Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise,
the meaning of terms used in this chapter shall be as follows:
ACT
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the
Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.
APPLICANT
Any person requesting approval to discharge industrial wastes
or domestic wastewater into the publicly owned treatment works (POTW).
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD5)
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.
BOARD OF HEALTH
The Board of Health as established in Sections 78 through
81 of the City Charter, or its authorized agents or representatives.
BOARD OF PUBLIC WORKS
The Board of Public Works as established in Sections 59 through
63 of the City Charter, or its authorized agents or representatives.
BUILDING DRAIN
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.
BUILDING SEWER
The extension from the building drain to public sewer or
other place of disposal.
BYPASS
The intentional diversion of waste streams from any portion
of an industrial user's wastewater treatment facility.
CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARD
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.
CITY
The City of Nashua, or its authorized agents or representatives.
CITY ENGINEER
The Engineer of the City or an authorized agent or representative.
COMMERCIAL USER
Any retail store, restaurant, office building, laundry or
other private business or service establishment.
COMPOSITE SAMPLE
The sample resulting from the combination of individual wastewater
samples taken at selected intervals based on an increment of either
flow or time.
CORPORATION COUNSEL
The City Solicitor/Corporation Counsel for the City or an
authorized agent or representative.
DILUTION
The watering down of a discharge.
DIRECTOR
The Director of the Public Works Division of the City or
an authorized agent or representative.
DOMESTIC WASTEWATER
Water-carried household or toilet wastes discharged from
any improved property, excluding groundwater, surface water and stormwater.
EPA
The Environmental Protection Agency of the United States.
EXCESSIVE
Amounts or concentrations of any constituent of wastewater
which in the judgment of the City:
A.
Will adversely affect any part or function of
the publicly owned treatment works;
B.
Will be present in abnormally high quantities
in the sludge produced at the wastewater treatment facility;
C.
Will be harmful to a wastewater treatment process
or interfere with the effective operation of the wastewater treatment
facility;
D.
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;
E.
Which can endanger life, health, the environment,
or public property; or
F.
Which constitutes a nuisance.
EXISTING SOURCE
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.
FRONTAGE
The side of a property which is common to the side line of
a street.
GARBAGE
Animal or vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation,
cooking or serving of food.
GOVERNMENTAL USER
Any legislative, judicial, administrative or regulatory activity
of federal, state or local government.
GRAB SAMPLE
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.
HEALTH OFFICER
The Health Officer of the Environmental Health Department
of the City or an authorized agent or representative.
HUMAN EXCRETA
Human fecal or urinary discharge and includes any waste containing
such material.
IMPROVED PROPERTY
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.
INCOMPATIBLE POLLUTANT
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.
INDIVIDUAL SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM
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.
INDUSTRIAL DISCHARGE
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.
INDUSTRIAL USER
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.
INDUSTRIAL WASTE
Any and all waste and pollutants discharged from any industrial
establishment, other than domestic wastewater.
INSTITUTIONAL USER
Any social, charitable, religious or educational activity
such as schools, churches, hospitals, nursing homes, and similar institutions.
INTERFERENCE
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.
MEDICAL WASTE
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]
NATURAL OUTLET
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.
NEW SOURCE
A.
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:
(1)
The building, structure, facility or installation
is constructed at a site which no other source is located;
(2)
The building, structure, facility or installation
totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the
discharges of pollutants at an existing source; or
(3)
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.
B.
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.
C.
Construction of a new source has commenced if
the owner or operator has:
(1)
Begun, or caused to begin as part of a continuous
on-site construction program:
(a)
Any placement, assembly, or installation of
facilities or equipment; or
(b)
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 facilities or equipment; or
(2)
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.
NEW SUBDIVISION
A subdivision whose plat or plot plan has been approved by
the Nashua Planning Board after the effective date of this chapter.
NHDES
The New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services.
NONCONTACT COOLING WATER
Water used for cooling which does not come into direct contact
with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished
product.
OWNER
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, or possession of any improved property.
PASS-THROUGH
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.
