The purpose of this chapter is:
A. 
To prevent the introduction of pollutants in waste discharges which would adversely affect the sewer system, the operation of the treatment facilities, the quality of the effluent from the treatment plant, the quality of the receiving waters, or contaminate the resulting sludge through regulation and control of the quality and quantity of the waste discharged into the city's system by any discharger;
B. 
To improve the opportunity to recycle and reclaim wastewaters and sludges from the system;
C. 
To provide an equitable distribution of the costs of the wastewater system; and
D. 
To provide procedures for complying with all requirements placed upon the city by all other regulatory agencies.
This chapter provides for the regulation of direct and indirect contributors to the municipal wastewater system through the issuance of permits to certain nondomestic users and through enforcement of general requirements for the other users, authorizes monitoring and enforcement activities, requires user reporting, assumes that existing customer's capacity will not be preempted, and provides for the setting of fees for the equitable distribution of costs resulting from the programs established herein.
This chapter shall apply to the city of Vacaville and to persons outside the city who are, by contract or agreement with the city, users of the city sewer system and treatment works. Except as otherwise provided herein, the director of public works of the city shall administer, implement, and enforce the provisions of this chapter.
(Ord. 1097 (part), 1981)
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this chapter, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated:
1. 
"Act" or "the Act"
means the federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.
2. 
"Approval authority"
means the state of California Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Director in an NPDES State Board.
3. 
"Authorized representative of industrial user"
may be: (a) A principal executive officer of at least the level of vice-president, if the industrial user is a corporation; (b) A general partner or proprietor if the industrial user is a partnership or proprietorship, respectively; (c) A duly authorized representative of the individual designated above if such representative is responsible for the overall operation of the facilities from which the indirect discharge originates.
4. 
"Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)"
means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure, five days at 20 degrees centigrade expressed in terms of weight and concentration (milligrams per liter (mg/l)).
5. 
"Building Official"
means the Building Official of the City of Vacaville or a person designated by the Building Official to assume some or all of the Building Official's duties.
6. 
"Building sewer"
means a sewer conveying wastewater from the premises of a user to the POTW.
7. 
"Chemical oxygen demand (COD)"
means the equivalent quantity of oxygen utilized during oxidation of organic and inorganic matter in wastewater under the conditions of the COD test described in Standard Methods, expressed in milligrams per liter.
8. 
"Categorical Standards"
means National Categorical Pretreatment Standards or Pretreatment Standard.
9. 
"Chlorine demand"
means the amount of chlorine required to produce a free chlorine residual of 0.1 mg/l after a contact time of 15 minutes as measured by the iodometic method on a sample at a temperature of 20 degrees centigrade in conformance with Standard Methods.
10. 
"City"
means the City of Vacaville or the City Council of the City of Vacaville.
11. 
"Compatible pollutant"
means BOD, suspended solids, pH, fecal coliform bacteria, plus additional pollutants identified in the City of Vacaville's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit.
12. 
"Contamination"
means an impairment to the quality of the waters of the state by a waste to a degree which creates a hazard to the public health through poisoning or through the spread of disease. Contamination shall include any equivalent effect resulting from the disposal of wastewater, whether or not waters of the state are affected.
13. 
"Control authority" refers to the "approval authority," defined hereinabove; or the Superintendent.
14. 
"Cooling water"
means the water discharged from any use such as air conditioning, cooling or refrigeration, or to which the only pollutant added is heat.
15. 
"Critical discharge"
means a user who is required to obtain an industrial waste permit, as defined in Section 13.08.510.
16. 
"Direct discharge"
means the discharge of treated or untreated wastewater directly to the waters of the state of California.
17. 
"Director"
means the Director of Public Works of the City of Vacaville.
18. 
"Environmental Protection Agency" or "EPA"
means the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or where appropriate the term may also be used as a designation for the Administrator or other duly authorized official of the agency.
19. 
"Food service establishments"
means those establishments regularly engaged in activities of food preparation, food service, or the making available for consumption foodstuffs and that use one or more of the following preparation methods: cooking by frying (all methods), baking (all methods), grilling, sauteing, rotisserie cooking, broiling (all methods), boiling, blanching, roasting, toasting, poaching, infrared heating, searing, barbecuing, or any other food preparation activity that produces a heated food product, whether served on or in washable and reusable plates or containers or those of a disposable type. Food service establishments also include those establishments or facilities where foodstuffs are served or prepared for consumption or sale, including but not limited to cold dairy and frozen foodstuffs preparation and establishments that prepare or serve drinkable or edible products.
20. 
"Garbage"
means solid wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of foods, and from the handling, storage, and sale of produce. "Properly ground garbage" is the wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of foods which have been ground to such a degree that all particles may be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers.
21. 
