City of Plattsburgh, NY General Provisions

Words defined. Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this chapter, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated:

ACT or THE ACT

The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.

APPROVAL AUTHORITY

The Director in an NPDES state with an approved state pretreatment program and the Administrator of the EPA in an NPDES state without an approved state pretreatment program.

AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF INDUSTRIAL USER

May be:

(1)

A principal executive officer of at least the level of vice president, if the industrial user is a corporation.

(2)

A general partner or proprietor if the industrial user is a partnership or proprietorship, respectively.

(3)

A duly authorized representative of the individual designated above if such representative is responsible for the overall operation of the facilities from which the indirect discharge originates.

BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD)

The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure, five days at 20° C. expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/l).

BUILDING DRAIN

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 1.5 meters outside the inner face of the building wall. "Building sewer" shall mean the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.

CATEGORICAL STANDARDS

National categorical pretreatment standards or pretreatment standards.

CITY

The City of Plattsburgh and its Common Council.

COMBINED SEWER

A sewer receiving both surface runoff and sewage.

COMPATIBLE POLLUTANT

Biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, pH and fecal coliform bacteria, plus any additional pollutants identified in the City water pollution control plant's SPDES permit, where this plant is designed to treat such pollutants and, in fact, does treat such pollutants to the degree required by the WPCP SPDES permit.

CONTROL AUTHORITY

Refers to the "approval authority" defined hereinabove; when the City has an approved pretreatment program under the provisions of 40 CFR 403.11, the "control authority" shall be the "Superintendent," as defined below.

COOLING WATER

The water discharged from any use such as air conditioning, cooling or refrigeration or to which the only pollutant added is heat.

DIRECT DISCHARGE

The discharge of treated or untreated wastewater directly to the waters of the State of New York.

EASEMENT

Private property through which the City holds a duly negotiated easement for the purposes of, but not limited to, inspection, observation, measurement, sampling, repair and maintenance.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY or EPA

The United States Environmental Protection Agency.

GARBAGE

Solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking and dispensing of food and from the handling, storage and sale of produce.

GRAB SAMPLE

A sample which is taken from a waste stream on a one-time basis with no regard to the flow in the waste stream and without consideration of time.

HOLDING TANK WASTE

Any waste from holding tanks, such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks and vacuum-pump tank trucks.

INCOMPATIBLE POLLUTANT

All pollutants other than "compatible pollutants," as defined in this section.

INDIRECT DISCHARGE

The discharge or the introduction of nondomestic pollutants from any source regulated under Section 307(b) or (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1317) into the POTW (including holding tank waste discharged into the system).

INDUSTRIAL USER

A source of indirect discharge which does not constitute a "discharge of pollutants" under regulations issued pursuant to Section 402 of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1342).

INDUSTRIAL WASTE

The liquid wastes from industrial manufacturing processes, trade or business as distinct from sanitary sewage.

INTERFERENCE

The inhibition or disruption of the City WPCP treatment processes or operations which contributes to a violation of any requirement of the City's SPDES permit. The term includes prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal by the City in accordance with Section 405 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1345) or any criteria, guidelines or regulations developed pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act or more stringent state criteria (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 WPCP.

NATIONAL CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARD

Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with Section 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1347) which applies to a specific category of industrial users.

[Amended by L.L. No. 1-1997]

NATIONAL PROHIBITIVE DISCHARGE STANDARD OR PROHIBITIVE DISCHARGE STANDARD

Any regulation developed under the authority of Section 307(b) of the Act and 40 CFR 403.5.

NATURAL OUTLET

Any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or groundwater.

NEW SOURCE

Any building, structure, facility or installation from which there is or may be a discharge, the construction of which commenced:

(1)

After promulgation of pretreatment standards under Section 307(c) of the Act which are applicable to such source; or

(2)

After proposal of pretreatment standards in accordance with Section 307(c) of the Act which are applicable to such source, but only if the standards are promulgated in accordance with Section 307(c) within 120 days of their proposal.

PASS THROUGH

A discharge which exits the City WPCP into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, causes, contributes to the cause of, or increases the magnitude or duration of, a violation of any requirement of the City WPCP's SPDES permit.

[Added by L.L. No. 1-1997]

PERSON

Any individual, firm, company, association, partnership, society, joint-stock company, corporation, group, trust, estate, governmental entity or any other legal entity or their representatives, agents and assigns.

A measure of the acidity or alkalinity in a water or wastewater discharge.

POLLUTANT

Any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal and agricultural waste discharged into water.

POLLUTION

The man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological and radiological integrity of water.

PRETREATMENT STANDARDS

Prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.

[Added by L.L. No. 1-1997]

PRETREATMENT or TREATMENT

The reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater to a less harmful state, prior to or in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing such pollutants into a POTW. The reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological processes, or process changes and other means, except as prohibited by 40 CFR 403.6(d).

