Hercules Municipal Code Art. 1 General Provisions

This Chapter sets forth uniform requirements for direct and indirect contributors into the wastewater collection and treatment system for the City of Hercules and enables the City to comply with all applicable State and Federal laws. The objectives of this Chapter are:

(a) To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the municipal wastewater system which will interfere with the operation of the system or contaminate the resulting sludge;

(b) To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the municipal wastewater system which will pass into the receiving waters, the atmosphere or otherwise be incompatible with the system;

(c) To improve the opportunity to recycle and reclaim wastewaters and sludge from the system;

(d) To provide for equitable distribution of the cost of the municipal wastewater system.

(Ord. 201 § 1.1, 1985; Ord. 366 § 1, 2001)

Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this Chapter, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated:

(a)

Act or "the Act".

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251, et. seq.

(b)

Approval Authority.

The director in an NPDES state with an approved state pretreatment program.

(c)

Authorized Representative of Industrial User.

An authorized representative of an industrial user may be: (1) a principal executive officer of at least the level of vice president if the industrial user is a corporation; (2) a general partner or proprietor if the industrial user is a partnership or proprietorship, respectively; (3) a duly authorized representative of the individual designated above if such representative is responsible for the overall operation of the facilities from which the indirect discharge originates.

(d)

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD).

The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure, five (5) days at 20° centigrade expressed in terms of weight and concentration (milligrams per liter (mg/1))

(e)

Building Sewer.

A sewer connecting wastewater from the premises of a user to the City of Hercules sewer system.

(f)

Categorical Standards.

National Categorical Pretreatment Standards or pretreatment standard.

(g)

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD).

The measure of chemically decomposable material in domestic or industrial wastewater as represented by the oxygen utilized as determined by the appropriate procedure described in "Standard Methods."

(h)

City.

The City of Hercules or the City Council of Hercules.

(i)

City Manager.

The person designated by the City to supervise the operation of the POTW and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this article, or his duly authorized representative.

(j)

Cooling Water.

The water discharged from any use such as air conditioning, cooling or refrigeration, or to which the only pollutant added is heat.

(k)

Control Authority.

The term "control authority" shall refer to the "approval authority" defined in this Section.

(l)

Diluting Waters.

Water from cooling water sources, domestic sewage, potable water which is not normally from industrial processes and which does not contain constituents requiring pretreatment.

(m)

Direct Discharge.

The discharge of treated or untreated wastewater directly to the waters of the State of California.

(n)

Environmental Protection Agency, or EPA.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, or where appropriate, the term may also be used as a designation for the Administrator or other duly authorized official of the agency.

(o)

Grab Sample.

A sample which is taken from a waste stream on a one-time basis with no regard to the flow in the waste stream and without consideration of time.

(p)

Holding Tank Waste.

Any waste from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks, and vacuum-pump tank trucks, and sometimes referred to as septage.

(q) Indirect discharge. The discharge or the introduction of non-domestic pollutants from any source regulated under Section 307 (b) or (c) of the Act, (33 U.S.C. 1317), into the POTW (including holding tank waste discharged into the system).

(r)

Industrial Wastewater.

All water-carried wastes and wastewater of the community excluding domestic wastewater and uncontaminated water; and shall include all wastewater from any producing, manufacturing, processing, institutional, commercial, agricultural, or other operation where the wastewater discharged includes significant quantities of wastes of non-human origin.

(s)

Interference.

The inhabitation or disruption of the treatment processes or operations which contribute to a violation of any requirement of Pinole's or the City's NPDES permit. The term includes prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal by the Sewage Treatment Plant in accordance with Section 405 of the Act, (33 U.S.C. 1345) or any criteria, guidelines, or regulations developed pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, or more stringent state criteria (including those contained in any State sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Title IV of SWDA) applicable to the method of disposal or use employed by the Pinole POTW or the Hercules POTW.

(t)

Institution and Institutional Establishment.

Any school, church, hospital, lodge, club, fire department, library, memorial building or similar establishment.

