City of Ithaca, NY Article XVIII Regulations

§ 262-112 General discharge prohibitions.

A. No user shall contribute or cause to be contributed, directly or indirectly, any pollutant or wastewater which will interfere with the operation or performance of the POTW. These general prohibitions apply to all such users of a POTW, whether or not the user is subject to National Categorical Pretreatment Standards or any other national, state or local pretreatment standards or requirements. A user may not contribute the following substances to any POTW:

(1) Any liquids, solids or gases which, by reason of their nature or quantity, are or may be sufficient, either alone or by interaction with other substances, to cause fire or explosion or be injurious in any other way to the POTW or to the operation of the POTW. At no time shall two successive readings on an explosion hazard meter at the point of discharge into the system, or at any point in the system, be more than 5% nor any single reading over 10% of the lower explosive limit (LEL) of the meter. Prohibited materials include but are not limited to gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, benzene, toluene, xylene, ethers, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, peroxides, chlorates, perchlorates, bromates, carbides, hydrides and sulfides and any other substances which the municipality, the state or the EPA has notified the user are a fire hazard or a hazard to the system.

(2) Solid or viscous substances which may cause obstruction to the flow in a sewer or other interference with the operation of the wastewater treatment facilities, such as but not limited to grease, garbage with particles greater than 1/2 inch in any dimension, animal guts or tissues, paunch manure, bones, hair, hides or fleshings, entrails, whole blood, feathers, ashes, cinders, sand, spent lime, stone or marble dust, metal, glass, straw, shavings, grass clippings, rags, spent grains, spent hops, wastepaper, wood, plastics, gas, tar, asphalt residues, residues from refining or processing of fuel or lubricating oil, mud or glass grinding or polishing wastes.

(3) Any wastewater having a pH less than 5.0, unless the POTW is specifically designed to accommodate such wastewater, or wastewater having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment and/or personnel of the POTW.

(4) Any wastewater containing toxic pollutants in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with other pollutants, to injure or interfere with any wastewater treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals, create a toxic effect in the receiving waters of the POTW or exceed the limitation set forth in a categorical pretreatment standard. A toxic pollutant shall include but not be limited to any pollutant identified pursuant to Section 307(a) of the Act.

(5) Any noxious or malodorous liquids, gases or solids which, either singly or by interaction with other wastes, are sufficient to create a public nuisance or hazard to life or are sufficient to prevent entry into the sewers for their maintenance and repair.

(6) Any substance which may cause the POTW's effluent or any other product of the POTW, such as residues, sludges or scums, to be unsuitable for reclamation and reuse or to interfere with the reclamation process where the POTW is pursuing a reuse and reclamation program. In no case shall a substance discharge to the POTW cause the POTW to be in noncompliance with sludge use or disposal criteria, guidelines or regulations developed under Section 405 of the Act, any criteria, guidelines or regulations affecting sludge use or disposal developed pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act or state criteria applicable to the sludge management method being used.

(7) Any substance which will cause the POTW to violate its NPDES and/or state disposal system permit or the receiving water quality standards.

(8) Any wastewater with objectionable color not removed in the treatment process, such as but not limited to dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions.

(9) Any wastewater having a temperature which will inhibit biological activity in the POTW treatment plant resulting in interference, but in no case wastewater with a temperature at the introduction into the POTW which exceeds 40° C. (104° F.), unless the POTW treatment plant is designed to accommodate such temperature.

(10) Any pollutants, including oxygen-demanding pollutants (BOD, etc.), released at a flow and/or pollutant concentration which a user knows or has reason to know will cause interference to the POTW. In no case shall a slug load have a flow rate or contain concentrations or quantities of pollutants that exceed for any time period longer than 15 minutes more than five times the average twenty-four-hour concentration, quantities or flow during normal operation.

(11) Any wastewater containing any radioactive wastes or isotopes of such half-life or concentration as may exceed limits established by the Superintendent in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations.

(12) Any wastewater which causes a hazard to human life or creates a public nuisance.

B. When the Sewer Superintendent determines that a user(s) is(are) contributing to the POTW any of the above enumerated substances in such amounts as to interfere with the operation of the POTW, the Superintendent shall:

(1) Advise the user(s) of the impact of the contribution on the POTW.

(2) Develop effluent limitation(s) for such user to correct the interference with the POTW.

§ 262-113 Federal Categorical Pretreatment Standards; modifications.