PERSON
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.
pH
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]
PHOTOPROCESSOR
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.
POLLUTANTS
A.
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;
B.
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
C.
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.
POLLUTION
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.
PRETREATMENT
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.
PRETREATMENT REQUIREMENTS
Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment
imposed on an industrial user, other than a pretreatment standard.
PRIVATE SEWER
Any sewer which has not been dedicated and accepted for public
use and maintenance.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE
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.
PUBLIC SEWER
A sewer which is controlled by public authority and is maintained
by the City.
PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS (POTW)
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.
RCRA
The Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
REACTIVE POLLUTANTS
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.
REFUSE
All putrescible and nonputrescible solid and semisolid wastes,
including garbage, rubbish, trash, ashes, manure, street cleanings,
or dead animals, but not human excreta.
RESIDENTIAL USER
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.
SANITARY SEWER
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.
SCREENING LEVEL
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.
SEPTAGE
Liquid and solid wastes removed from residential septic tanks.
SEPTIC TANK
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.
SEWAGE
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.
SEWER
A pipe or conduit for carrying wastewater or stormwater.
SEWERAGE SYSTEM
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.
SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER (SIU)
An industrial user who is:
A.
Subject to categorical pretreatment standards;
or
B.
Any other industrial user that:
(1)
Discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per
day or more of wastewater (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling
and boiler blowdown wastewater);
(2)
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
(3)
Is designated by the City as having:
(a)
A reasonable potential for adversely affecting
the publicly owned treatment works; or
(b)
Violated any pretreatment standard or requirement.
SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPLIANCE (SNC)
An industrial user whose violation or violations meet one
or more of the following criteria:
A.
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;
B.
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);
C.
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;
D.
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;
E.
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;
F.
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;
G.
Failure to accurately report noncompliance;
or
H.
Any other violation or group of violations which
the control authority determines will adversely affect the operation
or implementation of the local pretreatment program.
SLUG
Any discharge of water or wastewater:
A.
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
B.
Which shall adversely affect the publicly owned
treatment works.
SPILL
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.
STANDARDS
Prohibitive discharge standards, categorical pretreatment
standards, and local limits.
STORM DRAIN or STORM SEWER
A pipe or conduit for conveying rainwater, groundwater, subsurface
water, condensate, cooling water or other similar unpolluted water
from any source.
STORMWATER
Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural
precipitation, and resulting therefrom, including snow melt.
SUBDIVISION
Any lot, tract or parcel of land which is hereafter divided
into two or more parcels.
SUPERINTENDENT
The Superintendent of the wastewater treatment facility of
the City or any authorized agent or representative.
TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS (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, and are referred to as nonfilterable
residue in the laboratory test prescribed in Standard Methods for
the Examination of Water and Wastewater.
UNPOLLUTED WATER
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.
USER
Any person who discharges wastewater to the publicly owned
treatment works.
WASTE DISPOSAL SYSTEM
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.
WASTEWATER
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.
WATERS
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.
WHOLESALE USER
Municipalities and other municipal corporations which discharge
wastewater from a municipal collection system into the City wastewater
system.
If a provision of this chapter is found to be
in conflict with any provision of any zoning, building, safety, health
or other ordinance or code of the City, the ordinance or provision
which in the judgment of the Director or the Board of Health establishes
the higher standard of safety and protection of health shall prevail;
and the ordinance or provision which sets the lower standard is hereby
declared to be invalid to the extent that it is found to be in conflict
with the ordinance or provision which sets the higher standard.
Nothing in this chapter shall be construed as
preventing any special agreement or arrangement between the City and
any industrial concern, provided that such agreements do not violate
any requirements of existing federal, state or local laws, regulations,
or pretreatment standards or requirements. Such agreements must be
ratified by both the Board of Public Works and the Board of Aldermen.
Any person violating any of the provisions of
this chapter shall become liable to the City for any expense, loss
or damage occasioned to the City by reason of such violation.
The Board of Public Works shall have full authority
over the construction, installation and repair of all public sewers,
and shall have full authority over private sewer design specifications
and method of construction.