Article V — WASTEWATER — Porterville Municipal Code

SECTION:

Division 1. Generally

25-74: Purpose And Policy

25-75: Definitions

25-76: Abbreviations

Division 2. Regulations

25-82: General Discharge Prohibitions

25-83: National Pretreatment Standards; Categorical Standards

25-84: Modifications Of Categorical Pretreatment Standards

25-85: Specific Pollutant Limitations

25-85.1: Grease, Oil And Sand Traps

25-86: State Requirements

25-87: City's Right Of Revision

25-88: Excessive Discharge

25-89: Accidental Discharges

25-90: Hazardous Waste Discharge

Division 3. Fees

25-95: Purpose

25-96: Fees And Charges

Division 4. Administration

25-102: Wastewater Dischargers

25-103: Industrial User Wastewater Permit Application

25-104: Reporting Requirements For Permittee

25-105: Monitoring Facilities

25-106: Inspection And Sampling

25-107: Pretreatment

25-108: Confidential Information

Division 5. Enforcement

25-109: Enforcement Program

25-110: Notice Of Violation

25-111: Consent Orders

25-112: Compliance Orders

25-113: Cease And Desist Order

25-114: Emergency Suspension

25-115: Termination Of Discharge

25-116: Reserved

25-117: Show Cause Hearing

25-118: Legal Action

25-119: Administrative Fines

Division 6. Penalty Costs

25-124: Civil Penalties

25-125: Falsifying Information

DIVISION 1. GENERALLY

25-74: PURPOSE AND POLICY:

This article sets forth uniform requirements for direct and indirect contributions into the wastewater collection and treatment system for the city and enables the city to comply with all applicable state and federal laws required by the clean water act of 1972 and amendments thereto, and the general pretreatment regulations (40 CFR, part 403), as amended from time to time.

The objectives of this article are:

A. To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the city's 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 city's wastewater system which will pass through the system, inadequately treated, into receiving waters or the atmosphere or otherwise be incompatible with the system;

C. To improve the opportunity to recycle and reclaim wastewaters and sludges from the system; and

D. To provide for equitable distribution of the cost of the municipal wastewater system.

This article provides for the regulation of direct and indirect contributors to the municipal wastewater system through the issuance of permits to certain nondomestic users and through enforcement of general requirements for the other users, authorizes monitoring and enforcement activities, requires user reporting, assumes that existing customers' capacity will not be preempted, and provides for the setting of fees for the equitable distribution of costs resulting from the program established herein.

This article shall apply to the city and to persons outside the city who are, by contract or agreement with the city, users of the city's POTW. Except as otherwise provided herein, the city manager shall administer, implement and enforce the provisions of this article. (Ord. 1636 § A, 7-1-2003)

25-75: DEFINITIONS:

The definitions given in this section shall be used in the interpretations of this article, the issuance of permits, the establishment of charges for service and all other operations of this article unless the context specifically indicates otherwise.

ACT OR THE ACT: The federal water pollution control act, also known as the clean water act, as amended, 33 USC 1251 et seq.

APPLICANT: Any person or group of persons, who applies for sewer service or a wastewater discharge permit.

APPROVAL AUTHORITY: California regional water quality control board, Central Valley region.

AVERAGE DAILY FLOW: The total quantity of liquid tributary to a point divided by the number of days of flow measurement.

BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD5): Shall mean the quantity of oxygen, expressed in milligrams per liter, utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory conditions for five (5) days at a temperature of twenty degrees Celsius (20°C).

BUILDING SEWER: A sewer conveying wastewater from the premises of a user to the publicly operated treatment works (POTW).

CATEGORICAL STANDARDS: National pretreatment standards specifying quantities or concentrations of pollutants or pollutant properties which may be discharged to a POTW by existing or new industrial users in specific industrial subcategories.

CITY: The city of Porterville.

CITY MANAGER: The city manager of the city of Porterville or his or her designee.

