§ 90-1. Definitions.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Act or the Act means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, Public Law 92-500 as amended by PL 95-217, PL 97-117 and PL 100-4 and as now or hereafter amended, also known as the Clean Water Act, 33 USC 1251 et seq.
Approval authority means the State of Georgia, department of natural resources, environmental protection division (EPD).
Approved POTW treatment program shall mean a program administered by a POTW that meets the criteria established in 40 CFR 403.8 and 40 CFR 403.9 and which has been approved by the approval authority in accordance with 40 CFR 403.11.
Authorized representative of the user.
(a)
If the user is a corporation:
(1)
The president, secretary, treasurer, or a vice-president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function, or any other person who performs similar policy or decision-making functions for the corporation; or
(2)
The manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operation facilities employing more than 250 persons or having gross annual sales or expenditures exceeding $25,000,000.00 (in second-quarter 1980 dollars), if authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
(b)
If the user is a partnership or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, respectively.
(c)
If the user is a federal, state, or local governmental facility: a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility, or their designee.
(d)
The individuals described in subsections (a) through (c), above, may designate another authorized representative if the authorization is in writing, the authorization specifies the individual or position responsible for the overall operation of the facility from which the discharge originates or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company and the written authorization is submitted to the director.
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) shall mean the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20 degrees Celsius, expressed in terms of milligrams per liter.
Building sewer shall mean the extension from a building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.
Categorical pretreatment standard or pretreatment standard means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with Section 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 USC 1347) which applies to a specific category of industrial users.
Chemical oxygen demand (COD) means the oxygen consuming capacity of organic and inorganic matter using a strong oxidizing agent, expressed in terms of milligrams per liter.
City means the City of Milledgeville, Georgia.
Commercial user means any premise or person, other than a domestic user, who discharges wastewaters to the public sewers which are similar in nature to domestic waste but which does not exceed 600,000 gallons per month.
Compatible pollutant means the constituents of biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, pH and fecal coliform bacteria, plus any additional pollutants identified in the applicable NPDES permit where the POTW is designed to treat such pollutants and does in fact treat such pollutants to the degree required by the NPDES permit.
Customer means a water service customer but will also include a user of the wastewater treatment system where appropriate.
Direct discharge means the discharge of treated or untreated wastewaters directly into the waters of the state.
Director or director of water and sewerage department means the person designated pursuant to section 90-4 as chief administrative officer of the water and sewerage department and where appropriate, shall include his duly authorized designee or subordinate agent or employee.
Domestic strength waste means any wastes which have an average daily concentration not exceeding 300 milligrams per liter BOD or 300 milligrams per liter of SS.
Domestic user means a premises or person who discharges wastewaters to the public sewers which closely match normal sewage as to strength, and with a volume that does not exceed 25,000 gallons per month.
Effluent means the discharged flow of a treatment facility.
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) means the environmental protection agency of the United States.
Existing source means any source of discharge, the construction or operation of which commenced prior to the publication by EPA of proposed categorical pretreatment standards, which will be applicable to such source if the standard is thereafter promulgated in accordance with Section 307 of the Act.
Garbage means solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking or service of food or the handling, storage and sale of produce.
Grab sample means a sample which is taken from a waste stream without regard to the flow in the waste stream and over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.
Incompatible pollutant means all pollutants other than compatible pollutants as defined in this section.
Indirect discharge or discharge means the introduction of pollutants into the POTW from any nondomestic source regulated under Section 307(b), (c), or (d) of the Act.
Industrial user means an industry which discharges wastewaters having the characteristics of industrial wastes, as distinguished from commercial wastes or domestic wastes, or having a total discharge volume in excess of 25,000 gallons per day.
Industrial wastes mean liquid wastes from industrial manufacturing processes, trade or other business as distinct from normal domestic sewage.
Influent means the wastewaters arriving at the POTW for treatment and those structures associated with its initial treatment.
Interference means a discharge, which alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or operations or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and therefore, is a cause of a violation of the city's NPDES permit or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with any of the following statutory/regulatory provisions or permits issued thereunder, or any more stringent state or local regulations: Section 405 of the Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act, including title II commonly referred to as the resource conservation and recovery act (RCRA); any state regulations contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to subtitle D of the solid waste disposal act; the clean air act; the toxic substances control act; and the marine protection, research, and sanctuaries act.
May and shall. As used herein, the term "may" means that the user has permission to conduct the following verb and the term "shall" means the user is required to conduct the following verb.
National pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) permit means a permit issued pursuant to section 402 of the clean water act (33 USC 1342) as now or hereafter amended.
Natural outlet means any outlet, including storm sewers, which flows into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface water or groundwater.
New source means any of the following:
(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 Section 307(c) of the Act which will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section, provided that:
a.
The building, structure, facility or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or
b.
The building, structure, facility or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or
c.
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 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, should be considered.
(2)
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 (1)a. or c. but otherwise alters, replaces or adds to the existing process or production equipment.
(3)
Construction of a new source as defined under this paragraph has commenced if the owner or operator has:
a.
Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous onsite construction program:
1.
Any placement, assembly or installation of facilities or equipment; or
2.
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 new source facilities or equipment.
b.
Entered into a binding contractual obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment which are intended to be used in its operation within a reasonable time. Options to purchase or 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 subsection.
Noncontact cooling water means water used for cooling which does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product or finished product.
