Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this chapter shall be as follows:
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.
Any person requesting approval to discharge industrial wastes or domestic wastewater into the publicly owned treatment works (POTW).
The Environmental Protection Agency Region I Administrator.
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of the wastewater under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20° C., expressed in milligrams per liter.
The Board of Health as established in Sections 78 through 81 of the City Charter, or its authorized agents or representatives.
The Board of Public Works as established in Sections 59 through 63 of the City Charter, or its authorized agents or representatives.
That part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives discharge from soil, waste or other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer termination.
The extension from the building drain to public sewer or other place of disposal.
The intentional diversion of waste streams from any portion of an industrial user's wastewater treatment facility.
Any regulations containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency in accordance with 33 U.S.C. § 1317 of the Clean Water Act which apply to a specific category of industrial users and which are found in the Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40 - Protection of Environment, Chapter 1 - Environmental Protection Agency, Subchapter N - Effluent Guidelines and Standards.
The City of Nashua, or its authorized agents or representatives.
The Engineer of the City or an authorized agent or representative.
A sewer receiving both wastewater and surface runoff.
Any retail store, restaurant, office building, laundry or other private business or service establishment.
The sample resulting from the combination of individual wastewater samples taken at selected intervals based on an increment of either flow or time.
The City of Nashua, or its authorized agents or representatives.
The City Solicitor/Corporation Counsel for the City or an authorized agent or representative.
The watering down of a discharge.
The Director of the Public Works Division of the City or an authorized agent or representative.
Water-carried household or toilet wastes discharged from any improved property, excluding groundwater, surface water and stormwater.
The Environmental Protection Agency of the United States.
Amounts or concentrations of any constituent of wastewater which in the judgment of the City:
Will adversely affect any part or function of the publicly owned treatment works;
Will be present in abnormally high quantities in the sludge produced at the wastewater treatment facility;
Will be harmful to a wastewater treatment process or interfere with the effective operation of the wastewater treatment facility;
Which cannot be removed in the wastewater treatment facility of the City to the degree required to meet the limited stream classification standard of the receiving water, or otherwise affects the ability of the wastewater treatment facility to meet any required effluent or influent parameters;
Which can endanger life, health, the environment, or public property; or
Which constitutes a nuisance.
Any source of discharge, the construction or operation of which commenced prior to the publication of proposed categorical pretreatment standards which will be applicable to such source if the standard is thereafter promulgated in accordance with 33 U.S.C. § 1317 of the Act.
The side of a property which is common to the side line of a street.
Animal or vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking or serving of food.
Any legislative, judicial, administrative or regulatory activity of federal, state or local government.
A sample which is taken from a waste stream on a one-time basis without regard to the flow in the waste stream and without consideration of time.
The Health Officer of the Environmental Health Department of the City or an authorized agent or representative.
Human fecal or urinary discharge and includes any waste containing such material.
Any property located within the City upon which there is erected a structure intended for continuous or periodic habitation, occupancy or use by human beings or animals and from which structure domestic wastewater or industrial wastes shall be or may be discharged.
Any pollutant, other than biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, coliform bacteria or additional pollutants identified in the wastewater treatment facility's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit, which the wastewater treatment facility was not designed to treat or which it does not remove to a substantial degree.
A sewer disposal system with the source of wastes limited to sewage originating from or on an individual property, dwelling or premise, designed and constructed to receive, treat and dispose of liquidborne wastes in such a manner as to retain settleable solids in a liquid type tank and to discharge the liquid portion in an approved manner to an adequate disposal area. Examples include, but are not limited to, septic tanks with soil absorption systems, incinerator type toilets and holding tank systems.
The introduction of nondomestic pollutants into the publicly owned treatment works from any nondomestic source regulated under 33 U.S.C. § 1317 of the Act.
Any room, group of rooms, building or other enclosure used or intended for use in the operation of one or more business enterprise for manufacturing, processing, cleaning, laundering, assembling or preparing any produce, commodity or article from which any process waste, as distinct from domestic wastewater, may be discharged. Industrial user shall include any government nonresidential user of the wastewater system as identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1972, Office of Management and Budget, as amended and supplemented, under the following divisions: Division A, Agricultural, Forestry and Fishing; Division B, Mining; Division D, Manufacturing; Division E, Transportation, Communications, Electric, Gas and Sanitary; and Division I, Services.
Any and all waste and pollutants discharged from any industrial establishment, other than domestic wastewater.
