Except as otherwise provided in this title, or unless the context of the code requires otherwise, the following words shall be given the meanings and construction set forth in this title. Words and phrases not ascribed a meaning in this chapter shall have the meaning ascribed elsewhere under this code, or under the
California Water Code, if defined therein, and if not, by the Federal Clean Water Act, and regulations implementing the Clean Water Act. Terms not defined in any of the foregoing shall be construed in accordance with the latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, published by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association, and the Water Pollution Control Federation.
means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. Sections
1251, et seq., as it may be amended, and any regulations and standards promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to the Act.
means the person or entity making application for a permit. No person shall be an applicant who is not the owner or duly authorized agent of the owner or person in charge of day-to-day activities of the premises from which wastewater is to be discharged.
"Authorized representative of the user"as defined in 40 C.F.R. Section
403.12(1) means:
(a) If the user is a corporation:
(1) The president, secretary, treasurer, or a vice-president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function, or any other person who performs similar policy or decision-making functions for the corporation, or
The manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operation facilities employing more than 250 persons or having gross annual sales or expenditures exceeding twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000.00) (in second-quarter 1980 dollars), if authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
If the user is a partnership, association, or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, respectively.
If the user is a federal, state, or local government facility: a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility, or their designee.
The individuals described in subparagraphs (a) through (c), above, may designate another authorized representative if the authorization is in writing, the authorization specifies the individual or position responsible for the overall operation of the facility from which the discharge originates or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the user, and the written authorization is submitted to the city.
"Biochemical oxygen demand"means quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic material under standard laboratory procedures for five days at 20 degrees centigrade, usually expressed as a concentration such as mg/L.
"Building sewer"means a sewer conveying wastewater from the premises of a person to the public sewer, private sewer, individual wastewater disposal system or other approved point of disposal.
"Bypass"means the intentional diversion of waste and/or wastewater from any portion of a user's pretreatment facility.
"Categorical user"means an industrial user subject to National Categorical Pretreatment Standards, as set forth in 40 C.F.R. Part
403, or elsewhere.
means the city of Buellton, California.
"City manager"means the city manager of the city or the city manager's designee.
"Color"means the optical density at the visual wave length of maximum absorption, relative to distilled water in which 100% transmittance is equivalent to zero optical density.
"Compliance schedule"means a schedule containing increments of progress in the form of dates for the commencement and completion of major events leading to the construction and operation of pretreatment equipment and/or systems required for the user to meet applicable pretreatment standards.
"Composite sample"means the sample resulting from the combination of individual wastewater samples taken at selected intervals, based on an increment of either flow or time.
"Connection"means that part of any sewer extending from a sewer main in a public easement or right-of-way to private property for exclusive use of the property.
"Cooling water"means the water discharged from any use, including but not limited to, air conditioning, cooling or refrigeration units to which the only pollutant added is heat.
"Discharge"means the discharge or the introduction of pollutants into the system by a person.
"Domestic wastewater"means liquid waste free of industrial wastewater, discharged from residential, commercial and industrial premises into the system.
"Environmental Protection Agency"means the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, any other duly authorized official to whom EPA's authority has been delegated.
"Existing source"means any source of discharge, the construction or operation of which commenced prior to the publication by EPA of proposed categorical pretreatment standards, which will be applicable to such source if the standard is thereafter promulgated in accordance with Section 307 of the Act.
"Fee"means any charge assessed to a person associated with the use, or continued use, of any portion of the system and includes, but is not limited to, a charge for connection or tap for new customers; monthly sewer service; IWD permit; excess capacity connection; wastewater treatment; excessive wastewater strength; laboratory testing; waste hauler's permit; oversize sewer; and noncompliance.
"Food establishment"means a facility engaged in the preparation of food products for sale. A facility engaged in the sale of food products that are wholly prepared off-site is not included within this definition. The term "food establishment" includes restaurants (SIC Code 5812).
"Formula users"means those users who are regulated under the IWD permit system and billed according to the city of Buellton user charge formula, a formula based on the measured or set strength and volume of their wastewater discharged.
"Garbage"means the putrescible animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, sale and consumption of foods. See 14 CCR Section
17225.30.
means a sample which is taken from a wastestream without regard to the flow in the wastestream and over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.
"Gravity separation device"means a device designed, constructed, and operated for the purpose of retaining sand, silt, grit, mineral material, and oil by gravity-differential separation from wastewater.
