13.08.020 Definitions.
For the purposes of this title, the following words and phrases shall have the meanings respectively ascribed to them in this section:
“Act” means Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq., or as amended.
“Administrator” means the appropriate Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Regional Administrator (San Francisco EPA, Region IX).
“Amalgam separator” means a device that employs filtration, settlement, centrifugation, or ion exchange to remove amalgam and its metal constituents from a dental office vacuum system before it discharges to the sewer.
“Amalgam waste” means and includes noncontact amalgam (amalgam scrap that has not been in contact with the patient); contact amalgam (including, but not limited to, extracted teeth containing amalgam); amalgam sludge captured by chair-side traps, vacuum pump filters, screens, and other amalgam trapping devices; used amalgam capsules; and leaking or unusable amalgam capsules.
“Applicant” means a person or entity making application for a permit and shall be an occupant and/or owner, or an occupant’s and/or owner’s authorized representative, of the premises to be served by the sewer for which a permit is required.
“Approval authority” means the Program Director in a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) state with an approved state pretreatment program.
“Approved POTW pretreatment program” means a program administered by a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) that meets the criteria established in 40 CFR Parts 403.8 and 403.9, or as amended, and which has been approved by the Administrator or approval authority in accordance with 40 CFR Part 403.11, or as amended.
“Authorized representative” of the applicant or user means:
1. If the applicant or user is a corporation:
a. 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
b. The manager of one or more manufacturing, production or operating facilities, provided the manager is authorized to make management decisions that 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 action(s) taken to gather complete and accurate information for individual wastewater discharge permit requirements; and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
2. If the applicant or user is a partnership, association, or sole proprietorship, an “authorized representative” shall mean a general partner or proprietor, respectively.
3. If the applicant or 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.
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 Engineer, or the City of Santa Rosa Director of Utilities in matters under the jurisdictional authority of the subregional system.
5. A user not falling within one of the above categories must designate as the authorized representative an individual responsible for the overall operation of the facility.
“Average dry weather flow (ADWF)” means the mean daily volume of sewage during the period of time not influenced by rainfall.
“Best available technology (BAT)” means the most efficient hardware, fixtures and systems as determined by the City Engineer or Director of Utilities for reduction of the amount of wastewater volume or pollutants.
“Best management practices (BMP)” means schedules of activities, prohibition of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce unintended discharges to the sanitary sewer system. BMPs include, but are not limited to, pretreatment requirements, operational procedures and practices, maintenance and repair of equipment, record-keeping, containment to prevent spills or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, good housekeeping practices or diversion of water away from raw materials or chemical storage areas.
“Board of Public Utilities” means the Board of Public Utilities of the City of Santa Rosa.
“BOD” means biochemical oxygen demand as determined by the five-day BOD in accordance with standards set forth in 40 CFR Part 136, or as amended.
“Building” means any structure used or intended for supporting or sheltering any use or occupancy as determined by the City Engineer.
“Categorical pretreatment standards” means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA under Sections 307(b) and (c), or as amended, of the Clean Water Act applicable to industrial users.
“Categorical user or categorical industrial user (CIU)” means all industrial users that are subject to categorical pretreatment standards under 40 CFR Part 403.6 or as amended and in any industry as defined in 40 CFR Parts 405 through 599 or as amended.
“City” means the City of Sebastopol, Sonoma County, California.
“Color” means the optical density at the visual wavelength of maximum absorption, relative to distilled water. One hundred percent transmittance is equivalent to zero optical density.
“Commercial user” means all retail stores, restaurants, office buildings, laundries, and other private business and service establishments, including churches and lodges.
“Compatible pollutant” means a component of wastewater which does not interfere with, is removed by, and is not otherwise incompatible with the Subregional Water Reclamation System or its processes.
“Compliance schedule” means a detailed time schedule of specific actions which a user is required to take in order to prevent or correct a violation of any prohibitions or limitations prescribed herein or any of the subregional system’s effluent limitations or pretreatment standards promulgated in accordance herewith.
“Composite sample” means the sample resulting from the combination of individual wastewater samples taken at selected intervals based on an increment of either flow proportion or time.
“Connected” means a physical joinder of any plumbing or drainage system or fixture contained in any structure to the Sebastopol sewer collection system, or the subregional sewer system.
“Contamination” means an impairment of the quality of the waters of the State by waste to a degree which creates a hazard to the public health through poisoning or through the spread of disease.
“Cooling water” means the water discharged from any use such as air conditioning, cooling or refrigeration, or to which the only pollutant added is heat and other minor chemical constituents.
“Cooling water, noncontact” means water used for cooling which does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product.
“Control authority” means the City Engineer, or the Director of Utilities, or duly authorized representatives.
“Customer” means a person who is, or who has agreed to be, responsible for the payment of water or sewer service charges. “Customer” is also synonymous with “account,” against which charges are assessed and billed.
