Ventura Municipal Code Art. 1 General Provisions

The purpose of this chapter is to control and regulate nondomestic sewage, liquid waste and any other wastes discharged directly or indirectly into the publicly owned treatment works (POTW) of the city of Ventura. This chapter sets forth uniform requirements for users of the POTW and enables the city to comply with all applicable state and federal laws, including the Clean Water Act (33 United States Code (U.S.C.) Section 1251 et seq.) and the General Pretreatment Regulations (40 CFR Part 403) and other applicable federal and state laws and regulations, as they may be from time to time promulgated or amended. (Ord. No. 2010-002, § 2, 2-1-10)

To the extent that the provisions of this chapter are in conflict with any other provision of this code, in connection with the enforcement of this chapter, this chapter shall prevail. It is not intended that this chapter shall operate to repeal any other provisions of this code or to relieve any responsibility or liability imposed by or incurred under any other provision of this code. (Ord. No. 2010-002, § 2, 2-1-10)

The city of Ventura protects the health, welfare and safety of local residents by constructing, operating and maintaining, as the case may be, a system of local sewers, trunk sewers and interceptors, and liquid waste treatment, disposal and reclamation facilities to service homes, industries and commercial establishments throughout the city and surrounding environs as required by state and federal law. The policy and objectives of this chapter are:

A. To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the POTW that will interfere with its operation;

B. To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the POTW that will pass through the POTW, inadequately treated, into receiving waters, or otherwise be incompatible with the POTW;

C. To protect both POTW personnel who may be affected by wastewater and sludge in the course of their employment and the general public;

D. To promote reuse and recycling of wastewater and sludge from the POTW;

E. To enable the city to comply with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit conditions, sludge use and disposal requirements, and any other federal or state laws to which the POTW is subject.

This chapter shall apply to all users of the POTW. The chapter authorizes the issuance of nondomestic wastewater discharge permits or general permits; provides for monitoring, compliance, and enforcement activities; establishes administrative review procedures; requires user reporting; and provides for the setting of fees for the equitable distribution of costs resulting from the program established herein. (Ord. No. 2010-002, § 2, 2-1-10)

The public works director shall administer, implement and enforce all the provisions of this chapter. Any powers granted to or duties imposed upon the public works director may be delegated by the public works director to persons acting in the beneficial interest of or in the employ of the city.

If any waters or wastes are discharged or are proposed to be discharged to the POTW, which waters contain the substances or possess the characteristics enumerated in Sections 22.240.210 through 22.240.240, and which may have a deleterious effect on the POTW, processes, equipment, recycled water quality, solid waste disposal or receiving waters or which otherwise create a hazard to life or constitute a public nuisance, the city, via the public works director, may:

A. Reject the wastes in accordance with the requirements of Article 6 of this chapter.

B. Require pretreatment to an acceptable condition prior to discharge to the POTW.

C. Require control over the quantities, timing, and rates of discharges.

D. If the public works director permits the pretreatment or equalization of waste flows, the design and installation of the plans and equipment shall be subject to the review and approval of the public works director, and subject to the requirements of all applicable codes, ordinances, and laws. Where preliminary treatment or flow-equalizing facilities are provided for any waters or wastes, they shall be maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective operation by the discharger at their expense.

When required to enforce any provision of this chapter, any requirement of a nondomestic wastewater permit issued under authority of this chapter or to enforce any other local, state or federal law or regulation affecting wastewater discharge enforced by the city, and in addition to any other remedy provided by law, the city will follow the procedures outlined in the city’s enforcement response plan, and, upon authorization of the city council, may begin an action for appropriate legal and/or equitable relief in any appropriate court. (Ord. No. 2010-002, § 2, 2-1-10)

The public works director is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt such rules, regulations and standards as may be deemed reasonable and necessary to protect the POTW and to control the proper use thereof; provided, however, that the terms and provisions of such rules and regulations shall be promulgated in a manner best directed to result in the uniform control of the sewerage systems within the entire city. The public works director shall, from time to time as the director deems necessary, prepare additional rules and regulations as to the quality of sewage or nondomestic or liquid waste discharges to the POTW, and act to modify or amend such existing rules and regulations. (Ord. No. 2010-002, § 2, 2-1-10)

Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this chapter, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated:

“Act” or “the Act” means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq.

