Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of the following terms, if used in the ordinance codified in this chapter, or if used in the rules and regulations adopted by the utility service board of the city to implement the provisions of this chapter shall be as follows:

    "Accidental discharges" means the unplanned release of substances either directly or indirectly in such magnitude that substantial effects on receiving systems will be noted. Release is the result of accident, acts of nature or operations malfunctions.

    "Applicable pretreatment standard" means any pretreatment limit or prohibitive standard (federal, state and/or local) contained in the chapter and considered to be the most restrictive with which nondomestic users will be required to comply.

    "Approval authority" means the Regional Administrator of the U.S. EPA.

    "Authorization" means a written letter authorizing various conditions or wastewater discharges.

    "Baseline monitoring report (BMR)" means a report required by 40 CFR 403.12(b) requiring new source industries and existing source industries that are subject to the promulgation of applicable categorical pretreatment standards to submit pertinent information regarding type of discharge at least ninety days prior to commencement of operation. The report identifies the facility, indicates environmental permits held, describes operations and contains flow and pollutant measurements and is signed by a qualified professional.

    "Biochemical oxygen demand (or BOD) of sewage, sewage effluent, polluted waters or industrial wastes" means the quantity of dissolved oxygen in milligrams per liter required during stabilization of the decomposable organic matter by aerobic biochemical action under standard laboratory procedures for five days at twenty degrees Celsius. The laboratory determinations shall be made in accordance with procedures set forth in "standard methods," as defined herein.

    "Board" means the utility service board of the city of Columbus, Indiana, or any duly authorized officials acting in its behalf.

    "Building (or house) drain" means that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a building drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the buildings and conveys it to a point approximately three feet outside the foundation wall of the building.

    "Building (or house) sewer" means the pipe which is connected to the building (or house) drain at a point approximately three feet outside the foundation wall of the building and which conveys the building's discharge from that point to the public sewer or other place of disposal.

    "Categorical pretreatment standards" means the National Pretreatment Standards specifying quantities or concentrations of pollutants or pollutant properties which may be discharged or introduced into a POTW by specific industrial dischargers.

    "Chemical oxygen demand (or COD) of sewage, sewage effluent, polluted waters or industrial wastes" means a measure of the oxygen equivalent of that portion of the organic matter in the sample that is susceptible to oxidation by a strong chemical oxidant. The laboratory determination shall be made in accordance procedures set forth in "standard methods" as defined herein.

    "City" means the city of Columbus, Indiana, acting by and through the utility service board.

    "Color" means the optical density at the visual wavelength of maximum absorption relative to distilled water. One hundred percent transmittance is equivalent to zero (0.0) optical density.

    "Combined sewer" means a pipe or conduit designed and constructed to carry both polluted water, including sanitary sewage and nondomestic waste and unpolluted water, including storm water, surface water, ground water and cooling water.

    "Compatible pollutant" means biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, total phosphorus, ammonia nitrogen, pH and fecal coliform bacteria, plus pollutants identified in the NPDES permit if the treatment works was designed to treat such pollutants and in fact does remove such pollutants to a substantial degree. The term "substantial degree" is not subject to precise definition, but generally contemplates removals in the order of eighty percent or greater. Minor incidental removals in the order of ten to thirty percent are not considered substantial. Examples of the additional pollutants which may be considered compatible include: (a) chemical oxygen demand, (b) total organic carbon, and (c) fats, oils and greases of animal or vegetable origin (except as prohibited where these materials would interfere with the operation of the treatment works).

    "Composite sample" means a sample containing a minimum of eight discrete samples taken at equal time intervals over the compositing period or proportional to the flow rate over the compositing period. More than the minimum number of discrete samples will be required where the wastewater loading is highly variable.

    "Concentration limitations" means limits imposing the amount of a given substance in a discrete unit volume of a solution or applied to a unit weight of solid.

    "Control authority" means the agency designated by the Environmental Protection Agency and Indiana Department of Environmental Management as having an approval to administer an industrial pretreatment program. For purposes of this chapter, it shall refer to the Columbus city utilities.

    "Director" means the chief executive officer of the department of utilities of the city of Columbus or his/her duly authorized representative or agent.

    "Effluent" means the water, together with any wastes that may be present, flowing out of a drain, sewer, receptacle or outlet.

    "End of pipe" means a sampling point located at the last manhole prior to leaving the industrial facility, including all plant wastes.

    "End of process" means a sampling point located downstream from a regulated industrial process. This would not include any other discharges which would dilute the process flow.

    "Enforcement response procedures" means action which may be taken by the Columbus city utilities in the recognition, evaluation and response to specific violations of pretreatment requirements; providing a guide to encourage uniform application of enforcement responses to comparable levels and types of violations used as a mechanism to review the appropriateness of responses by the control authority.

    "Existing source" means any source of discharge, the construction or operation of which commenced prior to the publication of proposed categorical pretreatment standards which will be applicable to such source if the standard is thereafter promulgated in accordance with Section 307 of the Act.

