[Ord. 3514 § 1, 1998; Ord. 3698 § 1(2.1), 2012]
(A) 
General Prohibitions. No user shall introduce or cause to be introduced into the POTW any pollutant or wastewater which causes pass through or interference. These general prohibitions apply to all users of the POTW whether or not they are subject to categorical pretreatment standards or any other national, state, or local pretreatment standards or requirements.
(B) 
Specific Prohibitions. No user shall introduce or cause to be introduced into the POTW the following pollutants, substances, or wastewater:
(1) 
Pollutants which create a fire or explosive hazard in the POTW, including, but not limited to, wastestreams with a closed-cup flashpoint of less than 140 degrees Fahrenheit (60 degrees Celsius) using the test methods specified in 40 CFR 261.21;
(2) 
Wastewater having a pH less than 5.0 or more than 12.5 (unless the owner has waived the upper limit), or otherwise causing corrosive structural damage to the POTW or equipment;
(3) 
Solid or viscous substances in amounts which will cause obstruction of the flow in the POTW resulting in interference but in no case solids greater than two inches or 5.08 centimeters in any dimension;
(4) 
Pollutants, including oxygen-demanding pollutants (BOD, etc.), released in a discharge at a flow rate and/or pollutant concentration which, either singly or by interaction with other pollutants, will cause interference with the POTW;
(5) 
Wastewater having a temperature greater than 150 degrees Fahrenheit (65.5 degrees Celsius), or which will inhibit biological activity in the treatment plant resulting in interference, but in no case wastewater which causes the temperature at the introduction into the treatment plant to exceed 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius);
(6) 
Petroleum oil, nonbiodegradable cutting oil, or products of mineral oil origin, in amounts that will cause interference or pass through;
(7) 
Pollutants which result in the presence of toxic gases, vapors, or fumes within the POTW in a quantity that may cause acute worker health and safety problems;
(8) 
Trucked or hauled pollutants, except at discharge points designated by the owner in accordance with MMC 912.15;
(9) 
Noxious or malodorous liquids, gases, solids, or other wastewater which, either singly or by interaction with other wastes, are sufficient to create a public nuisance or a hazard to life, or to prevent entry into the sewers for maintenance or repair;
(10) 
Wastewater containing any radioactive wastes or isotopes except in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations, and specifically authorized by the owner;
(11) 
Storm water, surface water, ground water, artesian well water, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, swimming pool drainage, condensate, deionized water, noncontact cooling water, and unpolluted wastewater, unless specifically authorized by the owner;
(12) 
Sludges, screenings, or other residues from the pretreatment of industrial wastes, and specifically authorized by the owner;
(13) 
Medical wastes, except as specifically authorized by the owner;
(14) 
Wastewater causing, alone or in conjunction with other sources, the treatment plant’s effluent to fail a toxicity test included in the owner’s NPDES permit;
(15) 
Any waste which is classified as a hazardous waste under 40 CFR Part 261 or applicable state regulations; and
(16) 
Detergents, surface active agents, or other substances which may cause excessive foaming in the POTW or receiving waters.
Pollutants, substances, or wastewater prohibited by this section shall not be processed, handled, stored or disposed in such a manner that they could be discharged to the POTW.
[Ord. 3514 § 1, 1998; Ord. 3698 § 1(2.2), 2012]
The categorical pretreatment standards found at 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, are hereby incorporated, as though fully set forth herein. Copies of these standards are available for examination by the public in the office of the owner. No user shall introduce or cause to be introduced into the POTW any pollutants, substances or wastewater in violation of any federal categorical pretreatment standard applicable to such user.
(A) 
Expansion of Limits. Where a categorical pretreatment standard is expressed only in terms of either mass or the concentration of a pollutant in wastewater, the owner may impose equivalent concentration or mass limits in accordance with subsections (F) and (I) of this section. When the limits in a categorical pretreatment standard is expressed only in terms of mass of pollutant per unit of production, the owner may convert the limits to equivalent limitations expressed either as mass of pollutant developed per day or effluent concentration for purpose of calculating effluent limitations applicable to individual industrial users.
(B) 
Combined Wastestream. When wastewater subject to a categorical pretreatment standard is mixed with wastewater not regulated by the same standard, the owner shall impose an alternate limit in accordance with 40 CFR 403.6(e).
(C) 
Variance. Pursuant to 40 CFR 403.13, EPA may grant an industrial user subject to a categorical pretreatment standard a variance from that categorical pretreatment standard. If EPA has granted an industrial user such a variance, the owner shall treat that variance as the categorical pretreatment standard applicable to that industrial user.
(D) 
Net Gross Adjustment. A user subject to a categorical pretreatment standard may obtain a net/ gross adjustment to the categorical pretreatment standard in accordance with the following provisions.