"Grease"means a varied group of compounds having the common properties of immiscibility with water and a specific gravity lower than water as determined by appropriate procedures set forth in 40 C.F.R. Part
136.
means the residue from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that has been shredded to such a degree that all particles will be carried freely in suspension under the flow conditions normally prevailing in a public sewer, with no particle greater than one-half inch in any dimension.
"Holding tank wastewater"means any wastewater from holding tanks including, but not limited to, vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks, and vacuum-pump tank trucks.
"Indirect discharge"means the introduction of pollutants into the system from any non-domestic source regulated under Section 307(b), (c), or (d) of the Act, 33 U.S.C. Section
1317(b),
(c) or
(d).
means any producing, manufacturing, processing, institutional, commercial, agricultural or similar person that discharges wastewater, directly or indirectly, into the system, and which is solid, liquid or gaseous and contains pollutants different from or stronger than or with constituents other than those defined for domestic wastewater.
"Industrial wastewater"means the liquid and water-carried industrial waste, whether treated or untreated, which is contributed into or permitted to enter the system. Industrial wastewater includes wastewater from sources other than an industrial plant or facility which introduces toxic pollutants, as defined in 40 C.F.R. Section
401.15, into publicly owned treatment works, including, without limitation: medical offices; dental offices; hospitals; schools; restaurants; research, education and commercial laboratories; warehouses; shopping centers; car washes; print stores; residential, commercial and public users of pesticides and fertilizers; gas stations; and septage collection and disposal.
means the maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from the analysis of any discrete or composite sample collected, independent of the industrial flow rate and the duration of the sampling event.
"Interceptor"means a device designed, constructed, and operated to separate and retain grease, sand or other substance harmful to the system while permitting wastewater to be discharged into the system.
"Interference"means a discharge that, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the system, its treatment processes or operations or its biosolids processes, use or disposal; and that is therefore a cause of a violation of a provision in any applicable waste discharge requirement, NPDES permit or the prevention of biosolids use or disposal in compliance with all applicable federal, state, or local regulations, including but not limited to: Section 402 of the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. Section
1342, the Solid Waste Disposal Act, including Title II, commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act ("RCRA"), 42 U.S.C. Sections
6901 et seq.; any and all federal and state clean air acts; and the Toxic Substances Control Act,
15 U.S.C. Sections 2601-2692.
means the weight of material discharged to the system during a given time interval. Unless otherwise specified, the mass emission rate shall mean pounds per day of a particular constituent or combination of constituents.
"Medical waste"means isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes, potentially contaminated laboratory wastes, and dialysis wastes.
"Monitoring facilities"means an approved opening to a sewer for the purpose of inspection, sampling and/or flow measurement.
"Municipal wastewater system" or "system"means a "treatment works" as defined by Section 212 of the Act, and includes any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of wastewater (domestic or industrial) and any conveyances which convey wastewater to the treatment plant.
"New source"means:
(a) 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, 33 U.S.C. Section
1317(c), which will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section, provided that:
(1) The building, structure, facility, or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or
The building, structure, facility, or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge or pollutants at an existing source; or
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.
Any construction on a site at which an existing source is located and 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 subparagraphs (a)(2) or (3) above but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
Construction of a new source as defined under this subparagraph has commenced if the owner or operator has:
(1) Begun, or caused to begin as part of a continuous on-site construction program any placement, assembly or installation of facilities or equipment; or
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
Entered into a binding contractual obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment that is intended to be used in its operation within a reasonable time. Options to purchase or contracts 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 subparagraph.
"Non-contact cooling water"means water used for cooling which does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product.
"Pass-through"means a discharge that exits the system into waters of the state or 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 an applicable waste discharge requirement or a NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
"Person"means 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; and including all federal, state and local governmental entities.
"pH"means a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance, expressed in standard units.
"Pollutant"means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, domestic wastewater, garbage, sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, municipal, agricultural and industrial wastes and certain characteristics of the wastewater (e.g., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, or odor).
"Pretreatment" or "treatment"means 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 system, such pretreatment or treatment accomplished by: physical, chemical, or biological processes; or by other means, except by diluting the concentration of the pollutant unless allowed by an applicable pretreatment standard.
"Pretreatment facility"means any works or device for the treatment or flow limitation of domestic wastewater, liquid waste, industrial waste or industrial wastewater prior to discharge into the system.
