Beaumont Municipal Code Ch. 13.04 Sewage Discharges

Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this Chapter shall be as follows:

A. "B.O.D." (denoting biochemical oxygen demand) means 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 parts per million by weight.

B. "Building drain" means that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste, and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning five feet outside the inner face of the building wall.

C. "Building sewer" means the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.

D. "Combined sewer" means a sewer receiving both surface runoff and sewage.

E. "Garbage" means solid wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food, and from handling, storage and sale of produce.

F. "Industrial waste" means the waste arising from, or associated with, an industrial operation. Such operation shall be understood to include production, processing, packing or canning of fruits, vegetables, meat or beverages, laundering of clothes in public laundries or public self service laundries, production of fertilizers, keeping of livestock and operation of dairies, production or dyeing of textiles, production of soap or other detergents or chemicals, plating of materials, processing or reclamation of refuse and kinds of manufacturing and other similar operations. Waste not comparable in composition and volume to normal domestic sewage shall be considered to be industrial waste, except as described in this chapter. It includes the washing of equipment, or spaces used in industrial operation, unless otherwise provided for. It does not include wastewater from the operation of restaurants, hotels, schools, hospitals, vehicle service stations, wash racks, garages, and establishments for regeneration of water softening apparatus, or places of retail business; and does not include the wastewaters from lunchrooms, toilets, or washrooms in industrial establishments.

G. "Inspector" means the building inspector, street superintendent, or such other person or persons as shall be designated by the City Council to implement this Chapter.

H. "Interceptor" means an approved structure designed to temporarily slow down or retain the sewage from the premises immediately prior to discharge into the public sewer to permit the separation of material deleterious to the operation of the sewage system and treatment plant.

I. "Natural outlet" means any outlet into a watercourse, both ditch, lake, or any other body of surface water or groundwater.

J. "pH" means the logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.

K. "Properly shredded garbage" means the wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that have been shredded to such degree that all particles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than one-quarter of an inch in any dimension.

L. "Sanitary sewer" means a sewer which carries sewage and into which stormwaters, surface waters and groundwaters are not intentionally admitted.

M. "Sewage sewer" or "storm drain" means any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.

N. "Storm sewer" or "storm drain" means a sewer which carries stormwaters and surface waters and drainage, but excludes sewage and polluted industrial wastes.

O. "Suspended solids" means solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in water, sewage, or other liquids, and which are removable by laboratory filtering.

P. "Watercourse" means a channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.

(Ord. 329 §1, 1961)

A. No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any stormwater, surface water, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, polluted cooling water or polluted industrial process waters to any sanitary sewer.

B. Stormwater and all other unpolluted drainage shall be discharged to such sewers as are specifically designated as combined sewers or storm sewers, or to a natural outlet approved by the inspector. Unpolluted commercial and industrial cooling water or unpolluted process waters may be discharged, upon approval of the inspector and after receiving waste discharge requirements from State of California Regional Water Control Board No. 8 to a storm sewer, combined sewer, natural outlet or sanitary sewer.

C. Except as provided in this chapter, no person shall discharge any of the following described waters or wastes to any public sewer:

1. Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than 150 degrees Fahrenheit;

2. Any gasoline, benzene, naphtha, fuel oil, or other inflammable or explosive liquid, solid or gas;

3. Any garbage that has not been properly shredded;

4. Any ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feather, tar, plastics, wood, paunch manure or any other solid or viscous substance capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers or other interference with the proper operation of the sewage works;

5. Any waters or wastes having a pH lower than 6.0 or higher than 9.0 or having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment, and personnel of the sewage works;

6. Any waters or wastes containing a toxic or poisonous substance in sufficient quantity to injure or interfere with any sewage treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals, or create any hazard in the receiving waters of the sewage treatment plant;

7. Any waters or wastes containing suspended solids of such character and quantity that unusual attention or expense is required to handle such materials at the sewage treatment plant;

8. Any noxious or malodorous gas or substance capable of creating a public nuisance.

D. The admission into the public sewers of any waters or wastes having:

1. A five-day biochemical oxygen demand greater than 300 parts per million by weight; or

2. Containing more than 300 parts per million by weight of suspended solids; or

3. Containing any quantity of substances having the characteristics described in Section 13.04.020 having an average daily flow greater than two percent of the average daily sewage flow of the City, shall be subject to the review and approval of the inspector. Where necessary in the opinion of the inspector, the owner shall provide, at his expense, such preliminary treatment as may be necessary to:

a. Reduce the biochemical oxygen demand to 300 parts per million and the suspended solids to 300 parts per million by weight; or

b. Reduce objectionable characteristics or constituents to within the maximum limits provided for in Section 13.04.020, or

c. Control the quantities and rates of discharge of such waters or wastes. Plans, specifications, and any other pertinent information relating to proposed preliminary treatment facilities shall be submitted for the approval of the inspector and of the Water Pollution Control Commission of the state, and no construction of such facilities shall be commenced until the approvals are obtained in writing.

