15.20.015 Definitions.
The following definitions apply in BC Chapters 15.20 through 15.80:
Act means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 USC 1251 et seq.
Applicable pretreatment standards means, for any specified pollutant, City prohibitive standards, City specific pretreatment standards (local limits), State of Oregon pretreatment standards, or EPA’s categorical pretreatment standards (when effective), whichever standard is appropriate or most stringent.
Authorized representative of the user means:
1. By a responsible corporate officer, if the industrial user submitting the reports required by this chapter is a corporation. For the purpose of this subsection, a responsible corporate officer means:
a. A president, secretary, treasurer, or 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
b. The manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operating facilities, provided, the manager is authorized to make management decisions which govern the operation of the regulated facility including having the explicit or implicit duty of making major capital investment recommendations, and initiate and direct other comprehensive measures to assure long-term environmental compliance with environmental laws and regulations; can ensure that the necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and accurate information for control mechanism requirements; and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
2. If the user is a partnership or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, respectively.
3. 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 his/her designee.
4. The individuals described in subsections (1) through (3) of this definition 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 City.
Best management practice(s) (BMPs) means a schedule of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to comply with this chapter. BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five days at 20 degrees Celsius, usually expressed as a concentration (milligrams per liter (mg/l)).
Bio-solids means solid or semisolid material obtained from treated wastewater, often used as fertilizer.
Categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the U.S. EPA that apply to a specific category of users. The standards are listed in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405 through 471.
Categorical user means a user regulated by one of EPA’s categorical pretreatment standards.
Chemical oxygen demand means a test to measure the amount of oxygen consumed where the oxygen is derived from chemicals.
Composite sample means the sample resulting from the combination of individual wastewater samples taken at selected intervals based on an increment of either flow or time.
Cooling water/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. Cooling water may be generated from any use, such as air conditioning, heat exchangers, cooling or refrigeration to which the only pollutant added is heat.
DEQ means the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality.
Discharge, including indirect discharge, means any liquid and water-carried industrial wastes and sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, that are discharged into the City sewage system and ultimately to the treatment plant.
Domestic user (residential user) means any person discharging wastewater into the City sewage system similar in volume and/or chemical make-up to the discharge of a residential dwelling unit. Discharges from a residential dwelling unit typically include up to 80 gallons per capita per day, 0.2 pounds of BOD per capita per day, and 0.17 pounds of TSS per capita per day.
EPA means the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, including its authorized officials.
Existing source means a wastewater discharge source that was in operation or began construction before the EPA’s publication of proposed categorical pretreatment standards applicable to the source if and when the standard is promulgated.
Existing user means any noncategorical user that was discharging wastewater prior to the effective date of the City’s pretreatment regulations.
Grab sample means a sample taken from a wastestream on a one-time basis without regard to the flow in the wastestream and without consideration of time.
Interference means:
1. Inhibition or disruption of the City sewage system, including treatment processes or operations;
2. Inhibition or disruption of sludge processes, use or disposal; or
3. Causation of a violation of the City’s WPCF permit or of the prevention of biosolids use or disposal in compliance with any of the following statutory/regulatory provisions or permits issued under those provisions (or more stringent State or local regulations): Section 405 of the Clean Water Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), 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 SWDA; the Clean Air Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; and the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act. Interference is normally caused by a discharge.
Maximum allowable discharge limit means the maximum concentration or mass loading of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from the analysis of any discrete or composited sample collected, independent of the industrial flow rate and the duration of the sampling event.
Medical wastes means isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes, potentially contaminated laboratory wastes, and dialysis wastes.
NAICS codes means North American Industry Classification System codes.
New source means:
1. 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 categorical pretreatment standards under Section 307(c) of the Act which will be applicable to such source if the standards are then promulgated; 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 but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
3. Construction of a new source as defined under this subsection has commenced if the owner or operator has:
a. Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous on-site construction program:
i. Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment; or
ii. 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; or
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.
New user means a user that is not regulated under Federal categorical pretreatment standards but that applies to the City for a new building permit or occupies an existing building and plans to commence discharge of wastewater to the City’s collection system after the effective date of the ordinance codified in this title. Any person that buys an existing facility that is discharging nondomestic wastewater will be considered an existing user if no significant changes are made in the manufacturing operation.
Pass through means a discharge that exits the treatment plant into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations that, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, is a cause of a violation of the City’s WPCF permit. This includes an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
Permittee means a person or user issued a wastewater discharge permit by the City.
Person means any individual, partnership, co-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 governmental entities.
pH means a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance, expressed in standard units.
Pollutant means any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, agricultural and industrial wastes, and the characteristics of the wastewater (i.e., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), toxicity, or odor).
Pretreatment means the reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater prior to (or in lieu of) introducing such pollutants into the City sewage system. This reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical, or biological processes; by process changes; or by other means (except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable pretreatment standard).
Pretreatment requirement means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.
Pretreatment standards or standards means prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits established by the City.
Prohibited discharge standards or prohibited discharges means absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances imposed by this chapter.
Septic tank waste means any sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks, trucked waste and waste tanks.
Sewage means human excrement and gray water (household showers, dishwashing operations, etc.).
Sewage system means the entire system used by the City to collect, transport, treat, and discharge treated effluent, including all sewers and treatment plants.
Sewer means any pipe, conduit ditch, or other device used to collect and transport sewage from the generating source.
Significant industrial user means:
1. A user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or a user that:
a. Discharges an average of 25,000 GPD or more of process wastewater to the City sewage system (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling, and boiler blowdown wastewater); or
b. Contributes a process wastestream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the treatment plant; or
c. Is designated as such by the City on the basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the treatment plant’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
2. A significant industrial user is an industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards under 40 CFR, 403.6 and 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N.
3. Upon a finding that a user meeting the criteria in subsection (1)(a) of this definition has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any applicable pretreatment standard or requirement, the City may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from a user and in accordance with procedures established according to 40 CFR 403.8(f)(6), determine that such user should not be considered a significant industrial user.
Sludge means semisolid material such as the type precipitated by sewage treatment.
Slug control plan (40 CFR 403.8 (B)(6)(iv)) means requirements to control slug discharges, which include development of a compliance schedule for installation of technology required to meet pretreatment standards and submission of all notices and reports.
Slug load means any discharge at a flow rate or concentration which could cause a violation of the discharge standards in this code or any discharge of a nonroutine, episodic nature, including, but not limited to, an accidental spill or a noncustomary batch discharge.
Standard industrial classification (SIC) code means a classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the United States Office of Management and Budget.
Stormwater means any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation, including snowmelt.
Total suspended solids or TSS means 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.
Treatment plant means a “treatment works,” as defined by the Act, that is owned by the City.
Treatment plant effluent means liquid discharge from the treatment plant.
User or industrial user means a source of a direct or indirect discharge to the sewage system other than a domestic user.
Wastewater means liquid and water-carried industrial wastes and sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which are discharged to the sewage system and treated by the treatment plant.
Wastewater discharge permit means an authorization or equivalent control mechanism issued by the City to users discharging wastewater to the sewage system. The permit or control mechanism may contain appropriate pretreatment standards and requirements.
Wastewater treatment plant or treatment plant means the facility that treats municipal sewage and industrial waste. [Ord. NS-2182, 2012]