“Director” means the City of Santa Rosa Director of Utilities or duly authorized representative.
“Discharger” is synonymous with “user.”
“Dissolved solids” means the residue upon evaporation of water after filtration in accordance with standards set forth in 40 CFR Part 136, or as amended, or any other test procedures approved by the Administrator. Dissolved solids are also termed total dissolved solids or “TDS.”
“Enforcement response plan or ERP” means the mechanism for addressing applicable local, State, or Federal violations. The ERP shall include a written description of each type of enforcement, when to administer it, and how the monitoring schedule is affected. In conjunction with the written description, there may be an enforcement response plan flow chart which maps out the path through the various levels of enforcement.
“Engineer” means the City Engineer of the City of Sebastopol or duly authorized representative.
“EPA” means the Federal Environmental Protection Agency.
“Equivalent single-family unit (ESU)” means a unit of flow that is equivalent to that from a single-family residential unit.
“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 under Sections 307(b) and (c) of the Act or as amended which will be applicable to such source if the standard is thereafter promulgated in accordance with Section 307 of the Act or as amended.
“Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972” means Public Law 92-500, officially entitled the “Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972,” also known as the Clean Water Act, and as amended, as well as guidelines, limitations, and standards promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency.
“Grab sample” means a sample which is taken from a wastestream without regard to the flow in the wastestream and over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.
“Holding tank waste” means any waste from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks, and vacuum pump tank trucks.
“Improvement” means that which is built or constructed, an edifice of any kind, or any piece of work artificially built up or composed of parts joined together in some definite manner. For the purpose of this title, this definition shall not include “building” as defined above and temporary on-site storm basins, but shall include the playing area of any nonenclosed sport facility or restricted sport field.
“Indirect discharge” means the introduction of pollutants into a POTW from any nondomestic source regulated under Section 307(b), (c), or (d), or as amended, of the Act.
“Industrial cost recovery” means the portion of annual capital cost recovery allocable to industry and subject to Federal industrial payback.
“Industrial user” means a source of indirect discharge including SIUs and other industry.
“Industrial wastewater” means the waterborne waste and wastewater from any production, manufacturing, or processing operation of whatever nature including institutional and commercial operations where water is used for the removal of significant quantities of waste other than from human habitation of premises connected to the public sewers.
“Infiltration” means water entering the sewer system through the ground.
“Inflow” means water entering a sewer system from surface drainage and from clean cooling water from noncontact cooling systems.
“Instantaneous maximum allowable discharge limit” means the maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from the analysis of any discrete or composite samples collected, independent of the industrial flow rate and the duration of the sampling event.
“Interceptor” means a grease removal device designed to intercept, trap, or otherwise prevent grease, sand, flammable liquids, or other substances potentially harmful to the sewer system from entering.
“Interference” means a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, both:
1. Inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use, or disposal; and
2. Therefore is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the POTW’s NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation) or of the prevention of sludge use or disposal in compliance with statutory provisions, regulations or permits issued thereunder (or more stringent State or local regulations); Section 405 of the Act or as amended; the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) or as amended, including Title II, more commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) or as amended, and including regulations contained in any State sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the SWDA or as amended; the Clean Air Act or as amended; the Toxic Substances Control Act or as amended; and the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act or as amended.
“Local limits” means the technical and/or literature-based limits, expressed either as concentration or as mass, of those pollutants.
“Lot” means any premises, piece or parcel of land or property as bounded, defined or shown upon a map, plat or deed recorded in the office of the County Recorder; provided, however, that in the event any building or improvement appurtenant to said building covers more area than a “lot,” as herein defined, the term “lot” shall be deemed to be and include all such pieces or parcels of land upon which said buildings or improvements are wholly or partly located.
“Medical waste” 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.
“Multifamily residential unit” means a residential unit as defined in the Sebastopol Municipal Code that is connected through a service lateral connection to the collection system and the service lateral connection serves more than one residential unit.
“National pretreatment standard” or “national categorical pretreatment standard” means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with Sections 307(b) and (c), or as amended, of the Act, which applies to industrial users. This term includes prohibitive discharge limits established pursuant to 40 CFR Part 403.5, or as amended.
“Natural outlet” means any outlet into a watercourse, ditch, pond, lake, or other body of surface or groundwater.
“New source” means:
1. Any building, structure, facility, improvement 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), or as amended, 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, improvement or installation is constructed at a site or on a lot at which no other source is located; or
b. The building, structure, facility, improvement 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, improvement or installation are substantially independent of an existing source at the same site or lot. The Director of Utilities shall determine whether the production or wastewater generating processes are substantially independent, taking into account these factors 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.
