14.12.030 Definitions.
The definitions given in this section shall be used in the interpretation of this chapter, the issuance of permits, the making of charges for service and all other operations of this chapter unless another meaning for the word is apparent from the context.
A. “Act” or “the Act” means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act of 1977, as amended 33 U.S.C. Section 1252 et seq.
B. “Ad valorem tax” means the tax levied on the assessed value of property within the city.
C. “Approval Authority” means the California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region.
D. “Assessed value” means that portion of the total assessed value of the property upon which city taxes are levied.
E. “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 14.12.220 [40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b)]. 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.
F. “BOD” or “biochemical oxygen demand” means the measure of decomposable organic material in domestic or industrial wastewaters as represented by the oxygen utilized over a period of five days at twenty degrees centigrade and as determined by the appropriate procedure in “Standard methods.”
G. “Categorical industrial user” means an industrial user subject to a categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard.
H. “Categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard” means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with Section 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.
I. “Chlorine demand” means the difference between the amount of chlorine added to a wastewater sample and the amount remaining at the end of a thirty-minute period as determined by the procedures given in “Standard methods.”
J. “City” means the city of Bakersfield.
K. “City engineer” means the city engineer of the city.
L. “Control authority” means the city of Bakersfield and its representatives or designees.
M. “COD” or “chemical oxygen demand” means the measure of chemically decomposable material in domestic or industrial wastewater as represented by the oxygen utilized as determined by the appropriate procedure described in “Standard methods.”
N. “Daily maximum” means the arithmetic average of all effluent samples for a pollutant collected during a calendar day.
O. “Daily maximum limit” means 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.
P. “Discharger” means any person that discharges or causes a discharge to a public sewer.
Q. “Dissolved solids” or “dissolved matter” means the solid matter in solution in the wastewater and shall be obtained by evaporation of a sample from which all suspended matter has been removed by filtration as determined by the procedures in “Standard methods.”
R. “Domestic wastewater” means the water carried wastes produced from noncommercial or nonindustrial activities and which result from normal human living processes.
S. “Effluent” means the liquid outflow of any facility designed to treat, convey or retain wastewater.
T. “Emergency” means a situation which reasonably appears to present an imminent endangerment to the health or welfare of persons, or the environment, or which threatens to interfere with the operation of the city’s sewerage system.
U. “Environmental Protection Agency” or “EPA” means 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.
V. “Existing residential infill sewer area” means a residential area within the city of Bakersfield where residential properties utilize individual septic systems and are not connected to the city sewer system, but where the city has or will construct the required pipelines and other mechanisms to permit the property owners to connect to the city sewer system and the property owners will reimburse the city for such construction cost upon connection to the sewerage system.
W. “Formula” means user rates and charges (industrial wastewater treatment surcharges) established by the city council pursuant to Section 14.12.380.
X. “Grab sample” means 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 fifteen minutes.
Y. “Gravity separation interceptor” means any facility designed, constructed and operated for the purpose of removing and retaining dangerous, deleterious or prohibited constituents from wastewater by differential gravity separation before discharge to the public sewer.
Z. “House connection” means the sewer connecting the building sewer or building waste drainage system to the public sewer for the purpose of conveying domestic wastewater.
AA. “Indirect discharge” or “discharge” means the introduction of pollutants into the POTW from any nondomestic source.
BB. “Industrial connection sewer” means the sewer connecting the building sewer or building waste drainage system to the public sewer for the purpose of conveying industrial wastewater.
CC. “Industrial user” means any user who discharges nondomestic wastewater to any of the city’s sewerage systems or any other system tributary thereto.
DD. “Industrial wastewater” means all water-carried wastes and wastewater of the community excluding domestic wastewater and uncontaminated water, and includes all wastewater from any producing, manufacturing, processing, institutional, commercial, agricultural, or other operation where the wastewater discharged includes significant quantities of wastes of nonhuman origin.
EE. “Inspector” means a person authorized by the chief engineer to inspect wastewater generation, conveyance, processing and disposal facilities.
FF. “Instantaneous limit” means 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.
GG. “Interference” means a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, both:
1. Inhibits or disrupts the city’s sewerage system, its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and
2. Therefore is a cause of violation of any requirement of the city’s waste discharge order (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation) or of 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): 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 of the SWDA), the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act.
HH. “Lateral sewer,” “collecting sewer” or “main line sewer” means the public sewer usually eight inches or larger in diameter and used to collect wastewater from house connection and industrial connection sewers and transport it to trunk sewers.
II. “Local sewering agency” means the city or county or other public agency legally authorized to construct, maintain and operate a system of lateral or collecting sewers.
JJ. “Monthly average” means the sum of all “daily discharges” measured during a calendar month divided by the number of “daily discharges” measured during that month.
KK. “Monthly average limit” means 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.
LL. “National Pretreatment Standard” means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in accordance with Section 307(b) and (c) of the Clean Water Act, which applies to industrial users. This term includes prohibitive discharge limits established pursuant to 40 CFR 403.5.
