Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise,
the meaning of terms used in this ordinance (appendix) shall be as
follows:
ACT or THE ACT
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the
"Clean Water Act," as amended, 33 U.S.C. § 1251, et seq.
APPROVAL AUTHORITY
The Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM),
since Rhode Island is an NPDES state with an approved State Pretreatment
Program.
ASTM
The American Society for Testing Materials.
AUTHORITY
The Town of Smithfield Sewer Authority, acting on behalf
of the Town of Smithfield pursuant to Chapter 96 of the Public Laws
of Rhode Island, January 1973 Session (as amended), its superintendent,
or its authorized deputy, agent, or representative.
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF INDUSTRIAL USER
An authorized representative of an industrial user may be:
(1)
A principal executive officer of at least the
level of vice president, if the industrial user is a corporation;
(2)
A general partner or proprietor if the industrial
user is a partnership or proprietorship, respectively;
(3)
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.
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD)
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation
of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days
at 20° C. expressed in milligrams per liter.
BUILDING DRAIN
That part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system
which receives the discharge from soil, waste, and other drainage
pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building
sewer, beginning five feet (1.5 meters) outside the inner face of
the building wall.
BUILDING SEWER
The extension from the building drain to the public sewer
or other place of disposal, also called "house connection."
CHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (COD)
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the chemical oxidation
of a wastewater under standard laboratory procedure expressed in milligrams
per liter.
CHLORINE REQUIREMENT
The amount of chlorine expressed in milligrams per liter
by weight, that is required to produce a residual of 0.1 milligram
per liter of chlorine after 15 minutes; contact of chlorine with sewage.
COMBINED SEWER
A sewer intended to receive both wastewater and storm or
surface water.
COMPOSITE SAMPLE
The sample resulting from the combination of individual wastewater
samples taken at selected intervals based on either an increment of
flow or time.
DIRECT DISCHARGE
The addition of any pollutant to navigable waters from any
point source and any addition of any pollutant to the waters of the
contiguous zone or the ocean from any point source, other than from
a vessel or other floating craft. The term "discharge" includes either
the discharge of a single pollutant or the discharge of multiple pollutants.
EASEMENT
An acquired legal right for the specific use of land owned
by others.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY or EPA
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 said agency.
FLOATABLE OIL
Oil, fat, or grease in a physical state such that it will
separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment in an approved pretreatment
facility. A wastewater shall be considered free of floatable fat (oil)
if it is properly pretreated and the wastewater does not interfere
with the collection system.
GARBAGE
The animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling,
preparation, cooking and serving of foods.
GARBAGE DISPOSAL UNIT
A shredding or grinding apparatus installed in sinks for
the purpose of reducing garbage to relatively small particle sizes.
GRAB SAMPLE
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.
GRIT
The heavy suspended mineral matter present in wastewater,
such as sand, gravel and cinders.
HOLDING TANK WASTE
Any waste from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets,
campers, trailers, septic tanks, and vacuum-pump tank trucks.
INDIRECT DISCHARGE
The discharge or the introduction of nondomestic pollutants
from any source regulated under Section 307(b), (c) or (d) of the
Act (33 U.S.C. § 1317) into the facility (including holding
tank waste discharged into the facility).
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
The wastewater from industrial processes, trade, or business
as distinct from domestic or sanitary wastes.
INTERCEPTOR
A common sewer controlled by the Town of Smithfield Sewer
Authority.
INTERFERENCE
A discharge, which alone or in conjunction with a discharge
or discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the facility,
its treatment processes or operations or its sludge processes, use
or disposal; and, therefore, is a cause of a violation of the facility's
NPDES permit or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal
in compliance with any of the following statutory/regulatory provisions
or permits issued thereunder, or any more stringent state or local
regulations: § 405 of the Act; the Solid Waste Disposal
Act, including Title II commonly referred to as the "Resource Conservation
and Recovery Act (RCRA)"; any state regulations contained in any state
sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the Solid
Waste Disposal Act; the Clean Air Act; the Toxic Substances Control
Act; and the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act.
