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Article I. General Provisions
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All terminology used in this chapter and Chapters 13.70 through 13.75 PMC, unless specifically defined therein, is defined as follows:

“Act” or “the Act” means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act (33 USC § 1251 et seq.), as amended.

“AKART” is an acronym for “all known, available, and reasonable methods (prevention, control, and treatment) to prevent and control pollution of the waters of the State of Washington” (Chapter 90.48 RCW). AKART shall represent the most current methodology that can be reasonably required for preventing, controlling, or abating the pollutants associated with a discharge. AKART shall be applied by all users of the POTW. AKART includes best management practices and may be required by the Director for any discharge to the POTW.

“Applicable discharge limits for any specified pollutant” means the City’s specific limitations on discharge, the state standards, or the national categorical pretreatment standards (when effective), whichever standard is most stringent in a given situation.

“Authorized representative” means:

(a) If the industrial discharger is a corporation, the president, secretary, treasurer, or 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 the manager of one or more manufacturing or production facilities, who is authorized to sign documents and/or has been assigned or delegated as the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.

(b) If the industrial discharger is a partnership or sole proprietorship, a general partner or proprietor, respectively.

(c) If the industrial discharger 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 his/her designee.

(d) The individual described in subsections (a) through (c) of this definition may designate another representative if the authorization is in writing, the authorization specifies the individual or position responsibility 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.

“Backwater valve” means a device located in the basement floor drain of a building, which prevents wastewater from backing up into the building from a public sewer.

“BOD” (denoting biochemical oxygen demand) means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20 degrees centigrade, expressed in milligrams per liter, and determined in accordance with standard methods.

“Building drain” means that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste, and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning five feet outside the inner face of the building wall.

“Building sewer” also called “house connection” means the extension from the building on private property and all extensions owned and maintained by the property owner to the public sewer pipeline.

“Bypass” means the intentional diversion of wastestreams from any portion of an industrial discharger’s treatment facility.

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

“City” means the City of Pasco, Washington.

“City Engineer” means the City Engineer of the City of Pasco, or his duly authorized representative.

“Collection system” means the sanitary sewer piping portion of the public sewer system designated and constructed to collect sewage from individual building sewers and side sewers and convey it to the POTW.

“Color” means the optical density at the visual wavelength of maximum absorption, relative to distilled water. One hundred percent transmittance is equivalent to zero (0.0) optical density.

“Commercial” means those establishments, both public or private and profit or nonprofit in nature, discharging primarily domestic-type water, that inhabit the community for the use, service or benefit of the citizenry solely within the community area.

“Composite sample” means the sample resulting from the combination of individual wastewater samples taken at selected intervals based on an increment of either flow or time.

“Connect order” means the application filed with the City Finance Department for a sanitary sewer or a storm service connection.

“Cooking establishments” means those establishments primarily engaged in activities of preparing, serving, or otherwise making available for consumption foodstuffs and that use one or more of the following preparation activities: cooking by frying (all methods), baking (all methods), grilling, sautéing, rotisserie cooking, broiling (all methods), boiling, blanching, roasting, toasting, or poaching. Also included are infrared heating, searing, barbecuing, and any other food preparation activity that produces a hot, nondrinkable food product in or on a receptacle that requires washing.

“Cooling water” means water used for cooling purposes generated from any use, such as but not limited to air conditioning, heat exchangers, cooling or refrigeration. For the purpose of this policy, such waters are further divided into two subcategories:

(a) Uncontaminated: Water to which the only pollutant added is heat, which has no direct contact with any raw material, waste, intermediate, or final product, and which does not contain a level of contaminants detectably higher than that of the intake water.

(b) Contaminated: Water likely to contain levels of pollutants detectably higher than the intake water. This includes water contaminated through any means, such as but not limited to chemicals added for water treatment, corrosion inhibition, or biocides, or by direct contact with any process materials, products, and/or wastewater.

“Department of Ecology” means the Washington State Department of Ecology (DOE) or authorized representative thereof.

“Department of Health” means the Washington State Department of Health (DOH) or authorized representative thereof.

“Director” means the City of Pasco Director of Public Works or his authorized deputy, designee, agent or representative.

