Coachella Municipal Code Art. II Definitions

A. Unless otherwise defined herein, terms related to water quality shall be consistent with the Clean Water Act and the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act. If not defined therein, the term shall be consistent with any permit issued pursuant to such acts and consistent with the latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, published by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation. The testing procedures for waste constituents and characteristics shall be as provided in 40 CFR 136 (Code of Federal Regulations; Title 40; Protection of Environment; Chapter I, Environmental Protection Agency; Part 136, Test Procedures for the Analyses of Pollutants), or as specified. Other terms not defined are defined as being consistent with the International Conference of Building Officials, Uniform Building Code, Current Edition, or the International Association of Plumbing and Mechanical Officials, Uniform Plumbing Code, Current Edition.

B. Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this chapter, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated.

1. "Applicant" shall mean any person or persons who has applied for permission to use the city's collection system for commercial or industrial purposes.

2. "City manager" shall mean the city manager of the city of Coachella.

3. "Categorical pretreatment standards" shall mean those final regulations promulgated and adopted by EPA (as outlined in 40 CFR 403, and 40 CFR, Chapter I, Subchapter N, 405-471) for each standard industrial classification (S.I.C.) or subcategory containing pollutant discharge limits.

4. "Categorical user" shall mean any industrial user whose process(es) are subject to categorical pretreatment standards.

5. "Cesspool" shall mean a lined excavation in the ground which receives the discharge of a sewage drainage system, or part thereof, so designed as to retain the solids and organic matter, but permitting liquids to seep through the bottom and sides. This shall also mean seepage pit.

6. "Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)" shall mean the codification of the general and permanent rules published in the United States Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government to include but not limited to the Environmental Protection Agency.

7. "Collection System" shall mean the combined pipes, conduits, manholes and other structures, above and below ground, whose purpose is to convey wastewater to a City RWRF/POTW.

8. "Compatible or conventional pollutant" shall mean a combination of BOD, total suspended solids, pH, fecal coliform bacteria, plus other pollutants that the city's treatment facilities are designed to accept, treat and/or remove. Some compatible pollutants may be considered incompatible when discharged in quantities that have an adverse effect on the city's collection, treatment, disposal systems and/or discharge permit regulating the treatment facilities cause interference or pass through.

9. "Control mechanism" shall mean waste discharge permit, waste discharge authorization, special agreement or other regulatory mechanism.

10. "Department head" shall mean that person duly designated by the city manager to direct the collection and source control divisions and perform the duties as specified in this chapter.

11. "Discharger" shall mean any person, entity or collection agency who discharges or causes a discharge of wastewater directly or indirectly to a public sewer main. Discharger shall mean the same as user.

12. "Discharge requirements" shall mean the requirements of federal (as listed in 40 CFR 403), state or local public agencies having jurisdiction over the effluent discharges from city regional water reclamation facilities/publicly owned treatment works (POTW).

13. "Discharge or indirect discharge" shall mean the introduction of pollutants into a POTW from any nondomestic source.

14. "District" shall mean the Coachella Sanitary District.

15. "Division Head" shall mean that person duly designated by the general manager to implement the city's source control program and perform the duties as specified in this chapter.

16. "Domestic wastewater" shall mean the liquid and solid waterborne wastes derived from the ordinary living processes of humans of such character as to permit satisfactory disposal, without special treatment, into the public sewer or by means of a private disposal system.

17. "General manager" shall mean the utilities general manager of the city of Coachella.

18. "Incompatible or nonconventional pollutant" shall mean any pollutant which is not a compatible pollutant as defined herein.

19. "Indirect discharger" shall mean any person, entity or collection agency who discharges or causes a discharge of wastewater to a septic tank, cesspool, chemical toilet, or private sewer system which, from time to time, is serviced by a septic tank pumper permitted by the city to discharge to city sewerage facilities.

20. "Industrial user" shall mean any discharger of nondomestic wastewater to a collection agency's sewer main either directly, or indirectly.

21. "Industrial wastewater" shall mean all liquid carried wastes including, but not limited to, all wastewater from any producing, manufacturing, processing, institutional, commercial, restaurant, agriculture, or other operation where the wastewater discharged contains quantities of wastes of non-human origin and excluding domestic wastewater, rainwater, groundwater, stormwater, and drainage of uncontaminated water.

22. "Inspector" shall mean a person authorized by the general manager to inspect any establishment directly or indirectly discharging or anticipating discharge to a public sewer main or a RWRF/POTW.

