Fillmore Municipal Code Ch. 12.10 Wastewater Discharge into City Sewerage System

(a) Domestic and industrial wastewater originating within the city shall be accepted into the sewerage system, if there is capacity in the system and if the wastewater will not:

(1) Menace public health;

(2) Detrimentally affect the local environment;

(3) Create a nuisance, including odor and infestation;

(4) Impose excessive collection, treatment or disposal costs upon the city;

(5) Significantly interfere with or impede wastewater treatment processes;

(6) Interfere with or impede wastewater reclamation processes;

(7) Exceed quality limits or quantity requirements established by this title or the regulations promulgated thereunder;

(8) Significantly contaminate the sludge from the treatment process; nor

(9) Cause the city to violate its NPDES permit.

(b) This title provides specific limits for prohibited constituents only where they are now reasonably well established. Other constituents will be brought under regulation when specific limits for them are established. In some cases, the concentration or amount of any particular constituent which will be judged to be excessive or unreasonable cannot be foreseen, but will depend on the results of technical determinations relating to the particular situation and the actions of regulatory agencies.

(c) No person shall discharge any domestic or industrial wastewater to the ground, or into any surface drainage conduit storm drain or channel, or stream or other watercourse.

(Ord. 625 § 1 (part), 1989)

No user shall contribute or cause to be contributed, directly or indirectly, any pollutant or wastewater which will interfere with the operation or performance of the sewerage system. These city prohibitions apply to all such uses of sewerage system whether or not the user is subject to national categorical pretreatment standards or any other federal, state or local pretreatment standards or requirements. A user may not contribute the following substances, directly or indirectly, to the sewerage system (40 CFR 403.5(b)):

(1) Liquids, solids or gases which by reason of their nature or quantity are or may be sufficient either alone or by interaction with other substances to cause fire or explosion or be injurious in any other way to the sewerage system, its operation or personnel. At no time shall two successive readings on an explosion hazard meter at the point of discharge into the system (or at any point in the system) be more than five percent, nor any single reading over ten percent, of the Lower Explosive Limit (LEL) of the meter. Prohibited materials include, but are not limited to: gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, benzene, toluene, xylene, ethers, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, peroxides, chlorates, perchlorates, bromates, carbides, hydrides, sulfides, and all other substances which are prohibited under this title or any other local, state or federal laws, codes, rules, regulations, standards, or permits, or which damage or interfere with the operation or performance of the sewerage system (40 CFR 403.5(b)(1));

(2) Wastewater containing toxic pollutants in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with other pollutants, to injure or interfere with any wastewater treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals, create a toxic effect in the receiving waters of the sewerage system or exceed the limitation set forth in categorical pretreatment standards or Section 12.10.030;

(3) Wastewater having a pH less than 6.0 or higher than 10.0, or wastewater having any other corrosive or detrimental characteristic capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment or personnel (40 CFR 403.5(b)(2));

(4) Solid or viscous substances which may cause obstruction to the flow in a sewer or other interference with the operation of the wastewater treatment plant such as, among other things: grease, garbage with particles greater than one-half inch in any dimension, animal guts or tissues, paunch manure, bones, hair, hides or fleshings, entrails, whole blood or components, feathers, ashes, cinders, sand, spent lime, stone or marble dust, metal, glass, straw, shavings, grass clippings, rags, spent grains, spent hops, waste paper, wood, plastics, gas, tar, asphalt residues, residues from refining or processing of fuel or lubricating oil, mud, and glass grinding or polishing wastes (40 CFR 403.5(b)(3));

(5) Rainwater, stormwater, groundwater, street drainage, subsurface drainage, roof drainage, swimming pool or spa water, yard drainage, water from yard fountains, ponds or lawn sprays or other uncontaminated water, or water added for the purpose of diluting wastes which exceed maximum concentration limitations (40 CFR 403.6(d));

(6) Nonbiodegradable oils commonly called soluble oils which may form persistent water emulsions, or oil, petroleum oil or refined petroleum products beyond a concentration set forth under "Specific Pollutants Limitations," oils and fats including lard, tallow, or vegetable oil, in concentrations which may be detrimental to the city's NPDES permit;

(7) Noxious or malodorous liquids, gases or solids which, either singly or by interaction with other wastes, are sufficient to create a public nuisance or hazard to life or to prevent entry into the sewers for maintenance and repair;

(8) Any substance which may cause the wastewater treatment plant's effluent or any other product such as residues, sludges, or scums to be unsuitable for reclamation and reuse or to interfere with the reclamation process. In no case shall a material be discharged which causes the wastewater treatment plant to be out of compliance with sludge use or disposal criteria, guidelines or regulations developed under Section 405 of the Act, or any criteria, guidelines or regulations affecting sludge use or disposal developed pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act or state criteria applicable to the sludge management method being used;

(9) Any substance in concentration sufficient to cause the wastewater treatment plant to violate its NPDES permit or the receiving water quality standards;

(10) Wastewater with objectionable color including, but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions;

(11) Wastewater having a temperature which will inhibit biological activity in the wastewater treatment plant resulting in interference with its processes, but in no case wastewater with a temperature at entry into the sewerage system of more than one hundred four degrees Fahrenheit;