(Ord. 329 §2, 1961; Ord. 522 §1, 1981; Ord. 958; 10/20/09)

A. Any station maintained for the servicing or repair of roadway vehicles shall install and maintain a sand and oil interceptor within two months after the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter.

B. Wastewaters from toilets shall not be allowed to pass through this interceptor, but all wastewaters arising from the servicing and repair of vehicles shall pass through this interceptor before discharge to a public sewer of the City.

C. If the service station does not include facilities for the washing of more than one vehicle at a time, the interceptor shall have an operating fluid capacity of not less than six cubic feet and an accessible effective water surface not less than four square feet. "Accessible effective water surface" is here understood to mean a surface which is easily accessible for cleaning and which at the time will retain oil floating on the surface of water passing through the trap under conditions of use.

D. If the service station has facilities for washing more than one vehicle at a time, the interceptor shall have an operating fluid capacity of at least 12 cubic feet and an accessible effective water surface of at least six square feet, and shall be as much larger than this as is necessary so that a seven-day accumulation of sand and oil will not together fill more than 25 percent of the fluid capacity.

E. The interceptor shall be designed so as to retain any oil and grease which will float and any sand which will settle. It shall be watertight and structurally sound and durable. It shall be easily accessible for cleaning and also for inspection of the inspector.

(Ord. 329 §3, 1961)

Any interceptor legally and properly installed at a vehicle service station before the effective date of the ordinance codified in this chapter shall be acceptable as an alternative to the interceptor specified in Section 13.04.030, provided such interceptor is effective in removing sand and oil and is so designed and installed that it can be inspected and properly maintained. If the City building inspector finds either by engineering knowledge or observation, that an interceptor is incapable of retaining adequately the sand and oil in the wastewater flow from a service station, he shall condemn such interceptor and declare that it does not meet the requirements of this chapter.

(Ord. 329 §4, 1961)

The City building inspector shall maintain a file, available for public use, of suitable designs of sand-and-oil interceptors. This shall be for informational purposes. Installation of an interceptor of a design shown in this file, or of any design meeting the size requirements set forth in this chapter shall not impute any liability to the City for the adequacy of the interceptor under actual conditions of use. It shall not relieve the owner or proprietor of responsibility for keeping sand and oil out of the sewer. If his interceptor is not adequate under the conditions of use, he shall construct one which is effective in accomplishing the intended purpose.

(Ord. 329 §5, 1961)

The building inspector shall not approve the plumbing of a vehicle servicing or repairing station if it does not have a sand-and-oil interceptor meeting the requirements of this chapter.

(Ord. 329 §6, 1961)

The sand-and-oil interceptor of a vehicle servicing station shall be properly maintained. It shall be cleaned as often as is necessary to assure that sand and oil do not accumulate in sufficient amount to impair the efficiency of the interceptor, or in such amount that sand and oil will pass out with the effluent. When an interceptor is cleaned, the accumulated sediment and floating material shall be removed and legally disposed of otherwise than to a sewer. An interceptor is not considered to be properly maintained if for any reason it is not in good working condition. It is not considered to be properly maintained if sand and oil accumulations total more than 25 percent of the operating fluid capacity. The owner of any service station, the lessee or sublessee, if there be such, and the proprietor, operator or superintendent of such station are individually and severally liable for any failure of proper maintenance of such interceptor.

(Ord. 329 §7, 1961)

A. It is unlawful for any person or persons to discharge or cause to be discharged from any establishment, industry or apparatus used for commercial regeneration of potable water treating units, or of replaceable elements of water treating equipment, any waste containing in excess of 0.36 pounds of chloride ion per kilogram of softening capacity regenerated, or to discharge any quantities of other water-treating wastes which may cause or contribute to difficulties in operation and maintenance of the sanitary sewer system or sewage treatment service.