2. Construction on a site at which an existing source is located, resulting in a modification of said source if the construction does not create a new building, structure, facility, improvement or installation but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
3. Construction of a new source as defined under this section has commenced if the applicant, user or customer has:
a. Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous on-site construction program:
i. Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities, improvement or equipment; or
ii. Significant site preparation work including clearing, excavation, or removal of existing buildings, structures, improvements 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 is 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.
“Nonresidential user” means users whose premises are primarily for commercial or governmental or other nonresidential activity but excluding premises of industrial users. Incidental residential use is not precluded.
“NPDES permit” means National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued to a POTW pursuant to Section 402 of the Act, or as amended.
“Nuisance” means any condition caused, maintained or permitted to exist which constitutes a threat to public health, safety, and welfare or which is injurious to the senses or which significantly obstructs, injures or interferes with the reasonable or free use of property in a neighborhood, community or to any considerable number of persons. A public nuisance also has the same meaning as set forth under the California Civil Code.
“Off-site sewer” means a public sewer constructed or to be constructed outside the boundaries of a subdivision or outside the edges of a lot.
“Pass-through” means any 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 POTW’s NPDES permit or waste discharge requirements, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
“Peak wet weather flow (PWWF)” means peak rate of flow occurring during or from the effects of precipitation.
“Permanent sewer service” means the installation of a permanent (nontemporary) City water meter by City forces in an approved water meter box accompanied by (1) completion of construction of a permanent sewer lateral to a permitted structure, and (2) a request to the City by the property owner, agent, or tenant to establish a permanent sewer service account. For sewer-service-only requests, “permanent sewer service” means the completion of construction of a permanent sewer lateral to a permitted structure accompanied by a request to the City by the property owner, agent, or tenant to establish a permanent sewer service account.
“Person(s)” 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, and local governmental entities.
“pH” means the logarithm of the reciprocal of the hydrogen-ion concentration and indicates the measure of acidity or alkalinity.
“Pollutant” includes but is not limited to dredge soil, 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, TDS, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, or odor) as well as any other referenced pollutants in 40 CFR or as amended.
“Pollution” means an alteration of the quality of the waters of the State by waste to a degree which unreasonably affects: (1) such waters for beneficial use; or (2) facilities which serve such beneficial uses.
“Premises” means a parcel of real property, or portion thereof, including any improvements thereon, which is determined by the Director of Utilities to be a single unit for the purposes of receiving, using, and paying for sewerage service.
“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 discharging or otherwise introducing such pollutants into a POTW. The reduction or alteration may be obtained by physical, chemical, or biological processes, process changes or by other means, except as prohibited by 40 CFR Part 403.6(d), or as amended.
“Pretreatment requirements” means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a national pretreatment standard, imposed on an industrial user.
“Pretreatment standards or standards” means discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local standards and limits.
“Prohibited discharge standards or prohibited discharges” means prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances.
“Public agency” means the United States Government or any department or agency thereof; the State of California or any department or agency thereof; any city, county, town, or any department or agencies thereof; any school district; any other governmental or public district or entity; or any other legal public district, entity or entities; or any combination of the foregoing.
“Publicly owned treatment works (POTW)” means a treatment works as defined by Section 212, or as amended, of the Act, which is owned and/or operated by a state or municipality. This includes any devices and systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of the municipal sewage or industrial wastewater of a liquid nature. It also includes sewers, pipes, and other conveyances only if they convey wastewater to a POTW treatment plant.
“Regional Water Quality Control Board” means the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, North Coastal Region, which has jurisdiction in the Santa Rosa area.
“Residential user” means users whose premises are primarily for residential purposes and have no significant producing or processing activity of a commercial or industrial nature.
“Septic tank waste” means any sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks. (See “Holding tank waste.”)
“Sewage” means the waterborne wastes received from human habitation and use of premises for residential, business, institutional, commercial and industrial purposes.
“Sewer or sanitary overflow” means any overflow, spill, release, discharge or diversion of untreated or partially treated wastewater that may or may not reach water of the United States or that may or may not cause wastewater backups into buildings or onto private property.
“Sewer or sanitary sewer” means a pipe or conduit which carries sewage and/or industrial wastewater and to which storm, surface, and groundwater are not intentionally admitted. Unless otherwise qualified, the word “sewer” when used in this title shall be taken to mean “sanitary sewer.” A City sewer or public sewer is any sewer located within an easement or public right-of-way and which is maintained by the City.
“Sewer service lateral” means that portion of the sewer system which connects the user’s premises to the City sewer.
“Sewer system” means all works for collecting, pumping, treating, disposing, storing, and reclaiming sewage.
“Shall” is mandatory, and “may” is permissive.
Significant Industrial User (SIU).
1. Except as provided in subsections (2) and (3) of this definition, the term “significant industrial user” or “SIU” means:
a. All industrial users subject to categorical pretreatment standards under 40 CFR 403.6 and 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N; and
b. Any other industrial user that: discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater); contributes a process wastestream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant; or is designated as such by the Director of Utilities on the basis that the industrial user has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement (in accordance with 40 CFR 403.8(f)(6)).
