Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the following
terms and phrases, as used in this chapter, 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. 1251 et seq.
APPROVAL AUTHORITY
The Administrator of the EPA in an NPDES state without an
approved state pretreatment program.
APPROVED
Accepted or acceptable under an applicable specification
cited in this Code or accepted as suitable for the proposed use under
procedures and powers of the County Engineer.
AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF AN INDUSTRIAL USER
(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.
BACKFLOW
The flow of water or other liquids, mixtures or substances
into the distribution pipes of a potable supply of water from any
source or sources.
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD)
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation
of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure, five days at
20° C., expressed in terms of weight and concentration (milligrams
per liter (mg/l).
BUILDING
A structure built, erected and framed of component structural
parts designed for the housing, shelter, enclosure or support of persons,
animals or property of any kind.
BUILDING DRAIN
That part of the lowest 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 a point directly outside
of the building and to the building sewer.
BUILDING SEWER
That part of the drainage system which extends from the end
of the building drain and conveys its discharge to a public sewer,
private sewer, individual sewage disposal system or other point of
disposal.
CESSPOOL
A covered excavation in the ground which receives the discharge
of domestic sewage or other organic wastes from a drainage system,
so designed as to retain the organic matter and solids but permitting
the liquids to seep through the bottom and sides.
CODE
When used alone, the Sussex County Code, subsequent amendments
or any emergency rule or regulation which Sussex County Council may
lawfully adopt.
CONTROL AUTHORITY
The approval authority, defined hereinabove, or, if the County
has adopted an approved pretreatment program under the provisions
of 40 CFR 403.11, the official designated therein.
COOLING WATER
The water discharged from any use, such as air conditioning,
cooling or refrigeration, or to which the only pollutant added is
heat.
CROSS-CONNECTION
Any connection or arrangement between two otherwise separate
piping systems, one of which contains potable water and the other
water of unknown or questionable safety, whereby water may flow from
one system to the other.
CUSTOMER
Any person, firm, corporation or organization supplied with
water or provided with sewer service by Sussex County.
DIRECT DISCHARGE
The discharge of treated or untreated wastewater directly
to the waters of the State of Delaware.
DRAINAGE SYSTEM
Includes all the piping within a public or private system
conveying sewage or other liquid wastes by means of gravity.
DWELLING
A structure having walls and a roof designed and used for
the housing, shelter, enclosure or support of persons, animals or
property.
EASEMENT
A right acquired by public authority to use or control property
for a designated use. An "easement" restricts but does not abridge
the rights of the fee owner to the use and enjoyment of his land.
ENGINEER
The duly appointed County Engineer designated by the County
pursuant to Title 9 of the Delaware Code, who is the person overseeing
all aspects of the Sussex County Engineering Department charged with
certain duties and responsibilities under this chapter of the Code
or the authorized designee.
ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY or EPA
The United States Environmental Protection Agency; or, where
appropriate, the term may also be used as a designation for the Administrator
or other duly authorized official.
EQUIVALENT DWELLING UNIT (EDU)
An arbitrary term used to express the load-producing effects
on the water system and/or sewer system caused by one average-sized
residential dwelling.
FACILITY
For the purposes of this chapter, the term "facility" means
any of the County-owned and -operated regional wastewater facilities.
This definition includes any sewers that convey wastewater to a facility.
For the purposes of this chapter, "facility" shall also include any
sewers that convey wastewaters to a facility from persons outside
Sussex County who are, by contract or agreement with the County, users
of the County's facility.
FALL
The slope of a line of pipe in reference to a horizontal
plane. In drainage systems it is usually expressed as the "fall" in
a fraction-of-an-inch-per-foot length of pipe.
FIXTURE UNIT (FU)
A quantity in terms of which the load-producing effects on
the water system and/or sewer system of fixtures are expressed on
a representative chosen scale.
FRONT FOOTAGE
Assessable parcel footage measurement as determined in this
chapter and by the Official Sussex County Property Map.
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.
HOLDING TANK WASTE
Any waste from holding tanks, such as vessels, chemical toilets,
campers, manufactured homes, 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) or (c) of the Act (33
U.S.C. § 1317) into a County facility including holding
tank waste discharged into the system.
INDUSTRIAL USER
A source of indirect discharge which does not constitute
a discharge of pollutants under regulations issued pursuant to Section
402 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1342).
INDUSTRIAL WASTE
Waste that originates from a business or industry having
a standard industrial classification (SIC) code or an expected classification,
or having a reasonable potential, in the opinion of the Engineer,
to adversely affect the facility (inhibition, pass-through of pollutants,
sludge contamination or endangerment of staff).
INTERCEPTOR or SEPARATOR
A device designed and installed to separate and retain deleterious,
hazardous or undesirable matter from normal waste streams while permitting
the normal waste stream to discharge into the drainage system.
INTERFERENCE
The inhibition or disruption of the facility treatment processes
or operations which contributes to a violation of any requirement
of the NPDES permit. The term includes prevention of sewage sludge
use or disposal in accordance with Section 405 of the Act (33 U.S.C.
§ 1345) or any criteria, guidelines or regulations developed
pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), the Clean Air Act,
the Toxic Substances Control Act or more stringent state criteria, including those contained
in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Title IV
of SWDA), applicable to the method of disposal or use employed by
the facility.
MULTIPLE LIVING UNIT
A condominium unit, townhouse unit, apartment unit, hotel
or motel room, manufactured home site, campground site, travel trailer
site and all other types of living units located on a single parcel.