Any social, charitable, religious or educational activity such as schools, churches, hospitals, nursing homes, and similar institutions.
A discharge, which alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the publicly owned treatment works, its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; or is a cause of a violation of the publicly owned treatment works' National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit or a cause of the prevention of sewage sludge disposal in compliance with any of the following statutory or regulatory provisions: 33 U.S.C. § 1345 of the Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act, 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq.; any state statutes or regulations including but not limited to state sludge management plans; the Clean Air Act, 42 U.S.C. § 7401 et seq.; the Toxic Substances Control Act, 15 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq.; the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1431 et seq., § 1447 et seq., 33 U.S.C. § 1401 et seq., and § 2801 et seq.; Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40 - Protection of Environment, Chapter 1 - Environmental Protection Agency, Subchapter O - Sewage Sludge, Part 503 Standards for the Use or Disposal of Sewage Sludge; or any other state or federal requirements for sludge use and disposal.
Isolation waste, infectious agents, human blood or blood products, pathological waste, sharps, needles, body parts, contaminated bedding, garments or gloves, surgical waste, potentially contaminated laboratory waste, dialysis waste, or other similar waste.
[Amended 2-26-2008 by Ord. No. O-08-07]
The document issued by the Environmental Protection Agency designed to control all discharges of pollutants from point sources within United States waterways.
Any outlet, including but not limited to, storm sewers and combined sewer overflows, which flow into watercourses, ponds, drainage areas, ditches, lakes or other bodies of surface water or groundwater.
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 33 U.S.C. § 1317 of the Act which will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section, providing that:
The building, structure, facility or installation is constructed at a site which no other source is located;
The building, structure, facility or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharges 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 processes 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, will be considered.
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(2) or (3) above but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
Construction of a new source has commenced if the owner or operator has:
Begun, or caused to begin as part of a continuous on-site construction program:
Entered into a contractual building obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment which are intended to be used in its operation within a reasonable time. Options to purchase, 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 paragraph.
A subdivision whose plat or plot plan has been approved by the Nashua Planning Board after the effective date of this chapter.
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.
Water used for cooling which does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole or partial, or possession of any improved property.
The discharge of pollutants through the publicly owned treatment works into surface waters in quantities or concentrations, which alone or in conjunction with discharges from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the wastewater treatment facility's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit or of any other legally required standard to which the City is subject.
Any individual, 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 or local government entities.
The reciprocal of the logarithm of the hydrogen ion concentration in grams per liter of solution.
[Amended 2-26-2008 by Ord. No. O-08-07]
Any industry with discharges resulting from the development or printing of paper prints, slides, negatives, enlargements, movie film, or other sensitized materials. A nonphotoprocessor is any industry which does not meet any of the above criteria.
Dredged soil, soiled waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, medical waste, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical waste, biological material, radioactive material, heat wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt or industrial and agricultural waste discharged into any natural outlet;
Toxic pollutants which are those pollutants or combination of pollutants which are disease causing agents, or, upon assimilation into any organism either directly from the environment, or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will, as determined by the Environmental Protection Agency, cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities, cancer, genetic mutations, physiological malfunctions (including malfunctions in reproduction) or physical deformities in such organisms or their offspring; or
Any substance which is subject to an effluent limitation, or pretreatment standard, as established by federal, state or local authorities, and is discharged in violation of said standards.
Contamination or other alteration of the physical, chemical or biological properties of any water which will or may create a public health nuisance or render water or land harmful, detrimental or injurious to public health, safety or welfare, or to domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational or other legitimate beneficial uses, or to livestock, animals, birds, fish or other aquatic life.
The treatment of wastewater at its source before discharge with the intention to remove or neutralize substances injurious to the wastewater treatment facilities of the City or to effect a partial reduction in the load on the wastewater treatment process.
Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on an industrial user, other than a pretreatment standard.
Prohibitive discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.
Any sewer which has not been dedicated and accepted for public use and maintenance.
Garbage that has 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 0.5 inch (1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.
A sewer which is controlled by public authority and is maintained by the City.
A wastewater treatment facility which is owned by a state or municipality, plus any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling, or reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial waste of a liquid nature. It also includes sewers, pipes and other conveyances if they convey wastewater to a wastewater treatment facility.
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
Substances which, when mixed with certain substances have the potential for chemical transformation which may generate heat, fumes, gases or other by-products which may be hazardous to life, health or property.