2. The Director of Utilities may determine that an industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards under 40 CFR 403.6 and 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, is a nonsignificant categorical industrial user rather than a significant industrial user on a finding that the industrial user never discharges more than 100 gallons per day (gpd) of total categorical wastewater (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater unless specifically included in the pretreatment standard) and the following conditions are met:
a. The industrial user, prior to the Director of Utilities’ finding, has consistently complied with all applicable categorical pretreatment standards and requirements;
b. The industrial user annually submits the certification statement required in 40 CFR 403.12(q) together with any additional information necessary to support the certification statement; and
c. The industrial user never discharges any untreated concentrated wastewater.
3. Upon finding that an industrial user meeting the criteria in subsection (1)(b) of this definition has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standards or requirement, the Director of Utilities may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from an industrial user or POTW, and in accordance with 40 CFR 403.8(f)(6), determine that such industrial user is not a significant industrial user.
“Single-family residential unit” means a residential unit as defined in SMC 20-70.020 and as amended that is served by a single service lateral.
“Sludge” means a primarily organic solid product produced by wastewater treatment processes that can be beneficially recycled.
“Slug discharge” means a discharge capable of causing adverse impacts to the City, its workers, or the environment, or any pollutant including an oxygen-demanding pollutant released in a discharge at a flow rate and/or pollutant concentration which may cause interference with the operation of the City sewer system. A slug discharge is considered to be a discharge of a nonroutine, episodic nature, including, but not limited to, an accidental spill or a noncustomary batch discharge. Batch discharges are intentional, controllable discharges that occur periodically within an industrial user’s process (typically the result of a noncontinuous process). Accidental spills are unintentional, largely uncontrolled discharges that may result from leaks or spills of storage containers or manufacturing processes in an area with access to floor drains.
“Standard Industrial Classification or SIC” means a classification pursuant to the latest published edition of the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, used to promote the comparability of industries.
“Subregional system” means the Santa Rosa Subregional Water Reclamation System service area, a POTW, which includes the cities of Santa Rosa, Rohnert Park, Sebastopol, Cotati, and the South Park County Sanitation District.
“Suspended solids (SS)” 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 per standards set forth in 40 CFR Part 136, or as amended, and amendments thereto or any other test procedure approved by the Administrator. Other test procedures may be used when approved by the Director of Utilities.
“Total dissolved solids (TDS)” means the residue upon evaporation of water after filtration. Standards for analysis are set forth in 40 CFR Part 136, or as amended. Other test procedures may be used when approved by the Director of Utilities.
“Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN)” means ammonia as nitrogen, as measured by the Kjeldahl method. Standards for analysis are set forth in 40 CFR Part 136 or as amended. Other test procedures may be used when approved by the Director of Utilities.
“Toxic pollutant” means one of the pollutants or combinations of pollutants listed as toxic under Section 307 of the Act or as amended.
“Trade secret” means a method or process, not patented, but known only to persons using it in producing an article of trade or a service having commercial value.
“Treatment plant effluent” means treated wastewater from the subregional system.
“User” means any person who is owner of record, lessee, sublessee, mortgagee in possession, or responsible for property having a connection to a City sewer or for processes which contribute sewage or industrial wastewater to a City sewer. See also “Industrial user.”
“User agency” means a public agency which by agreement with the City is served by and acquires a capacity service in the Santa Rosa subregional system.
“Waste” includes sewage and any and all other waste substances, liquid, solid, gaseous, or radioactive, associated with human habitation, or of human or animal origin, or from any producing, manufacturing or processing operation of whatever nature. See also “Industrial wastewater.”
“Waste hauler” means those that haul wastewater from a domestic, commercial, industrial origin or others as approved by the Director of Utilities to the POTW. Such domestic sources include chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks, or cesspools.
“Wastewater” means the liquid and water-carried industrial wastewater, or sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which is contributed to the City sewer system.
“Wastewater discharge permit” means the written permit or mechanism by which new or increased contributions of pollutants, or changes in the nature of pollutants, to the subregional system by industrial users may be controlled to ensure compliance with applicable pretreatment standards, pretreatment requirements, or City local limits.
“Wastewater treatment plant or treatment plant” means that portion of the POTW which is designed to provide treatment of municipal sewage and industrial wastewater.
“Water quality requirements” means requirements for City’s treatment plant effluent established by the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit or by State or Federal regulatory agencies for the protection of receiving water quality. Water quality requirements include effluent limitations and waste discharge standards, limitations, or prohibitions which may be established, adopted or amended from time to time by State or Federal laws or regulatory agencies.
“Waters of the State” or “receiving waters” means 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. (Ord. 1078 §§ 1, 2, 2015)