Escalon Municipal Code Art. I General Provisions

The purposes of this chapter are: (1) to establish requirements for the city sewage system and for discharges into such system; (2) to protect the public health, safety and welfare by establishing rules for the construction, operation, maintenance and connections to the sewage system; (3) establish a means of providing adequate sewer service required for the development and redevelopment of the city; and (4) establish a charge to be collected from those proposing to discharge to the sewage system.

(Ord. 553 § 1 (Exh. A), 2016)

Unless otherwise defined in this chapter or by use intended to have a different meaning, certain terms and phrases used in this chapter are defined as follows:

A.

"Authorized inspector"

means the person(s) designated by the city manager to conduct inspections, repairs, and take enforcement actions for the purpose of ensuring compliance with this chapter and includes but is not limited to the director and city manager.

B.

"Authorized representative of the user"

means:

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 operating facilities, provided the manager is authorized to make management decisions that 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 industrial wastewater discharge permit requirements; and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.

If the user is a partnership or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, respectively.

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.

The individuals described in subsections (B)(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 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 city.

C.

"Director"

means the director of public works of the city or such other person as may be designated by the city manager or director of public works to perform the services or make the determinations permitted or required in this chapter to be made by the director of public works.

D.

"Industrial wastewater"

means liquid waste and solids contained within the liquid waste, excluding domestic waste.

E.

"Industrial wastewater system"

means the publicly owned facilities for the collection, conveyance, storage, treatment, and disposal of industrial wastewater and includes monitoring, sampling, metering, and other devices and appurtenances.

F.

"Interference"

means a discharge that, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the sewage system, its treatment processes or operations or its sludge processes, use or disposal, and therefore, is a cause of a violation of the city's NPDES permit or waste discharge requirements or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with any of the following statutory/regulatory provisions or permits issued thereunder, or any more stringent state or local regulations: Section 405 of the Clean Water Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act, including Title II, commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); any state regulations contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act; the Clean Air Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; and the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act.

G.

"Lot"

means a parcel of land consisting of one or more contiguous lots of record in one ownership.

H.

"NPDES permit"

means the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued by the State Water Resources Control Board Order No. 2013-0001-DWQ, NPDES No. CAS000004, as it currently exists and may hereafter be amended or reissued, and any other permit issued to the city under the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.

I.

"Pass through"

means a discharge which exits the sewage system 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 city's NPDES permit or waste discharge requirements, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.

J.

"Person"

means any individual, corporation, partnership, trust, the United States of America, the State of California, districts and all political subdivisions, and governmental agencies thereof, except the city.

K.

"Premises"

means a parcel or parcels of real estate or portions thereof including any improvements thereon which is determined by the city to be a single user for purposes of receiving, using or paying for sewer service.

L.

"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 the sewage system. The reduction or alteration may be accomplished by physical, chemical or biological process or process changes, or by other means.

M.

"Sanitary sewage"

means waterborne waste discharging into the city's sewage system of the type normally resulting from flushing and washing waste products from residences and lavatories, generally containing human excreta or household vegetable waste.

N.

"Sanitary sewage system" or "sewage system"

means the publicly owned facilities for the collection, conveyance, storage, treatment, and disposal of sanitary sewage and includes monitoring, sampling, metering, and other devices and appurtenances; the city's facilities for the collection, conveyance, storage, treatment, and disposal of industrial wastewater or sanitary sewage or both and includes monitoring, sampling, metering, and other devices and appurtenances.

O.

"Sanitary sewage permit"

means a permit issued in accordance with EMC § 13.08.200.

P.

"Sewer connection"

means a sewer line conveying waste from the premises of a user to a sewer main or sewer lateral.

Q.

"Sewer lateral"

means a privately owned sewer line which connects a building or other structure or structures to the sewer main and receives sewage from a sewer connection, and includes the "wye" or saddle at the sewer main.

R.

"Sewer main"

means a publicly owned sewer line receiving sewage from one or more sewer laterals or sewer connections.

S.

"Sewer service"

means discharge or authority to discharge into the sewage system.

T.

"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 city's regulations or industrial wastewater discharge permit conditions.

U.

"User"

means any person who discharges, causes or permits the discharge of waste into the sewage system.

V.