"Grab sample"
means 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.
22. 
"Grease"
means greases, oils, fats, fatty acids, waxes, soaps or other matter which is so determined in accordance with the Standard Methods examination for grease in polluted matters.
23. 
"Grease removal device"
means any device, unit, or installation for separating and retaining waterborne fats, oils, and greases, or grease complexes as well as settleable solids prior to discharge of wastewaters to the sanitary sewer system, including, but not limited to, a grease interceptor, grease trap, or other mechanical device approved by the Building Official or Director.
24. 
"Holding tank waste"
means any waste from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks, and vacuum-pump tank trucks.
25. 
"Incompatible pollutant"
means any pollutant not allowable to be discharged by any agency under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit. The pretreatment standards for incompatible pollutants introduced into the City's treatment works by a major contributing user shall be, for sources within a corresponding federal industrial or commercial category, those established by a promulgated limitations guideline defining best practicable control technology currently available pursuant to the Act.
26. 
"Indirect discharge"
means the discharge or the introduction of nondomestic pollutants from any source regulated under Section 307(b) or (c) of the Act into the POTW (including holding tank waste discharged into the system).
27. 
"Industrial user"
means a source of indirect discharge which does not constitute a "discharge of pollutants" under regulations issued pursuant to Section 402 of the Act.
28. 
"Industrial wastes"
includes the liquid wastes from industrial processes as distinct from sanitary sewage.
29. 
"Interceptor"
means a device used to separate and retain deleterious or undesirable matter from waste, including grease, oil and sand.
30. 
"Interference"
means the inhibition or disruption of the POTW treatment processes or operations which contributes to a violation of any requirement of the City's NPDES permit. The term includes prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal by the POTW in accordance with Section 405 of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1345) or any criteria, guidelines, or regulations developed pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, or more stringent state criteria (including those contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Title IV of SWDA) applicable to the method of disposal or use employed by the POTW.
31. 
"Mass emission rate"
means the weight of material discharged to the sewer system during a given time interval. Unless otherwise specified, the mass emissions rate shall mean pounds per day of a particular constituent or combination of constituents.
32. 
"National Categorical Pretreatment Standard" or "pretreatment standard"
means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with Section 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1347) which applies to a specific category of industrial users.
33. 
"National Prohibitive Discharge Standard" or "prohibitive discharge standard"
means any regulation developed under the authority of the Act.
34. 
"Natural outlet"
means any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, creek, lake, or other body of surface water, or ground water.
35. 
"New source"
means any building, structure, facility or installation from which there is or may be an indirect discharge of pollutants of concern, the construction of which commenced after promulgation of any proposed applicable Categorical Pretreatment Standard under Section 307(c) of the federal Clean Water Act. The proposed Section 307(c) Categorical Pretreatment Standards will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated as Pretreatment Standards for New Sources (PSNS) in accordance with that section.
37. 
"Nuisance"
means anything which is injurious to health or is indecent or offensive to the senses or an obstruction to the free use of property so as to interfere with the comfort or enjoyment of life or property of which affects at the same time an entire community or neighborhood or any considerable number of persons, although the extent of the annoyance or damage inflicted upon individuals may be unequal.
38. 
"Pass-through"
means the discharge of pollutants of concern through the City's wastewater treatment plant operations into navigable waters in quantities or concentrations which are a cause in whole or in part of a violation of any requirement of the City's NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
39. 
"Person"
means any individual, partnership, copartnership, 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.
40. 
"pH"
means the logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the concentration of hydrogen ions expressed in grams per liter of solution.
41. 
"Pollution"
means the manmade or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water.
42. 
"Pollutant"
means any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water.
43. 
"Premises"
means any separate identifiable and transferable lot or parcel of real property, including the improvements thereon, excepting those portions thereof having well defined boundaries such as walls, fences, or hedges thus preventing the common use of the property by all occupants which shall also be considered as a separate premises.
44. 
"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 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 by other means, except as prohibited by 40 CFR Section 403.6(d).
45. 
"Pretreatment requirements"
means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a National Pretreatment Standard imposed on an industrial user.
46. 
"Publicly owned treatment works (POTW)" or "treatment works"
means a treatment works as defined by Section 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1292) which is owned in this instance by the City. This definition includes any sewers that convey wastewater to the POTW treatment plant. For the purposes of this chapter, "POTW" shall also include any sewers that convey wastewaters to the POTW from persons outside the City who are, by contract or agreement with the City, users of the City's POTW.
47. 
"POTW treatment plant"
means that portion of the POTW designed to provide treatment to wastewater.
48. 
"Radioactive material"
means any material containing chemical elements which spontaneously change their atomic structure with the emission of atomic energy.
49. 