PRETREATMENT REQUIREMENTS

Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a national pretreatment standard imposed on an industrial user.

PROHIBITED DISCHARGE STANDARDS

Absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances as set forth in § 278-25.

[Added by L.L. No. 1-1997]

PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE

The wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that have been shredded to such a degree that all particles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than 1/2 inch (1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.

PUBLIC SEWER

A sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights and is controlled by public authority.

PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS (POTW)

A treatment works as defined by Section 212 of the Act (33 U,S.C. § 1292), which is owned in this instance by the City. This definition includes sewers that convey wastewater to the POTW treatment plant, but does not include pipes, sewers or other conveyances not connected to a facility providing treatment. For the purposes of this chapter, "POTW" shall also include any sewers that convey wastewaters to the POTW from persons outside the City who are, by contract or agreement with the City, users of the City's POTW.

SANITARY SEWER

A sewer which carries sewage and to which stormwater, surface water and groundwater are not intentionally admitted.

SEWAGE

A combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions and industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface and stormwaters as may be present.

SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT

Any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.

SEWAGE WORKS

All facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage.

SEWER

All pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.

SIGNIFICANT INDUSTRIAL USER

Any industrial user of the City's wastewater disposal system who is subject to promulgated categorical pretreatment standards (NRDC Consent Decree Industries); or is found by the City, state or the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to have significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing industries, on the wastewater treatment system, the quality of sludge, the system's effluent quality or air emissions generated by the system; or is a manufacturing industry annually using over 10,000 pounds or 1,000 gallons of raw materials containing priority pollutants/substances of concern and discharging a measurable amount of these pollutants to the sewer system; discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the City WPCP (excluding sanitary noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater); or has a process discharge flow more than 5% of the flow or load carried by the City WPCP.

[Amended by L.L. No. 1-1997]

SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPLIANCE

A significant industrial user [or any industrial user which violates Subsection (3), (4) or (8) of this definition] is in significant noncompliance if its violation meets one or more of the following criteria:

[Added by L.L. No. 1-1997; amended by L.L. No. 3-2012]

(1)

Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined here as those in which 66% or more of all the 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(l);

(2)

Technical Review Criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in 33% or more of all of the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter taken during a six-month period equal to or exceed the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(l) multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC = 1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil, and grease; and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH);

(3)

Any other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement (daily maximum, long-term average, instantaneous limit, or narrative standard) that the POTW 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 causes imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or to the environment or has results in the POTW's exercise of its emergency authority under 40 CFR 403.8(f)(1)(VI)(B) to halt or prevent such a discharge;

(5)

Failure to meet, within 90 days after the schedule date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a local control mechanism or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance;

(6)

Failure to provide, within 30 days after the due date, required reports such as baseline monitoring reports, 90-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;

(7)

Failure to accurately report noncompliance;

(8)

Any other violation or group of violations, which may include a violation of best management practices, which the POTW determines will adversely affect the operation or the implementation of the local pretreatment program.

SLUG

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 flows during normal operation.

STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION (SIC)

A classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, 1972.

STATE

State of New York.

STORM DRAIN (or "STORM SEWER")

A sewer which carries stormwater and surface water and drainage, but excludes sewage and industrial wastes, other than unpolluted cooling water.

STORMWATER

Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation and resulting therefrom.

SUPERINTENDENT

The person designated by the City to supervise the operation of the water pollution control plant, and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this chapter, or his duly authorized deputy, agent or representative.

SUSPENDED SOLIDS

The total suspended matter that floats on the surface of or is suspended in water, wastewater or other liquids and which is removable by filtering.

TOXIC POLLUTANT

Any pollutant or combination of pollutants listed as "toxic" in regulations promulgated by the Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under the provision of the Clean Water Act, Section 307(a), or other acts.

UNPOLLUTED WATER

Natural water containing no man-made or man-induced alteration of its chemical, physical, biological or radiological characteristics. "Unpolluted cooling water" means natural water containing only heat in quantities which will not contravene water quality standards or limitations imposed in this chapter.

USER

Any person who contributes, causes or permits the contribution of wastewater into the City's water pollution control plant.

WASTEWATER

The liquid and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities and institutions, together with any groundwater, surface water, and stormwater that may be present, whether treated or untreated, which is contributed into or permitted to enter the water pollution control plant.

WASTEWATER CONTRIBUTION PERMIT

As set forth in this chapter.

WATERCOURSE

A channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.

WATERS OF THE STATE

All streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, reservoirs, aquifers, irrigation systems, drainage systems and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface or underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through or border upon the state or any portion thereof.

"Shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissive.

Abbreviations. The following abbreviations shall have the designated meanings:

(1)

BOD: biochemical oxygen demand.

(2)

CFR: Code of Federal Regulations.

(3)

COD: chemical oxygen demand.

(4)

EPA: Environmental Protection Agency.

(5)

l: liter.