“Approval authority” shall mean the State of California Regional Water Quality Control Board or its successor agencies.

“Authorized” or “duly authorized representative of the user” means:

1. If the user is a corporation:

a. The president, secretary, treasurer, or a vice-president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function, or any other person who performs similar policy or decision-making functions for the corporation; or

b. The manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operating facilities, provided the manager is authorized to make management decisions that govern the operation of the regulated facility including having the explicit or implicit duty of making major capital investment recommendations, and initiate and direct other comprehensive measures to assure long-term environmental compliance with environmental laws and regulations; can ensure that the necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and accurate information for nondomestic wastewater discharge permit or general permit requirements; and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.

2. If the user is a partnership or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, respectively.

3. If the user is a federal, state, or local governmental facility: a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility, or their designee.

4. The individuals described in subsections 1 through 3 of this definition may designate a duly authorized representative if the authorization is in writing, the authorization specifies the individual or position responsible for the overall operation of the facility from which the discharge originates or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company, and the written authorization is submitted to the city.

“Average dry weather flow (ADWF)” shall mean the daily average flow for a discharge derived by dividing the yearly flow total by 365 days.

“Best management practices” or “BMPs” means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in Section 22.240.240(E). BMPs include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage. BMPs also include alternative means (i.e., management plans) of complying with, or in place of, certain established categorical pretreatment standards and effluent limits.

“Biochemical oxygen demand” or “BOD” shall mean the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five days at 20 degrees centigrade, usually expressed as a concentration (e.g., mg/l).

“Categorical industrial user” shall mean an industrial user subject to a categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard.

“Categorical pretreatment standard” or “categorical standard” shall mean any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with Sections 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1317) that apply to a specific category of users and that appear in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405 through 471.

“Chapter” shall mean this chapter.

“Chemical oxygen demand” or “COD” shall mean a measure of the oxygen required to oxidize all compounds, both organic and inorganic, in water.

“City” shall mean the city of Ventura, county of Ventura, state of California.

“Control authority” shall mean the city of Ventura.

“Council” shall mean the city council of the city of Ventura.

“Daily maximum” shall mean the arithmetic average of all effluent samples for a pollutant collected during a calendar day.

“Daily maximum limit” shall mean the maximum allowable discharge limit of a pollutant during a calendar day. Where daily maximum limits are expressed in units of mass, the daily discharge is the total mass discharged over the course of the day. Where daily maximum limits are expressed in terms of a concentration, the daily discharge is the arithmetic average measurement of the pollutant concentration derived from all measurements taken that day.

“Discharger” shall mean any person discharging wastes, directly or indirectly, to the POTW.

“Division” or “this division” shall mean this division of this title.

“Domestic wastewater” shall mean any wastewater generated from ordinary private residential household uses.

“Environmental Protection Agency” or “EPA” shall mean the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the regional water management division director, the regional administrator, or other duly authorized official of said agency.

“Existing source” shall mean any source of discharge that is not a “new source.”

“Fats, oils and grease” (“FOG”) shall mean any fats, oils or grease of animal or plant origin having a reasonable potential to cause interference with or obstruction to the POTW.

“Grab sample” shall mean a sample that is taken from a wastestream without regard to the flow in the wastestream and over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.

“Indirect discharger or discharge” means the introduction of pollutants into a POTW from any nondomestic source regulated under Section 307(b), (c), or (d) of the Act.

“Industrial user” or “IU” shall mean a source of indirect discharge.

“Inspector” shall mean any person authorized by the public works director to inspect and regulate commercial and industrial wastewater generation, conveyance, processing and disposal facilities.

“Instantaneous limit” shall mean the maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from the analysis of any discrete or composited sample collected, independent of the industrial flow rate and the duration of the sampling event.

“Interference” shall mean a discharge that, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or operations or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and therefore, is a cause of a violation of the city’s NPDES permit or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with any of the following statutory/regulatory provisions or permits issued thereunder, or any more stringent state or local regulations: Section 405 of the Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act, including Title II commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); any state regulations contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act; the Clean Air Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; and the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act.

“Local limit” shall mean specific discharge limits contained in Section 22.240.240 and developed and enforced by the city upon industrial or commercial facilities to implement the general and specific discharge prohibitions listed in 40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b).

