12.16.040 Definitions.
Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this chapter, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated:
“Act” or “the Act” means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq.
“Approval authority” means the Washington State Department of Ecology, Water Quality Program Manager.
Authorized or Duly Authorized Representative of the User.
(a) If the user is a corporation:
(i) 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
(ii) 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.
(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) 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 Town.
“Best management practices” or “BMP” means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in GMC 12.16.050(1) and (2) (40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and 403.5(b)). BMPs may 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” or “BOD” means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five days at 20 degrees centigrade, usually expressed as a concentration (e.g., mg/l).
“Categorical industrial user” means an industrial user subject to a categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard.
“Categorical pretreatment standard” or “categorical standard” means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with Sections 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1317) which apply to a specific category of users and which appear in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405 through 471.
“Composite sample” means a representative composite of samples of a waste stream taken throughout the period of a day when discharges are produced by a regulated activity. Composite samplers must interface with a flow metering device to produce a representative “flow proportionate” composite sample unless the Public Works Superintendent has determined that flow proportionate samples are not required or the analyte is not amenable to composite sampling (pH, temperature, oil, etc.).
“Daily concentration” means the concentration obtained through analysis of a composite sample of all discharges over a day (or 24-hour period) or the average of all discrete samples taken over such period.
“Daily limit (maximum daily limit)” means the maximum allowable discharge of a pollutant over a calendar day or equivalent 24-hour period. Where daily limits are expressed in units of mass, compliance is the product of the daily concentration and the flow over the same period.
“Department” means the Washington State Department of Ecology or authorized representatives thereof.
“Environmental Protection Agency (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.
“Existing source” means any source of discharges subject to categorical standards and discharging prior to the promulgation of those standards or otherwise not meeting the definition of a “new source” in this section.
“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.
“Indirect discharge” or “discharge” means the introduction of pollutants into the POTW from any nondomestic source subject to this chapter or other state or federal regulations.
“Instantaneous limit” means the maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from the analysis of a discrete sample. For analytes for which users must take a grab sample for compliance purposes, this standard is the same as the daily maximum standard. For all other pollutants the instantaneous limit shall be twice the daily limit.
“Interference” means a discharge which causes (either by itself or in combination with other discharges) a violation of the Town’s state waste discharge permit or prevents the intended sewage sludge use or disposal by inhibiting or disrupting the POTW, including its collection systems, pump stations, and wastewater and sludge treatment processes. For example, a discharge from a user which causes a blockage resulting in a discharge at a point not authorized under the Town’s state waste discharge permit.
“Local limits” means effluent limitation developed for users by the Public Works Superintendent to specifically protect the POTW from the potential of pass through, interference, and intended biosolids uses. Such limits shall be based on the POTW’s site-specific flow and loading capacities, receiving water considerations, and reasonable treatment expectations for nondomestic wastewater.
“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.
“Monthly average” means the arithmetic mean of the effluent sample results collected during a calendar month or specified 30-day period. Where the Control Authority has taken a sample during the period, it must be included in the monthly average if provided in time. However, where composite samples are required, grab samples taken for process control or by the Control Authority are not to be included in a monthly average.
“Monthly average limit” means the limit to be applied to the monthly average to determine compliance with the requirements of this chapter.
New Source.
(a) A facility whose construction began after categorical pretreatment standards applicable to its operations were proposed and with a real or potential discharge provided the facility is:
(i) Constructed at a site at which no other source is located;
(ii) Totally replaces the process or production equipment that generate regulated process waste streams at an existing source; or
(iii) The new processes are substantially independent of an existing source at the same site.
(b) Construction at an existing source does not make the source a new source if the construction merely alters, partially replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
(c) Construction of a new source is considered to have begun when the owner or operator either began significant site preparation work including earthwork or removal of structures to allow the new facilities or equipment, began constructing a facility or emplacing equipment, or entered into a binding contract to purchase necessary facilities or equipment within a reasonable time prior to operation.
(d) Users must provide documentation sufficient to conclusively substantiate any existing source claim with their initial permit application. Once categorized as a new source, users may not assert “existing source” status in subsequent permit renewals.
“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.
“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 Town’s state waste discharge permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
“Person” means any individual, partnership, copartnership, 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 a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, expressed in standard units.
“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, carbonaceous oxygen demand, 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 POTW. Dilution is not considered pretreatment.
“Pretreatment requirements” means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user other than a pretreatment standard such as the proper operation of pretreatment devices, record keeping, and reporting.
“Pretreatment standards” or “standards” means discharge prohibitions, categorical pretreatment standards, state pretreatment standards, local limits, and site specific limits based on potential for vapor toxicity, explosion, sewer corrosion, or other detrimental effects to the POTW.
“Public Works Superintendent” or “Director” means the person designated by the Town to supervise the operation of the POTW, and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this chapter. The term also means a duly authorized representative of the Public Works Superintendent.
“Publicly owned treatment works (POTW)” means a treatment works, as defined by Section 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1292), which is owned by the Town. 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.
“Septic tank waste” means sewage and typically associated solids from domestic activities pumped from a septic tank serving one or more private residences. The Public Works Superintendent may also consider wastes from other holding tanks such as boat blackwater, bilge water, cesspools, and treatment lagoons to be septic tank waste so long as they are absent chemicals which might inhibit biological activity.
“Sewage” means human excrement and gray water (from household showers, toilets, kitchens, clothes and dish washing, and related domestic activities).
Significant Industrial User (SIU). Except as provided in subsections (c) and (d) of this definition, a “significant industrial user” is:
(a) A user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or
(b) A user that:
(i) Discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling, and boiler blowdown wastewater);
(ii) 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
(iii) Is designated as such by the Town on the basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
(c) The Town may determine that a user subject to categorical pretreatment standards is a nonsignificant categorical industrial user rather than a significant industrial user on a finding that the 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:
(i) The user, prior to Town’s finding, has consistently complied with all applicable categorical pretreatment standards and requirements; and
(ii) The user never discharges any untreated concentrated wastewater.
(d) Upon a finding that a user meeting the criteria in subsection (b) of this definition has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement, the Town may at any time, on its 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.
“Slug load” or “slug discharge” means 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. This includes discharges at a flow rate or concentration which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards of GMC 12.16.050.
“Storm water” means any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation, including snowmelt.
“Suspended solids” 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.
“Town” means the Town or the Town Council of Garfield.
“User or industrial user” means a source of indirect discharge.
“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.
“Wastewater treatment plant” or “treatment plant” means that portion of the POTW which is designed to provide treatment of municipal sewage and industrial waste. (Ord. 445-N, §1, 2014)