The city authorizes the issuance of wastewater discharge permits,
provides for monitoring, compliance, and enforcement activities, establishes
administrative review procedures, requires user reporting, and provides
for the setting of fees for the equitable distribution of costs resulting
from the program established herein. Permit holders who discharge
wastewater shall be assessed a surcharge to their monthly sewer service
charge based on the characteristics of the wastewater discharged,
in accordance with the provisions of this article.
(Ordinance 940308, sec. 1.1, adopted 3/8/94)
Except as otherwise provided herein, the water and wastewater
superintendent shall administer, implement, and enforce the provisions
of the article. The city council shall have authority to review and
supersede any actions taken by the superintendent and may delegate
any tasks associated with the administration, implementation or enforcement
of this article to city personnel as deemed necessary.
(Ordinance 940308, sec. 1.2, adopted 3/8/94)
The following abbreviations, when used in this article, shall
have the designated meanings:
BOD - Biochemical oxygen demand
CFR - Code of Federal Regulations
COD - Chemical oxygen demand
EPA - U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
gpd - gallons per day
mg/l - milligrams per liter
NPDES - National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (EPA
discharge permit)
O&G - Oil and grease
RCRA - Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
SIU - Significant industrial user
TCEQ - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality
TSS - Total suspended solids
(Ordinance 940308, sec. 1.4, adopted 3/8/94)
Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, the following
terms and phrases, as used in this article, shall have the meanings
hereinafter designated:
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation
of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five days
at 20° centigrade, usually expressed as a concentration (e.g.,
mg/l).
Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with sections 307(b) and (c) of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. section 1317) which apply to a specific category of users and which appear in 40 CFR, chapter 1, subchapter N, parts 405-471.
A sample taken over a period of time, usually 24 or 8 hours,
in which the amount collected is proportional to the amount of flow
discharged.
Chemical constituents of wastewater which are typically a
measure of its strength or common characteristics, specifically, BOD,
TSS, COD, O&G and pH.
A sample which is taken from a waste stream without regard
to the flow in the waste stream and over a period of time not to exceed
fifteen minutes.
Materials which could be discharged to the city wastewater
collection from a nonresidential establishment which contains pollutants
as defined in this section.
The maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged
at any time, determined from the analysis of a grab sample or composite
sample collected independent of the flow rate.
A discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge
or discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the treatment
plant, its treatment processes or operation or its sludge processes,
use or disposal, and therefore is a cause of a violation of the city’s
TNRCC discharge permit or NPDES permit, or of the prevention of sewage
sludge use or disposal in compliance with any other more stringent
state or local regulations.
Water used for cooling which does not come into direct contact
with any raw material, intermediate product, wastewater protection
[waste product], or finished product.
Wastewater discharged into the collection system which has
conventional pollutant levels below or within the following values:
A discharge which exits the wastewater treatment plant into
waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations which,
alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other
sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the city’s
discharge permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration
of a violation.
A person, business or corporation which has been issued an
industrial wastewater discharge permit in conformance with this article.
A measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, expressed
in standard units.
Dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash,
sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, chemical wastes, biological materials,
radioactive material, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock,
sand, cellar dirt, municipal, agricultural and industrial process
wastewater, and certain characteristics of wastewater (e.g., pH, temperature,
TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity or odor).
The reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination
of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties
in wastewater prior to, or in lieu of, introducing such pollutants
into the wastewater treatment system.
Wastewater generated from an industrial, manufacturing or
commercial operation which is not from personnel restroom and washroom
facilities.
A user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or
A user that:
Discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more of process wastewater
to the wastewater treatment plant;
Contributes a process waste stream which makes up 5 percent
or more of the average dry weather hydraulic flow or organic load
of the wastewater treatment plant; or
Is designated as such by the city on the basis that it has a
reasonable potential for adversely affecting the wastewater treatment
plant operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
Any discharge at a flow rate or concentration which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in section 24.04.031 of this article.
The total suspended matter that floats to the surface of,
or is suspended in, water, wastewater, or other liquid, and which
is removable by laboratory filtering.
Liquid and water-carried industrial wastes and sewage from
residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing
facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which
are contributed to the wastewater treatment plant.
(Ordinance 940308, sec. 1.4, adopted 3/8/94)