NATIONAL CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARD
Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated
by the EPA in accordance with Section 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33
U.S.C. § 1347) which applies to a specific category of industrial
users.
NATURAL OUTLET
Any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other
body of surface- or groundwater.
NEW SOURCE
Any source, the construction of which is commenced after
the publication of proposed regulations prescribing a Section 307(c)
(33 U.S.C. § 1317) categorical pretreatment standard which
will be applicable to such source, if such standard is thereafter
promulgated within 120 days of proposal in the Federal Register. Where
the standard is promulgated later than 120 days after proposal, a
"new source" means any source, the construction of which is commenced
after the date of promulgation of the standard.
PARCEL
An area of land measured, surveyed and plotted and set apart
for separate use, ownership and occupancy possibly encompassing two
previously recorded individual lots.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, copartnership, firm, company,
corporation, association, joint-stock company, trust, estate, governmental
entity or any other legal entity or their legal representatives, agents
or assigns. The masculine gender shall include the feminine, and the
singular shall include the plural where indicated by the context.
PH
The logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the concentration
of hydrogen ions expressed in grams per liter of solution.
POLLUTANT
Any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, garbage,
sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive
materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock, sand, dirt
and industrial, municipal and agricultural waste discharged into water.
POLLUTION
The man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical,
biological and radiological integrity of water.
POTABLE WATER
Water which is satisfactory for drinking, culinary and domestic
purposes and meets the requirements of the primary and secondary standards
of the Safe Drinking Water Act.
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 a facility. The reduction
or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological
processes or process changes by other means, except as prohibited
by 40 CFR 403.6(d).
PRETREATMENT REQUIREMENTS
Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment,
other than a national pretreatment standard imposed on an industrial
user.
PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS (POTW)
A treatment works as defined by Section 212 of the Act (33
U.S.C. § 1292), which is owned in this instance by Sussex
County used in this chapter interchangeably with "facility."
RIGHT-OF-WAY
A legal right of passage over another person's ground acquired
by public authority.
SANITARY SEWER
A sewer which carries sewage and to which storm-, surface-
and groundwaters are not intentionally admitted.
SCATTERED PARCEL
Any single parcel of land abutted on at least two sides by
developed property.
SEPTAGE
Liquid and solid materials pumped from a septic tank, cesspool
or holding tank, excluding industrial waste.
SEPTIC TANK
A watertight receptacle which receives the discharge of a
drainage system and is designed and constructed to separate solids
from the liquid, digest organic matter through a period of detention
and allow the liquids to discharge into the soil outside of the tank
through a system of open joint or perforated piping or disposal pit.
SEWAGE
Used interchangeably with "wastewater."
SEWER SYSTEM
All improvements utilized for collecting, transmitting, treating,
process monitoring and disposing of sewage.
SEWER SYSTEM CONCEPT EVALUATION (SSCE)
A Sussex County Engineering Department fee-based service
study identifying system connection point(s), service to off-site
parcels, district status and necessity of any use of existing infrastructure
agreement.
SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER
Any industrial user of the County's wastewater disposal system
who has a discharge flow of 10,000 gallons or more per average workday
or has a flow greater than 5% of the flow in the County's wastewater
treatment system or has, in his wastes, toxic pollutants as defined
pursuant to Section 307 of the Act or is found by the County, Delaware
DNREC or the United States Environmental Protection Agency to have
significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing
industries, on the wastewater treatment system, the quality of sludge,
the system's effluent quality or air emissions generated by the system.
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, 1972.
STORMWATER
Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural
precipitation and runoff resulting therefrom.
STREET
A public or private thoroughfare which affords the principal
means of access to abutting property.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS
The total suspended matter that floats on the surface of
or is suspended in water, wastewater or other liquids and which is
removable by laboratory filtering.
TECHNICAL BULLETIN FOR BUILDING SEWER AND WATER SERVICE
A nonregulatory document outlining standards and details
for the installation of private building sewers and water service
lines. Modifications to this document based on the latest technology
shall be posted on the Sussex County website 30 days prior to taking
effect.
TOXIC POLLUTANT
Any pollutant or combination of pollutants listed as toxic
in regulations promulgated by the Administrator of the Environmental
Protection Agency under the provision of CWA 307(a) or other acts.
TRAP
A fitting or device so designed and constructed as to provide,
when properly vented, a liquid seal which will prevent the back passage
of air without materially affecting the flow of sewage through it.
UNIFIED SANITARY SEWER DISTRICT
The Unified Sanitary Sewer District of Sussex County with
boundaries as established and/or subsequently amended by Sussex County
Council.
USER
Any person, partnership, corporation or an employee thereof
that utilizes a facility for discharge of septage.
VACUUM BREAKER
A device which prevents backsiphon of water by admitting
atmospheric pressure through ports to the discharge side of device.
VENT SYSTEM (VENTED)
A system of pipe or pipes installed to provide a flow of
air to or from a drainage system or to provide a circulation of air
within such system to protect trap seals from siphonage and back pressure.
WASTEWATER (used interchangeably with SEWAGE)
The liquid and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes
from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities and institutions,
whether treated or untreated, which are contributed into or permitted
to enter the facility.
WATER SERVICE PIPE
The pipe from the connection point of the public water system
to the structure.
WATER SYSTEM
All facilities for supplying, treating, storing, transmitting,
distributing and measuring water.
WATERS OF THE STATE
All streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways,
wells, springs, reservoirs, aquifers, drainage systems and all other
bodies or accumulations of water, surface or underground, natural
or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow
through or border upon the state or any portion thereof.