“Medical waste” shall mean isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes, potentially contaminated laboratory wastes, and dialysis wastes.

“Monthly average” shall mean the sum of all “daily discharges” measured during a calendar month divided by the number of “daily discharges” measured during that month.

“Monthly average limit” shall mean the highest allowable average of “daily discharges” over a calendar month, calculated as the sum of all “daily discharges” measured during a calendar month divided by the number of “daily discharges” measured during that month.

“New source” shall mean:

1. 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 that will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section; provided, that:

a. The building, structure, facility, or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or

b. The building, structure, facility, or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or

c. 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.

2. 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 (1)(b) or (1)(c) of this definition but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.

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

a. Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous on-site construction program;

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

ii. 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

b. 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.

“Nondomestic wastewater” shall mean any wastewater generated by a commercial, industrial or other discharger except for private residential household users. Any discharge of brine solutions from water softeners and wastewater from water features such as fountains or pools coming from commercial residential facilities such as apartment buildings and senior facilities is considered to be nondomestic wastewater.

“NPDES permit” shall mean any permit issued by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the California State Water Resources Control Board, or a California Regional Water Quality Control Board pursuant to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System provisions of the federal Clean Water Act, as it currently exists or as may be hereafter amended.

“Nuisance” shall mean anything which is indecent or offensive to the senses, or is an obstruction to the free use of property so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property.

“Pass through” shall mean a discharge which exits the 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 NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.

“Peak seasonal dry weather flow (PSDWF)” shall mean the average flow for a discharge, measured over the seven continuous days period during which the maximum quantity of wastewater was discharged in each year.

“Person” shall mean 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. This definition includes all federal, state, and local governmental entities.

“pH” shall mean a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of an aqueous solution, expressed in standard units. Theoretically pH = -log (base 10) cH, where cH is the concentration of hydrogen ions in grams per liter. Scale ranges from 0 to 14, pH 7 being neutral, less than 7, acid, more than 7, alkaline.

“Pollutant” shall mean dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, municipal, agricultural and industrial wastes, and certain characteristics of wastewater (e.g., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, or odor).

“Pretreatment” shall mean 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, introducing such pollutants into the POTW. This reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical, or biological processes; by process changes; or by other means, except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable pretreatment standard.

“Pretreatment requirements” shall mean any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.

“Pretreatment standards” or “standards” shall mean prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.

“Prohibited discharge standards” or “prohibited discharges” shall mean absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in Section 22.240.210.

“Public sewer” shall mean any sewer dedicated to public use and which is controlled by a public corporation or governmental agency.

“Public works director” shall mean the public works director of the city of Ventura or their duly authorized representative. The public works director is designated by the city to supervise the operation of the POTW, and is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this chapter.

“Publicly owned treatment works” or “POTW” shall mean a treatment works, as defined by Section 212 of the federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1292), which is owned by the city, including, but not limited to, any devices or systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling, or reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature, any intercepting sewers, outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, pumping, power, and other equipment and appurtenances; extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions, and alterations thereof; any elements essential to provide a reliable recycled water supply such as standby treatment units and clear well facilities; and any works, including land that is or will be an integral part of the treatment process (including land used for the storage of treated wastewater in land treatment systems prior to land application) or is used for ultimate disposal of residues resulting from such treatment.

“Septic tank waste” shall mean any sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks.

“Sewage” shall mean human excrement and gray water (household showers, dishwashing operations, etc.) and any of the wastewater of the community which has been contaminated by use such that treatment is required before it may be safely discharged to the environment or reused.

“Sewer” shall mean any pipe or other conveyance intended to transport sewage.

“Sewerage” shall mean any systems of sewers and appurtenances for the collection, conveyance, treatment and disposal of sewage.

Significant Industrial User (SIU). Except as provided in subsections 3 and 4 of this definition, a “significant industrial user” is:

1. An industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or

2. An industrial user that:

a. Discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater);

b. Contributes a process wastestream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant; or

c. Is designated as such by the city on the basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.