"Waste discharge requirements"

means the permit issued to the city by the Central Valley Regional Water Quality Control Board that prescribes requirements for the domestic and industrial wastewater treatment plant owned and operated by the city, Order No. 5-00-142, as it currently exists, may hereafter be amended, or as it may be reissued or replaced in the future.

(Ord. 553 § 1 (Exh. A), 2016)

A. All structures where sanitary sewage is generated shall be connected to the sewage system in compliance with all requirements of this chapter.

B. Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, whenever a sewer main is extended to within 200 feet of any building being served by a private sewage disposal system, the owner of the property on which the building is located shall abandon the private sewage disposal system in accordance with applicable legal requirements and shall connect the building(s) on the property to the sewer main. The abandonment of the private sanitary sewer system and the connection to the public sanitary sewer shall be completed prior to the sale of the property upon which the building is located.

C. The city manager may grant a conditional waiver of the requirement to connect a structure to the sewage system when all of the following conditions exist:

1. No connection to the sewage system is possible;

2. A private sewage disposal system is adequate and safe and in accordance with all applicable laws, regulations, and orders; and

3. A private sewage disposal system will not adversely affect the public health, safety or welfare.

D. No person may make, cause or permit to be made any sewer connection or discharge, cause or permit to be discharged any sewage to the sewage system, or alter, cause or permit to be altered any sewer connection at the sewer main without first obtaining an encroachment permit in accordance with EMC § 13.08.215, a sanitary sewage permit in accordance with EMC § 13.08.200, an industrial wastewater discharge permit in accordance with EMC § 13.08.310, and/or a food service establishment permit in accordance with EMC § 13.08.420 from the city to do so.

(Ord. 553 § 1 (Exh. A), 2016)

A. No person shall make, maintain or cause to be made or maintained any connection or discharge to the sewage system, except as permitted by this chapter.

B. No person shall make, maintain or cause to be made or maintained any connection of any source of stormwater, surface water, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, cooling water, or process water, or other source of water directly or indirectly to the sewage system, except as permitted by this chapter.

C. No unauthorized person shall alter, tamper with, or interfere with the sewage system, or any portion thereof.

D. No person shall supply city sewer service to any premises without city authorization. The city shall have the right, upon five days' written notice, to disconnect sewer service to the premises supplying the unauthorized service and water service on proper notice.

E. No person shall discharge waste or any other substance or material into the sewage system which, either alone or by interaction with other substances or materials, causes, threatens to cause, or is capable of causing:

1. Danger or harm to life or safety of any person, the environment or to the facilities of the sewage system;

2. Nuisances such as odors;

3. Unreasonable collection, treatments or disposal costs; or

4. Interference with wastewater treatment processes.

F. No person shall discharge or throw any substance or material into a manhole, or into other openings in the sewage system other than through an approved sewer connection.

G. No person shall knowingly make any false statement, representation, record, report, plan or other document filed with, or to be filed with or taken by, the city.

(Ord. 553 § 1 (Exh. A), 2016)

The owner of any premises having a sewer connection shall, at the property owner's sole expense, inspect, maintain in good working order, repair, rehabilitate and replace, as necessary, all sewer laterals, connection lines and appurtenances from the premises to the sewer main. The sewer laterals, connection lines and appurtenances must be free of displaced joints, open joints, root intrusion, substantial deterioration of the line, cracks, leaks, inflow, infiltration of extraneous water, fats, oils and grease, sediment deposits, and any other similar condition, defect, or obstruction that may cause or contribute to a spill from or blockage of the sewer lateral or sewage system.

(Ord. 553 § 1 (Exh. A), 2016)

In addition to any other authority provided by this chapter, the authorized inspector shall have the right to enter the premises of any user to determine whether the user is complying with all requirements of this chapter and any permit or order issued pursuant to this chapter. Users shall allow the authorized inspector ready access to all parts of the premises for the purposes of inspection, sampling, records examination and copying, and the performance of any additional duties.

(Ord. 553 § 1 (Exh. A), 2016)

The city manager may prepare and administratively adopt a program to provide guidance on the implementation and enforcement of this chapter. The city manager may update the sewer use program administratively as needed to achieve the applicable performance standards for the sewage system.

(Ord. 553 § 1 (Exh. A), 2016)