Operation, maintenance and replacement costs mean the costs of operations and maintenance to keep the treatment works in good repair and at design specifications. This includes labor, supplies, utilities, chemicals, contractual services and general expenses including installation and/or repair of equipment, accessories or appurtenances necessary during the service life of the treatment works.
Overstrength wastes mean any wastewaters discharged into the POTW which exceed a BOD of 300 milligrams per liter or an SS of 300 milligrams per liter.
Pass through means a discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the city's NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
Person means any individual, partnership, firm, company, unincorporated association, society, corporation, estate or other legal entity or representatives of either.
pH means the logarithm of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration. The concentration is the weight of hydrogen ions, in grams per liter of solution.
Pollutant means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, municipal, agricultural and industrial wastes, and certain characteristics of wastewater (e.g., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, or odor).
Pretreatment or treatment means 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 the sewerage system. The reduction or alteration will be obtained by physical, chemical or biological treatment processes, plant process changes or by other means, except as prohibited by 40 CFR 403.
Pretreatment requirements means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.
Pretreatment standards or standards mean prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards and local limits.
Prohibited discharges mean prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in section 90-83(d) and (e).
Property shredded garbage means garbage which 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 one-half inch in any dimension.
Public sewer means a common sewer, owned and controlled by the city, whether within or without the corporate limits of the city.
Publicly owned treatment works (POTW) mean a treatment works as defined by Section 212 of the Act, 33 USC 1292, which is owned by the city. This definition includes any sewers, devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature and any conveyances which convey wastewater to a treatment plant. For the purposes of this article, the term "POTW" shall also include any sewers that convey wastewaters to the POTW from persons outside the city, who are, by contract or agreement with the city, users of the POTW treating city wastewater.
Sanitary sewer means a sewer that carries liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants, and institutions together with minor quantities of groundwaters, stormwaters and surface waters that are not admitted intentionally.
Septic tank waste means any sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks.
Service line means a water line extending from a water main to the building or the premises served thereby.
Sewage means the spent water or wastewater as defined in this section, of a community.
Sewerage system means the arrangement of devices and structure used for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage or wastewater.
Significant industrial user.
(1)
A user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or
(2)
A user that:
a.
Discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling, and boiler blowdown wastewater);
b.
Contributes a process waste stream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant; or
c.
Is designated as such by the director on the basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
(3)
Upon a finding that a user meeting the criteria in subsection (2) has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement, the director may at any time, on his own initiative or in response to a petition received from a user and in accordance with procedures in 40 CFR 403.8(f)(6), determine that such user should not be considered a significant industrial user.
Significant noncompliance means that an industrial user is in violation of one or more of the criteria listed in 40 CFR 403.8(f)(2)(vii).
Slug or slug load means any discharge of water or wastewater which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds for a period of duration longer than 15 minutes more than five times the average 24-hour concentration of flows during normal operation that may adversely affect the collection system and/or performance of the wastewater treatment plant.
Standard methods means the examination and analytical procedures set forth in the most recent edition of "Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Sewage," published jointly by the American Public Health Association, the American Waterworks Association and the Water Pollution Control Federation or any other analytical procedure approved by the environmental protection agency or contained in title 40 CFR Part 136.
Storm drain (sometimes termed storm sewer) means a drain for conveying water, groundwater, subsurface water, or unpolluted water from any source.
Stormwater means any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation and resulting from such precipitation, including snowmelt.
Suspended solids (SS) means total suspended matter that either floats on the surface of or is in suspension in, water, wastewater or other liquids and that is removable by laboratory filtering as prescribed in Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Sewage and referred to as nonfilterable residue.
Total solids means the sum of suspended matter, settleable matter and dissolved matter, both volatile and nonvolatile.
Toxic pollutant means any pollutant or concentration of pollutants listed as toxic in regulations promulgated by the EPA under the provisions of section 307(a) of the clean water act, as now or hereafter amended, or other law, or any discharge into the treatment system which interferes with the normal biological process of the treatment system or in some way reduces the efficiency of the system or causes special procedures to be necessary to properly dispose of either effluent or sludge produced by the system so that the cost of said disposal is increased.
Unpolluted water means water of quality equal to or better than the effluent criteria in effect or water that would not cause violation of receiving water quality standards and would not be benefited by discharge to the sanitary sewers and wastewater facilities provided.
User means any person, business, corporation or other entity which discharges wastes into the wastewater treatment system whether continuously or occasionally.
User charge means that portion of the total sewer bill which is attributable to the collection, operation, maintenance, and replacement expenses of the sewerage system.
Wastewater means the spent water or sewage, of a community. From the standpoint of source, it may be a combination of the liquid and water-carried waste from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions, together with any groundwater, surface water and stormwater that may be present.
Wastewater discharge permits or permits means a permit in accordance with section 90-84.
Wastewater treatment system means the structures, devices, equipment and processes required to collect, carry away and treat domestic, commercial and industrial wastewaters and dispose of the effluent and sludge and shall include the public sewers, pumping stations, the wastewater treatment plant and all other facilities, equipment and appurtenances now or hereafter owned, operated or used by the city in connection therewith.
Water main means a common water line, owned and controlled by the city whether within or without the corporate limits of the city.
(Ord. of 9-11-1984, § 5)
Cross reference
Definitions generally, § 1-2.