3. The city may determine that an industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards is a nonsignificant categorical industrial user rather than a significant industrial user on a finding that the industrial user never discharges more than 100 gallons per day (gpd) of total categorical wastewater (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater, unless specifically included in the pretreatment standard) and the following conditions are met:

a. The industrial user, prior to city’s finding, has consistently complied with all applicable categorical pretreatment standards and requirements;

b. The industrial user annually submits the certification statement required in Section 22.240.490(B) (see 40 CFR 403.12(q)), together with any additional information necessary to support the certification statement; and

c. The industrial user never discharges any untreated concentrated wastewater.

4. Upon a finding that a user meeting the criteria in subsection 2 of this definition has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement, the city may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from an industrial user, and in accordance with procedures in 40 CFR 403.8(f)(6), determine that such user should not be considered a significant industrial user.

“Significant noncompliance (SNC)” shall be applicable to all significant industrial users (or any other industrial user that violates subsection 3, 4 or 8 of this definition) and shall mean:

1. Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined here as those in which 66 percent or more of all the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) a numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits as defined in this section;

2. Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which 33 percent or more of wastewater measurements taken for each pollutant parameter during a six-month period equals or exceeds the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement including instantaneous limits, as defined by this section, multiplied by the applicable criteria (1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oils and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH);

3. Any other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement as defined by Section 22.240.210 (daily maximum, long-term average, instantaneous limit, or narrative standard) that the public works director determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass through, including endangering the health of POTW personnel or the general public;

4. Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to the public or to the environment, or has resulted in the public works director’s exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge;

5. Failure to meet, within 90 days of the scheduled date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a nondomestic wastewater discharge permit or a general permit or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance;

6. Failure to provide within 45 days after the due date any required reports, including baseline monitoring reports, reports on compliance with categorical pretreatment standard deadlines, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;

7. Failure to accurately report noncompliance; or

8. Any other violation(s), which may include a violation of best management practices, which the public works director determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program.

“Slug load” or “slug discharge” shall mean any discharge at a flow rate or concentration which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in Sections 22.240.210 through 22.240.240. A slug discharge is any discharge of a nonroutine, episodic nature, including, but not limited to, an accidental spill or a noncustomary batch discharge, which has a reasonable potential to cause interference or pass through, or in any other way violate the POTW’s regulations, local limits or permit conditions.

“Stormwater” shall mean any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation, including snowmelt.

“Total suspended solids” or “suspended solids” shall mean the total suspended matter that floats on the surface of, or is suspended in, water, wastewater, or other liquid, and that is removable by laboratory filtering.

“Uncontaminated water” shall mean water which is not impaired in quality by use to a degree which creates a hazard to the public health or a threat to the environment and which is suitable for discharge to the stormwater drainage system, excluding unlined natural watercourses.

“User” shall mean a source of indirect wastewater discharge.

“Wastewater” shall mean liquid and water-carried industrial wastes and sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which are contributed to the POTW.

“Wastewater treatment plant” or “treatment plant” shall mean that portion of the POTW which is designed to provide treatment of municipal sewage and industrial waste. (Ord. No. 2010-002, § 2, 2-1-10; Ord. No. 2024-004, § 1, 5-21-24)

The following abbreviations, when used in this chapter, shall have the designated meanings:

ADWF – Average dry weather flow.

BOD – Biochemical oxygen demand.

BMP – Best management practice.

BMR – Baseline monitoring report.

CFR – Code of Federal Regulations.

CIU – Categorical industrial user.

COD – Chemical oxygen demand.

ERP/ERG – Enforcement response plan/enforcement response guide.

EPA – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

gpd – Gallons per day.

IU – Industrial user.

mg/l – Milligrams per liter.

MS4 – Municipal separate storm sewer system.

NOV – Notice of violation.

NPDES – National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.

NSCIU – Nonsignificant categorical industrial user.

PCI – Pretreatment compliance inspection.

POTW – Publicly owned treatment works.

PSDWF – Peak seasonal dry weather flow.

RCRA – Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.

SIU – Significant industrial user.

SDCP – Slug discharge control plan.

SMR – Self monitoring report.

SNC – Significant noncompliance.

SUO – Sewer use ordinance.

SWPPP – (State industrial) stormwater pollution prevention plan.

TSS – Total suspended solids.

TTO – Total toxic organics.

U.S.C. – United States Code. (Ord. No. 2010-002, § 2, 2-1-10)