Chapter 15.12

*State law references— For statutory provisions on sewers, see Health and Saf. Code § 5400 et seq.; for provisions authorizing cities to construct sewer, see Gov. Code § 38900.

• 2.75 Monitoring Sewage Treatment Demands of Land Development and Suspension of Building Permits Under Certain Conditions

• 3 Service and Use Charges 4 Reclaimed Water

Part 2.5

FLOW AND DISCHARGE REGULATION

Sections:

• 15.12.402 Voluntary reduction of flow volume or flow concentration or combination thereof.

• 15.12.403 Mandatory reduction of flow volume or flow concentration or combination thereof required when.

• 15.12.404 Procedure to invoke mandatory reductions.

• 15.12.405 Extent of mandatory reductions.

• 15.12.406 Additional enforcement.

• 15.12.407 Penalties.

As used in this Part 2.5:

• A. As used in this part, unless otherwise indicated or required by the context, words shall have the definitions provided in Part 1 of this chapter.

• B. The term "act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 United States Code, Section 1251 et seq.

• C. "Interference" means inhibition or disruption of the sewer system, treatment processes or operations of the sanitary sewer system which causes or significantly contributes to a violation of any requirement of the NPDES Permit, which is a permit issued to the City of San José pursuant to Section 402 of the act. "Interference" also includes prevention of

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sewage sludge use or disposal by the sewage treatment plant in accordance with published regulations providing guidelines under Section 405 of the act or in regulations developed pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), the Clean Air Act, the toxic Substances Control Act, or more stringent state regulations (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 sewage treatment plant.

• D. The term "pretreatment" means the reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in waste water to a less harmful state prior to or in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing such pollutants into the sanitary sewer system. The reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological processes, process changes, or by other means, except as prohibited hereafter. Pretreatment except where expressly authorized to do so by an express standard in this chapter, shall never include an increase in the use of process water, other nonwaste water, or in any other way attempting to dilute a discharge as a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve compliance with the provisions of the standards set forth in this chapter or any order issued pursuant to the authority herein contained.

• E. "Aggregate operational capacity" shall mean the design capacity of the San JoséSanta Clara water pollution control plant (hereinafter "the plant") to treat sewage flow as modified by the historical operational capacity, the reports of qualified consultants approved and retained by the city council and the completion of additional facilities and capital improvement

to the sewage treatment plant when they become fully operational and which increase the operational capacity in the opinion of such qualified consultant. Aggregate operational capacity shall be determined by the city council, or by urgency declaration of the city manager as hereinafter provided on the advice of a qualified consultant as herein described. Until such time that the city council shall make such determination or the city manager makes such declaration, the aggregate operational capacity of the plant shall be deemed to be a peak one-day capacity of one hundred forty-three million gallons per day (MGD) hydraulic flow or five hundred seventy-eight thousand pounds per day BOD loading (which is the equivalent of a peak five-day average capacity of one hundred thirty MGD or five hundred twenty-five thousand pounds per day BOD loading).

• F. "Total organic carbon" (hereinafter "TOC") shall mean the measure of TOC in domestic or other waste water as determined by the appropriate testing procedure presented in "Standard Methods." By a conversion factor to be determined by the city engineer, TOC readings may be used to estimate the BOD loadings at the sewage treatment plant whenever a measurement of BOD is called for in the provisions of this part.

• G. "Industrial user" shall mean:

  1. Any nongovernmental, nonresidential user of a publicly owned treatment works which discharges more than the equivalent of twenty-five thousand gallons per day (gpd) of waste water, excluding domestic waste water, and which is identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1972, Office of

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Management and Budget, as amended and supplemented under one of the following divisions:

Division A - Agriculture, forestry and fishing.

Division B - Marine.

Division D - Manufacturing.

Division E - Transportation, communications, electric, gas and sanitary services.

Division I - Services.

After excluding domestic waste water flows, any discharger in the above divisions that has a volume exceeding twenty-five thousand gpd or the weight of biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) or suspended solids (SS) equivalent to that weight found in twenty-five thousand gpd of domestic waste water shall be considered an industrial user.

2. Any nongovernmental user of a publicly owned treatment works which discharges waste water to the treatment works which contains toxic pollutants or poisonous solids, liquids, or gases in sufficient quantity either singly or by interaction with other wastes, to contaminate the sludge of any municipal system, or to injure or to interfere with any sewage treatment process or which constitutes a hazard to humans or animals, creates a public nuisance, or creates any hazard in or has an adverse effect on the waters receiving any discharge from the treatment works.

• H. "Regulated industrial user" means any industrial user whose discharge into the sanitary sewer system over a twenty-fourhour period exceeds twenty-five thou-

sand gallons, or whose discharge constitutes industrial waste of excessive strength.

• I. "Base average discharge" of a regulated industrial user shall mean either the highest monthly flow and BOD loadings of such user recorded during the months of July, August or September in 1978, 1979, or 1980, or the highest monthly flow and BOD loadings recorded during July, August or September in any year thereafter, whichever is highest. Daily average flows and BOD loadings, based on such highest monthly flow and loadings shall be calculated by the city engineer based on the number of working days per month according to data submitted by the user. In making such calculation, the city engineer shall presume five working days per seven-day week unless an individual regulated industrial user submits to the engineer data in sufficient detail to indicate a different number of working days per seven-day week. Where data is unavailable, the city engineer shall assign a base average discharge to a regulated industrial user based on his best estimate of the highest likely daily average flow and loadings of such user.

