Township of Warminster, PA Article A General Provisions.

§ 18-101 Purpose and policy.

[Ord. No. 763, 5/7/2020[1]]

1. This Part 1, Articles A through F, sets forth uniform requirements for direct and indirect contributors into the wastewater collection and treatment system of the Warminster Township Municipal Authority (Authority) and enables the Warminster Township Municipal Authority to comply with all applicable state and federal laws, as well as assist in assuring a well operated sewerage system and treatment process. The objectives of this Part 1, Articles A through F, are:

A. To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the municipal wastewater system which will interfere with the operation of the system or contaminate the resulting sludge;

B. To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the municipal wastewater system which will pass through the system, inadequately treated, into receiving waters or the atmosphere or otherwise be incompatible with the system;

C. To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the municipal wastewater system that will harm the collection system, physical facilities, or the health and well-being of the operating personnel;

D. To provide for equitable distribution of the cost of the municipal wastewater system.

2. This Part 1, Articles A through F, provides for the regulation of users of the municipal wastewater system through the issuance of permits to certain users and through the enforcement of the requirements herein, authorizes monitoring and enforcement activities, requires user reporting, assumes that existing customers' capacities will not be preempted, and provides for the setting of fees for the equitable distribution of costs resulting from the program established herein. This Part 1, Articles A through F, shall apply to the Township of Warminster and to all persons, municipal authorities, and municipalities outside the Township and served by the Authority. Intermunicipal agreements shall be written or amended requiring the outside municipality to adopt a control ordinance no less stringent than the Warminster Township's ordinance.

[1] Editor's Note: This Part 1, Articles A through F, also repealed former Part 1, Articles A through F, adopted by Ord. No. 630, 6/23/2005, as amended.

§ 18-102 Definitions.

[Ord. No. 763, 5/7/2020]

1. Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this Part 1, Articles A through F, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated:

ACT or THE ACT

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

APPROVAL AUTHORITY

The appropriate regional administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

AUTHORITY

Warminster Township Municipal Authority (Authority).

AUTHORITY MANAGER

The general manager of the Warminster Township Municipal Authority who is the person designated by the Authority to supervise the operation of the publicly owned treatment works and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this Part 1, Articles A through F, including the administration of Part 1, Articles A through F, with respect to the control of pollutants.

AUTHORIZED REPRESENTATIVE OF USER

An authorized representative of a user may be:

A. A principal executive officer of at least the level of Vice President, if the user is a corporation;

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

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

BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICE (BMP)

Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in 40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b). BMPs also 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.

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 terms of weight and concentration (milligrams per liter (mg/L).

BUILDING SEWER

A sewer conveying wastewater from the premises of a user to the POTW.

CATEGORICAL PRETREATMENT STANDARDS

Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with Section 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1317) that apply to a specific category of users and that appear in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405 through 471.

CONTROL AUTHORITY

The term "control authority" shall refer to the Warminster Township Municipal Authority.

COOLING WATER

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

DOMESTIC WASTE

The normal waterborne waste from a residential household, as well as toilet wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions, commercial, and industrial establishments.

ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION AGENCY or EPA

The United States Environmental Protection Agency, or where appropriate, the term may also be used as a designation for the Administrator or other duly authorized official of said agency.

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 over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.

INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENT

Any structure used for or intended to be used wholly or in part, for the manufacturing, fabricating, warehousing, processing, cleaning, or assembling of any product, commodity or article.

INDUSTRIAL WASTE

Any solids, liquid, or gaseous substances or form of energy rejected or escaping from an industrial establishment other than domestic waste.

INTERFERENCE

A discharge, which alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, causes an inhibition or disruption of the POTW, its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, or disposal and which results in a reduction in the effectiveness of the treatment facilities, and which causes or contributes to a violation of any requirement of the POTW's NPDES permit (including any increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation), the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with the following statutory provisions and regulations or permits issued thereunder (or more stringent state or local regulations):

A. Section 405 of the Clean Water Act;[1]

B. The Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA)[2] (including Title II, more commonly referred to as the "Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA)" as well as state regulations contained in a state SWDA);

C. The Clean Air Act;[3]

D. The Toxic Substances Control Act;[4] and

E. The Marine Protection Research and Sanctuaries Act.[5]

NATIONAL POLLUTANT DISCHARGE ELIMINATION SYSTEM OR NPDES PERMIT

A permit issued pursuant to Section 402 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1342).

NATIONAL PROHIBITIVE DISCHARGE STANDARD or PROHIBITIVE DISCHARGE STANDARD

Any regulation developed under the authority of Section 307(b) of the Act[6] and 40 CFR 403.5.

