The purpose for this chapter is to protect the public health,
safety and general welfare of the public; by regulating the construction,
use and maintenance of the sewer system in the Town. The Town shall
have the authority, pursuant to state law and subject to applicable
rules and regulations of the Narragansett Bay Commission, state and
federal government, to operate, maintain, extend and improve a wastewater
collection system within the Town of Johnston. The Town, through the
Director of Public Works, and the Narragansett Bay Commission shall
exercise the powers of the Town in relation to all matters pertaining
to sewers in the Town as set forth in this Ordinance and in applicable
state law and the Narragansett Bay Commission's "Rules and Regulations
for Use of Wastewater Facilities Within the Narragansett Bay Commission
District."
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning
of terms used in this chapter shall be as follows:
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.
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD)
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation
of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure of five days,
at 20° C. expressed in terms of weight and concentration (milligrams
per liter).
BUILDING DRAIN
That part of the lowest horizontal piping within a building
that carries water, wastewater or stormwater to a building sewer.
COLLECTION SYSTEM
The equipment, pipes, structures, and processes used for
the collection, transportation, and pumping of sewage.
COMPATIBLE POLLUTANT
BOD, suspended solids, pH, and fecal coliform bacteria, and
such additional pollutants as may be specified by the Town or the
NBC.
COOLING WATER
The water discharged from any use such as air conditioning,
cooling or refrigeration, during which the only pollutant added to
the water is heat.
DEVELOPER
An individual or group of individuals who are responsible
for bringing a project through the development review process and
the infrastructure construction. If the developer is not the owner,
it must submit evidence that it is acting on behalf of the owner.
DIRECTOR
The Director of Public Works of the Town, or an authorized
agent or representative thereof.
DOMESTIC WASTES
Liquid wastes a) from the noncommercial preparation, cooking,
and handling of food or b) containing human excrement and similar
matter from the sanitary conveniences of dwellings, commercial buildings,
industrial facilities, and institutions. It shall not contain groundwater,
storm water, surface water, cooling water, or industrial process wastewater.
DWELLING UNIT
A house, an apartment, a group of rooms, or a single room
occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters. Separate
living quarters are those in which the occupants have either:
A.
Direct access from the outside of the building or through a
common hall; or
B.
Complete kitchen facilities for the exclusive use of the occupants.
EQUIVALENT DWELLING UNIT
For assessment purposes, a unit whose wastewater flows are
equal to 345 gallons per day. The basis by which projected daily wastewater
flows will be determined is based upon current RIDEM-published Onsite
Wastewater Treatment Systems (OWTS) (formerly ISDS) values per establishment.
For flow wastewater volumes not stated in the OWTS regulations, standard
engineering values will be used.
FLOATABLE OIL
Oil, fat, or grease in a physical state such that it will
separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment in an approved pretreatment
facility. A wastewater shall be considered free of floatable oil if
it is properly pretreated prior to entry into the sewage facilities
and does not interfere with the sewage facilities.
GARBAGE
Solid wastes from domestic and commercial preparation, cooking
and dispensing of food and from the handling, storage, and sale of
food.
INDUSTRIAL WASTEWATER
The liquid wastes resulting from the processes employed in
industrial, manufacturing, trade, or business establishments, as distinct
from domestic wastes.
INFECTIOUS WASTE
Waste that contains pathogens with sufficient virulence and
quantity so that exposure to the waste by a susceptible host could
result in disease. Under this definition, the normal microflora of
the body are not classified as infectious. Categories of waste designated
as infectious are as follows:
A.
"Human blood, body fluids, and blood products" means all waste
human blood, blood products (such as serum, plasma, and other blood
components) and body fluids (such as suction fluid and wound drainage)
which exist in nonabsorbed liquid form in more than trace quantities.
B.
"Contaminated sharps" consists of discarded sharps, e.g., hypodermic
needles, syringes, pasteur pipettes, broken glass and scalpel blades
which may have come into contact with infectious agents during use
in patient care or in medical research or have been removed from their
original sterile container.
C.
"Contaminated animal carcasses, body parts, and bedding" refers
to carcasses, body parts, and bedding of animals that were exposed
to pathogens in research and in the production of (or in vivo production
of) pharmaceuticals.
D.
"Discarded cultures and stocks of infectious agents and associated
biological" constitute infectious wastes because pathogenic organisms
are present at high concentration in these materials. Included in
this category are wastes from the production of biological and discarded
live and attenuated vaccines from pathological laboratories and pharmaceutical
companies, wastes from the production of biological and discarded
live and attenuated vaccines. Also, culture dishes and devices used
to transfer, inoculate and mix cultures shall be designated as infectious
waste.