"Reclaimed water"
means water which, as a result of treatment of waste, is suitable for direct beneficial use or a controlled use that would not otherwise occur.
50. 
"Service"
meanings are as follows:
a. 
"General service"
means the furnishing of facilities for domestic, commercial, industrial and governmental sewer service; excepting industrial service as defined in this section.
b. 
"Industrial service"
means the furnishing of sewer service to a commercial establishment, the use of such sewer facilities being a necessary and an integral part of the operation of that enterprise. Industrial services shall be divided into two separate classes: Class I and Class II services. Class I service means that sewer service for which the peak biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), or suspended solids (SS) content, or both does not exceed 300 milligrams per liter (mg/l) of sewage discharge and/or the volume of sewage discharge does not exceed 25,000 gallons per day. Class II service means that sewer service for which the peak biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), or suspended solids (SS) content, or both exceeds 300 mg/l of sewage discharge and/or the volume of sewage discharge exceeds 25,000 gallons per day.
51. 
"Sewage"
means a combination of liquid or water-carried waste conducted away from residences, commercial establishments and institutions, which is known as domestic sewage, together with the liquid or water-carried waste resulting from a manufacturing process employed in industrial establishments, including the washing, cleaning, cooling or drain water from such processes, which is known as industrial waste.
52. 
"Sewer division"
means that division of the Public Works Department of the City designated to administer the sewerage system operated by the City. The term shall include the Director of Public Works and other employees of the City serving in such sewer division.
53. 
"Sewer line hot spot"
means any part of the sewerage system or publicly owned treatment works that the Director has determined must be flushed at a frequency greater than or equal to once every 30 days to remove obstructions from the accumulation of fats, oil, and grease deposits.
54. 
"Sewer service areas A and B"
means those areas designated and delineated on that map marked Exhibit A as adopted by Resolution 1960 B-2 on June 20, 1960, and placed on file in the City Clerk's office.
55. 
"Sewer service line"
means any individual sewer lateral located on any private premises and/or extending from any structure to a sewer main located in any street, alley, or public utility right-of-way.
56. 
"Sewerage system"
means the sewer mains and plants operated by the City together with such additions and improvements thereto as may be made from time to time.
57. 
"Significant industrial user"
means any industrial user of the City's wastewater disposal system who (a) has a discharge flow of 25,000 gallons or more per average work day, or (b) has a flow greater than five percent of the flow in the City's wastewater treatment system, or (c) has in its waste toxic pollutants as defined pursuant to Section 307 of the Act or by the state of California statutes and rules, or (d) is found by the City, the Regional Water Quality Control Board, the State Department of Public Health, or EPA to have significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing industries, on the wastewater treatment system, the quality of sludge, the system's effluent quality, or air emissions generated by the system, or (e) is an industrial user subject to National Categorical Pretreatment Standards.
58. 
"Standard Methods"
shall mean the latest EPA-approved edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater prepared and published jointly by the American Public Health Association, American Water Works Association, and the Water Pollution Control Federation on definitions, laboratory procedures of analysis, tests (including test samples) and measurements.
59. 
"Standard industrial classification (SIC)"
means a classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, 1972.
60. 
"State"
means the state of California.
61. 
"Stormwater"
means any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation and resulting therefrom.
62. 
"Superintendent"
means the Director of Public Works, or his duly authorized representative.
63. 
"Suspended solids"
means 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.
64. 
"Toxic pollutant"
means any pollutant or combination of pollutants listed as toxic in regulations promulgated by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under the provision of CWA 307(a) or other acts.
65. 
"User"
means any person who contributes, causes or permits the contribution of wastewater into the City's POTW.
66. 
"Wastewater"
means any sewage which is contributed into or permitted to enter the sewerage system.
67. 
"Wastewater contribution permit"
means a permit required by Section 13.08.510.
68. 
"Waters of the state"
means 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.
(Ord. 1097, Added, 1981; Ord. 1378, Amended, 1989; Ord. 1821, Amended, 5/12/2009)
The following abbreviations and acronyms shall have the designated meanings:
Abbreviation/Acronym
Designated Meaning
BOD
- Biochemical Oxygen Demand.
CFR
- Code of Federal Regulations.
COD
- Chemical Oxygen Demand.
EPA
- Environmental Protection Agency.
FOG
- Fats, oils, and grease.
l
- Liter.
mg
- Milligrams.
mg/l
- Milligrams per liter.
NPDES
- National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.
POTW
- Publicly Owned Treatment Works.
SIC
- Standard Industrial Classification.
SWDA
- Solid Waste Disposal Act, 42 U.S.C. 6901, et seq.
U.S.C.
- United States Code.
TSS
- Total Suspended Solids.
(Ord. 1097, Added, 1981; Ord. 1821, Amended, 5/12/2009)