Shafter Municipal Code Ch. 13.08 Sewer Service System

Whenever the following words or terms are used in this chapter, they shall have the meanings herein ascribed to them as follows:

A. "Biochemical oxygen demand" or "BOD" means the quantity of oxygen, expressed in milligrams per liter, utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter in five days at twenty degrees centigrade as determined as determined by the appropriate procedures set forth in "Standard Methods."

B. "Chemical oxygen demand" or "COD" means the measurement of sewage strength in terms of the total quantity of oxygen required for oxidation of organic matter as determined by the appropriate procedure set forth in "Standard Methods."

C. "Dissolved solids" or "dissolved matter" or "total dissolved solids" means the solid matter in solution in the sewage and shall be determined by evaporation of a sewage sample from which all suspended matter has been removed by filtration as determined by the appropriate procedures set forth in "Standard Methods."

D. "Domestic sewage" means the liquid and waterborne waste derived from the ordinary living processes, free from industrial waste and of such character as to permit satisfactory disposal and discharge into the city's sewer system without special treatment.

E. "Grab sample" means a liquid sample taken as a representative flow at an instant of time.

F. "Industrial waste(s)" means any solid, liquid, radioactive or gaseous waste substance, discharged, emanating, flowing or otherwise permitted to escape, from any producing, manufacturing, processing, institutional, commercial, industrial, agricultural, or other operation, activity or enterprise, or from the development, recovery or processing of any material resource.

G. "Peak flow rate" means the periodically determined highest flow rate of sewage discharged into the sewer system over a period of at least fifteen minutes at any time during the preceding accrual period. In the absence of actual peak flow rate data, peak flow rate may be computed from metered water use.

H. "Person" means any person, firm, partnership, association, corporation, organization or business trust.

I. "Pretreatment facility" means any works or device for the treatment or flow limitation of sewage prior to discharge into the city's sewer system.

J. "Settleable solids" means suspended solids that will settle out of a liquid in a specified interval of time as determined by appropriate procedures set forth in "Standard Methods."

K. "Sewage" means the wastewater of the community derived from human, agricultural or industrial sources, including domestic sewage, liquid waste and industrial wastes, together with such surface water, groundwater and stormwater as may be present.

L. "Sewer system," or "sewage system" or "sewage disposal system" means the city's sewer system including all the city's facilities used for collection, pumping, transportation, treatment and final disposal of sewage.

M. "Standard methods" means the publication entitled "Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater," as published by the American Public Health Association, and the edition thereof last adopted by ordinance of the city council.

N. "Suspended solids" or "suspended matter" means the solid matter suspended in sewage as determined by appropriate procedures set forth in "Standard Methods."

O. "Uncontaminated water" means any waste water not contaminated or polluted with sewage and which is suitable for discharge to the storm water drainage system, excluding unlined natural watercourse.

(Prior code § 4-7-1)

A. The city operates a wastewater utility system. The city operates such wastewater utility as an enterprise recovering one hundred percent of the cost to operate such utility. Charges by the city for the collection of wastewater from residences, places of business and other locations within the city shall be payable monthly in advance or as established by future resolutions.

B. Charges shall be established by resolution adopted by the City Council from time to time.

(Ord. 494 § 1, 1997: Ord. 402 § 1, 1988: prior code § 4-6-1)

(Ord. No. 694, § 2, 3-7-2017)

Wastewater utility user fees imposed pursuant to Section 13.08.020 may be collected by the Kern County Auditor Controller by way of the property tax roll in the same manner as general property taxes.

(Ord. No. 664, § 2, 3-17-2015)

The following provisions and requirements shall be observed and complied with by all persons discharging or introducing, or causing or permitting to be discharged or introduced, into the city's sewer system, any industrial waste; and by all persons having the control or charge of premises, buildings, or other structures, or facilities, from which industrial waste is produced for discharge or introduction into the city's sewer system; and by all persons having the control or charge of any operation, activity or enterprise from which industrial waste results for discharge into the city's sewer system:

A. Preliminary treatment of industrial waste shall be had, and pretreatment facilities shall be constructed, installed and operated, as shall be necessary to effect compliance with the provisions of Section 13.08.040.