23. "Interference" shall mean a discharge by a user which, alone or in conjunction with discharges by other sources, inhibits or disrupts the city's RWRF/POTW, its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and which is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the RWRF/POTW's discharge order (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation), or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with applicable federal, state, and local regulations (per 40 CFR 403.3 (I)).

24. "Local limits" shall mean a set of technically based discharge limits that are developed by the city to protect the public sewer main and to prevent sludge contamination or violation of discharge requirements.

25. "Mass emission rate" shall mean the weight of material discharged to the sewer system during a given time interval. Unless otherwise specified, the mass emission rate shall mean pounds per day of particular constituent or combination of constituents.

26. "New source" shall mean 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 307c of the Act. (40 CFR 403.3K Definitions)

27. "Nondomestic wastewater" shall mean all wastewater except domestic wastewater and pollutant-free wastewater. This shall also mean industrial wastewater.

28. "Normal working day" shall mean the period of time during which production and/or operation is taking place.

29. "Pass through" shall mean the discharge of pollutants through the RWRF/POTW in quantities or concentrations which are a cause in whole or in part of a violation of any requirement of the RWRF/POTW's discharge order (per 40 CFR 403.3(n)).

30. "Permittee" shall mean a person who has applied for and received permission to discharge into the city's collection system subject to the requirements and conditions established by the city.

31. "Person" shall mean any individual, partnership, firm, association, corporation or public agency, including the State of California and the United States of America.

32. "Pollutant" shall mean any constituent or characteristic of wastewater on which a discharge limitation or prohibition may be imposed either by the city or the regulatory agencies empowered to regulate the city.

33. "Pretreatment" shall mean the reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater to a less harmful state prior to discharge of the wastewater into a collection agency's system. The reduction or alteration may be accomplished by physical, chemical or biological process or process changes, or by other means.

34. "Pretreatment facility" shall mean any works or devices for the treatment or flow control of wastewater prior to discharge.

35. "Pretreatment requirements" shall mean any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.

36. "Pretreatment standard or standards" shall mean prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.

37. "Public agency" shall mean the state of California or any city, county, district, other local authority or public body within this state.

38. "Public nuisance" shall mean anything which: (1) is injurious to health, or is indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life or property, and (2) affects at the same time an entire community or neighborhood, or any considerable number of persons, although the extent of the annoyance or damage inflicted upon individuals may be unequal, and (3) occurs during or as a result of the treatment or disposal of wastes.

39. "Public sewer main" shall mean any closed conduit, excluding building sewers, which is financed, installed, owned, operated, or maintained by a collection agency for the purpose of transporting wastewater from building sewers.

40. "RCRA" shall mean Resource Conservation and Recovery Act of 1976 Public Law (PI) 94-580 and amendments thereto.

41. "Regional water reclamation facility (RWRF)" shall mean the city sewage treatment plant designed to serve a specific area of the city. Also known as a publicly owned treatment works or POTW, as defined by section 212 of the Clean Water Act.

42. "Regulatory agencies" shall mean those agencies having oversight of the operation of the city, including but not limited to the following:

a. United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA);

b. California Environmental Protection Agency (Cal-EPA);

c. California State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB);

d. California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Colorado River Basin Region (CRBR)

43. "Residential user" shall mean a household which discharges only domestic wastewater from a dwelling unit.

44. "Responsible party" shall mean:

a. If the user is a corporation, a responsible corporate officer, that is:

(i) 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

(ii) The manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operation facilities employing more than two hundred fifty (250) persons or having gross annual sales or expenditures exceeding $25 million (in second-quarter 1980 dollars), if 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 entity, or their agents, the principal executive officer or director having responsibility for the overall operation of the discharging facility.

(i) By a duly authorized representative of the individual designated in paragraph (1), (2) or (3) of this definition if:

(a) The authorization is made in writing by the individual described in paragraph (1), (2) or (3);

(b) The authorization specifies either an individual or a position having responsibility for the overall operation of the facility from which the discharge originates, such as the position of plant manager, operator of a well, or well field superintendent, or a position of equivalent responsibility, or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company; and

(c) The written authorization is submitted to the city.

d. If an authorization under paragraph (D) of this section is no longer accurate because a different individual or position has responsibility for the overall operation of the facility, or overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company, a new authorization satisfying the requirements of paragraph (D) of this section must be submitted to the city.

