Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this Policy, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated.
Act or "the Act" –The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. Section
1251 et seq.
1. If the User is a corporation:
a. 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 operating facilities, provided the manager is authorized to make management decisions which govern the operation of the regulated facility, including having the explicit or implicit duty of making major capital investment recommendations, and initiate and direct other comprehensive measures to assure long-term environmental compliance with environmental laws and regulations; can ensure that the necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and accurate information for control mechanism requirements; and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
If the User is a partnership or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, respectively.
If the User is a federal, state, or local governmental facility: a director or higher official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility, or their designee.
The individuals described in Sections (1) –(3) of this definition may designate another authorized representative if the authorization is in writing; the designation 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 company; and the written authorization is submitted to the Plant Superintendent.
Best Management Practices or BMPs –Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in Sections 2.1.A. and 2.1.B. and 40 CFR Part
403.5(a)(1) and
(b). BMPs also include treatment requirements, facility improvements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five (5) days at 20 degrees centigrade, usually expressed as a concentration (e.g., mg/L).
Biosolids –Wastewater sludge after treatment to meet federal and state regulations and intended disposal criteria.
Categorical Pretreatment Standard or Categorical Standard –Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the USEPA in accordance with Sections 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. Section
1317), which apply to a specific category of Users and which appear in
40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405-471.
An Industrial User subject to a Categorical Pretreatment Standard or Categorical Standard. Such Industries are regulated by the Washington State Department of Ecology and receive permits from the Washington State Department of Ecology.
Commercial User or CU –A user that does not generally use water to manufacture a product, but otherwise creates a sewer discharge that does not meet the criteria for domestic sewage. This includes facilities such as hotels, restaurants, office buildings with cafeterias, government and military facilities with hospitals, educational institutions, and retail sales stores.
Composite Sample –A composite of several samples taken throughout the period of a day when a regulated discharge is occurring. Several brands of automated samplers, some with a refrigerated sample collection area, may be used, subject to the advance approval of the Plant Superintendent.
Approvable composite samplers may either use a flow paced or time paced algorithm. For example, collecting a same size aliquot every 1,000 gallons (flow paced), or a variable sized aliquot every hour (time paced). In both cases, they must interface with a device which senses the effluent flow volume to collect a representative sample unless the Plant Superintendent has determined that a flow proportionate sample is not required. |
The maximum allowable discharge of a pollutant over a calendar day or equivalent representative 24-hour period. Where daily maximum limits are expressed in units of mass, the daily discharge is calculated by multiplying the daily average concentration and total flow volumes in the same 24-hour period by a conversion factor to get the desired units. Where daily limits are expressed in terms of a concentration, the daily discharge is the composite sample value, or flow weighted average if more than one discrete sample was collected. Where flow weighting is infeasible, the daily average is the arithmetic average of all samples if analyzed separately, or the sample value if samples are composited prior to analysis.
Discharge –The introduction of pollutants into the collection system and/or POTW, directly or indirectly, from any non-domestic source regulated under Section 307(b), (c), or (d) of the Clean Water Act.
Domestic User (Residential User) –Any person who contributes, causes, or allows the contribution of wastewater into the POTW that is of a similar volume and/or chemical make-up as that of a single family residential dwelling unit. Discharges from a residential dwelling unit include up to 350 gpd with a concentration up to 350 mg/L of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 350 mg/L of Total Suspended Solids, and 44 mg/L Total Ammonia. The Domestic User Classification is intended to cover apartment buildings and other multi-unit facilities which generally engage in food preparation activities within and serving only individual units.
Domestic Sewage (Residential Sewage) –Sewage which is similar in volume and characteristics to that produced from a single family residential dwelling engaging in customary household activities. This includes include up to 350 gpd volume with a concentration up to 350 mg/L of Biochemical Oxygen Demand, 350 mg/L of Total Suspended Solids, and 44 mg/L Total Ammonia.
Environmental Protection Agency –The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the Regional Water Management Division Director, the Regional Administrator, or other duly authorized official.
Existing Source –Any source of discharge subject to Categorical Standards that does not meet the definition of a "New Source" per this Section
1.4.
A sample, from a wastestream without regard to the flow in the wastestream and over a period of time not to exceed fifteen (15) minutes.
Industrial User or IU –A User which utilizes water in the manufacture or processing of a product, the result of which creates a sewer discharge that does not meet the criteria for domestic sewage. Industrial Users are further classified as a Categorical Industrial User, Significant Industrial User, Potential Significant Industrial User, or Minor Industrial User of the POTW, depending on the volume and nature of their discharge.