NATURAL OUTLET
Any outlet, including storm sewers and combined sewer overflows,
into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake, or other body of surface or
groundwater.
NEW SOURCE
(1)
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 which will be applicable
to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance
with that section, provided that:
(a)
The building, structure, facility, or installation
is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or
(b)
The building, structure, facility, or installation
totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the
discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or
(c)
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.
(2)
Construction on a site at which an existing
source is located 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 Subsection A(1)(b) or (c)
above but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to the existing process
or production equipment.
(3)
Construction of a new source as defined under
this subsection has commenced if the owner or operator has:
(a)
Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous
on-site construction program:
[1]
Any placement, assembly, or installation of
facilities or equipment; or
[2]
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
(b)
Entered into a binding contractual obligation
for the purchase of facilities or equipment which are 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 subsection.
PASS-THROUGH
A discharge which exits the facility 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 facility's NPDES permit, including
an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation,
or group.
pH
The reciprocal of the logarithm of the hydrogen-ion concentration.
The concentration is the weight of hydrogen ions, in grams, per liter
of solution. Neutral water, for example, has a pH value of seven and
a hydrogen-ion concentration of 10-7.
POLLUTANT
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.
POLLUTION
A condition created by the presence of harmful or objectionable
material in water. Any introduction into water of microorganisms,
chemicals, wastes, or wastewater in a concentration that makes the
water unfit for its intended use.
PRETREATMENT or TREATMENT
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 the facility. The reduction
or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological
processes, or process changes or other means, except as prohibited
by 40 CFR § 403.6 (d).
PRETREATMENT REQUIREMENTS
Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment,
imposed on a user, other than a National Pretreatment Standard.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE
The wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing
of food that have been shredded to such a degree that all particles
will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing
in public sewers, with no particle greater than 1/2 inch (1.27 centimeters)
in any dimension.
PROPERTY OWNER; OWNER OF PROPERTY; OWNER
Includes both the owners of fee in any real estate and also
all tenants, lessees, or others in control or possession and use of
the property in question, or any interest therein, and his, her, its
or their agents or representatives as the interest, duties, powers
or liabilities of each may be.
PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS (POW)
The Smithfield Wastewater Treatment Facility ("facility")
defined by Section 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1292) owned
by the Authority, including any sewers that convey wastewater to the
facility and includes any sewers that convey wastewaters to the facility
from persons outside the Authority or who are, by contract or agreement
with the Authority, users of the facility.
PUBLIC SEWER
A common sewer controlled by a governmental agency or public
utility.
SANITARY SEWER
A sewer that carries liquid and water-carried wastes from
residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants, and institutions
together with minor quantities of ground-, storm-, and surface waters
that are not admitted intentionally.
SEPTIC TANK
A settling tank in which settled sludge is in immediate contact
with the wastewater flowing through the tank and the organic solids
are decomposed by anaerobic bacterial action.
SEWAGE
Includes any human or animal excremental liquid or substance,
any decomposed animal or vegetable matter, garbage, offal, filth,
waste, chemicals, acid, dye-stuff, starch, coloring matter, oil and
tar, radioactive substances, and any compound, solution, mixture or
product thereof; and every substance which may be injurious to public
health or comfort, or which would injuriously affect the natural and
healthy propagation, growth, or development of any fish or shellfish
in the waters of this state, or of the nourishment of the same, or
which would injuriously affect the flavor, taste, or value as food
of any such fish or shellfish; or which would defile said waters or
injure or defile any vessel, boat, wharf, pier, or any public or private
property upon, in or under said waters, or any shore thereof. The
preferred term is "wastewater," as defined in this article.
SEWER
A pipe or conduit that carries wastewater or drainage water.
SHALL/MAY
Shall is mandatory; may is permissive.
SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER (SIU)
(1)
A user subject to categorical pretreatment standards;
or
(2)
A user that:
(a)
Discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more
of process wastewater to the facility (excluding sanitary, noncontact
cooling, and boiler blowdown wastewater);
(b)
Contributes a process wastestream which makes
up 5% or more of the average day weather hydraulic or organic capacity
of the facility; or
(c)
Is designated as such by the Authority on the
basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the
facility's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or
requirements.
(3)
Upon a finding that a user meeting the criteria
in Subsection (1)(b) has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting
the facility's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard
or requirements, the Authority 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 CFR 403.8(f)(6), determine that such user should
not be considered a significant industrial user.
SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPLIANCE (SNC)
A level of noncompliance of a user’s discharge to the
pretreatment standards and requirements which is determined when violations
meet one or more of the following criteria:
[Amended 5-27-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-12]
(1)
Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined as
those in which 66% or more of all the measurements taken for the same
pollutant parameter during a six-month period exceed by any magnitude
a numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous
limits, as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(l);
(2)
Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined as those
in which 33% or more of all the measurements taken for the same pollutant
parameter during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of
the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement including instantaneous
limits, as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(l), multiplied by the applicable
TRC (TRC = 1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oils and grease, and 1.2 for all
other pollutants except pH);
(3)
Any other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement
as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(l) (daily maximum, long-term average, instantaneous
limit, or narrative standard) that the POTW 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);
(4)
Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment
to human health, welfare or to the environment, or has resulted in
the POTW's exercise of its emergency authority under 40 CFR 403.8(f)(1)(vi)(B)
to halt or prevent such a discharge;
(5)
Failure to meet, within 90 days after the schedule date, a compliance
schedule milestone contained in a local control mechanism or enforcement
order for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining
final compliance;
(6)
Failure to provide, within 45 days after the due date, required
reports, such as baseline monitoring reports, ninety-day compliance
reports, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance
with compliance schedules;
(7)
Failure to accurately report noncompliance;
(8)
Any other violation or group of violations, which may include
a violation of best management practices, which the POTW determines
will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the pretreatment
program; or
(9)
Any other violation or group of violations which the POTW determines
is significant.
SLUG LOAD or SLUG
Any discharge at a flow rate or concentration which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in Article
V of this ordinance.
STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION (SIC)
A classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification
Manual issued by the Executive Office of the President, Office of
Management and Budget, 1987, as amended or supplemented.
STORMWATER
The excess water running off from the surface of a drainage
area during and immediately after a period of rain. It is that portion
of the rainfall and the resulting surface flow that is in excess of
that which can be absorbed through the infiltration capacity of the
surface of the basin.
SUPERINTENDENT
The Superintendent of the Town of Smithfield Sewer Authority,
or his authorized deputy, agent or representative.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS
Total suspended matter that float on the surface of or is
suspended in water, wastewater, sewage or other liquids and which
is removable by laboratory filtering or floatation, skimming or sedimentation.
Measurement shall be as set forth in the latest edition of Standard
Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater.
TOWN
The Town of Smithfield, Rhode Island.
TOXIC OR PRIORITY POLLUTANT
Any pollutant or combination of pollutants listed as toxic
in regulations promulgated by the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency under the provisions of CWA 307(a) or other acts.
UNPOLLUTED WATER
Water of quality equal to or better than the effluent criteria
in effect or water that would not cause violation of receiving water
quality standards and would not be benefited by discharge to the sanitary
sewers and wastewater treatment facilities provided.
WASTEWATER
The spent water of a community. From the standpoint or source,
it may be a combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from
residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants, and institutions,
together with any groundwater, surface water, and stormwater that
may be present.
WASTEWATER FACILITIES
The structures, equipment, and processes required to collect,
carry away, treat and dispose of wastewater.
WASTEWATER TREATMENT WORKS
An arrangement of devices and structures for treatment of
wastewater and sludge; sometimes used as synonymous with "waste treatment
plant" or "water pollution control plant."
WATERCOURSE
A pond, swamp, natural or artificial channel for the passage
of water either continuously or intermittently.
WPCF
The Water Pollution Control Federation.