(1) 
Categorical pretreatment standards may be adjusted to reflect the presence of pollutants in the industrial user’s intake water in accordance with this section. Any industrial user wishing to obtain credit for intake pollutants must make application to the owner. Upon request of the industrial user, the applicable standard will be calculated on a “net” basis (i.e., adjusted to reflect credit for pollutants in the intake water) if the requirements of subsection (D)(2) of this section are met.
(2) 
Criteria.
(a) 
Either (i) the applicable categorical pretreatment standards contained in 40 CFR Subchapter N specifically provide that they shall be applied on a net basis; or (ii) the industrial user demonstrates that the control system it proposes or uses to meet the applicable categorical pretreatment standard would, if properly installed and operated, meet the standards in the absence of pollutants in the intake waters.
(b) 
Credit for generic pollutants such as biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), and oil and grease should not be granted unless the industrial user demonstrates that the constituents of the generic measure in the user’s influent are substantially similar to the constituents of the generic measure in the intake water or unless appropriate additional limits are placed on process water pollutants either at the outfall or elsewhere.
(c) 
Credit shall be granted only to the extent necessary to meet the applicable categorical pretreatment standard(s), up to a maximum value equal to the influent value. Additional monitoring may be necessary to determine eligibility for credits and compliance with standard(s) adjusted under this section.
(d) 
Credit shall be granted only if the user demonstrates that the intake water is drawn from the same body of water as that to which the POTW discharges. The owner may waive this requirement if it finds that no environmental degradation will result.
(E) 
BMPS. To the extent provided by a categorical pretreatment standard, the owner may allow the use of best management practices as an alternative means of complying with, or in place of, the applicable categorical pretreatment standard.
(F) 
Conversion from Mass Loading Limits. The owner may convert the mass loading limits of the categorical pretreatment standards at 40 CFR Parts 414, 419, and 455 to concentration limits for purposes of calculating limitations applicable to individual industrial users under the following conditions. When converting such limits to concentration limits, the owner must use the concentrations listed in the applicable subparts of 40 CFR Parts 414, 419, and 455 and document that dilution is not being substituted for treatment as prohibited by MMC 912.11.
(G) 
Removal Credits. The owner may grant removal credits to industrial users subject to a categorical pretreatment standard in accordance with 40 CFR 403.7.
(H) 
Waiver of Monitoring. The owner may authorize the industrial user subject to a categorical pretreatment standard to forego sampling of a pollutant regulated by a categorical pretreatment standard if the industrial user has demonstrated through sampling and other technical factors that the pollutant is neither present nor expected to be present in the discharge, or is present only at background levels from intake water and without any increase in the pollutant due to activities of the industrial user. This authorization is subject to the following conditions:
(1) 
The owner may authorize a waiver where a pollutant is determined to be present solely due to sanitary wastewater discharged from the facility; provided, that the sanitary wastewater is not regulated by an applicable categorical standard and otherwise includes no process wastewater;
(2) 
The monitoring waiver is valid only for the duration of the effective period of the permit or other equivalent individual control mechanism, but in no case longer than five years. The industrial user must submit a new request for the waiver before the waiver can be granted for each subsequent control mechanism;
(3) 
In making a demonstration that a pollutant is not present, the industrial user must provide data from at least one sampling of the facility’s process wastewater prior to any treatment present at the facility that is representative of all wastewater from all processes;
(4) 
The request for a monitoring waiver must be signed in accordance with subsection (M) of this section and include the certification statement in 40 CFR 403.6(a)(2)(ii);
(5) 
Nondetectable sample results may only be used as a demonstration that a pollutant is not present if the EPA approved method from 40 CFR Part 136 with the lowest minimum detection level for that pollutant was used in the analysis;
(6) 
Any grant of the monitoring waiver by the owner shall be included as a condition in the industrial user’s control mechanism. The reasons supporting the waiver and any information submitted by the industrial user in its request for the waiver shall be maintained by the owner for three years after expiration of the waiver;
(7) 
Upon approval of the monitoring waiver and revision of the industrial user’s control mechanism by the owner, the industrial user must certify on each report with the statement below, that there has been no increase in the pollutant in its wastestream due to activities of the industrial user:
Based on my inquiry of the person or persons directly responsible for managing compliance with the Pretreatment Standard for 40 CFR __________ [specify applicable National Pretreatment Standard part(s)], I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, there has been no increase in the level of __________ [list pollutant(s)] in the wastewaters due to the activities at the facility since filing of the last periodic report under 40 CFR § 403.12(e)(1);
(8) 
In the event that a waived pollutant is found to be present or is expected to be present based on changes that occur in the industrial user’s operations, the industrial user must immediately: comply with the monitoring requirements of 40 CFR 403.12(e)(1) or other more frequent monitoring requirements imposed by the owner; and notify the owner; and
(9) 
This provision does not supersede certification processes and requirements established in categorical pretreatment standards, except as otherwise specified in the categorical pretreatment standard.
