is capable of being used as a fuel for the propulsion of a motor vehicle or aircraft, including motor gasoline, gasohol, other alcohol blended fuels, aviation gasoline, kerosene, distillate fuel oil, and #1 and #2 diesel. The term does not include naphtha-type jet fuel, kerosene-type jet fuel or a petroleum product destined for use in chemical manufacturing or feedstock of that manufacturing.
Petroleum storage tank (PST).Any one or a combination of above-ground or underground storage tanks that contain petroleum products and any connecting underground pipes.
Point source.Any discernable, confined and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, landfill leachate collection system, vessel or other floating craft from which pollutants are or may be discharged. This term does not include return flows from irrigated agriculture or agricultural stormwater runoff.
Pollutant.Dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical waste, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and industrial, municipal and agricultural waste discharged into water. The term “pollutant” does not include tailwater or runoff water from irrigation or rainwater runoff from cultivated or uncultivated range land, pasture land and farm land.
Pollution.The alteration of the physical, thermal, chemical or biological quality of, or the contamination of, any water in the state that renders the water harmful, detrimental or injurious to humans, animal life, vegetation, or property, or to the public health, safety or welfare, or impairs the usefulness or the public enjoyment of the water for any lawful or reasonable purpose.
Qualified personnel.Persons who possess the appropriate competence, skills and ability (as demonstrated by sufficient education, training, experience, and/or when applicable, any required certification or licensing) to perform a specific activity in a timely and complete manner consistent with the applicable regulatory requirements and generally accepted industry standards for such activity.
Release.Any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, escaping, leaching, dumping, or disposing into the municipal separate storm sewer system (MS4) or the waters of the United States.
Reportable quantity (RQ).For any “hazardous substance,” the quantity established and listed in table 302.4 of 40 CFR part 302; for any “extremely hazardous substance,” the quantity established in 40 CFR part 355 and listed in appendix
A thereto.
Nonputrescible solid waste, excluding ashes, that consists of:
(1) Combustible waste materials, including paper, rags, cartons, wood, excelsior, furniture, rubber, plastics, yard trimmings, leaves, and similar materials; and
Noncombustible waste materials, including glass, crockery, tin cans, aluminum cans, metal furniture and similar materials that do not burn at ordinary incinerator temperatures (1600 to 1800 degrees Fahrenheit).
Sanitary sewer (or sewer).The system of pipes, conduits and other conveyances which carry industrial waste and domestic sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, to the city sewage treatment plant (and to which stormwater, surface water and groundwater are not intentionally admitted).
Septic tank waste.Any domestic sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers and septic tanks.
Service station.Any retail establishment engaged in the business of selling fuel for motor vehicles that is dispensed from stationary storage tanks.
Sewage (or sanitary sewage).The domestic sewage and/or industrial waste that is discharged into the city sanitary sewer system and passes through the sanitary sewer system to the city sewage treatment plant for treatment.
Site.The land or water area where any facility or activity is physically located or conducted, including adjacent land used in connection with the facility or activity.
Solid waste.Any garbage, rubbish, refuse, sludge from a waste treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility, and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semi-solid or contained gaseous material resulting from industrial, municipal, commercial, mining and agricultural operations, and from community and institutional activities.
Stormwater.Stormwater runoff, snow melt runoff and surface runoff and drainage.
Stormwater discharge associated with industrial activity.The discharge from any conveyance which is used for collecting and conveying stormwater and which is directly related to manufacturing, processing or raw materials storage areas at an industrial plant which is within one of the categories of facilities listed in 40 CFR section 122.26(b)(14), and which is not excluded from the EPA’s definition of the same term.
Stormwater pollution prevention plan (SWPPP).A plan required by either the construction general permit or the industrial general permit and which describes and ensures the implementation of practices that are to be used to reduce the pollutants in stormwater discharges associated with construction or other industrial activity at the facility.
Used oil (or used motor oil).Any oil that has been refined from crude oil or a synthetic oil that, as a result of use, storage, or handling, has become unsuitable for its original purpose because of impurities or the loss of original properties but that may be suitable for further use and is recyclable in compliance with state and federal law.
Water in the state (or water).Any groundwater, percolating or otherwise, lakes, bays, ponds, impounding reservoirs, springs, rivers, streams, creeks, estuaries, marshes, inlets, canals, the Gulf of Mexico, inside the territorial limits of the state, and all other bodies of surface water, natural or artificial, inland or coastal, fresh or salt, navigable or non-navigable, and including the beds and banks of all watercourses and bodies of surface water that are wholly or partially inside or bordering the state or inside the jurisdiction of the state.
Water quality standard.The designation of a body or segment of surface water in the state for desirable uses and the narrative and numerical criteria deemed by the state to be necessary to protect those uses, as specified in chapter 307 of title 30 of the Texas Administrative Code.
Waters of the United States.(According to 40 C.F.R. sec. 122.2) Waters of the United States or waters of the U.S.:
(1) All waters which are currently used, were used in the past, or may be susceptible to use in interstate or foreign commerce, including all waters which are subject to the ebb and flow of the tide;
All interstate waters, including interstate wetlands;
All other waters such as interstate lakes, rivers, streams (including intermittent streams), mudflats, sandflats, wetlands, sloughs, prairie potholes, wet meadows, playa lakes, or natural ponds that the use, degradation, or destruction of which would affect or could affect interstate or foreign commerce including any such waters:
(A) Which are or could be used by interstate or foreign travelers for recreational or other purposes;
From which fish or shellfish are or could be taken and sold in interstate or foreign commerce; or
Which are used or could be used for industrial purposes by industries in interstate commerce;
All impoundments of waters otherwise defined as waters of the United States under this definition;
Tributaries of waters identified in subsections
(1) through
(4) of this definition.
Waste treatment systems, including treatment ponds or lagoons designated to meet the requirements of the CWA (other than cooling ponds as defined in 40 C.F.R. sec. 423.11(m) which also meet the criteria of this definition) are not waters of the U.S. This exclusion applies only to manmade bodies of water which neither were originally created in waters of the U.S. (such as disposal area wetlands) nor resulted from the impoundment of waters of the U.S. Waters of the U.S. do not include prior converted cropland. Notwithstanding the determination of an area’s status as prior converted cropland by any other federal agency, for the purposes of the CWA, the final authority regarding the CWA jurisdiction remains the EPA. |
Wetland.An area that is inundated or saturated by surface or ground water at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal circumstances does support, a prevalence of vegetation typically adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs and similar areas.
Yard waste.Leaves, grass clippings, yard and garden debris, and brush that results from landscaping maintenance and land-clearing operations.
(2001 Code, sec. 13.1601(d); Ordinance 2018-05, sec. 1, adopted 3/20/18)