Town of Bethlehem, NY Purpose and Definitions

Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this chapter shall be as follows:

(herein referred to as "astm" or federal specifications referred to in this chapter). The latest published amendments or revisions applicable at any time.

APPROVAL AUTHORITY

The Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Conservation of the State of New York until such time as a federally approved industrial pretreatment program is required. At such time, upon federal approval, the Regional Administrator shall become the approval authority.

A.S.T.M.

The latest edition of American Society for Testing and Materials.

AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF INDUSTRIAL USER

May be a principal executive officer of at least the level of vice president if the industrial user is a corporation; a general partner or proprietor if the industrial user is a partnership or proprietorship, respectively; or a duly authorized representative of the individual designated above, if such representative is responsible for the overall operation of the facilities from which the discharge originates.

B.O.D.

(denoting biochemical oxygen demand) The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20º C, expressed in parts per million by weight.

BUILDER

Any person, persons, or corporation who undertakes to construct, either under contract or for resale within two years, any habitable building.

BUILDING LATERAL

The piping used to convey the discharge from soil, waste, and other drainage pipes inside the building walls and extending from the public sewer up to the foundation of the structure being served by the sewer system.

COMMERCIAL SERVICE

Any service from business buildings or institutions from which the wastes are not predominantly industrial.

COMMISSIONER

The Commissioner of the Department of Public Works of the Town of Bethlehem or his or her authorized deputy, agent, or representative.

CONTRACTOR

Any person, firm, or corporation approved by the Commissioner to do work in the Town of Bethlehem.

CONTROL AUTHORITY

Refers to the approval authority, defined hereinabove, or the Supervisor or the Commissioner of Public Works or the Superintendent of Water and Sewer of the Town of Bethlehem.

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 physical 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, the direction of the flow depending on the pressure differential between the two systems.

CRUSHER RUN

Crushed limestone material commonly used as base stone for road construction, manhole installation and pipe bedding.

DEVELOPER

Any person, persons, or corporation who undertakes to construct simultaneously more than one housing unit on a given tract or land subdivision.

DIRECT DISCHARGE

The discharge of treated or untreated wastewater directly to the waters of the State of New York.

DISTRICT

The Bethlehem Sewer District including Delmar-Elsmere Sewer District and extensions in the Town of Bethlehem, Albany County, New York.

DISTRICT BOUNDARIES

The physical boundaries as presently established or as may be extended from time to time as duly provided by Town law.

DOMESTIC WASTE

Liquid wastes from noncommercial preparation, cooking, and handling of food, liquid wastes containing human excrement and similar matter from the sanitary conveniences in dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial buildings, and institutions, or liquid wastes from clothes washing and/or floor/wall washing.

ENGINEER

Any professional engineer retained as engineer for this district.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY or EPA

The United States designation for the administrator or other duly authorized official of said agency.

FEDERAL WATER POLLUTION CONTROL ACT

(sometimes herein referred to as the "Act") The United States Federal Pollution Control Act, as amended in 1972 or thereafter.

FLOWABLE FILL

A mixture of portland cement, fly ash, mineral filler, water and admixtures proportioned to provide a nonsegregating, free-flowing, self-consolidating material that will result in a hardened, dense backfill.

GARBAGE

Solid wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food, and from the handling, storage, and sale of produce.

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, trailers, septic tanks and vacuum-pump tank trucks.

INDIRECT DISCHARGE

The introduction of wastewater into the POTW for treatment (including holding tank waste discharged into the system) and ultimate discharge of the treated effluent to the waters of the State of New York.

INDUSTRIAL SERVICE

Any service from which the wastes are predominantly industrial.

INDUSTRIAL USER

A discharger to the POTW whose discharge includes nondomestic wastes.

INDUSTRIAL WASTES

The liquid wastes from industrial processes as distinct from domestic wastes.

INSPECTOR

The Commissioner who is appointed and duly authorized by the Town Board to inspect and approve the installation of building laterals and their connection to the public sewer system or his or her authorized representative.

INTERFERENCE

The inhibition or disruption of the POTW treatment processes or operations which contributes to a violation of any requirement of the Town's SPDES permit. The term includes prevention of sewage sludge disposal by the POTW 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 POTW.

LARGE SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER

Any industrial user who has a discharge flow of 100,000 gallons or more per average workday or discharges a loading of any pollutant in quantities greater than 15% of the loading (lb/d) received at the POTW treatment plant based on the most recent headworks analysis completed by, or on behalf of, the Town.

NATIONAL CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARDS or PRETREATMENT STANDARD

Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with Section 307(b) and (e) of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1317) which applies to a specific category of industrial users.

NATIONAL PROHIBITIVE DISCHARGE STANDARDS or PROHIBITIVE DISCHARGE STANDARD

Any regulation developed under the authority of Section 307(b) of the Act and 40 CFR 403.5.

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.