(I) 
Conversion of Concentration Limits. When the limits in a categorical pretreatment standard are expressed only in terms of pollutant concentrations, an industrial user may request that the owner convert the limits to equivalent mass loading limits. The determination to convert concentration limits to mass loading limits is within the discretion of the owner. The owner may establish equivalent mass loading limits only if the industrial user meets all the following conditions in subsections (I)(1)(a) through (e) of this section.
(1) 
To be eligible for equivalent mass loading limits, the industrial user must:
(a) 
Employ, or demonstrate that it will employ, water conservation methods and technologies that substantially reduce water use during the term of its control mechanism;
(b) 
Currently use control and treatment technologies adequate to achieve compliance with the applicable categorical pretreatment standard, and not have used dilution as a substitute for treatment;
(c) 
Provide sufficient information to establish the facility’s actual average daily flow rate for all wastestreams, based on data from a continuous effluent flow monitoring device, as well as the facility’s long-term average production rate. Both the actual average daily flow rate and longterm average production rate must be representative of current operating conditions;
(d) 
Not have daily flow rates, production levels, or pollutant levels that vary so significantly that equivalent mass limits are not appropriate to control the discharge; and
(e) 
Have consistently complied with all applicable categorical pretreatment standards during the period prior to the industrial user’s request for equivalent mass loading limits.
(2) 
An industrial user subject to equivalent mass loading limits must:
(a) 
Maintain and effectively operate control and treatment technologies adequate to achieve compliance with the equivalent mass loading limits;
(b) 
Continue to record the facility’s flow rates through the use of a continuous effluent flow monitoring device;
(c) 
Continue to record the facility’s production rates and notify the owner whenever production rates are expected to vary by more than 20 percent from its baseline production rates determined in subsection (I)(1)(c) of this section. Upon notification of a revised production rate, the owner must reassess the equivalent mass loading limit and revise the limit as necessary to reflect changed conditions at the facility; and
(d) 
Continue to employ the same or comparable water conservation methods and technologies as those implemented pursuant to subsection (I)(1)(a) of this section, so long as it discharges under an equivalent mass loading limit.
(3) 
An owner which chooses to establish equivalent mass loading limits:
(a) 
Must calculate the equivalent mass loading limit by multiplying the actual average daily flow rate of the regulated process(es) of the industrial user by the concentration-based daily maximum and monthly average standard for the applicable categorical pretreatment standard and the appropriate unit conversion factor;
(b) 
Upon notification of a revised production rate, must reassess the equivalent mass loading limit and recalculate the limit as necessary to reflect changed conditions at the facility; and
(c) 
May retain the same equivalent mass loading limit in subsequent control mechanism terms if the industrial user’s actual average daily flow rate was reduced solely as a result of the implementation of water conservation methods and technologies, and the actual average daily flow rates used in the original calculation of the equivalent mass loading limit were not based on the use of dilution as a substitute for treatment pursuant to MMC 912.11. The industrial user must also be in compliance with 40 CFR 403.17 (regarding the prohibition of bypass).
(4) 
The owner may not express limits in terms of mass for pollutants such as pH, temperature, radiation, or other pollutants which cannot appropriately be expressed as mass.
(J) 
Equivalent Limitations. Once included in its permit, the industrial user must comply with the equivalent limitations developed in this section in lieu of the promulgated categorical standards from which the equivalent limitations were derived.
(K) 
Use of Production or Flow Figures. Many categorical pretreatment standards specify one limit for calculating maximum daily discharge limitations and a second limit for calculating maximum monthly average, or four-day average, limitations. Where such standards are being applied, the same production or flow figure shall be used in calculating both the average and the maximum equivalent limitation.
(L) 
Production Changes. Any industrial user operating under a permit incorporating equivalent mass loading or concentration limits calculated from a production-based categorical pretreatment standard shall notify the owner within two business days after the user has a reasonable basis to know that the production level will significantly change within the next calendar month. Any user not notifying the owner of such anticipated change will be required to meet the mass loading or concentration limits in its permit that were based on the original estimate of the long-term average production rate.