Any waters receiving discharge of wastewater.
All putrescible and nonputrescible solid and semisolid wastes, including garbage, rubbish, trash, ashes, manure, street cleanings, or dead animals, but not human excreta.
Any contributor to the City's wastewater system whose lot, parcel, real estate or building is connected to the wastewater system and is used for domestic dwelling purposes only.
A sewer that carries liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions together with minor quantities of groundwater, stormwater and surface water that are not admitted intentionally.
The level of concentration of a pollutant which under baseline conditions would cause a threat to personnel exposed to the pollutant or would cause a threat to structures of the publicly owned treatment works. To apply limits to a particular discharge, the screening levels must be adjusted to account for conditions at the point of discharge which differ from baseline conditions.
Liquid and solid wastes removed from residential septic tanks.
A liquidtight receptacle which receives raw sewage for storage and digestion, and which has been designed and constructed so as to retain the solids and to allow the liquids to discharge through a secondary system of piping into an approved form of subsurface disposal area.
Wastes from toilets, baths, sinks, lavatories, washing machines, or other plumbing fixtures in residences, institutions, public or business buildings, mobile homes, water craft or other places of human habitation, employment or recreation.
A pipe or conduit for carrying wastewater or stormwater.
The pipes or conduits, pumping stations, force mains and all other devices, appurtenances and facilities used for collecting, treating or conducting wastewater to point of final disposal.
An industrial user who is:
Subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or
Any other industrial user that:
Discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of wastewater (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater);
Contributes a waste stream which makes up 5% or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the publicly owned pretreatment works; or
An industrial user whose violation or violations meet one or more of the following criteria:
Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined as those in which 66% or more of all measurements taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) the daily maximum limit or the average limit for the same pollutant parameter;
Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined as those violations in which 33% or more of all measurements for each pollutant parameter taken during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of the daily maximum limit or the average limit multiplied by the applicable technical review criteria (TRC = 1.4 for biochemical oxygen demand, total suspended solids, fats, oil, and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH);
Any other violation of a pretreatment effluent limit (daily maximum or longer term average) that the control authority determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference, pass-through, or an endangerment of the health of publicly owned treatment works personnel or the general public;
Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or to the environment or has resulted in the publicly owned treatment works' exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such discharge;
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;
Failure to provide, within 30 days after the due date, required reports such as the baseline monitoring report, ninety-day compliance report, periodic report, or reports on compliance with compliance schedules;
Failure to accurately report noncompliance; or
Any other violation or group of violations which the control authority determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program.
Any discharge of water or wastewater:
In which the concentration of any given constituent or quantity of flow exceeds more than five times the average twenty-four-hour concentration or flows during the normal operation for a period of duration longer than 15 minutes; or
Which shall adversely affect the publicly owned treatment works.
The release, accidental or otherwise, of any material not normally released to the publicly owned treatment works or which by virtue of its volume, concentration or physical or chemical characteristics, creates a hazard to the publicly owned treatment works, any aspect of its operation or its personnel. Such characteristics shall include, but are not limited to, volatile, explosive, toxic, or otherwise unacceptable materials.
Prohibitive discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.
A pipe or conduit for conveying rainwater, groundwater, subsurface water, condensate, cooling water or other similar unpolluted water from any source.
Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation, and resulting therefrom, including snow melt.
Any lot, tract or parcel of land which is hereafter divided into two or more parcels.
The Superintendent of the wastewater treatment facility of the City or any authorized agent or representative.
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, and are referred to as nonfilterable residue in the laboratory test prescribed in Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater.
Water not containing any pollutants limited or prohibited by the effluent standards in effect, or water whose discharge will not cause any violation of receiving water quality standards.
Any person who discharges wastewater to the publicly owned treatment works.
Any system for the disposal of sewage and other waste, including but not limited to, public or franchised sewerage systems, individual sewage disposal systems, chemical toilets, privies, wastewater treatment facilities, sanitary landfill operations, dumps, incinerators or composting operations.
The spent water of a community, and may be a combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants or institutions, together with any groundwater, surface water or stormwater that may be present.
Any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating wastewater.
All rivers, streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, aquifers, springs, irrigation systems, drainage systems, groundwater and any other bodies of accumulated water, surface or underground, natural or artificial, public or private.
Municipalities and other municipal corporations which discharge wastewater from a municipal collection system into the City wastewater system.