45. "Sanitary wastewater" shall mean domestic quality wastewater from other than a dwelling unit.

46. "Septic tank" shall mean a watertight receptacle which receives the discharge from a sewer system and is designed and constructed to retain solids, digest organic matter through a period of detention, and allow the liquids to discharge for disposal.

47. "Sewerage facilities" shall mean any and all facilities used for collecting, conveying, pumping, treating and disposing of wastewater.

48. "Significant industrial user" shall mean:

a. A user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or

b. A user that:

(i) Discharges an average of twenty-five thousand (25,000) gpd or more of process wastewater to the city's collection system (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 RWRF; or

(iii) Is designated as such by the city on the basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the RWRF's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.

c. Upon a finding that a user meeting the criteria in subsection (B) has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the RWRF's operation or for violating any 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 in 40 CFR 403.8 (f) (6), determine that such user should not be considered a significant industrial user.

49. "Significant noncompliance (SNC)" shall mean any user with compliance violations which meet one or more of the following criteria:

a. Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined as those in which sixty-six (66) percent or more of all of the measurements taken during a six month period exceed (by any magnitude) the daily maximum limit or the average limit for the same pollutant parameter;

b. Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined as those in which thirty-three (33) percent or more of all of the measurements taken during a six month period equal or exceed the product of the daily maximum limit or the average limit times the applicable TRC (TRC=1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH);

c. Any other 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 city personnel or the general public);

d. Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or to the environment or has resulted in the city's exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge;

e. Violations of schedule milestones for starting construction, completing construction or achieving final compliance, including failure to meet, by ninety (90) days or more after the schedule date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a local control mechanism or enforcement order, for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance;

f. Failure to provide required reports such as baseline monitoring reports, 90-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with compliance schedules within thirty (30) days of the due date;

g. Failure to accurately report noncompliance;

h. Any other violations or group of violations which the city considers to be significant.

50. "Single pass cooling" shall mean unpolluted water used for the absorption and immediate discharge of excess thermal energy to the environs prior to heat exchange and reuse.

51. "Slug" shall mean any discharge of water or wastewater which, in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow, exceeds five times the average 24-hour concentration of flows during normal operation for a period of fifteen (15) minutes or more and/or has a significant adverse impact, either singly or in combination with other discharges, on the collection agency's sewer system or the quality of the effluent from the involved city treatment plant.

52. "Spill containment" shall mean a protection system installed by the user to prohibit the accidental discharge to the sewer of incompatible pollutants.

53. "Standard industrial classification (S.I.C.)" shall mean the system of classifying industries identified in the S.I.C. manual, issued by the office of management and budget.

54. "Toxic pollutants" shall mean those substances which, individually or when combined with other substances normally found in domestic sewage, result in wastes in a collection agency sewer system in concentrations or quantities which could have an adverse or harmful effect on such sewer system facilities, sewer treatment plant operations and maintenance personnel or equipment, treated sewage effluent quality, water reclamation procedures, public or private property, or which may endanger the public, local environment, or create a public nuisance.

55. "User" shall mean any person who discharges or causes a discharge of wastewater directly or indirectly to a public sewer. User shall include discharger.

56. "Violation" shall mean an event or condition at a user's facility that is prohibited by ordinance, control mechanism, or order.

57. "Violation charge" shall mean that charge levied against a user for as a result of a waste discharge violation.

58. "Waste discharge authorization" shall mean the revocable permission to discharge wastewater to the public sewer main subject to technically based limits on wastewater constituents and characteristics.

59. "Waste discharge permit (WDP)" shall mean the periodically renewable, revocable permission to discharge industrial wastewater to the public sewer main subject to technically based limits on wastewater constituents and characteristics.

60. "Waste discharge violation" shall mean the failure by a user to comply with this chapter, or any conditions or reporting requirements as contained in their control mechanism.

61. "Waste hauler" shall mean any commercial pumper that is permitted by Riverside County Department of Health as a nonhazardous liquid waste hauler, discharging domestic and sanitary wastewater only. This shall also mean septic tank pumper.

(Ord. No. 1057, § 2(Exh. B), 10-23-13)

Words used in this chapter in the singular may include the plural and the plural the singular. Use of masculine shall mean feminine and use of feminine shall mean masculine. Shall is mandatory; may is permissive or discretionary.

(Ord. No. 1057, § 2(Exh. B), 10-23-13)