E.
"Pathological waste" consists of tissues, organs or body parts,
removed during surgery and autopsy.
INFECTIOUS WASTE TREATMENT
Any method, technique, or process designed to eliminate the
infectious hazard, i.e., to change the biological character or composition
of waste so as to remove any disease-causing potential and to render
such waste noninfectious by killing the infectious agents present
in the waste.
INTERCEPTING SEWER
A sewer that receives sewage flow from a number of main sewers
and conducts such flow to a point for treatment.
LATERAL SEWER
The extension from the building drain, floor drain and sump
pump which discharges into a main or other sewer and has no other
common sewer tributary.
ORDINANCE
The Sewer Ordinance of the Town of Johnston, Chapter
279 of the Town Code of Ordinances.
[Amended 9-12-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-13]
OWNER
Any person who alone, or jointly:
A.
Has a legal title to any premises; or
B.
Has control of any premises, such as through an agreement to
purchase, or as agent, executor, administrator, trustee, lessee or
guardian of the estate of a holder of a legal title.
PERSON
Shall include an individual, trust, firm, joint-stock company,
corporation (including a quasi-government corporation), partnership,
association, syndicate, municipality, municipal or state agency, fire
district, club, nonprofit agency or any subdivision, commission, department,
bureau, agency or Department of State of federal government (including
quasi-government corporation) or of any interstate body.
pH
The logarithm of the reciprocal of the concentration of hydrogen
ions in gram moles per liter.
POLLUTED WATER
Water containing man-made or man-induced alterations to its
chemical, physical, biological or radiological integrity of water.
PRETREATMENT
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 water pollution control
facility. The reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical,
chemical, or biological processes, except as prohibited by Title 40,
Code of Federal Regulations, Section 403.6(d), or as may be amended
from time to time.
PRETREATMENT COORDINATOR
The representative of the Narragansett Bay Commission (NBC)
who is responsible for administrating the Rules and Regulations regarding
commercial and industrial users within the Town of Johnston.
PRETREATMENT STANDARDS
All applicable federal rules and regulations implementing
Section 403 of the Act, as well as any nonconflicting state or local
standards. In cases of conflicting standards or regulations, the more
stringent thereof shall be applied.
PRIVATELY OWNED WASTEWATER TREATMENT FACILITY
A pump station, collection system and/or wastewater treatment
facility owned by a user or an individual or association that is connected
to a publicly owned wastewater treatment or collection system.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE
The wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of
food that have been shredded to such a degree that all particles will
be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in
the public sewers, with no particle greater than one-half (1/2) inch
(1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.
PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS (POTW)
The facility defined by Section 212 of the Federal Water
Pollution Control Act, owned by the Town and/or the Narragansett Bay Commission,
including any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment,
recycling and reclamation of municipal sewage and industrial waste.
The systems include sewers, pipes and equipment used to carry wastewater
to the Treatment Facility.
PUBLIC SEWER
A sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal
rights and that is controlled by public authority.
RHODE ISLAND POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM (RIPDES)
The Rhode Island system for issuing, modifying, revoking
and reissuing, terminating, monitoring and enforcing discharge permits
and imposing and enforcing pretreatment requirements pursuant to Title
46, Chapter 12, of the General Laws of Rhode Island and the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, 33 U.S.C.
§ 1342.
SANITARY SEWER
A sewer that carries sewage and to which storm, surface,
and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.
SEPTAGE WASTE
The wastewater or waste solids from a domestic on-site wastewater
treatment system.
SEWAGE
A combination of the water-carried wastes from residences,
business buildings, and industrial establishments.
SEWER
A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
SHALL
Is mandatory; "may" is permissive.
SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER (SIU)
Any industrial user that is classified under any of the following:
A.
Industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards;
B.
Any other industrial user that:
(1)
Discharges an average of 5,000 gpd or more of process wastewater;
or
(2)
Contributes a process waste stream which makes up 5% or more
of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the NBC's
treatment plant; or
(3)
Is designated as significant by the NBC on the basis that the
user has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's
operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
SLUG
Any discharge of water, sewage, or industrial waste which
in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds
for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes more than five times
the average twenty-four-hour concentration of flows during normal
operation.
STORMWATER
Any flow occurring during or immediately following any form
of natural precipitation and resulting therefrom.
TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS
The total suspended matter that floats on the surface of,
or is suspended in, wastewater or other liquids, and that is removable
by laboratory filtering.
TOWN
The Town of Johnston, Rhode Island, or duly appointed representatives
thereof.
TOXIC
Any substance listed as toxic under Section 307(a)(1) of
the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.,
listed under the Hazardous Substances Right-to-Know Act, R.I.G.L.
§ 28-21-1 et seq., or as may otherwise be designated by
the Town.
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 or causes or permits the discharge
of wastewater into the Town's wastewater treatment system.
USER CLASSIFICATION
A classification of user based on the 1972 (or subsequent)
edition of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) manual prepared
by the Office of Management and Budget.
WASTEWATER
The liquid and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes
from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, and institutions,
together with any groundwater, surface water, and stormwater that
may be present, whether treated or untreated, which is discharged
into or permitted to enter the Town's wastewater treatment system.
WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM
Any devices, facilities, structures, equipment or works owned
or used by the Town for the purpose of the transmission, storage,
treatment, recycling, and reclamation of industrial and domestic wastes,
or necessary to recycle or reuse water at the most economical cost
over the estimated life of the system, including intercepting sewer,
outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, pumping, power, and other
equipment and their appurtenances, extensions, improvements, remodeling,
additions, and alterations thereof; elements essential to provide
a reliable recycled supply such as standby treatment units and clear
well facilities; and any work, including site acquisition of the land,
that will be an integral part of the treatment process or is used
for ultimate disposal of residues from such treatment.
Y CONNECTION
The point at which the individual lateral sewer connects
into the main sewer line (sometimes referred to as the chimney connection).
Where a public sanitary sewer is not available, the building
sewer shall be connected to an OWTS complying with the requirements
of the Town and the State of Rhode Island Department of Environmental
Management (DEM). The OWTS must conform to Chapter 332, Wastewater
Management, of the Johnston Code of Ordinances.
Prohibitions on wastewater discharges. Refer to the Narragansett
Bay Commission's Rules and Regulations, as amended.
Refer to the Narragansett Bay Commission's Rules and Regulations,
as amended, for specific requirements.
No person shall maliciously, willfully, or negligently break,
damage, destroy, uncover, deface, or tamper with any structure, appurtenance
or equipment that is a part of the sewage facilities. Any person violating
this provision shall be subject to the penalties set forth in the
Rhode Island General Laws 1956 (as amended).
[Amended 9-12-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-15]
A. Each year, the Town may set a sewer maintenance charge to be levied against each unit connected to the sanitary sewer. The sewer maintenance charge shall be computed as outlined in §
279-14, Fees, and as set forth in Exhibit A. The purpose of the sewer maintenance charge is to recover
the operation and maintenance expenses associated with the operations
of the wastewater collection system.
B. Each user
shall be categorized as residential, commercial or industrial. Residential
units will be further subdivided as determined by the Town and the
proper sewer maintenance charge assessed.
C. Sewer
maintenance charges imposed by the Town will be in addition to any
sewer use charges imposed by the Narragansett Bay Commission.
[Amended 9-12-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-12]
A. The Town shall collect fees for services in connection with sewer
maintenance for the purpose of administration, permits, plan review,
inspections and/or improvements. All fees collected (starting July
1, 2011) shall be retained in a separate fund, herein referred to
as the "Sewer Enterprise Fund," for the sole purpose of maintaining
the Town's wastewater collection system and related appurtenances.
B. The Town shall also collect fees for the purpose of repaying the
bond, herein referred to as the "sewer assessment fees." Said fees
shall be retained in the Sewer Enterprise Fund for the sole purpose
of repayment of the sewer bonds.
C. The fees included in this chapter shall be as stated in Exhibit A. The fees shall be set from time to time by Council resolution.
The Narragansett Bay Commission's Rules and Regulations
for Use of Wastewater Facilities within the Narragansett Bay Commission
District, as amended, shall be part of the Town's Sewer Ordinance.
Where conflicts may arise between the Town's Sewer Ordinance
and the Narragansett Bay Commission's Rules and Regulations,
as amended, the more stringent requirement will prevail.
Any and all monies collected in the payment of fees, costs and
penalties as set forth in this Ordinance shall be retained by the
Sewer Enterprise Fund.
All rules, regulations and requirements stated in this Ordinance
shall be complied with by all users of the Town's sewer system,
regardless of whether or not the user is located in the Town of Johnston.
The Town has this authority, as stated in Rhode Island General Laws.