City of Pittsfield, MA Article I DEFINITIONS

Sec. 19-1 Definitions of miscellaneous terms.

[Ord. No. 1226, § I, 6-23-2020]

Unless the content specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this chapter shall be as follows:

(a) APPLICANT or OWNER — Shall mean any person requesting approval to or having permission to discharge industrial wastes or wastewater into the City's wastewater system.

(b) BASELINE MONITORING REPORT — Shall mean a first report of an industrial user prepared in accordance with and meeting the requirements of 40 CFR Part 403.12 and describing an existing or proposed industrial waste discharge. Such report shall, at a minimum, include the name and address of the facility and a list of any environmental control permits held by or for the facility and shall provide a description of the nature of the business of the establishment, flow measurements of any discharge, measurement of any pollutants regulated by the categorical pretreatment standard, certification as to compliance or noncompliance with the categorical standard, and if not in compliance, a proposed compliance schedule containing increments of progress in the form of dates, in no case greater than 270 days apart, for the commencement and completion of major events designed to bring the industrial user into compliance with the applicable pretreatment standard or requirement. For new sources of industrial discharge, the baseline monitoring report shall provide estimates or projected measurements of flow and pollutants subject to regulation.

(c) BOD (denoting BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND) — Shall mean the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of wastewater under the standard laboratory procedure at 20° C. over a five-day period, expressed in milligrams per liter.

(d) BUILDING — Shall mean a single or group of structures connected to the sewer by one building sewer. It shall include private homes, commercial and industrial facilities, as well as other structures, which are permitted to connect to the public sewer for the purposes of wastewater disposal.

(e) BUILDING SEWER — Shall mean the pipe that connects the building or other source of wastewater to the public sewer.

(f) CATEGORICAL STANDARD, PRETREATMENT STANDARD, or NATIONAL CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARD — Shall mean any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in accordance with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) which applies to a specific category of industrial user, including local limits as may be established by the Commissioner.

(g) CHRONIC VIOLATION — Shall mean any violation of wastewater discharge limits by an industrial user in which 66% or more of all measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter during a six-month period exceed by any magnitude a numeric Pretreatment Standard or Requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(1).

(h) CITY — Shall mean the City of Pittsfield.

(i) COMMISSIONER — Shall mean the Commissioner of public utilities and services of the City of Pittsfield or their authorized deputy or representative.

(j) CONTROL AUTHORITY — Shall mean the City of Pittsfield acting through its Commissioner of public utilities and services.

(k) EXTERIOR GREASE TRAP — Shall mean an underground vault used to affect the separation of grease from other restaurant wastewater effluent. The system passively separates grease from the wastewater by gravity.

(l) GREASE — Shall mean collectively, grease, oils, wax and fats.

(m) GREASE TRAP — Shall mean a general term referring to both interior and exterior grease traps.

(n) HAZARDOUS WASTE — For the purpose of this chapter, shall mean solid, liquid or viscous waste, material or substance, or combination of wastes, materials or substances, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical or infectious characteristics may cause or significantly contribute to an increase in mortality or an increase in serious irreversible or incapacitating reversible illness or pose a substantial present or potential hazard to human health or the environment if improperly treated, stored, transported or disposed of or otherwise managed and which, if disposed of in any fashion other than through the WWTP, would be classified as a hazardous waste under 40 CFR Part 261. Hazardous waste is a waste or combination of wastes, that at the time of discharge:

(1) Is identified as a hazardous waste by EPA pursuant to the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 42 U.S.C. 6901 et seq., and is listed in 40 CFR Part 261, as amended from time to time;

(2) Has any of the hazardous waste characteristics identified by EPA in 40 CFR Part 261 as amended from time to time;

(3) Has been identified by DEP as a hazardous waste pursuant to MGL c. 21C and is listed in 310 CMR 30.000, as amended from time to time; or

(4) Has any of the hazardous waste characteristics identified by DEP in 310 CMR 30.000, as amended from time to time.

A waste that would be a hazardous waste pursuant to the EPA or DEP criteria but for the fact that it is discharged to the sanitary system shall be, for purposes of this definition, a hazardous waste unless it is in wastewater which is discharged to the sewer system pursuant to a permit issued under these regulations and in compliance with the City's discharge limits.

(o) INDUSTRIAL USER — Shall mean any user of the wastewater system that discharges or proposes to discharge pollutants into the wastewater system from any nondomestic process source regulated under Section 307(b), (c), or (d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.

(p) INDUSTRIAL WASTE — Shall mean the liquid, solid or viscous wastes from a fabrication, manufacturing, production or other process operation of a source regulated under Section 307(b), (c), or (d) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq., which is discharged to or disposed of through the wastewater system.

(q) INSTANTANEOUS LIMIT — Shall mean the maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged over a defined time period, determined from the analysis of any discrete or composited sample collected. It may be independent of the industrial flow rate and the duration of the sampling event.

(r) INTERFERENCE — Shall mean a discharge by an industrial user which, alone or in conjunction with discharges by other sources, inhibits or disrupts the WWTP, its treatment processes or operations or its sludge processes, use and disposal and which is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the WWTP's NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation) or of the prevention of wastewater sludge use and disposal by the WWTP in accordance with the following statutory provisions and regulations or permits issued thereunder (or more stringent state or local regulations): 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 state regulations contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D or the SWDA], the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substance Control Act, and the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act.

(s) INTERIOR GREASE TRAP — Shall mean a device used to effect the separation of grease from other restaurant wastewater effluent that generally is suited for installation within a building. These systems may be either in passive form or as automated, electromechanical devices. Interior passive grease interceptors do not provide compliance with this chapter for interior grease traps.