Instantaneous Maximum Discharge Limit or Instantaneous Limit –The maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from the analysis of a discrete sample. Where a User is required to take a grab sample for purposes of determining compliance with Local Limits, this standard is the same as the Daily Maximum standard.
Interference –A Discharge that causes (either by itself or in combination with other discharges) a violation of TRRWA's NPDES Permit. This includes discharges that prevent the intended biosolids use or disposal by inhibiting or disrupting the POTW, including its collection systems, pump stations, and wastewater and sludge treatment processes; or plugs, degrades, damages, unreasonably reduces capacity, or otherwise harms or disrupts the operations, maintenance, and service life of the collection systems. For example, a discharge from a User which causes a blockage, resulting in a discharge at a point not authorized by TRRWA, is a violation of TRRWA's NPDES Permit and this policy.
Local Limits –Effluent limitation developed for Users by the Plant Superintendent to specifically protect the POTW from the potential of Pass Through, Interference, vapor toxicity, explosions, sewer corrosion, and intended biosolids uses. Such limits shall be based on the POTW's site-specific flow and loading capacities, receiving water and collection systems considerations, and reasonable treatment expectations for non-domestic wastewater. See Section
2.3 for a full list of Local Limits.
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.
Member Entity –One of the agencies comprising the Three Rivers Regional Wastewater Authority, consisting of the City of Longview, City of Kelso, Beacon Hill Water & Sewer District, and Cowlitz County, and specifically the jurisdiction in which a discharge will occur.
Minor Commercial User or MCU –A Commercial user that discharges 800 gpd or less and does not generally use water to manufacture a product, but otherwise creates a sewer discharge that does not meet the criteria of domestic sewage. This includes facilities such as hotels, restaurants, office buildings with cafeterias, office buildings, government and military facilities, hospitals, educational institutions, and retail sales stores.
Minor Industrial User or MIU –Any Industrial User that does not otherwise qualify as a Significant Industrial User or Potential Significant Industrial User of the POTW.
Monthly Average –The arithmetic mean of the effluent samples collected during a calendar month or specified 30-day period.
Monthly Average Limit –The limit to be applied to the Monthly Average to determine compliance with the requirements of this Policy (see Section
2.3 for listing).
1. Any building, structure, facility, or installation from which there is (or may be) a Discharge of pollutants, provided that:
a. 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 of 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.
Construction on a site at which an existing source is located is considered a modification, rather than a new or changed source, if the construction does not create a new building, structure, facility, or installation meeting the criteria of (1)(b) or (c) of this definition but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
Notification must be made to the Plant Superintendent if the nature of the wastewater discharge changes.
Non-Contact Cooling Water –Water used for cooling that does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product.
Pass Through –A discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations, which alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, causes a violation of any requirement of the TRRWA's NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
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.
pH –A measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, expressed in standard units.
Plant Superintendent –The Plant Superintendent of the TRRWA shall be considered the TRRWA's agent for purposes of Section
5 VII of the "Revised and Restated Interlocal Agreement of the TRRWA between and among City of Kelso, City of Longview, Beacon Hill Sewer District, and Cowlitz County for Wastewater Treatment & Disposal, dated December 15, 2005." The term also applies to TRRWA staff representatives as designated by the Plant Superintendent.
Any constituent in the wastewater that may degrade water quality in the receiving water or the quality of biosolids generated by the POTW, including but not limited to dredged spoils, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, municipal, agricultural and industrial wastes.
Potential Significant Industrial User –A User that does not meet the criteria of Significant Industrial User, but whose discharge may Interfere with the POTW such that the Plant Superintendent or Member Entity determines that the User must monitor and potentially pretreat its Discharge.
Potential Significant Commercial User (PSCU) –Any Commercial User that does not meet the flow volume criteria of Commercial User or Minor Commercial User, but whose Discharge may Interfere with the POTW such that the Plant Superintendent or Member Entity determines that the User must monitor and potentially pretreat its Discharge.
Pretreatment –The reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutants in wastewater prior to, or in lieu of, discharging such pollutants to the POTW. This reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical, or biological processes; by process changes; or by other means, except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable pretreatment standard. These standards are not intended to apply to MIU's or MCU's.
Pretreatment Requirements –Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a User, other than a pretreatment standard.