CODE: Porterville municipal code.

COMPATIBLE POLLUTANTS: Pollutants that are capable of being processed a) under normal loading conditions by a biological wastewater treatment plant, and b) in concentrations that are normally present in wastewater without any detrimental effect on the city's POTW.

COMPLIANCE DETERMINATION: The sampling and analysis conducted on specific industrial wastes to ascertain compliance with

applicable federal or state pretreatment standards, whichever is more stringent.

COMPLIANCE SCHEDULE: The time period allowed by the city in which an industry shall comply with permit conditions or discharge requirements.

COMPOSITE SAMPLES: A combination of individual samples of sewage taken at hourly or selected intervals to minimize the variability of the individual sample. Individual samples may be combined in quantities that are proportional to the flow at the time of sampling.

CONTROL AUTHORITY: The city manager or his or her designee.

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

DOMESTIC WASTEWATER: The liquid and waterborne wastes derived from, or equivalent to that of, ordinary residential living processes and which are of such a character as to permit satisfactory disposal, without special treatment, into the service lateral.

EPA: Environmental protection agency.

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.

GREASE, OIL, FATS: Any material, or like material, that is extractable.

HOLDING TANK OR POND WASTE: Any wastewater or processed wastewater received from holding tanks or ponds such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks, vacuum tank trucks, and industrial or agricultural process or wastewater holding tanks or ponds.

INDIRECT DISCHARGE: The discharge or the introduction of pollutants, including holding tank discharge, from any nondomestic source regulated under section 307(b), (c) or (d) of the act into the city's POTW.

INDUSTRIAL USER OR USER: A source of indirect discharge.

INDUSTRIAL WASTES: All wastewater of a community, excluding domestic and pollutant free wastewater, and shall include all such wastewater from any producing, manufacturing, processing, institutional, commercial, agricultural or other operation which contains characteristics unlike that of domestic wastewater.

INTERFERENCE: A discharge which alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from another source, contribute to an inhibition or disruption of the city's POTW treatment process or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and therefore is a cause of violation of any requirement of the city's waste discharge requirements. Interference includes any discharge that causes the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with section 405 of the clean water act, the solid waste disposal act (SWDA) (including title II, more commonly referred to as the resource conservation and recovery act (RCRA), and including any state regulations contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to subtitle D of the SWDA), the clean air act, the toxic substances control act, and the marine protection, research and sanctuaries act, as amended from time to time.

MAY: "May" is permissive. "Shall" is mandatory.

MONITORING: The practice of investigating, surveying and sampling wastewater sources in an effort to obtain information on the quality and quantity of the wastewater flow.

NATIONAL POLLUTION DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM (NPDES): A permit issued to a POTW pursuant to section 402 of the act.

NEW SOURCE: A. Any building, structure, facility, or installation from which there is (or may be) a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after the publication of proposed pretreatment standards under section 307(c) of the act which will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section, provided that:

The building, structure, facility, or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or
The building, structure, facility, or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of

pollutants at an existing source; or

The production or wastewater generating processes of the building, structure, facility, or installation are substantially independent

of an existing source at the same site. In determining whether these are substantially independent, factors such as the extent to which the new facility is integrated with the existing plant, and the extent to which the new facility is engaged in the same general type of activity as the existing source, should be considered.

B. Construction on a site at which an existing source is located results in a modification rather than a new source if the construction does not create a new building, structure, facility, or installation meeting the criteria of subsection A2 or A3 of this definition but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.

C. Construction of a "new source" as defined under this definition has commenced if the owner or operator has:

Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous on site construction program:

a. Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment; or

b. Significant site preparation work including clearing, excavation, or removal of existing buildings, structures, or facilities which is

necessary for the placement, assembly, or installation of new source facilities or equipment; or

Entered into a binding contractual obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment which are intended to be used in its

operation within a reasonable time. Options to purchase or contracts which can be terminated or modified without substantial loss, and contracts for feasibility, engineering, and design studies do not constitute a contractual obligation under this subsection.