(u)

National Categorical Pretreatment Standard or Pretreatment Standard.

Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with Sections 307 (b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1347) which applies to a specific category of industrial users.

(v)

National Prohibitive Discharge Standard or Prohibitive Discharge Standard.

Any regulation developed under the authority of Section 307 (b) of the Act and 40 CFR, Section 403.5.

(w)

New Source.

Any source, the construction of which is commenced after the publication of proposed regulations prescribing a Section 307 (c) (33 U.S.C. 1317) Categorical Pretreatment Standard which will be applicable to such source, if such standard is thereafter promulgated within one hundred twenty (120) days of proposal in the "Federal Register". Where the standard is promulgated later than one hundred twenty (120) days after proposal, a new source means any source, the construction of which is commenced after the date of promulgation of the standard.

(x)

National Pollution Discharge Elimination System or NPDES Permit.

A permit issued pursuant to Section 402 of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1342).

(y)

Person.

Any individual, 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 feminine, the singular shall include the plural where indicated by the context.

(z) pH. The logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the concentration of hydrogen ions expressed in grams per liter of solution.

(aa)

Pollution.

The man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water.

(bb)

Pollutant.

Any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water.

(cc)

Pretreatment or Treatment.

The reduction in 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 such pollutants into a sewage treatment plant. The reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological processes, or process changes by other means, except as prohibited by 40 CFR Section 403.6 (d).

(dd)

Pretreatment Requirements.

Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment.

(ee)

Publicly Owned Treatment Works) (POTW).

A treatment works as defined by Section 212 of the Act, (33 U.S.C. 1292) which is owned in this instance by the City of Pinole. It shall also include any plant owned by Hercules. This definition includes any sewers and pumps that convey wastewater to the POTW, but does not include pipes, sewers or other conveyances not connected to a facility providing treatment. For the purposes of this Chapter, POTW shall also include any sewers and pumps that convey wastewaters to the POTW from persons outside the City of Hercules who are, by contract or agreement with the City, users of the Hercules POTW or Pinole POTW.

(ff)

POTW Treatment Plant.

That portion of the POTW designed to provide treatment to wastewater.

(gg) Shall is mandatory; May is permissive.

(hh)

Significant User.

Any user of the City's wastewater disposal system who (1) has a discharge flow of twenty-five thousand (25,000) gallons or more of equivalent domestic sewage per average work day; or (2) has in its wastes, toxic pollutants as defined in Article 2 of this Chapter and pursuant to Section 307 of the Act of California Statutes and Rules; or (3) is found by the City, State of California Regional Water Quality Control Board, or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to have significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing dischargers, on the wastewater treatment system, the quality of the sludge, the system's effluent quality, or air emissions generated by the system. Significant users shall be determined solely by the City Manager and may include domestic or commercial dischargers.

(ii)

State.

State of California including the Regional Water Quality Control Board (RWQCB).

(jj)

Standard Industrial Classification (SIC).

A classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, 1972.

(kk)

Storm Water.

Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation and resulting therefrom.

(ll)

Suspended Solids.

The total suspended matter that floats on the surface of, or is suspended in, water, wastewater or other liquids, and which is removable by laboratory filtering.

(mm)

Toxic Pollutant.

Any pollutant or combination of pollutants listed as toxic in regulations promulgated by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under the provision of CWA 307 (a) or other Acts or in Article 2 of this Chapter.

(nn)

User.

Any person who contributes, causes or permits the contribution of wastewater into the City's POTW.

(oo)

Wastewater.

The liquid and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which is permitted to enter the POTW.

(pp)

Waters of the State.

All streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, reservoirs, aquifers, irrigation systems, drainage systems and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface or underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within.

(qq)

Wastewater Contribution Permit.

As set forth in Section 5-5.402 of this Chapter.

(Ord. 201 § 1.2, 1985)

The following abbreviations shall have the designated meanings:

(Ord. 201 § 1.3, 1985)