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(a)
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this subsection, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
Act or the Act means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 USC 1251 et seq.
Authorized representative of the user means: (1)
If the user is a corporation:
a.
The president, secretary, treasurer, or a vice-president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function, or any other person who performs similar policy-making or decision-making functions for the corporation; or
b.
The manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operation facilities employing more than 250 persons or having gross annual sales or expenditures exceeding $25,000,000.00 (in second quarter 1980 dollars), if authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
(2)
If the user is a partnership or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, respectively.
(3)
If the user is a federal, state, or local governmental facility: a director or the highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility, or his designee.
(4)
The individuals described in subsections (1) through (3) of this definition may designate another authorized representative if the authorization is in writing, the authorization specifies the individual or position responsible 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 town.
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures of five days at 20 degrees Celsius, expressed in terms of weight and concentration (milligrams per liter).
Building drain means that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from inside the walls of a building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning five feet outside the inner face of the building wall.
Building sewer means the extension from the building drain to the public sewer.
Categorical standards means National Categorical Pretreatment Standards or pretreatment standards.
Collection system means the equipment, structures, and processes used for the collection, transportation, and pumping of sewage.
Compatible pollutant means the constituents of BOD, suspended solids, pH, and fecal coliform bacteria, and such additional pollutants identified in the applicable RIPDES permit where the publicly owned treatment works (POTW) is designed to treat such pollutants to the degree required by the RIPDES permit.
Cooling water means the water discharged from any use such as air conditioning, cooling or refrigeration during which the only pollutant added to the water is heat.
Domestic wastes means liquid wastes: (1)
From the noncommercial preparation, cooking, and handling of food; or
(2)
Containing human excrement and similar matter from the sanitary conveniences of dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, and institutions.
Domestic wastes shall not contain groundwater, stormwater, surface water, cooling water, or industrial wastewater.
Dwelling unit means a house, an apartment, a group of rooms, or a single room occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters. Separate living quarters are those in which the occupants have either: (1)
Direct access from the outside of the building or through a common hall; or
(2)
Complete kitchen facilities for the exclusive use of the occupants.
Equivalent dwelling unit means the number of units for a commercial and industrial user and is calculated by dividing the annual wastewater flow by 22,000 cubic feet, rounded down to a whole number.
Garbage means solid wastes from domestic and commercial preparation, cooking and dispensing of food, and from the handling, storage, and sale of food.
Incompatible pollutant means any pollutant which is not a compatible pollutant as defined in this section.
Indirect discharge or discharge means the introduction of pollutants into a POTW from any nondomestic source regulated under section 307(b), (c) or (d) of the Act.
Industrial user or user means a source of indirect discharge.
Industrial wastewater means the liquid wastes resulting from the processes employed in industrial, manufacturing, trade, or business establishments, as distinct from domestic wastes.
Infectious waste means waste which contains pathogens with sufficient virulence and quantity so that exposure to the waste by a susceptible host could result in disease. Under this definition, the normal microflora of the body are not classified as infectious. Categories of waste designated as infectious are as follows: Contaminated animal carcasses, body parts, and bedding means carcasses, body parts, and bedding of animals that were exposed to pathogens in research and in the production of biologicals or in vivo production of pharmaceuticals.
Contaminated sharps means discarded sharps (e.g., hypodermic needles, syringes, Pasteur pipettes, broken glass and scalpel blades), which may have come into contact with infectious agents during use in patient care or in medical research or which have been removed from their original sterile container.
Discarded cultures and stocks of infectious agents and associated biologicals means infectious wastes because pathogenic organisms are present at high concentration in these materials. Included in this category are pathological laboratories and pharmaceutical companies, wastes from the production of biologicals, and discarded live and attenuated vaccines. Also, culture dishes and devices used to transfer, inoculate and mix cultures shall be designated as infectious waste.
Human blood, body fluids, and blood products means all waste human blood, blood products (such as serum, plasma, and other blood components) and body fluids (such as suction fluid and wound drainage) which exist in nonabsorbed liquid form in more than trace quantities.
Pathological waste consists of tissues, organs, or body parts removed during surgery and autopsy.
Infectious waste treatment means any method, technique, or process designed to eliminate the infectious hazard (i.e., to change the biological character or composition of waste so as to remove any disease-causing potential and to render such waste noninfectious by killing the infectious agents present in the waste).
Intercepting sewer means a sewer which receives sewage flow from a number of main sewers and conducts such flow to a point for treatment.
Interference means a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge from other sources, both: (1)
Inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and
(2)
Therefore is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the POTW's RIPDES permit (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):
a.
Section 405 of the Clean Water Act;
b.
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);
c.
The Clean Air Act;
d.
The Toxic Substances Control Act; and
e.
The Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act.
Lateral sewer means a sewer that discharges into a main or other sewer and has no other common sewer tributary.
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 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;
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 of wastewater-generating processes of the building, structure, facility or installation are 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 paragraphs (k) and (l)(iii) of 40 CFR 403 but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
(3)
Construction of a new source as defined under this section has commenced if the owner or operator has:
a.
Begun or caused to begin as part of a continuous on-site construction program:
1.
Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment; or
2.
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 are 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 definition.
On-site wastewater treatment system (OWTS) means a system approved by the state department of environmental management which provides sanitary sewage disposal by means other than discharge into a public sewer.