PASS-THROUGH: A discharge which exits the city's POTW into waters of the United States 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 waste discharge requirements.

PERSON: Any individual, partnership, copartnership, 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: The logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the concentration of hydrogen ions.

POLLUTANT: Any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, industrial, municipal and agricultural waste discharged into the city's POTW.

POLLUTION: The manmade or man induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological and radiological integrity of water.

PRETREATMENT OR TREATMENT: The reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater prior to or in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing such pollutants into the POTW. The reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological processes; process changes; or by other means, except dilution is not an acceptable means to reduce the amounts of pollutants in a waste stream.

PRETREATMENT REQUIREMENTS: Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a national pretreatment standard, imposed on an industrial user.

PRETREATMENT STANDARD: Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with the act which applies to any user of the city's POTW.

PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS (POTW): A treatment works as defined by the act, including sewer lines, lift stations that convey wastewater to the POTW plant and shall include any sewers that convey wastewater to the POTW from persons outside the city who are, by agreement with the city, users of the city's POTW.

RCRA: Resource conservation and recovery act.

SAMPLING WELL: An approved opening to a building sewer for the purpose of sampling and flow measurement.

SEWER: A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.

SHALL: "Shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissive.

SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER: Any industrial user of the city's wastewater disposal system that:

A. Is subject to national categorical pretreatment standards under 40 CFR 403.6 and 40 CFR chapter I, subchapter N, as amended from time to time; or

B. Has an average discharge flow of twenty five thousand (25,000) gallons or more per day; or

C. Contributes a process waste stream that makes up five percent (5%) or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity in the city's waste treatment system; or

D. Has in its waste discharge, any toxic pollutants defined in the act; or

E. Is found by the city, state agency or U.S. environmental protection agency to have significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing industries, on the wastewater treatment system, the quality of sludge, the system's effluent quality, or air emissions generated by the system.

SLUG DISCHARGE: Any discharge of a nonroutine, episodic nature, including, but not limited to, an accidental spill or a noncustomary batch discharge.

STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION (SIC): A classification pursuant to the "Standard Industrial Classification Manual" and as amended.

STATE: The state of California.

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

SUPERINTENDENT: The person designated by the city manager to supervise the operation of the publicly owned treatment works, and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this article, or his duly authorized representative.

SUSPENDED SOLIDS: Shall mean solids that are in suspension in water, sewage, or industrial waste, and which are removable by a laboratory filtration device and retained on a glass fiber filter with a nominal pore size of 1.5 µm and dried at one hundred three (103) to one hundred five degrees Celsius (105°C) to a constant weight in accordance with the procedure set forth in standard methods.

TOXIC POLLUTANT: Any pollutant or combination of pollutants listed as toxic in regulations promulgated by the administrator of the EPA under provision of the act.

USER OR INDUSTRIAL USER: A source of indirect discharge.

WASTEWATER: The liquid and water carried industrial or domestic waste from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, and institutions, together with any groundwater, surface water and storm water that may be present, whether treated or untreated, which is contributed into or permitted to enter the POTW.

WASTEWATER DISCHARGE PERMIT: As set forth in section 25-103 of this article. (Ord. 1636 § A, 7-1-2003)

25-76: ABBREVIATIONS:

The following abbreviations shall have the designated meanings:

BOD5 Biochemical oxygen demand CFR Code of federal regulations EC Electrical conductance EPA Environmental protection agency l Liter mg Milligram mg/l Milligrams per liter NPDES National pollutant discharge elimination system POTW Publicly owned treatment works RCRA Resource conservation and recovery act SIC Standard industrial classification SWDA Solid waste disposal act, 42 USC 6901 et seq. TSS Total suspended solids USC United States Code

(Ord. 1636 § A, 7-1-2003)