(M) 
Annual Certification by Nonsignificant Categorical Industrial Users. A facility determined to be a nonsignificant categorical industrial user pursuant to MMC 912.04(KK) must annually submit the following certification statement, signed by an authorized or duly authorized representative of the user. This certification must accompany any report required by the owner:
Based on my inquiry of the person or persons directly responsible for managing compliance with the Categorical Pretreatment Standards under 40 CFR __________, I certify that, to the best of my knowledge and belief that during the period from __________, to __________ [month, days, year]:
(a)
The facility described as [facility name] met the definition of a Nonsignificant Categorical Industrial User as described in § 403.3(v)(2); (b) the facility complied with all applicable Pretreatment Standards and requirements during this reporting period; and (c) the facility never discharged more than 100 gallons of total categorical wastewater on any given day during this reporting period. This compliance certification is based upon the following information:
____________________
____________________
[Ord. 3514 § 1, 1998; Ord. 3698 § 1(2.4), 2012]
As necessary to prevent interference with the POTW, to prevent pass through or sludge contamination with the POTW, to comply with its NPDES permit, to comply with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations, and to protect the POTW, human health and the environment, the owner may establish by ordinance, resolution, individual wastewater discharge permits, or otherwise, and review from time to time, local limits regulating the discharge of specific pollutants by users, which local limits may be more stringent than those set forth in MMC 912.05, 912.06 and/or 912.07.
(A) 
Local limits may be established for any substance which is discharged or is likely to be discharged to the POTW sewer system.
(B) 
Local limits may limit concentration, mass, or a combination of the two.
(C) 
Local limits may be established as necessary by the owner to prevent interference, pass through, sludge contamination, violations of the owner’s NPDES permit, or otherwise to protect the POTW, human health and the environment.
(D) 
Local limits may be included in individual wastewater discharge permits or otherwise applied to users as deemed appropriate by the owner.
(E) 
The owner may develop best management practices (BMPs), by ordinance, in individual wastewater discharge permits or general permits to implement local limits and the requirements of MMC 912.05.
(F) 
Any discharge by a user of any pollutant in excess of any applicable local limit constitutes a violation of this article.
[Ord. 3514 § 1, 1998; Ord. 3698 § 1(2.5), 2012]
As necessary to prevent interference with the POTW, to prevent pass through or sludge contamination with the POTW, to comply with its NPDES permit, to comply with all applicable federal and state laws and regulations, and to protect the POTW, human health and the environment, the owner reserves the right to establish, by ordinance or in wastewater discharge permits, more stringent standards or requirements on discharges to the POTW.
[Ord. 3514 § 1, 1998; Ord. 3698 § 1(2.6), 2012]
Nothing contained in this article shall be construed as prohibiting any special agreement or arrangement between the owner and any person, or for the owner to otherwise waive requirements herein, when conditions and circumstances making such special agreement(s), arrangement(s), or waiver(s) advisable and/or necessary, in the opinion of the owner, are present. In no event shall special agreement(s), arrangement(s), or waiver(s) permit any user to violate minimum federal pretreatment requirements (e.g., national categorical pretreatment standards).
In no case shall a special agreement, arrangement, or waiver of local limits allow for a user to discharge any pollutant which, alone or in combination with other user regulated discharges, would reasonably be expected to exceed the mass loadings determined by the owner as acceptable to the treatment plant based upon considerations of, among other things, interference, pass through, and sludge contamination. The owner may consider other factors (e.g., effect of the discharge on the POTW, future expansion, etc.) as it deems appropriate. In no event shall any special agreement, arrangement, or waiver allow the actual total industrial loadings to exceed the values set forth in the local limits’ analyses submitted by the owner to EPA and approved by EPA as part of the Meadville area sewer authority pretreatment program, if applicable.
The owner may require a user requesting a special agreement, arrangement, or waiver adjusting effluent limitations to submit supporting documentation indicating why the user cannot reasonably expect to meet the effluent limitation contained in its wastewater discharge permit, setting forth an expeditious schedule for obtaining compliance with such limitations, and including such other information as the owner may require. In granting any special agreement, arrangement or waiver, the owner may impose time limitations upon any reduced requirements and a compliance schedule for achieving full compliance. In granting any special agreement, arrangement or waiver, the owner may impose any other conditions deemed necessary to implement the purposes of the regulation.
If granting a special agreement, arrangement, or waiver would result in increased costs to the owner (e.g., treatment or sludge disposal costs), the owner may condition the special agreement, arrangement, or waiver upon the agreement of the user to pay those costs, and to provide security adequate in the judgment of the owner to assure payment of said costs.
[Ord. 3514 § 1, 1998; Ord. 3698 § 1(2.7), 2012]
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 a discharge limitation unless expressly authorized by an applicable pretreatment standard or requirement. The owner may impose mass loading limits on users who are using dilution to meet applicable pretreatment standards or requirements, or in other cases when the imposition of mass loading limits is appropriate.