“Domestic waste” means residential and commercial sewage discharged into sanitary sewers.

“EPA” means the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Existing user” means any categorical user which discharges wastewater to the POTW prior to the effective date of this policy.

“FOG” means fats, oils and grease.

“Footing drain” means an open joint or perforated pipe located near the foundation of a building and intended to collect and carry underground storm or drainage water.

“Garbage” means the solid wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food and from the handling, storage and sale of produce.

“Grease trap” means a professionally engineered appurtenance or device designed and constructed to separate and retain FOG prior to the wastewater exiting the trap and entering the sanitary sewer collection and treatment system. These devices also serve to collect settable solids, generated by and from food preparation activities, prior to the water exiting the trap and entering the sanitary sewer collection and treatment system. Grease traps are sometimes referred to herein as “grease interceptors.”

“House connection,” also called “building sewer,” means the extension from the building sewer drain on private property and owned and maintained by the property owner to the side sewer or other place of disposal.

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

“Industrial user permit” means written permission from the Washington State Department of Ecology to discharge domestic waste, industrial waste or a combination thereof into the collection system.

“Industrial wastewater” means water or liquid-carried waste from any industry, manufacturing operation, trade, or business, such as but not limited to a polluted liquid, solid or gaseous substance, or combinations thereof, which include any combination of process wastewater, cooling water, contaminated storm water, contaminated leachate, or other waters such that the combined effluent differs in some way from purely domestic wastewater, or is subject to regulation under federal categorical pretreatment standards, the state waste discharge permit program, or this policy.

“Industry” means those commercial and industrial establishments, public and private, profit and nonprofit, which produce, process, store or manufacture items for use outside as well as within the community area.

“Infiltration” means the water entering a sewer system, including building and side sewers, from the ground through such means as, but not limited to, defective pipes, pipe joints, connections, or manhole walls. Infiltration does not include and is distinguished from storm inflow.

“Interference” means the effect of a discharge or discharges on the POTW from one or more users which results in either:

(a) Inhibition or disruption of the POTW, its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal;

(b) Violation of any permit regulating the City’s wastewater discharge or sewerage sludge; or

(c) Prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with any applicable statutory or regulatory provision or permit issued thereunder.

“Maximum allowable discharge limit” means the maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from the analysis of any discrete or composite sample collected, independent of the industrial flow rate and the duration of the sampling event.

“Multifamily dwelling unit” means a residential establishment consisting of a building or portion thereof used or designed as a residence for two, three or more families living independently of each other, and doing their own cooking in said building, including (duplex) apartment house, apartment hotel and flat, but not including motor lodge, motel or other similar designations.

“Multi-unit commercial” means businesses, industries, schools, public agencies, churches or other water users that are not residential or multifamily, wherein more than one unit is connected to a single water meter.

“NPDES” means the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit program as administered by the Environmental Protection Agency or State of Washington Department of Ecology.

“Pass through” means a condition occurring when discharges from users (singly or in combination) exit the POTW in quantities or the concentrations which either:

(a) Cause a violation of any requirement of the City’s NPDES or state waste discharge permit; or

(b) Cause an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation; or cause a violation of any water quality standard for waters of the state promulgated under state regulations including Chapter 173-201A WAC.

“Permit” means a building permit issued following an approved connect order, or a carbon copy of the building permit, which shall be visibly posted on the premises where the work is being accomplished.

“Person” means any individual, company, partnership, corporation, association, society or group, and the singular term includes the plural.

“pH” means the logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in moles per liter of solution, a measure of acidity and alkalinity.

“POTW” (denoting publicly owned treatment works) means the wastewater treatment plant including, but not limited to, the sewer mains and pumping stations in the collection system network operated by the City of Pasco.

“Pollutant” means any substance, either liquid, gaseous, solid, or radioactive, discharged to the POTW, which if discharged directly would alter the chemical, physical, thermal, biological, or radiological properties of the natural state of water, which interferes with its beneficial reuse or causes failure to meet water quality requirements of the State of Washington, including pH, temperature, taste, color, turbidity, oxygen demand, toxicity, or odor. This includes any discharge likely to create a nuisance or render such waters harmful, detrimental or injurious to any beneficial uses, terrestrial or aquatic life, or to public health, safety or welfare.

