Kern County Municipal Code Art. I Purpose and Scope

A. This chapter is adopted pursuant to the provisions of Health and Safety Code Section 4766.1 authorizing the board of supervisors of a county to adopt a model county sanitation district ordinance, and also pursuant to the provisions of Health and Safety Code Sections 4766, 5470(e) and 5471, 5473.10 and 5473.11.

B. This chapter and amendments thereto shall be effective only as to county sanitation districts located in the county of Kern which adopted it by reference in the manner provided in Health and Safety Code Sections 4766.1—4766.5.

C. This chapter may be cited as the model wastewater ordinance or the Kern County model wastewater ordinance for county sanitation districts.

D. The purpose of this chapter is to provide for the maximum possible beneficial public use of the districts' facilities through adequate regulation of sewer construction, sewer use and industrial wastewater discharges, to provide for equitable distribution of the districts' costs, and to provide procedures for complying with requirements placed upon the districts by other regulatory agencies.

(Prior code § 3911.1.01)

A. This chapter shall be interpreted in accordance with the definitions set forth in Article II of this chapter.

B. The provisions of this chapter apply to all direct or indirect discharges to any part of the sewerage systems of the districts, including the discharge of all liquid carried wastes. This chapter, among other things, regulates sewer construction in areas within the districts, the quantity and quality of discharged wastes and the degree of waste pretreatment required; provides for the setting of waste discharge fees to assure equitable distribution of costs, the approval of plans for sewer construction, the issuance of permits for industrial wastewater discharge and other miscellaneous permits.

(Prior code § 3911.1.02)

A. The districts operate systems of collection systems, and trunk sewers servicing homes and industrial and commercial establishments throughout a major portion of Kern County.

B. The districts build, operate and maintain collecting systems, trunk sewers and wastewater treatment and disposal facilities. The following policies apply to all liquid waste discharges within the districts' boundaries and to other discharges that are tributary to the districts' facilities.

C. Generally, liquid wastes originating within the districts' boundaries will be removed by the districts' sewerage systems provided the wastes will not (1) damage structures, (2) create nuisances such as odors, (3) menace public health, (4) impose unreasonable collection, treatment or disposal costs on the districts, (5) interfere with wastewater treatment processes, (6) exceed quality requirements set by regulatory governmental agencies, or (7) detrimentally affect the local environment.

D. The highest and best use of the districts' sewerage systems is the conveyance, treatment and disposal of domestic wastewater. The use of the districts' sewerage systems for industrial wastewater discharges is subject to additional regulation by the districts.

E. The districts are committed to a policy of wastewater renovation and reuse in order to provide an alternate source of water supply and to reduce overall costs of wastewater treatment and disposal. The renovation of wastewater through secondary and tertiary wastewater treatment processes may necessitate more stringent quality requirements on industrial wastewater dischargers than those required by other regulatory government agencies.

F. To comply with stated policies of the state and federal government and to permit the districts to meet increasingly higher standards of treatment plant effluent quality, provisions are made in this chapter for the regulation of industrial wastewater discharges. This chapter establishes quantity and quality limitations on industrial wastewater discharges which may adversely affect the districts' sewerage systems or treatment plant effluent quality. Methods of costs recovery from industrial wastewater dischargers are also established where the dischargers impose inequitable collection, treatment or disposal costs on the districts.

G. Recovery and reuse procedures established by industrial wastewater dischargers to meet the limitations set on their discharges will be preferred by the districts over those procedures designed solely to meet wastewater discharge limitations.

H. Optimum use of the facilities of the districts may necessitate that the chief engineer require that certain industrial wastewaters be discharged during periods of low flow in the sewerage systems of the districts.

(Prior code § 3911.1.03)