Encinitas Municipal Code Ch. 18.01 General Provisions

It is the purpose of this title to establish procedures and regulations for the use and protection of the City's sanitary sewer system.

(Ord. 95-16)

If any provision of this title or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, the remaining portions of the title and the application of such provisions to other persons or circumstances are to be considered valid.

For the purposes of this title, the words set out in this section shall have the following meanings:

"Applicant"

means any person or group of persons who applies for sewer services.

"Cost"

means the cost of labor, material, transportation, supervision, engineering and all other necessary overhead expenses.

"Customer"

means any person, firm, association, corporation or government agency served or entitled to be served sewer service by the City for compensation.

"Developer"

means any person or group of persons, including contractors, corporations or public entities, who request to extend or connect to the sewer system.

"District."

Any reference to the "Cardiff Sanitation District" by that name or any other reference within this Code shall mean the City of Encinitas.

"Equivalent dwelling unit (EDU)"

means the unit of measure which is based on the flow characteristics of an average single-family residence in terms of sewage quantity and constituent quality.

"Extension"

means an extension of an existing sewer main.

"Fiscal year"

means the period from July 1st to June 30th, both inclusive.

"Garbage"

means the animal and vegetable waste from the handling, preparation, cooking, dispensing, and disposal of food.

"Grease"

means any material which is extractable from an acidified sample of water by hexane or other designated solvent and as determined by the appropriate procedure in standard methods. "Grease" includes fats and oils.

"Grease interceptor"

means a pretreatment device designed and installed to separate fats, oils, and grease from wastewater.

"Industrial waste"

means solid, liquid, or gaseous substances discharged or flowing from an industrial, manufacturing, or commercial premises resulting from manufacturing, processing, treating, recovery, or development of natural or artificial resources of whatever nature.

"Industrial wastewater"

means all water-carried wastes and wastewater of the community, excluding domestic wastewater and uncontaminated water. Includes all wastewater from any producing, manufacturing, processing, institutional, commercial, agricultural, or other operation. These may also include wastes of human origin similar to domestic wastewater.

"Interceptor line"

refers to a large sewer line to which many trunk lines are connected and which serves the primary purpose of transporting sewage from trunk lines to the disposal.

"Main" or "sewer main"

is a sewer pipeline in the sanitary sewer system of the City. Individual service laterals discharge sewage into sewer mains which convey the sewage toward trunk lines and interceptor lines and ultimately to the disposal.

"Maximum charge"

refers to the maximum amount residential accounts can be charged for annual sewer service. This amount is based on indoor water usage for a household of six persons.

"Median annual water usage"

means the annual water use at which exactly half the customers in the classification are under the amount and half the customers are above the amount.

"Minimum charge"

refers to the minimum amount residential accounts can be charged for annual sewer service. This charge covers the fixed costs incurred by the City in providing sewer service to a customer, regardless of the amount of water usage.

"Multifamily residential"

means the residential classification with more than one living unit served by a single water meter, and shall include all residential accounts other than single-family residential.

"Nonresidential"

means the classification which includes all accounts other than single-family residential and multifamily residential customers.

"Owner" or "property owner"

means the person owning the fee, the person in whose name the legal title to the property appears, by deed duly recorded in the County Recorder's office, or the person in possession of the property or buildings under claims of, or exercising acts of ownership over same for him or herself, or as executor, administrator, guardian or trustee of owner. Includes a holder in fee, life tenant, fiduciary, lessee or licensee holding under government lease or license of real property.

"Person"

means any individual, property owner, 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. The masculine gender shall include the feminine, the singular shall include the plural where indicated by the context.

"pH"

indicates the intensity of acidity and alkalinity on a pH scale running from 0 to 14. A pH value of 7.0, the midpoint of the scale, represents neutrality. Values above 7.0 indicate alkalinity and those below 7.0 indicate acidity.

"Premises"

means any lot, piece or parcel of land, building or establishment.

"Pretreatment" or "treatment"

is 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 or in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing to the sewer system.

"Return to sewer"

is the percentage of metered water usage, measured in hundred cubic feet, that is discharged into the sanitary sewer system for collection and treatment. This percentage excludes storm, surface, and groundwaters not intentionally admitted into the sewer system.

"Regular sewer service"

means the sewer service and facilities rendered for normal domestic and industrial or commercial purposes on a permanent basis and the sewer system available therefor.

"S.S."

means suspended solids, a measure of the strength of wastewater.

"Sanitary sewer or sewer"

shall mean a sewer which carries sewage and to which storm, surface, and groundwaters are not intentionally admitted.

"Self-regenerating or automatic water softener"

is a water softener unit which is a water conditioning apparatus such as zeolite and resinous ion-exchange softeners or dimineralizers or other like devices which require the periodic discharge of brine solutions in their operation.

"Sewage"

means the waterborne wastes derived from ordinary human living processes and of such character as to permit satisfactory disposal, without special treatment, into the public sanitary sewer, a private sanitary sewer, or by means of household septic tank systems.

"Sewer, building or house"

means that portion of a pipe or conduit carrying sanitary sewage and/or industrial wastes from a building to the public sanitary sewer or a common sewer.

"Sewer lateral or service lateral"

means the service pipes extending from the private property line to the public sanitary sewer main in a public street, alley or easement. It is the connection of any domestic, commercial or industrial sanitary sewer lines to the City's system after the payment of established fees and charges and City approval.

"Sewer, private"

refers to a privately owned sanitary sewer which is not directly controlled by the City.

"Sewer, public"

refers to the sanitary sewer system under the jurisdiction of the City and the sewage treatment plant where the sewage will be processed.

"Sewer system"

means the sanitary sewer system of the City. Includes all construction and appurtenant equipment utilized in the collection, transportation, pumping, treatment and final disposal of sewage.

"Single-family residential"

means the residential classification where one living unit is served by one water meter, with the exception that where two or more living units are attached they are treated as multifamily residential regardless of the number of water meters.

"Slug"

means any discharge of water, sewage or industrial wastes which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes more than five times the average 24 hour concentration of flows during normal operation.

"Standard methods"

means the current edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater as published by the American Public Health Association, and Water Pollution Control Federation.

"Subclassification"

refers to the individual uses arranged under the classification.

"Sub-meter"

means a device used in addition to a water utility meter maintained by the San Dieguito Water District or Olivenhain Municipal Water District to measure the water usage within a dwelling unit or outside a dwelling unit for the purpose of isolating outdoor water usage.

"Suspended solids"

means solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in water, sewage, or other liquids; and which are largely removable by laboratory filtering and as determined by the appropriate procedure in standard methods.

"Trunk line"

means a main sewer line to which many sewer mains are connected and which serves the primary purpose of transporting sewage from sewer mains to the disposal.

"Utility hole"

is an access to underground utilities. It is also referred to as a manhole.

"Wastewater"

means waste and water, whether treated or untreated, discharged into or permitted to enter a public sewer.

(Ord. 97-04; Ord. 98-10; Ord. 2002-05)

For the purpose of this title:

A. All words used in the present tense shall include the future;

B. All words in the masculine gender shall include the feminine;

C. The word "shall" is mandatory and "may" is permissive;

D. All words in the plural number shall include the singular number; and

E. All words in the singular number shall include the plural number.