NEW SOURCE

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[7] which are applicable to such source if such standards were enacted in accordance with that Section. Where EPA pretreatment standards do not apply, a new source shall mean a discharge that commenced after the adoption of this Part 1, Articles A through F.

PASS-THROUGH

A discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the United States and/or the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania 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 POTW's NPDES permit (including any increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).

PERSON

Any individual, partnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity or any other legal entity, or their legal representatives, agents or assigns. The masculine gender shall include the feminine, the singular shall include the plural where indicated by the context.

pH

A measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution expressed in standard units.

POLLUTANT

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

POLLUTION

The man-made or man-induced negative alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water, including but not limited to the addition of material that reduces its usefulness.

POTW TREATMENT PLANT

That portion of the POTW designed to provide treatment to wastewater.

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, process changes by the person producing the pollutant, or by other means, except as prohibited by 40 CFR 403.6(d).

PRETREATMENT REQUIREMENTS

Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment as mandated by the Authority and contained in this Part 1, Articles A through F. These requirements are in addition to any categorical pretreatment standard and they shall take precedence over the categorical pretreatment standard when the ordinance pretreatment requirements are more restrictive.

PUBLICLY OWNED TREATMENT WORKS (POTW)

A treatment works is defined by Section 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. § 1292) which is owned in this instance by the Warminster Township Municipal Authority. This definition includes any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial waste of a liquid nature. This definition also includes all Authority-owned sewers that convey wastewater to the POTW treatment plant. The term also means the municipality as defined in Section 502 (foreclosed) of the Act,[8] which has jurisdiction over the indirect discharges to and the discharges from such a treatment works.

SHALL/MAY

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

SIGNIFICANT NONCOMPLIANCE

One or more of the following:

A. Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits which for this purpose are defined as those in which 66% or more of all of the measurements taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) the daily maximum limit or the average limit for the same pollutant parameter;

B. Technical review criteria (TRC) violations 33% or more of measurements for each pollutant parameter taken during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of the applicable maximum limit or the average limit multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC=1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH);

C. Any other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(l) (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);

D. Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare, or the environment or which required the POTW to use its emergency authorities under 40 CFR 403.8(f)(1)(vi)(B);

E. Violations of a compliance schedule milestone by 90 days;

F. Violations of report submittal deadlines by 30 days;

G. Failure to accurately report noncompliance; and

H. Any other violation deemed significant by the Control Authority.

SIGNIFICANT USER

A. All users subject to categorical pretreatment standards under 40 CFR 403.6 and 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N; and

B. Any other user that: discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater); contributes a process waste stream which makes up 5% or more of the capacity of the POTW treatment plant; or is designated as such by the Control Authority as defined in 40 CFR 403.12(a) on the basis that the user has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.

SLUG LOAD or SLUG DISCHARGE

Any discharge at a flow rate or concentration, which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in § 18-111 of this Part 1. 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.

STANDARD INDUSTRIAL CLASSIFICATION (SIC)

A classification (categorization) of kinds of industrial activities pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual, issued by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, 1972.

STATE

Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

STORMWATER

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

TOTAL 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 laboratory filtering.

TOWNSHIP

Warminster Township, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

USER

Any person who contributes, causes or permits the contribution of wastewater into the Control Authority's POTW.

WASTEWATER

The liquid and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial establishments, 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 POTW.

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.

[1] Editor's Note: See 33 U.S.C. § 1345.

[2] Editor's Note: See 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq.

[3] Editor's Note: See 42 U.S.C. § 7401 et seq.

[4] Editor's Note: See 15 U.S.C. § 2601 et seq.

[5] Editor's Note: See 33 U.S.C. § 1401 et seq.

[6] Editor's Note: See 33 U.S.C. § 1317(b).

[7] Editor's Note: See 33 U.S.C. § 1317(c).

[8] Editor's Note: See 33 U.S.C. § 1362.

§ 18-103 Abbreviations.

[Ord. No. 763, 5/7/2020]

1. The following abbreviations shall have the designated meanings:

Abbreviation	Meaning
Authority	Warminster Township Municipal Authority
BOD	Biochemical Oxygen Demand
CFR	Code of Federal Regulations
COD	Chemical Oxygen Demand
EPA	Environmental Protection Agency
L	Liter
mg	Milligrams
mg/L	Milligrams per Liter
NPDES	National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
POTW	Publicly Owned Treatment Works
SIC	Standard Industrial Classification
SWDA	Solid Waste Disposal Act, 42 U.S.C. § 6901 et seq.
USC	United States Code
TSS	Total Suspended Solids
TTO	Total Toxic Organics