(Ords. 20466, 20524.)

Whenever, between July 1st and October 1st of any calendar year, the five-day average hydraulic flow or BOD loading of the sewage treatment plant is determined to be within ninety-five percent of the aggregate operational capacity of the sewage treatment plant for a continuous period of not less than five days by the council of the City of San José or by the city manager pursuant to urgency declaration as hereinafter provided, then all industrial, commercial and residential users of the sewage treatment plant may be called upon to lessen voluntarily the

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interference or threatened interference with the operation of the sewage treatment plant posed by such hydraulic flows or BOD loadings by voluntarily reducing the volume of discharge or the concentration of discharge as requested by the city engineer.

Such reduction should be calculated in accordance with a contingency plan to be known as the "Santa Clara Valley voluntary waste water conservation contingency plan" which shall be developed by a commission representing a broad cross-section of all users of the sanitary sewer system. Such commission may be appointed by the major within sixty days of the operative date of this section. (Ords. 20466, 20524.)

Whenever, between July 1st and October 1st of any calendar year, the daily actual hydraulic flow or BOD loading of the sewage treatment plant is determined to be meeting or exceeding the aggregate operational capacity of the plant for a period of not less than twenty-four hours by the city council or by the city manager, then regulated industrial users shall reduce the volume of discharge or the concentration of discharge as hereinafter provided in order to lessen the interference or threatened interference posed by such hydraulic flows or BOD loadings. (Ords. 20466, 20524.)

• A. At any time that the city council determines, pursuant to a procedure to be adopted by said council, that the actual hydraulic flow or BOD loadings have met or exceeded the aggregate operational capacity for a twenty-four-hour period, then unrestricted hydraulic flows or BOD loadings by regulated industrial users shall be deemed to present an imminent or substantial threat of interference with the operation of the sewage treatment plant. Upon such determination, the council shall direct the city manager to impose mandatory reduc-

tions on the discharge of regulated industrial users to be effective within eight hours after written notice to such a user of the extent of the reduction.

• B. Whenever the plant manager, in conjunction with the city engineer, recommends to the city manager that the actual hydraulic flow or BOD loadings at the plant have met or exceeded the aggregate operational capacity for a twentyfour-hour period at any time prior to the next regularly scheduled council meeting, the manager may impose, by urgency declaration, mandatory reductions on the discharge of regulated industrial users to be effective within eight hours after written notice to such a user of the extent of the reduction.

• C. At any other time, the city manager may order mandatory reductions in the flow of regulated industrial users as hereinafter provided whenever he determines that significant violations of state discharge requirements or prohibitions imposed on the plant are threatened or such violations are occurring or have occurred and there is a likelihood that the violations will continue in the future.

• (Ords. 20466, 20524.)

Whenever the city council or city manager has made a determination pursuant to Section 15.12.404, the city engineer or other authorized employee or agent of the city shall order regulated industrial users to reduce their present volume of flow, concentration of BOD or suspended solids, or any combination thereof to or below the maximum allowable regulated flow (MARF). MARF shall be either:

1. Their present volume of flow, concentration of BOD, or suspended solids, or any combination thereof, minus the level of reduction, as hereinafter provided, plus the amount of any voluntary reduction accomplished pursuant to Section 15.12.402 which amount shall be deter-

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mined by the city engineer to his satisfaction on the basis of date submitted by the user; or

2. Their base average discharge minus the level of reduction as hereinafter provided; whichever is highest.

The city engineer shall determine the level of reduction which shall be a percentage of the users' base average discharge up to a maximum of ten percent of the base average discharge based upon a reasonable estimate of the reduction necessary to alleviate the threat of interference. The city engineer shall order such reduction by written notice to regulated industrial users who shall make such reduction effective within eight hours after notice. He may increase or decrease the percentage or reduction within the maximum ten percent range by further written notice to each regulated industrial user. Mandatory reductions shall cease upon a determination of the city manager or city council that the occasion for the reduction has ceased. (Ords. 20466, 20524.)

For purposes of carrying out the requirements of this chapter, the city engineer and other duly authorized employees and agents of the city bearing credentials and identification shall, in addition to the powers conferred by Section 15.12.380, have the power:

• A. To require any industrial user to establish and maintain such records, make such reports, install, use and maintain such monitoring equipment or methods (including where appropriate, biological monitoring methods), sample such effluents (in accordance with such methods, at such locations, at such intervals, and in such manner, as such engineer, agent or employee shall prescribe), and provide such other information as such engineer, employee or agent may reasonably require.

• B. To require any industrial user to allow such engineer, agent or employee, at all

• reasonable times, to have access to and to copy any records, inspect any monitoring equipment, or methods required under subparagraph A hereof, and sample any effluents which the industrial user is required to sample under such authority.

• C. To enforce all provisions of this chapter by injunction or other equitable relief.

• (Ords. 20466, 20524.)

Any discharge by a regulated industrial user in excess of such user's MARF in addition to being punishable as a misdemeanor shall be a violation of this section. Any violator of this section shall be subject to civil penalties in the amount of five thousand dollars for the first violation, twenty-five thousand dollars for the second violation and fifty thousand dollars for each violation thereafter. Each day that a violation continues shall be considered as a separate violation for purposes of calculating civil damages pursuant to this section. The cessation of violations for a sixty-day period shall reduce the penalty to that of a "first violation" for any subsequent violation.

(Ords. 20466, 20524.)