(12) Wastewater containing any radioactive wastes or isotopes of such half-life or concentration as may exceed limits established by the city manager in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations;

(13) Wastewater which causes a hazard to human life or creates a public nuisance;

(14) Deionized water, steam underwaste or distilled water in excess of laboratory usage; single pass cooling water, blow-down or bleed water from cooling towers or other evaporation coolers exceeding one-third of the make-up water (quantities in excess of one-third of the makeup water may be discharged into the sewerage system, subject to Section 12.05.050(b) during off-peak hours if hydraulic sewer capacity is available);

(15) Any wastewater with amounts of TDS which may be detrimental to the sewerage system;

(16) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged into the sewerage system any waste or wastewater, if in the opinion of the city manager the discharge may have an adverse or harmful effect on the sewerage system, sewers, maintenance personnel, wastewater treatment plant personnel or equipment, treatment plant effluent quality, or public or private property, or may otherwise endanger ecological systems or create a public nuisance. In determining the acceptability of specific wastewater under this section, the city manager shall consider, in addition to the foregoing, the nature of the wastewater, the adequacy and nature of the collection, the treatment and disposal system available to accept the wastewater, and the city policy embodied in this title. Upon such consideration, the city manager shall adopt rules and regulations as provided in this title and upon specific application shall establish terms and conditions appropriate to specific discharges.

(Ord. 625 § 1 (part), 1989)

No industrial discharger shall discharge wastewater containing pollutants in excess of:

When the city manager determines that the user is contributing to the sewerage system any of the substances listed in this section in amounts in excess of these limitations, the city manager shall notify the user of the violation (See Section 12.12.080).

(Ord. 625 § 1 (part), 1989)

Waste from garbage grinders shall not be discharged into the sewerage system except:

(1) Wastes generated in preparation of food in a residence or in a retail establishment engaged in preparation of food intended for immediate consumption; or

(2) Where the user has an existing garbage grinder, approved for its specific use by the city, and agrees to undertake whatever self-monitoring is required to enable the city to determine fairly the charges and fees based on the waste constituents and characteristics. Such grinders must be repaired or replaced as necessary in order to ensure that the waste is shredded to a degree that all particles will be carried freely under normal flow conditions prevailing in the sewerage system. Garbage grinders shall not be used for grinding plastic, paper products, inert materials, garden refuse, or waste products resulting from the handling, storage and sale of fruits and vegetables in wholesale and retail produce establishments, nor wastes from plants engaged in the preparation, processing or preserving of foods not intended primarily for immediate consumption. At any time a nonresidential property or business changes ownership any existing garbage grinders installed on the property shall be removed and no new garbage grinders may be installed, as a condition of continued city sewer service to the property.

(Ord. 625 § 1 (part), 1989)

(a) A variance from a specific compatible pollutant limitation may be obtained from the city manager. Granting of such a variance shall be determined on a case-by-case basis. The city manager shall take into account the following factors in granting or denying a variance:

(1) The user's ability to meet the existing limitations;

(2) The user's wastewater discharge volume;

(3) The user's current wastewater constituent concentrations;

(4) The impact of increased constituent concentrations on the sewerage system, the wastewater treatment plant's processes, effluent, and sludge quality;

(5) The impact of increased constituent concentrations on the wastewater treatment plant's NPDES permit requirements; and

(6) Any other factor the city manager deems applicable.

Before issuing such a variance, the city manager shall verify with EPA that the variance will not allow the user to exceed applicable categorical standards.

(b) The city manager may require the user to monitor its effluent in excess of previous levels, if he deems it necessary to properly enforce any variance granted under this section.

(c) The city manager reserves the right to impose requirements which are stricter than, or in addition to, those specified in Sections 12.10.020 and 12.10.030, should the quantity or quality of the user's effluent merit unique consideration because of its impact on the sewerage system or the public health and welfare.

(d) The city manager may revoke the variance at any time.

(e) The city manager may charge reasonable additional fees, based upon the cost of city staff time and the out-of-pocket costs to the city incurred in processing the variance, plus an administration fee of fifteen percent of those costs.

(Ord. 625 § 1 (part), 1989)

In accordance with federal pretreatment standards (40 CFR 403.6(d)), no industrial user shall dilute a discharge as a partial or complete substitute for adequate pretreatment to achieve compliance with a pretreatment standard or pretreatment requirement, except where expressly authorized to do so by a pretreatment standard or pretreatment requirement.

(Ord. 625 § 1 (part), 1989)

State requirements and limitations on discharges shall apply in any case where they are more stringent than federal requirements and limitations or those of this title (40 CFR 403.4).

(Ord. 625 § 1 (part), 1989)

Upon promulgation of a city pretreatment standard or the categorical pretreatment standards for a particular industrial subcategory, the federal standards, if more stringent than limitations imposed under this title, shall immediately supersede the less stringent limitations. The city manager shall notify all affected users of the new standards and the reporting requirements under 40 CFR 403.12 and this title.

(Ord. 625 § 1 (part), 1989)