A. When pretreatment regulations are adopted by the USEPA or New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (NYSDEC) for any industry, then that industry must immediately conform to the USEPA or NYSDEC timetable for adherence to federal or state pretreatment requirements and any other applicable requirements promulgated by the USEPA or NYSDEC in accordance with Section 307 of the PL No. 95-217. Additionally, such industries shall comply with any more-stringent standards necessitated by local conditions as determined by the municipality.

B. The municipality reserves the right to establish, by ordinance, more stringent limitations or requirements on discharges to the wastewater disposal system if necessary to comply with the objectives of this Part 4.

C. Where the city's wastewater treatment system achieves consistent removal of pollutants limited by Federal Pretreatment Standards, the municipality may apply to the approval authority for modification of specific limits in the Federal Pretreatment Standards. "Consistent removal" shall mean reduction in the amount of a pollutant or alteration of the nature of the pollutant by the wastewater treatment system to a less toxic or harmless state in the effluent which is achieved by the system in 95% of the samples taken, when measured according to the procedures set forth in Section 40 CFR 403.7(c)(2), General Pretreatment Regulations for Existing and New Sources of Pollution, promulgated pursuant to the Act. The municipality may modify pollutant discharge limits in the Federal Pretreatment Standards if the requirements contained in 40 CFR 403.7 are fulfilled and prior approval from the approval authority is obtained.

§ 262-114 Specific pollutant limitations.

No person shall discharge any waters or wastes containing pollutants exceeding the concentrations listed below. These limiting concentrations shall apply at each point of discharge to a municipality-owned sanitary sewer.

Pollutant	Maximum Concentration 30-Day Average (mg/l)	24-Hour Average (mg/l)
Arsenic	—	0.6
Barium	80	240
Cadmium	2.5	7.5
Chromium, total	8	24
Chromium, hexavalent	1	3
Copper	2	6
Cyanide	0.2	0.6
Iron	180	540
Lead	—	20
Manganese	8	24
Mercury	1.5	4.5
Nickel	—	10
Silver	6	18
Zinc	20	35

§ 262-115 State requirements.

State requirements and limitations on discharge shall apply in any case where they are more stringent than federal requirements and limitations or those in this Part 4.

§ 262-116 Municipality's right of revision.

The municipality reserves the right to establish, by ordinance, more-stringent limitations or requirements on discharge to the wastewater disposal system if deemed necessary to comply with the objectives presented in § 262-108 of this Part 4.

§ 262-117 Excessive discharge.

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 the limitations contained in the Federal Categorical Pretreatment Standards or in any other pollutant-specific limitation developed by the municipality or state unless authorized by state or federal regulations. (Comment: Dilution may be an acceptable means of complying with some of the prohibitions set forth in § 262-112, e.g., the pH prohibition.)

§ 262-118 Accidental discharges.

Each user shall be provided protection from accidental discharge or prohibited materials or other substances regulated by this chapter. Facilities to prevent accidental discharge of prohibited materials shall be provided and maintained at the owner's or user's own cost and expense. Detailed plans showing facilities and operating procedures to provide protection from accidental discharge of prohibited materials or other wastes from significant contributing industries shall be submitted to the municipality for review and shall be acceptable to the municipality before construction of the facilities. All existing users shall complete such a plan by January 1, 1984. No user who commences contribution to the POTW after the effective date of this chapter shall be permitted to introduce pollutants into the system until accidental discharge procedures have been approved by the municipality. Review and approval of such plans and operating procedures shall not relieve the industrial user from the responsibility to modify the user's facility as necessary to meet the requirements of this chapter. In the case of an accidental discharge, it is the responsibility of the user to immediately telephone and notify the POTW of the incident. The notification shall include the location of the discharge, the type of waste, the concentration and volume and corrective actions.

A. Written notice. This notification shall be followed, within 15 days of the date of occurrence, by a detailed written statement describing the causes of the accidental discharge and the measures being taken to prevent further occurrence. Such notification will not relieve users of liability for any expense, loss or damage to the sewer system, treatment plant or treatment process or for any fines imposed on the municipality under applicable state and federal regulations.

B. Notice to employees. A notice shall be furnished and permanently posted on the industrial user's bulletin board advising employees whom to call in case of an accidental discharge in violation of this chapter. Also, copies of this chapter are to be made available to users' employees.

C. Waste connections. Any direct or indirect connection or entry point for persistent or deleterious waste to the user's plumbing or drainage system should be eliminated. Where such action is impractical or unreasonable, the user shall approximately label such entry points to warrant against discharge of such wastes in violation of this chapter.