Publicly Owned Treatment Works or POTW –A treatment works, as defined by Section 212 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Section
1292), which is owned by the THREE RIVERS REGIONAL WASTEWATER AUTHORITY and more fully described in the "Revised and Restated Interlocal Agreement of the TRRWA between and among the City of Kelso, City of Longview, Beacon Hill Sewer District, and Cowlitz County, for Wastewater Treatment & Disposal, dated December 15, 2005," along with treatment works owned by the City of Kelso, City of Longview, Beacon Hill Water & Sewer District, or Cowlitz County. This definition includes any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature and any conveyances, including sanitary sewer and storm sewer collection systems, which convey wastewater to a treatment plant. The POTW and sanitary sewer collection systems of the TRRWA and each Member Entity shall not be considered to be a User under the provisions of this Policy.
Sewage and typically associated solids from activities generating domestic quality sewage, pumped from a septic tank. The Plant Superintendent may also consider wastes from other holding tanks such as boat blackwater, bilge water, cesspools, commercial or industrial septic tanks, and treatment lagoons to be Septic Tank Waste so long as they are absent pollutants which might interfere with the POTW.
Sewage –Human excrement and gray water (from household showers, toilets, kitchens, clothes and dish washing, and related domestic activities), wastewater, or water which carries human wastes or a combination of water-carried wastes from residences, businesses, institutions, and industries.
Significant Industrial User or SIU –A Significant Industrial User is:
1. A User that:
a. Discharges an average of twenty-five thousand (25,000) gpd or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding domestic sewage, non-contact cooling water, and boiler blowdown wastewater); or
Contributes a process wastestream that makes up five (5) percent or more of the average dry weather monthly hydraulic or organic design capacity of the POTW treatment plant.
Is designated as such by the Three Rivers Regional Wastewater Authority Board on the basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
Upon a finding that a User meeting the criteria in Section 1.a. and/or 1.b. of this definition has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement, the Plant Superintendent may at any time, on the Plant Superintendent's own initiative or in response to a petition received from a User, with the concurrence of the Member Entity in which service area the User's site resides and in accordance with procedures in 40 CFR Part
403.8(f)(6), determine that such User should not be considered a Significant Industrial User.
Significant Noncompliance –1. Any violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement, including numerical limits, narrative standards, and prohibitions, that the Plant Superintendent or Member Entity determines has caused, alone or in combination with other Discharges, Interference or Pass Through, including endangering the health of POTW personnel or the general public.
Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent danger to the public or to the environment, or has resulted in the Plant Superintendent or Member Entity exercising its emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge.
Any violation(s), including of Best Management Practices, which the Plant Superintendent determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the pretreatment program.
Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined as sixty-six percent (66%) or more of all of the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter during a rolling six (6) month period exceed, by any magnitude, a numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits of Section 2.
Technical Review Criteria (TRC) violations, defined as thirty-three percent (33%) or more of wastewater measurements taken for each pollutant parameter during a rolling six (6) month period equal or exceed the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, (including instantaneous limits, as defined by Section 2), multiplied by the applicable criteria. Applicable criteria are 1.4 times the limit for Biochemical Oxygen Demand, Total Suspended Solids, fats, oils and greases, and 1.2 times the limit for all other pollutants except pH.
Failure to meet, within ninety (90) days of the scheduled date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a Wastewater Discharge Permit or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance.
Failure to provide any required report within forty-five (45) calendar days after the due date. This includes initial and periodic monitoring reports, and reports on initial compliance and on meeting compliance schedules.
Failure to accurately report noncompliance.
Slug Load or Slug Discharge –Any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or a non-customary batch discharge, which has a reasonable potential to cause Interference or Pass Through, or in any other way violate the POTW's regulations, local limits, or Permit conditions. This includes discharges at a flow rate or concentration that could cause a violation of the Prohibited Discharge Standards of Section
2.1 of this Policy.
Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation, including snowmelt.
Total Suspended Solids or TSS –The total suspended matter that floats on the surface of, or is suspended in, water, wastewater, or other liquid, and which is removable by laboratory filtering.
User –Any Person with a source of discharge that does not qualify that person as a Domestic User, who discharges an effluent into the POTW by means of pipes, conduits, pumping stations, force mains, tank trucks, constructed drainage ditches, intercepting ditches, and all constructed devices and appliances appurtenant thereto.
Wastewater –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 POTW.