(t) INVERT — Shall mean the lowest elevation of the internal cross-section of a pipe.

(u) NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM (NPDES) PERMIT — Shall mean a permit issued to the City of Pittsfield pursuant to a Federal Water Pollution Control Act.

(v) NATURAL OUTLET — Shall mean any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body or surface of ground water.

(w) NEW SOURCE — Shall mean any building, structure, facility or installation of an industrial user from which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after publication of proposed pretreatment standards applicable to such source, provided that (1) the building, structure, facility or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or (2) the building, structure, facility or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or (3) the production or wastewater generating processes of the building, structure, facility or installation are substantially independent of an existing source at the same site.

(x) NON-SIGNIFICANT CATEGORICAL INDUSTRIAL USER (NSCIU) — Shall mean that an Industrial User subject to categorical Pretreatment Standards under § 403.6 and 40 CFR Chapter I, subchapter N is a non-significant 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, non-contact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater, unless specifically included in the Pretreatment Standard) and that the user meets the additional conditions described in 40 CFR 403.3(v)(2) and (3).

(y) NORMAL DOMESTIC WASTEWATER — Shall mean sewage that has pollutant characteristics similar to that discharged by private dwellings. Domestic wastewater pollutant concentrations shall not exceed one or more of the following concentrations: BOD — 300 milligrams per liter (mg/l); suspended solids — 300 mg/l; phosphorus — 10 mg/l; or ammonia nitrogen — 40 mg/l as nitrogen (N).

(z) OTHER VIOLATIONS — Shall mean any other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(1) (daily maximum, long-term average, instantaneous limit, or narrative standard) that the WWTP determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass through (including endangering the health of WWTP personnel or the general public).

(aa) PASS THROUGH — Means the discharge of pollutants through the wastewater system into navigable waters in quantities or concentrations, which, alone or in conjunction with discharges from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the WWTP's NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).

(bb) PERSON — Shall mean any individual, firm, company, association, partnership, society, corporation, government, group, or an agent or employee thereof.

(cc) pH — Shall mean the logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.

(dd) PRETREATMENT — Shall mean treatment of wastewater before discharge to a public sewer.

(ee) PUBLIC SEWER — Shall mean a sewer serving more than one building in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights, and is controlled by public authority.

(ff) RESTAURANT — Shall mean any commercial or institutional facility discharging kitchen or food preparation wastewaters including restaurants, motels, hotels, cafeterias, hospitals, schools, clubs, bars, food and meat packing and processing establishments, supermarkets, bakeries, etc. and any other facility which, in the Commissioner's opinion, would require a grease interceptor installation by virtue of its operation.

(gg) SANITARY SEWER — Shall mean a sewer which carries wastewater and to which storm, surface and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.

(hh) SEPTAGE — Shall mean the wastes from subsurface wastewater disposal systems; holding tanks; chemical toilets, camper or trailer wastes; and wastes from septic tanks and cesspools. Septage constituents shall not include fats, oil, or grease.

(ii) SEWAGE — Shall mean the liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, businesses, institutions and industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface and storm waters as may be present, whether treated or untreated.

(jj) SEWER — Shall mean a pipe or conduit for carrying wastewater. See "sanitary sewer."

(kk) SHALL — Is mandatory; "may" is permissive.

(ll) SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER — Shall mean any industrial user of the wastewater system subject to categorical pretreatment standards under 40 CFR 403.8 and 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, and any other industrial user of the wastewater system that (1) discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the wastewater system (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater), (2) contributes a process wastestream which makes up 5% or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the WWTP, or (3) is designated as such by the control authority on the basis that the industrial user has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the wastewater system's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.

(mm) SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPLIANCE WITH PRETREATMENT STANDARDS — Shall mean either a chronic violation; or a TRC violation; or any other violation of a daily maximum or longer-term average pretreatment effluent limit that the control authority determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass through or endangerment of the health of WWTP personnel or the general public; or any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or to the environment or has resulted in the WWTP's exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such discharge; or failure to meet, within 90 days of any schedule date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a control authority permit or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction or attaining final compliance with any pretreatment standard or regulation; or failure to provide, within 30 days after the due date, required reports; or failure to accurately report noncompliance; or any other violation or group of violations which the control authority determines has affected or will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the industrial pretreatment program.

(nn) SLUG — Shall mean any discharge at a flow rate or pollutant concentration which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards of this chapter. A slug is any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or non-customary batch discharge, which has reasonable potential to cause interference or pass through or in any other way violate the City's regulations, local limits or permit conditions.

(oo) SUSPENDED SOLIDS — Shall mean solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in, water, wastewater or other liquids, and which are removable by laboratory filtering.

(pp) TECHNICAL REVIEW CRITERIA (TRC) VIOLATION — Shall mean any violation of wastewater discharge limits by an industrial user in which 33% or more of all of the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(1) multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC = 1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil, and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH).

(qq) USER — Shall mean any person whose premises are connected to a public sewer or whose wastes are discharged to the wastewater system.

(rr) USER CHARGE — Shall mean a charge levied on users of the wastewater works as required by Section 204(b) of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq., as amended).

(ss) WASTES — Shall mean substances in liquid, solid or gaseous forms that are carried in water.

(tt) WASTEWATER TREATMENT PLANT (WWTP) — Shall mean any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating wastewater at the City's treatment facility.

(uu) WASTEWATER SYSTEM — Shall mean any facility or system, owned by the City of Pittsfield, which is used in the collection, conveyance, sampling, treatment or disposal of domestic wastewater or industrial wastes of a liquid nature, including any sewers that convey wastewater to the City's wastewater treatment plant and the City's wastewater treatment plant.