13.08.020 Definitions and abbreviations.
A. The following abbreviations, when used in this chapter, shall have the designated meanings:
1. BOD—Biochemical oxygen demand.
2. BMP—Best management practice.
3. BMR—Baseline monitoring report.
4. CFR—Code of Federal Regulations.
5. CIU—Categorical industrial user.
6. COD—Chemical oxygen demand.
7. EPA—U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
8. gpd—gallons per day.
9. IU—Industrial user.
10. mg/L—milligrams per liter.
11. NPDES—National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.
12. POTW—Publicly owned treatment works.
13. RCRA—Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
14. SIU—Significant industrial user.
15. SNC—Significant noncompliance.
16. TSS—Total suspended solids.
17. USC—United States Code.
The following terms, when used in this chapter, shall have the following meanings:
B. “Act” or “the Act” means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments of 1972 (33 USC § 1251, et seq.) and any amendments thereto including the Clean Water Act of 1977, as well as any regulations, guidelines, limitations and standards promulgated by the United States Environmental Protection Agency pursuant to the Act.
C. “Approval authority” means State Water Resources Control Board.
D. “Authorized or duly authorized representative of the user” means any of the following:
1. If the 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 operation facilities, provided the manager is authorized to make management decisions that govern the operation of the regulated facility including the explicit or implicit duty to make major capital investment recommendations, and initiate and direct other comprehensive measures to assure long-term environmental compliance with environmental laws and regulations; has the ability to ensure that the necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and accurate information for 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 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 governmental facility, or their designee.
4. The individuals described in subsections (D)(1) through (3) of this section may designate a duly authorized representative if the authorization is in writing, the authorization specifies the individual or position responsible for either the overall operation of the facility from which the discharge originates or the overall environmental matters of the company, and the written authorization is submitted to the city.
E. “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 twenty degrees centigrade and expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/L).
F. “Best management practices” (or “BMPs”) means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in this article and 40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b). BMPs include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or sewage disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.
G. “Categorical industrial user” means an industrial user subject to a categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard.
H. “Categorical pretreatment standard” or “categorical standard” means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency in accordance with Sections 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 USC § 1317) that apply to a specific category of users and that appear in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Part 405s-471.
I. “City” means the city of San Luis Obispo.
J. “Class I industrial user” means any industrial user that has materials and/or wastes on site that if discharged to the sewer may impact the POTW in a negative manner. These materials and wastes include, but are not limited to, any and all prohibited discharges described in Section 13.08.040.
K. “Class II industrial user” means any industrial user that may discharge conventional pollutants to the POTW which may cause interference or pass-through. These wastes include but are not limited to laundry discharges, nonhazardous solids and oil and grease of animal or vegetable origin.
L. “Control authority” means the city of San Luis Obispo.
M. “Conventional pollutants” means pollutants which are usually found in domestic and/or commercial wastes such as suspended solids, biological oxygen demand, pathogenic organisms, and oil and grease of animal or vegetable origin.
N. “Daily maximum” means the arithmetic average of all effluent samples for a pollutant collected during a calendar day.
O. “Daily maximum limit” means the maximum allowable discharge limit of a pollutant during a calendar day. Where daily maximum limits are expressed in units of mass, the daily discharge is the total mass discharged over the course of the day. Where daily maximum limits are expressed in terms of a concentration, the daily discharge is the arithmetic average measurement of the pollutant concentration derived from all measurements taken that day.
P. “Director” means the utilities director of the city of San Luis Obispo or his or her duly authorized representative. Any notice required to be given to the director shall be delivered to the director at 879 Morro Street, San Luis Obispo, or as otherwise directed.
Q. “Domestic wastewater” means water bearing only those wastes derived from the ordinary living processes and of such character as to permit satisfactory disposal to, and treatment in, the POTW.
R. “Environmental Protection Agency” or “EPA” means the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the regional water management division director, the regional administrator, or other duly authorized official of said agency.
S. “Existing source” means any source of discharge that is not a “new source.”
T. “Grab sample” means a sample that is taken from a wastestream without regard to the flow in the wastestream and over a period of time not to exceed fifteen minutes.
U. “Grease” means all fat, grease, oil, wax or other trichlorotrifluoroethane-soluble matter of animal, vegetable, petroleum or mineral origin.
V. “Indirect discharge” or “discharge” means the introduction of pollutants into the POTW from any nondomestic source.
W. “Industrial user” or “user” means a source of indirect discharge.
X. “Industrial user’s survey” means a questionnaire (and related process) used by the city to identify and categorize industrial users and the characteristics of their wastewater discharge.
Y. “Infectious waste” means any waste material or article which harbors or may reasonably be considered to harbor any type of microorganism, helminth or virus which causes or significantly contributes to increased morbidity or mortality in human beings.
Z. “Instantaneous limit” means the maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from analysis of any discrete or composited sample collected, independent of the industrial flow rate and the duration of the sampling event.