Ordinance means the sewer use ordinance of the town, which is this chapter.
Owner means any person who alone or jointly: (1)
Has a legal title to any premises; or
(2)
Has control of any premises, such as an agreement to purchase, agent, executor, administrator, trustee, lessee or guardian of the estate of a holder of a legal title.
Pass through means a discharge which exits the POTW into a waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the POTW's RIPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).
pH means the logarithm of the reciprocal of the concentration of hydrogen ions in grammoles per liter.
Polluted water means water containing manmade or man-induced alterations to its chemical, physical, biological or radiological integrity.
POTW means publicly owned treatment works of the town.
Pretreatment means 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 water pollution control facility. The reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical, or geological processes, except as prohibited by 40 CFR 403.6(d).
Pretreatment standards means all applicable federal rules and regulations implementing section 403 of the Act, as well as any nonconflicting state or local standards. In cases of conflicting standards or regulations, the more stringent thereof shall be applied.
Privately owned wastewater treatment facility means a pump station, collection system and/or wastewater treatment facility owned by a user or an individual or association that is connected to a publicly owned wastewater treatment or collection system.
Public sewer means a sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights and is controlled by a public authority.
Rhode Island Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (RIPDES) means the state system for issuing, modifying, revoking and reissuing, terminating, monitoring and enforcing discharge permits and imposing and enforcing pretreatment requirements pursuant to G.L. 1956, ch. 46-12 and the Clean Water Act.
Sanitary sewer means a sewer which carries sewage and to which stormwater, surface water, and groundwater are not intentionally admitted.
Septage waste means the wastewater from a domestic on-site wastewater treatment system (OWTS).
Service connection means the building sewer pipe from the building up to and including the "Y" connection to the main public sewer line.
Sewage means a combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions and industrial establishments.
Sewage treatment plant means any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.
Sewer means a pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
Sewer commission means the town council, acting as the sewer commission as constituted and created by article XVII of the Charter, which sewer commission shall be vested with the powers and authorities granted pursuant to the Charter and Public Laws 1920, chapter 2005, as may be amended from time to time, including, but not limited to, the power and authority to plan, acquire, construct, operate, maintain, extend and improve a sewerage disposal system for the town or any parts thereof.
Significant industrial user (SIU) means: (1)
Any industrial user of the town wastewater treatment system whose flow exceeds:
a.
An average of 25,000 gallons per day of process wastewater to the wastewater treatment system (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling or boiler blowdown wastewater); or
b.
Five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the wastewater treatment system.
(2)
Any industrial user of the town wastewater treatment system which has a reasonable potential to adversely affect the operation of the treatment plant or for violating any pretreatment standard;
(3)
A federal EPA categorical industry;
(4)
Industries discharging prohibited pollutants but who are not subject to federal EPA categorical standards; or
(5)
Industries with sanitary or nontoxic discharges using solvents, toxic chemicals and/or hazardous chemicals that could potentially be discharged into the sewers.
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 flows during normal operation.
Storm drain (sometimes termed "storm sewer") means a sewer which carries stormwaters and surface waters and drainage, but excludes sewage and industrial wastes, other than unpolluted cooling water.
Stormwater means any flow occurring during or immediately following any form of natural precipitation and resulting therefrom.
Superintendent means the superintendent of water pollution control of the town or his duly appointed deputy, agent, or representative.
Total suspended solids means the total suspended matter that floats on the surface of, or is suspended in, wastewater or other liquids, and which is removable by laboratory filtering.
Toxic means any substance listed as toxic under section 307(a)(1) of the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 USC 1251 et seq., listed under the Hazardous Substances Right-to-Know Act, G.L. 1956, § 28-21-1 et seq., and as may otherwise be designated by the town.
Unpolluted water means water not containing any pollutants limited or prohibited by the effluent standards in effect, or water whose discharge will not cause any violation of receiving water quality standards.
User means any person who discharges or causes or permits the discharge of wastewater into the town's wastewater treatment system.
User classification means a classification of user based on the 1972 (or subsequent) edition of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Manual prepared by the Office of Management and Budget.
Wastewater means 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 discharged into or permitted to enter the town's wastewater treatment system.
Wastewater treatment system or wastewater treatment facility means any devices, facilities, structures, equipment or works owned or used by the town for the purpose of the transmission, storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of industrial and domestic wastes, or necessary to recycle or reuse water at the most economical cost over the estimated life of the system, including intercepting sewer, outfall sewers, sewage collection systems, pumping, power, and other equipment and their appurtenances, extensions, improvements, remodeling, additions, and alterations thereof; elements essential to provide a reliable recycled supply such as standby treatment units and clear well facilities; and any work, including site acquisition of the land that will be an integral part of the treatment process or is used for ultimate disposal of residues from such treatment.
"Y" connection means the point at which the individual sewer lateral connects into the main sewer line (sometimes referred to as the chimney connection).
(b)
Terms not otherwise defined herein shall be as adopted in the most recent edition of Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater, published by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association, and the Water Pollution Control Federation, 40 CFR 403 and 408.
(Code 1970, § 15-2; Ord. of 10-2-1990; Res. No. 97-06, 1-7-1997; Ord. No. 2001-11, 8-21-2001; Ord. No. 2008-2, 2-5-2008; Ord. No. 2009-7, 6-16-2009; Res. of 4-10-2010)