MM. “New source” means:
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 Clean Water Act which 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 process of the building, structure, facility or installation is 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 subdivision (1)(b) or (1)(c) of this subsection but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
3. Construction of a new source as defined under this subsection 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 is 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 subdivision.
NN. “Pass through” means 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 POTW’s waste discharge requirements (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).
OO. “Peak flow rate” means the average rate at which wastewater is discharged to a public sewer during the highest thirty-minute flow period in the preceding twelve months.
PP. “Pollutant” means any constituent or characteristic of wastewater on which a discharge limitation may be imposed either by the city or the regulatory bodies empowered to regulate the city.
QQ. “Pretreatment requirements” means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a National Pretreatment Standard, imposed on an industrial user.
RR. “Pretreatment standards” or “standards” means prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.
SS. “Public corporation” means this state and any political subdivision thereof, any incorporated municipality therein, any public agency of the state or any political subdivision thereof, or any corporate municipal instrumentality of this state.
TT. “Public owned treatment works” or “POTW” means a “treatment works,” as defined by Section 212 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1292) which is owned by the city. This definition includes any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature and any conveyances which convey wastewater to a treatment plant.
UU. “Public sewer” means any sewer dedicated to public use and whose use is controlled by a public corporation.
VV. “Radioactive material” means material containing chemical elements that spontaneously change their atomic structure by emitting any particles, rays or energy forms.
WW. “Regional Administrator” or “Regional EPA Administrator” means Region IX of the Environmental Protection Agency, or any successor agency.
XX. “Section” means a section of this chapter.
YY. “Sewage” means wastewater.
ZZ. “Sewage pumping plant” means any facility designed and constructed to raise wastewater in elevation or to overcome head losses due to pipeline friction.
AAA. “Sewerage” means any and all facilities used for collecting, conveying, pumping, treating and disposing of wastewater.
BBB. “Sewerage system” means a network of wastewater collection, conveyance, treatment and disposal facilities interconnected by sewers, and owned or controlled by the city.
CCC. “Significant industrial user.”
1. Except as provided in subdivisions 3 and 4 of this subsection, the term significant industrial user means:
a. All industrial users subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or
b. Any other industrial user that:
i. Discharges an average of twenty-five thousand gallons per day or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater),
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 city on the basis that the industrial user has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement (in accordance with 40 CFR 403.8(f)(6)).
2. Upon a finding that an industrial user meeting the criteria in subdivision (1)(b) of this subsection 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 or POTW, and in accordance with 40 CFR 403.8(f)(6), determine that such industrial user is not a significant industrial user.
3. The city may determine that an industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards is a non-significant categorical industrial user rather than a significant industrial user on a finding that the industrial user never discharges more than one hundred 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 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 14.12.325(F) [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.
DDD. “Slug discharge” means any discharge at a flow rate or concentration, which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in Section 14.12.220 of this chapter. A slug discharge is any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including, but not limited to, an accidental spill of 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.
EEE. “Solid wastes” means the non-liquid carried wastes normally considered to be suitable for disposal with refuse at sanitary landfill refuse disposal sites.
FFF. “Standard methods” means the current edition of “Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater” as published by the American Public Health Association.
GGG. “Suspended solids” or “suspended matter” means the insoluble solid matter suspended in wastewater that is separable by laboratory filtration in accordance with the procedure described in “Standard methods.”
HHH. “Trade secrets” includes, but shall not be limited to, any formula, plan, pattern, process, tool, mechanism, compound, procedure, production data, or compilation of information which is not patented, which is known only to certain individuals within a commercial concern who are using it to fabricate, produce, or compound an article of trade or a service having commercial value, and which gives its user an opportunity to obtain a business advantage over competitors who do not know or use it.
III. “Trunk sewer” means a sewer constructed, maintained and operated by the city that conveys wastewater to the city’s treatment facilities and into which lateral and collecting sewers discharge.
JJJ. “Uncontaminated water” means any wasted water of the community not contaminated or polluted with wastewater and which is suitable or could readily be made suitable for discharge to the municipal stormwater drainage system.
KKK. “User” means discharger.
LLL. “Waste” means sewage and any and all other waste substances, liquid, solid, gaseous or radioactive, associated with human habitation or of human or animal nature, including such wastes placed within containers of whatever nature prior to and for the purpose of disposal.
MMM. “Waste discharge requirements” means requirements issued to the city by the California Regional Water Quality Control Board for disposal of treated wastewater pursuant to Water Code Section 13263.
NNN. “Wastewater” means the water-carried wastes of the community derived from human or industrial sources including domestic wastewater and industrial wastewater; rainwater, groundwater or drainage of uncontaminated water is not wastewater. (Ord. 4740 § 1, 2013; Ord. 4540 § 1, 2008; Ord. 4433 § 1, 2007; Ord. 3667 § 1, 1995)