NORTH AMERICAN INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION SYSTEM (NAICS)

A classification pursuant to North American Industry Classification System, issued by the Office of Management and Budget, 2002.

OWNER

Any individual, firm, company, association, society, person, or group having title to real property.

PERSON

Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation, or group.

The logarithm of the reciprocal of the concentration of hydrogen ions in gramionic weights per liter of solution.

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

The man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological and radiological integrity of water.

POTW TREATMENT PLANT

That portion of the POTW designed to provide treatment to wastewater.

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 POTW. 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, other than a national pretreatment standard imposed on an industrial user.

PRIVATE SEWER

A sewer privately owned and not directly controlled by public authority.

PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE

The wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that have been shredded to such degree that all articles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no article greater than 1/2 inch in any dimension.

PROPERTY LINE

The edge of a sewer right-of-way in those instances where the building lateral connects to the public sewer located in a right-of-way. "Property line" shall also mean the edge of the street right-of-way in those instances where the building lateral connects to a public sewer located off or in the paved portion of the street.

PROPERTY OWNER

The person or entity that is in title to the property served or to be served by the public sewer.

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 the Town. This definition includes any sewers that convey wastewater to the POTW treatment plant, but does not include pipes, sewers or other conveyances not connected to a facility providing treatment. For the purposes of this chapter, "POTW" shall also include any sewers that convey wastewaters to the POTW from persons outside the Town who are, by contract or agreement with the Town, users of the Town's POTW.

PUBLIC SEWER

A sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights, and is controlled by public authority.

REGIONAL ADMINISTRATOR

The Regional Administrator, Region No. 2, United States Environmental Protection Agency, as empowered by the Federal Water Pollution Control Act or other federal statute.

RESIDENTIAL SERVICE

Any service from which the wastes are of a domestic nature only.

SANITARY SEWER

A sewer which carries sewage and to which storm, surface, and groundwaters are not intentionally admitted.

SEWAGE

A combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions and industrial establishments.

SEWAGE WORKS

All facilities for collecting, pumping, treating, and disposing of sewage.

SEWER

A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage, subject to the control and direction of this district.

SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER

Any industrial user who has a discharge flow between 25,000 gallons and 100,000 gallons per average workday or has a loading of any pollutant between 5% and 15% of the loading (lb/d) received at the POTW treatment plant based on the most recent headworks analysis completed by, or on behalf of, the Town or has in his or her wastes toxic pollutants as defined pursuant to Section 307 of the Act or has been identified as one of the industrial categories pursuant to Section 307 of the Act or is found by the Town to have significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing industries, on the treatment or collection system.

SLOPE

The grade or pitch of a line of pipe in reference to a horizontal plane. In drainage it is usually expressed as the fall in a fraction of an inch per foot length of pipe.

STATE POLLUTION DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM OR SPDES PERMIT

A permit issued pursuant to Section 402 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1342).

STORM SEWER or STORM DRAIN

A sewer used for conveying rainwater, surface water, condensate, cooling water or similar liquid wastes, exclusive of sewage and industrial waste.

SUSPENDED SOLIDS

Solids that either float on the surface of or are in suspension in water, sewage, or other liquids; and which are removable by laboratory filtering.

TOWN

The Town of Bethlehem, Albany County, New York.

TOWN BOARD

The duly elected Town Board of the Town of Bethlehem, or its authorized deputy or representative.

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 Section 307(a) or other acts.

USER

Any person who contributes, causes or permits the contribution of wastewater into the Town's POTW.

WASTEWATER

The liquid and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities and institutions, together with other matter which may be present, whether treated or untreated, which is contributed into or permitted to enter the POTW.

WASTEWATER DISCHARGE PERMIT (INDUSTRIAL)

As set forth in Article VI of this chapter, the permit issued by the Commissioner to an industrial user establishing the conditions and requirements under which the industrial user may discharge to the POTW.

WATERCOURSE

A channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.

WATERS OF THE STATE

All streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, reservoirs, aquifers, irrigation systems, 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.

WATER POLLUTION CONTROL PLANT

Any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.

Word usage. Words used in the present tense include the future, the singular number includes the plural and the masculine shall include the feminine. "Shall" is mandatory. "May" is permissive.

Abbreviations. The following abbreviations shall have the designated meanings:

	BOD—Biochemical oxygen demand.
	CFR—Code of Federal Regulations.
	COD—Chemical oxygen demand.
	DPW—Department of Public Works.
	EPA—Environmental Protection Agency.
	l—Liter.
	mg—Milligrams.
	mg/l—Milligrams per liter.
	NAICS — North American Industrial Classification System.
	NYSDEC—New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
	OSHA—Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
	POTW—Publicly owned treatment works.
	SPDES—State pollutant discharge elimination system.
	SWDA—Solid Waste Disposal Act, 42 U.S.C. § 6901, et seq.
	TSS—Total suspended solids.
	USC—United States Code.