B. It is unlawful for any person or persons to discharge or cause to be discharged from any establishment, industry or apparatus used for regeneration of water treating equipment or for treating of all or a portion of water used by the person or persons, any waste containing more than 0.20 pounds of chloride ion per kilogram of softening capacity regenerated, or to discharge any quantities of other water-treating wastes which may cause or contribute to difficulties in operation and maintenance of the sanitary sewer system or sewage treatment works. This section does not apply to use of individual residential water softening units when regeneration is performed at the residence where the unit is located.

(Ord. 329 §8, 1961)

Any person desiring to install, enlarge, or replace any apparatus to regenerate ion-exchange water softeners in a commercial regeneration establishment shall submit to the inspector a letter describing the intended installation or alteration and describing the arrangements which will serve to prevent the improper discharge of the wastewater, including installation and operation of recording monitoring devices simultaneously recording the conductivity and rate of flow of waste discharge or other means of ascertaining compliance with Section 13.04.080. Within ten days, the inspector shall reply, stating whether or not the disposal arrangements are adequate to insure against the addition of excessive mineral salts to the sewage or the ground. No person shall regenerate an ion-exchange water softener or elements thereof, in a commercial regeneration establishment unless he has a letter from the inspector approving as satisfactory the proposed arrangements for disposal and monitoring of the wastewaters. Such apparatus may be operated only so long as the method of wastewater disposal is as approved by the inspector. Alteration in the method of disposal may be made only after communication to the inspector and receipt of a letter of approval as in the first instance.

(Ord. 329 §9, 1961)

A person installing or operating a water treatment apparatus of the kind described in Section 13.04.080 shall make such apparatus accessible to the inspector for inspection, and shall make such reports as the inspector may request as to the operation of the apparatus.

(Ord. 329 §10, 1961)

Any water treating apparatus which has a rated capacity less than five gallons in an eight-hour period shall be exempt from the provisions of this chapter. Multiple units installed to supply water to the same points of use shall be considered as a single apparatus for the purposes of this section.

(Ord. 329 §11, 1961)

If wastewater contains or may contain the constituents which will cause it to fail to conform to any of the requirements set forth in this chapter for sewage or industrial waste discharges, but if the inspector finds that the discharge will not cause harm to the sewerage system nor unreasonable or inequitable burden in operation of the system, and that it will not cause deterioration of the quality of the sewage effluent of the City, then he may grant approval for discharge to the sewer with waiver or modification of the requirement which would not be met. In this letter of approval he shall include a statement regarding the requirement that is waived with reasons as to why the waiver is reasonable. A copy of this letter shall be filed with the City Clerk.

(Ord. 329 §12, 1961)

It is unlawful for any person to discharge or cause to be discharged into any storm drain or stormwater-channel or natural watercourse, whether currently carrying water or not, into any pipe or waterway leading to such drain, channel or watercourse, or which will cause expense to the City in maintaining the proper functioning of same, or which will cause public nuisance or public hazard or which will cause detrimental pollution of natural surface or subsurface waters.

(Ord. 329 §13, 1961)

It is unlawful for any person to deposit or discharge or cause to be deposited or discharged into any sump which is not impermeable or into any pit or well, or on to the ground, or into any storm drain or watercourse any material which by seeping underground or by being leached or by reacting with the soil can cause such alterations of usable underground waters as to be detrimental and as to be beyond the range of the effects of ordinary-nonindustrial land uses on underground waters into which such wastes may seep, or which will violate any requirements of the State Water Pollution Control Board.

(Ord. 329 §14, 1961)

Any person may appeal a decision of the inspector in respect to the provisions of this chapter, to the City Council. Action of the City Council shall be final insofar as the authority of the City is concerned.

(Ord. 329 §15, 1961)

In the discretion of the Enforcement Officer, any person violating the provisions of this chapter shall be issued an administrative citation pursuant to Beaumont Municipal Code Chapter 1.17 or shall be guilty of an infraction pursuant to Beaumont Municipal Code Chapter 1.16. In either case, the amount of the fine shall be the appropriate amount set forth in Section 1.16.030 of this Code. Each such violation shall be deemed a separate offense as specified in Section 1.16.040.

Notwithstanding the above, a first offense may be charged and prosecuted as a misdemeanor, punishable by a fine of $1,000.00, or six months in jail, or both.

(Ord. 997, 5-3-11)