B. Grease, oil and sand interceptors shall be provided when, upon the determination of the director of public works, such facilities shall be necessary for the proper handling of liquid wastes containing grease in excessive amounts, or any flammable wastes, sand or other harmful ingredients. All such interceptors shall be of a type and capacity approved by the director of public works, and shall be located so as to be readily and easily accessible for cleaning and inspection.

C. Whenever pretreatment facilities are utilized in the treatment of industrial waste for discharge into the sewer system, such facilities shall be maintained continuously in good and effective operating condition; and whenever preliminary treatment of industrial waste is carried on for the purpose of making industrial waste fit for discharge into the public sewer system, such preliminary treatment shall at all times be conducted in a manner designed and effective for such purpose.

D. When required by the director of public works, any property serviced by a building sewer carrying industrial waste shall have installed thereon a suitable control manhole together with such necessary meters and other appurtenances to the building sewer needed to facilitate observation, sampling and measurement of the waste. Such manhole, when required, shall be safely located and kept readily accessible, and shall be constructed in accordance with plans approved by the director of public works at all times.

E. All measurements, test and analysis of the characteristics of waters and wastes to which reference is made in this chapter shall be determined in accordance with applicable provisions of "Standard Methods" and shall be determined at the control manhole provided, or upon suitable samples taken at the control manhole. In the event that no special manhole has been required, the control manhole shall be considered to be the downstream manhole in the public sewer nearest to the point at which the building sewer is connected.

Samplings shall be made by customarily accepted methods to reflect the effect of constituents upon the sewer system and to determine the existence of hazards to life, limb and property. (The particular analysis involved will determine whether a twenty-four-hour composite of all outfalls from premises is appropriate or whether a grab sample or samples should be taken. Normally, but not always, BOD and suspended solids analysis are obtained from twenty-four-hour composites of all outfalls whereas pH's are determined from periodic grab samples.)

F. The city shall not be responsible for, nor shall the city pay, any expense incurred or resulting from any installation or improvement made or constructed pursuant to this chapter and its requirements which installation or improvement is not a part of the city's sewer system; and the city shall not be responsible for, nor shall the city pay, any expense incurred or resulting from any activity or operation conducted, pursuant to this chapter and its requirements, by any person or persons other than the city, its officers, employees and agents, and persons with whom the city has contracted for the performance and conduct of such activity or operation; and the city shall not be responsible for, nor shall the city pay, any expense involved in the maintenance or operation of any facility installed, maintained or operated pursuant to this chapter and its requirements, which facility is not a part of the city's sewer system.

G. No person shall discharge industrial wastes into the city's sewer system without first obtaining a permit so to do from the director of public works. Such permit shall be known as an industrial waste permit. Application of such permit shall be made in writing to the director of public works and shall contain the following information:

1. Name and address of applicant;

2. Location of connection or proposed connection with the city's sewer system;

3. Estimated gallonage of wastes proposed to be discharged and statement as to approximate time of discharge, together with information concerning peak periods and peak loads, and such other pertinent data and information as the director of public works may require;

4. Statement of the character of the waste proposed to be discharged including such detail and specifics in connection therewith as the director of public works may require.

H. Upon recommendation of the director of public works and order of the city council it may be required that an applicant applying for or holding an industrial waste permit shall file a bond, in a reasonable amount as determined by the city council, to indemnify the city against all loss, expense and damage which may result from or arise out of the discharge of industrial waste into the city's sewer system by applicant. Such bond may be required as a condition precedent to the issuance of the industrial waste permit or subsequent to its issuance.

(Prior code § 4-7-3)

No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged into the city's sewer system any of the following materials, wastes or waters:

1. Any amounts of suspended solids exceeding a concentration of four hundred milligrams per liter;

2. Any amounts of inorganic suspended solids exceeding a concentration of two hundred milligrams per liter;

3. Any inorganic suspended solids twenty percent of which, in their greatest dimension, exceed seven microns;

4. Any wastes with amounts of dissolved solids which cause violation of the regional water quality control board discharge requirements;

5. Any wastes which have chloride concentrations greater than regional water quality control board discharge requirements;