AA. “Interference” means a discharge that, 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 which is a cause of or significantly contributes to either a violation of any requirement of the POTW’s NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation) or to the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal by the POTW in accordance with the following statutory provisions and regulations or permits issued thereunder (or more stringent state or local regulations): Section 405 of the Clean Water Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) (including Title II, more commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA), and including state regulations contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the SWDA), the Clean Air Act, and the Toxic Substances Control Act.
BB. “Lateral” or “sewer lateral” means that part of the piping of a drainage system that extends from a public or private building, structure or facility and conveys wastewater to the point at which it enters the public sewer, private sewer, private sewer disposal system, or other point of disposal. This may extend beyond the boundaries of the property being served.
CC. “Local limit” means the specific discharge limits developed and enforced by the city upon industrial or commercial facilities to implement the general and specific discharge prohibitions listed in 40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b).
DD. “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, or dialysis wastes.
EE. “Monthly average” means the sum of all “daily discharges” measured during a calendar month divided by the number of “daily discharges” measured during that month.
FF. “Monthly average limit” means the highest allowable average of “daily discharges” over a calendar month, calculated as the sum of all “daily discharges” measured during a calendar month divided by the number of “daily discharges” measured during that month.
GG. “Natural outlet” means any outlet into a watercourse, pond, lake or other body of surface water or ground water.
HH. “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 pretreatment standards under Section 307(c) of the Clean Water 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 of wastewater-generating processes of the building, structure, facility or installation is 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 (HH)(1)(b) or (c) of this section 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 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.
II. Noncontact Cooling Water. Water used for cooling that does not come into direct contact with any raw material, immediate product, or finished product.
JJ. “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 POTW’s NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
KK. “Person” means any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation, group, governmental agency or educational institution.
LL. “pH” means a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, expressed in standard units.
MM. “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, or certain characteristics of wastewater (e.g., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, or odor).
NN. “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 POTW. 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.
OO. “Pretreatment requirements” means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.
PP. “Pretreatment standards” or “standards” shall mean prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.
QQ. “Prohibited discharge standards” or “prohibited discharges” means absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in Section 13.08.040.
RR. “Publicly owned treatment works (POTW)” means the city-owned treatment works, as defined by Section 212 of the Act. This definition includes any 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.
SS. “Septic tank waste” means any sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, or septic tanks.
TT. “Sewage” means human excrement and gray water (household showers, dishwashing operations, etc.).
UU. “Significant industrial user (SIU)” means any industrial discharger subject to federal categorical pretreatment standards or any industrial discharger that:
1. Discharges ten thousand gallons per day or more of process wastewater;
2. Contributes five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic capacity of the treatment plant;
3. Discharges either continuously or intermittently to the POTW, process wastewaters containing priority pollutants as determined through analytical procedures or reasonable technical judgment; or
4. Has a reasonable potential, in the opinion of the director, to adversely affect the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
VV. “Significant noncompliance” means any one of the following:
1. Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, as defined here as those in which sixty-six percent or more of all of the measurements taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) a numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 CFR 403.8(f)(2)(vii);
2. Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which thirty-three percent or more of all of the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(1) multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC equals 1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH);
3. Any violation of a pretreatment effluent limit (daily maximum or longer term average) that the city determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass-through (including endangering the health of POTW personnel or the general public);
4. Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or to the environment or has resulted in the POTW’s exercise of its emergency authority as stated in this chapter to halt or prevent such a discharge;
5. Failure to meet, within ninety days after schedule date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a local control mechanism or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance;
6. Failure to provide, within forty-five days after the due date, required reports such as baseline monitoring reports, ninety-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;
7. Failure to accurately report noncompliance;
8. Any other violation or group of violations which the city determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program.
WW. “Slug load” or “slug discharge” means any discharge at a flow rate or concentration which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in Section 13.08.040. A slug discharge is any discharge of a nonroutine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or a noncustomary batch discharge, which has a reasonable potential to cause interference or pass through, or in any other way violate the POTW’s regulations, local limits or permit conditions.
XX. “Stormdrain” means a sewer which is designed to carry storm and surface waters and drainage rather than sewage or industrial wastes.
YY. “Stormwater” or “storm water” means any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation, including snowmelt.
ZZ. “Total suspended solids” or “suspended solids” means the total suspended matter that floats on the surface of, or is suspended in, water, wastewater, or other liquid, and that is removable by laboratory filtering.
AAA. “Toxic” or “poisonous” means any solid, liquid or gas in such quantity that, alone or in combination with other waste substances, may create a hazard for humans, animals or the local environment, interfere with sewage treatment processes, cause a public nuisance, or cause any hazardous condition to occur in the sewerage system.
BBB. “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 contributed to the POTW.
CCC. “Wastewater treatment plant (WWTP)” or “treatment plant” means that portion of the POTW which is designed to provide treatment of municipal sewage and industrial waste. (Ord. 1598 § 1 (part), 2014)