"Pretreatment requirements"means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.
"Private sewer"means a sewer, other than a connection, laid by a person to serve one or more buildings, so as to connect a building(s) to a public sewer and irrespective of whether the sewer is constructed on public or private property.
"Private wastewater disposal system"means a septic tank with the effluent discharging into a subsurface disposal field, into one or more seepage pits or into a combination of subsurface disposal field and seepage pit or other wastewater holding facilities.
"Radioactive material"means material containing chemical elements that spontaneously change their atomic structure by emitting any particles, rays or energy forms in excess of normal background radiation.
"Seepage pit"means a lined excavation in the ground that receives the discharge of a septic tank and designed to permit the effluent from the septic tank to seep through its bottom and side.
"Septage"means any domestic wastewater from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks.
"Septic tank"means a watertight receptacle which receives the domestic wastewater discharge of a building and is designed and constructed to separate solids from the liquid, digest organic matter through a period of detention and allow the liquid to discharge into the soil outside of the tank through a system of open joint or perforated piping or a seepage pit.
"Settleable solids"means any solid that will settle out of a liquid in a specified interval of time as determined by appropriate procedures set forth in 40 C.F.R. Part
136.
means a pipe or conduit together with appurtenances for carrying wastewater.
"Significant change"means plus or minus 25% in an industrial user's typical discharge pattern: flow rate, peak flow rate, constituents, concentration of constituents or characteristics.
"Significant industrial user"means:
(a) A user subject to categorical pretreatment standards, or
A user that:
(1) Discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more of industrial wastewater to the system (excluding sanitary, non-contact cooling, and boiler blowdown wastewater);
Contributes a wastestream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the system; or
Is designated as such by the city on the basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the system's operation or for violating a pretreatment standard or requirement.
Upon a finding that a user meeting the criteria in subsection
(b) has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the system operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement, the city may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from a user, and in accordance with procedures in 40 C.F.R Section 403.8(f)(6), determine that such user should not be considered a significant industrial user.
"Slug load" or "slug"means any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including, but not limited to, an accidental spill or a non-customary batch discharge at a flow rate or concentration which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards set forth in this title.
"Standard methods"means Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater (latest edition) published by American Water Works Association, Water Environment Association, and the American Public Health Association, 1015 18th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20036.
"Standard specifications"means the current edition of standards and requirements relating to size, quantity, quality and performance, including standard drawing, as detailed and made available by the city.
"State"means the state of California.
"Suspended solids"means the total suspended matter in wastewater, as determined by the appropriate procedures set forth in 40 C.F.R. Part
136.
means the solid matter in solution in wastewater, as determined by the appropriate procedures set forth in 40 C.F.R. Part
136.
means the summation of all quantifiable values greater than 0.01 milligrams per liter of the organics contained in
40 C.F.R. Section 413.02.(i), incorporated herein by reference.
means one of the pollutants or combination of those pollutants listed as toxic in regulations promulgated by the EPA, 40 C.F.R Section 401.15, under authority of Section 307 of the Act, 33 U.S.C. Section
1317.
means any water not contaminated or polluted with sewage or other waste, the discharge of which will not cause any violation of receiving water limitations or provision in any waste discharge requirement or NPDES permit.
"Upset"means an exceptional incident in which there is unintentional and temporary noncompliance with categorical and/or local pretreatment standards because of factors beyond the reasonable control of the industrial user; but does not include noncompliance to the extent caused by operational error, improperly designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of preventive maintenance, or careless or improper operation.
"User"means a person which discharges, or causes or permits the discharge of any industrial or other discharge into the sanitary sewer system. The term "user" means and includes any tenant or sub-tenant under any rental, lease, or other agreement, or other person in charge of day-to-day activities at any place where there is a connection to the system and all such persons are users and jointly and severally shall be responsible for compliance with the provisions of this title in the same manner as the owner.
"Waste"means sewage and any and all other water substances, liquid, solid, gaseous or radioactive substances associated with human habitation, or of human or animal origin, or from any producing, manufacturing, or processing operation of whatever nature, including such waste placed within containers of whatever nature prior to, and for purpose of, disposal.
"Wastewater"means liquid and water-carried industrial wastes and domestic wastewater from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which are contributed directly or indirectly to the city's sewer system.
(Ord. 03-03 § 1, 2003)