6. Any gasoline, benzene, naphtha, fuel oil or any other flammable or explosive liquid, solid or gas;

7. Any waste containing toxic or poisonous solids, liquids or gases in such quantities that, alone or in combination with other waste substances, may create a hazard for humans, animals or the local environment, interfere detrimentally with sewage treatment processes, cause a public nuisance, or cause any hazardous conditions to occur in the sewer system;

8. Any flow having a pH lower than six or high enough to cause alkaline encrustations on sewer walls or which has any corrosive or detrimental characteristic that may cause injury to sewage treatment personnel or maintenance personnel or may cause damage to structures, equipment or other physical facilities of the sewer system;

9. Any solid or viscous substances of such size or in such quantity that they may cause obstruction to flow in the sewer or be detrimental to proper sewage treatment plant operation. These objectionable substances include, but are not limited to, asphalt, dead animals, offal, ashes, sand, mud, silt, straw, industrial process shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plastics, wood, whole blood, paunch manure, bones, hair and fleshings, entrails, paper dishes, paper cups, milk containers, or other similar paper products, either whole or ground;

10. Any rainwater, stormwater, groundwater, street drainage, subsurface drainage, roof drainage, yard drainage, or water from yard fountains, ponds or lawn sprays;

11. Any water added for the purpose of diluting wastes exceeding maximum concentration limitations;

12. Any nonbiodegradable cutting oils, commonly called soluble oil, which form persistent water emulsions;

13. Any nonbiodegradable oil, petroleum oil or refined petroleum products beyond a concentration of fifty milligrams per liter in the waste discharge;

14. Any dispersed biodegradable oils and fats, such as lard, tallow or vegetable oil in concentrations over six hundred milligrams per liter;

15. Any waste with a concentration of free cyanide ion (CN — ) of 0.2 milligrams per liter or greater;

16. Any wastes with a BOD 5 of four hundred milligrams per liter or a COD of eight hundred milligrams per liter, whichever is more restrictive;

17. Any strongly odorous waste;

18. Any wastes containing over 0.1 milligram per liter of dissolved sulfides;

19. Any substance promoting or causing the promotion of toxic gases;

20. Any waste having an eight-hour temperature average higher than one hundred forty degrees Fahrenheit, or any waste having an instantaneous temperature exceeding two hundred twelve degrees Fahrenheit;

21. Any wastes having a chlorine demand exceeding fifty milligrams per liter;

22. Any waste containing amounts of chlorinated hydrocarbons greater than 0.50 milligrams per liter;

23. Any waste containing organophosphorous and carbamate compounds in amounts greater than one milligram per liter;

24. Any deionized water, steam condensate or distilled water in excess of laboratory usage;

25. Any waste containing substances that may precipitate, solidify or become viscous at temperatures between forty degrees Fahrenheit, and one hundred degrees Fahrenheit;

26. Any waste producing excessive discoloration of sewage or treatment plant effluent, and which causes any violation of the regional water quality control board standards;

27. Any garbage that is not ground sufficiently to pass through a one-half-inch screen;

28. Any industrial wastes containing quantities of iron, boron, chromium, phenols, copper, nickel, zinc, lead, mercury, cadmium, arsenic or any other objectionable materials toxic to humans, animals, the local ecological system or to the biological treatment processes, in excess of concentrations hereinafter defined:

a. Iron: ten milligrams per liter,

b. Boron: 1.5 milligrams per liter,

c. Chromium (hexavalent): five milligrams per liter,

d. Phenols: one milligram per liter,

e. Nickel: one milligram per liter,

f. Copper: 0.5 milligrams per liter,

g. Zinc: one milligram per liter,

h. Lead: 0.2 milligrams per liter,

i. Mercury: 0.01 milligrams per liter,

j. Cadmium: 0.10 milligrams per liter,

k. Arsenic: one milligram per liter;

29. Any wastes having an unusual volume of flow or concentration of wastes in quantity of flow exceeding for any period of duration longer than fifteen minutes more than five times the average twenty-four concentration or flows during normal operation;

30. Any blow-down or bleed water from cooling towers or other evaporative coolers exceeding one-third of the makeup water. Quantities in excess of one-third of the makeup water may be discharged into the sewer system during off-peak hours if hydraulic sewer capacity is available;