“Pretreatment” means the necessary treatment of wastewater by the discharger before the wastewater is introduced into the public sewer system. Necessary treatment is defined by state and federal regulations for each industry, but, in general, means that the wastewater quality must meet the discharge limits and not interfere with flow in the public sewer system or with sewage treatment plant processes.

“Private sewage disposal system” means a septic tank and drain field that is approved by the Benton-Franklin Health Department and is located on the same property as the building being served.

“Properly shredded garbage” means garbage that has been shredded to such a degree that it will be carried or suspended freely under the flow conditions prevailing in sanitary sewers, with no particle larger than three eighths inch in any dimension.

“Public place,” “public area” or “street area” means any space dedicated to or acquired by the City for the use of the general public.

“Public sewer system” means the sanitary sewer facilities owned and maintained by the City, or any sewerage facilities acquired or constructed by such agency, excluding building sewers and side sewers.

“Public works discharge policy” means the policy and procedures defining the acceptable and unacceptable limits and concentrations of gases, liquids and/or solids allowed to be discharged into the public sewer system and corrective action required for the removal of unacceptable gases, liquids and/or solids.

“Sanitary sewer” means a public sewer intended to carry domestic wastewater from homes and businesses, which does not by design or intention convey infiltration, storm inflow or other runoff water.

“Sewage” means liquid and solid waste material that passes through or is discharged from building sewers and outlets of buildings.

“Sewage treatment plant” means an arrangement of devices, structures and equipment for treating domestic waste. This term is synonymous with wastewater treatment plant, POTW and treatment works.

“Sewer” means a pipe or conduit for carrying wastewater.

“Side sewer” means a sanitary sewer pipe located on a public right-of-way and connecting the building sewer to the collection system and maintained by the connecting building sewer owner.

“Significant industrial user” means:

(a) A user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or

(b) A user that:

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

(ii) 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

(iii) Is designated as such by the Department of Ecology with input from the City on the basis that it, alone or in conjunction with other sources, has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.

(c) Upon a finding that a user meeting the criteria in subsection (b)(ii) of this section has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any applicable pretreatment standard or requirement, the Department of Ecology may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from a user or the City 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) means a violation or pattern of violations of this policy.

“Slug” means any discharge of water, sewage, or industrial waste which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds, for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes, more than five times the average 24-hour concentration or flow during normal operation.

“Storm inflow” means the water discharged into a public sewer system, including side sewers from such sources as, but not limited to, downspouts, cellar, yard and area drains, footage drains, cooling water discharges, drains from springs and swampy areas, manhole covers, cross-connections from storm sewers and combined sewers, catch basins, natural outlets, watercourses, storm waters, surface runoff, street wash waters, or drainage. Storm inflow does not include, and is distinguished from, infiltration.

“Suspended solids” mean solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in, water, sewage, or other liquids, and which are removable by filtering the liquid, and include matter which, upon dilution with water, sewage or wastewater, results in the formation of suspended solids.

“Toxic pollutant” means one or a combination of the pollutants listed as toxic in regulations promulgated by EPA under Section 307 (33 USC § 1317) of the Act.

“Treatment plant effluent” means the discharge from the POTW.

“Unpolluted water” means water in its natural state, unpolluted precipitation runoff, surface water, groundwater, or water which, after use for any purpose, is not substantially changed in quality as defined and regulated by authorized sanitarians, the Department of Social and Health Services, the Department of Ecology, and the Environmental Protection Agency.

“Upset” means an exceptional incident in which there is an unintentional temporary noncompliance with applicable pretreatment standards because of factors beyond the reasonable control of the user. An upset does not include noncompliance to the extent caused by the operational error, improperly designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of preventative maintenance, or careless or improper operation.

“User rate charge” means the rate determined by Chapter 13.50 PMC.

“Wastewater” is a comprehensive term which includes domestic waste, properly shredded garbage, industrial waste, sewage, polluted storm or precipitation runoff, and other polluted waters.

“Watercourse” means a channel in which a natural flow of water occurs or has occurred either continuously or intermittently. [Ord. 3702 § 2, 2004; Code 1970 § 13A.52.010(A).]