31. Any single-pass cooling water;

32. Quantities of radioactive material wastes in excess of those allowed by the State Department of Public Health;

33. Any sewage which, if discharged or introduced into the sewer system, would, in the determination of the director of public works, have a harmful or damaging effect on the sewer system or any part or facility thereof; or on the quality of the sewage treatment plant effluent; or on sewer system personnel or equipment or upon other persons or property, private or public; or upon the ecology. In determining the acceptability or nonacceptability of specific sewage for discharge or introduction into the city's sewer system, the director of public works, in addition to consideration of the foregoing, shall consider, and base his determination on, the nature of the specific sewage; the adequacy, nature and condition of the sewer system, its facilities, and component parts, to receive such sewage; and adherence to the general purpose and policy established by this chapter. Any person affected by any such determination of the director of public works shall have the right to appeal therefrom to the city council and shall have the right of hearing before the city council upon such appeal, on the basis that such determination of the director of public works is unreasonable and creates an undue hardship upon the person making the appeal;

34. Any sewage which, if discharged or introduced into the sewer system, would create a public nuisance.

(Prior code § 4-7-2)

A. The director of public works and other duly authorized employees of the city bearing proper credentials and identification shall be permitted to enter all properties for the purposes of inspection, observation, measurement, sampling and testing in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The director of public works and such other employees of the city shall have no authority to inquire into any processes, including metallurigcal, chemical, oil, refining, ceramic, paper, or other processes, except to the extent necessary to determine the kind and source of waste being discharged, or to be discharged, into the city's sewer system.

B. When entering upon properties and while performing necessary work as provided in subsection A of this section, the director of public works and the other duly authorized employees of the city shall observe all proper safety precautions.

C. The director of public works and other duly authorized employees of the city bearing proper credentials and identification shall be permitted to enter upon any property through which or through part of which the city has an easement, right-of-way, or other right of entry, for the purposes of, but not limited to, inspection, observation, measurement, sampling, repair, replacement and maintenance of any part of the city's sewer system lying within the property. Entry and work by the city upon any such property shall conform to the provisions of the easement, right-of-way, or right of entry, as the case may be.

(Prior code § 4-7-4(A)—(C))

No person or persons, other than the director of public works, or a duly authorized officer, employee, or agent of the city, or person or persons finding it necessary or expedient to do so in fulfillment of a contractual obligation to the city or in carrying out an order of the city council or director of public works or other duly authorized city officer, agent or employee, shall uncover, make any connections with or opening into, alter or disturb the city's sewer system, or any part or facility thereof, without first obtaining written permission from the city so to do.

(Prior code § 4-7-4(D))

The city council may, by ordinance or resolution, establish the fees chargeable by the city for the issuance of permits pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. If the city council has so established the fee chargeable for any such permit, then in no event shall any such permit be issued prior to payment to the city of the fee.

(Prior code § 4-7-4(E))

The connection of any building sewer to the city's sewer system shall be inspected and approved by the director of public works before use and covering in of such connection.

(Prior code § 4-7-4(F))

If any section, subsection, paragraph, sentence, clause or phrase of this chapter is for any reason held to be invalid or unconstitutional by the decision of any court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of the remaining portions of this chapter. The city council declares that it would have passed this chapter, and each section, subsection, sentence, clause and phrase hereof, irrespective of the fact that any one or more sections, subsections, sentences, clauses or phrases is declared invalid or unconstitutional.

(Prior code § 4-7-7)

Upon discovery of a continuing violation of any provision of Section 13.08.040 the director of public works may prepare and delivery to the police department, for personal service upon the violator, a written order to the violator to cease and desist the violation. The written order shall specify the nature of the violation and the time within which, not to exceed ten days, the violation must be terminated. In specifying the time for termination of the violation, the director of public works shall take into account, among other considerations, the nature and magnitude of the violation; and, if in his judgment the urgency of cessation of the violation so demands, the director of public works may require, and so specify in the written order, that the violation shall be terminated immediately upon service of the order. If personal service of the cease and desist order cannot be made, service may be made by certified or registered mail to the violator with return receipt requested.

(Prior code § 4-7-5)

Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction thereof shall be subject to a fine of not more than five hundred dollars or to imprisonment for not more than six months in the county jail, or to both such fine and imprisonment.

(Prior code § 4-7-8)

This chapter shall become operative on January 1,1974.

(Prior code § 4-7-9)