    "Excessive strength surcharges" means an additional charge which is billed to users for treating sewage wastes with an average strength in excess of "normal domestic sewage."

    "Fecal coliform" means any of a number of organisms common to the intestinal tract of humans and animals, whose presence in sanitary sewage is an indicator of pollution.

    "Floatable oil" means oil, fat or grease in a physical state, such that will separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment in a pretreatment facility approved by the city.

    "Garbage" means any solid wastes from the preparation, cooking or dispensing of food and from the handling, storage or sale of produce.

    "Grab sample" means a sample which is taken from a wastestream on a one-time basis with no regard to the flow in the wastestream and without consideration of the time.

    "Incompatible pollutant" means any pollutant that is not defined as a compatible pollutant, including nonbiodegradable dissolved solids. Compatible pollutants may be deemed incompatible in the event levels are five times or greater than the limitation given in this chapter.

    "Indirect discharge" means the introduction of (non-domestic) pollutants into the POTW from any nondomestic source regulated under Section 307(b), (c) or (d) of Public Law 92.500.

    "Industrial sewage" means any solid, liquid or gaseous substance or form of energy discharged, permitted to flow or escaping from an industrial, manufacturing, commercial or business process or from the development, recovery or processing of any natural resources carried on by any person as defined in this chapter, exclusive of "sanitary sewage" as defined in this chapter.

    "Industrial user" means a source of indirect discharge as defined by Section 307(b),(c) or (d) of the Act.

    "Industrial wastes" means the wastewater discharges from industrial, trade or business processes as distinct from employees, wastes or wastes from sanitary convenience.

    "Industrial waste discharge permit" means a permit to deposit or discharge industrial waste into any sanitary sewer as by the control authority.

    "Infiltration" means water other than wastewater that enters a sewerage system from the ground through such means as defective pipes, pipe joints, connections or manholes.

    "Inflow" means water other than wastewater that enters a sewerage system from sources such as roof leaders, drains, manhole covers, cross connections between storm and sanitary sewers, storm waters, surface runoff, street wash waters or drainage.

    "Insignificant noncompliance" means any state of noncompliance which is not immediately threatening to the collection system or the POTW nor is a violation which is recurring.

    "Inspector" means the person or persons duly authorized by the city, through the utility service board, to inspect and approve the installation of building sewers and their connection to the public sewer system.

    "Instantaneous maximum allowable discharge limit" means the maximum concentration (or loading) 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.

    "Interference" means a discharge which alone or in conjunction with a discharge from other sources: (1) inhibits or disrupts the Columbus treatment works, its treatment processes or operations or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and (2) therefore is a cause of a violation of the Columbus NPDES permit or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with any of the following statutory/regulatory provisions or permits issued thereunder: Section 405 of the Clean Water Act; 40 CFR Part 503 requirements regarding use or disposal of sewage sludge, the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), including Title II commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); any 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.

    "Mass emission rate" means the weight of material discharged to the sewer system during a given time interval. Unless otherwise specified, the "mass emission rate" shall mean pounds per day of a particular constituent or combination of constituents.

    "Mass limitations" means limits imposed upon a discharger based upon volumes or concentrations that are converted to weight units.

    "Medical waste" means isolation waste, infectious agents, human blood and blood byproducts, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, formites, etilogic agents, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes, potentially contaminated laboratory wastes and dialysis wastes.

    "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 Public Law 92.500 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 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 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 subsection (1)(b) or (c) of this definition but otherwise alters, replaces or adds to existing process or production equipment.

    3.    Construction of a new source as defined under this definition has commenced if the owner 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 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.

    "NH3-N" means the same as ammonia nitrogen measured as nitrogen. The laboratory determinations shall be made in accordance with procedures set forth in "standard methods" as defined in this chapter.

    "Noncontact cooling water" means water used for cooling, condensing industrial products, for air conditioning, refrigeration, that is prevented from mixing or contacting the product or mixture of gases.

    "Normal domestic sewage" (for the purpose of determining surcharges) means wastewater or sewage having an average daily concentration as follows:

    1.    BOD not more than two hundred fifty mg/l;

    2.    SS not more than two hundred fifty mg/l;

    3.    Phosphorus not more than six mg/l;

    4.    NH3-N not more than eighteen mg/l.

    "NPDES Permit" means a permit issued under that National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System for discharge of wastewaters to the navigable waters of the United States pursuant to Section 402 of Public Law 92-500.

    "Operation and maintenance costs" means and includes all costs, direct and indirect (including replacement costs), necessary to provide adequate wastewater collection, transport and treatment on a continuing basis and produce discharges to receiving waters that conform with all related federal, state and local requirements.

    "Other service charges" means tap charges, connection charges, area charges and other identifiable charges, other than user charges, debt service charges and excessive strength surcharges.

    "Other wastes" means decayed wood, sawdust, shavings, bark, lime, refuse, ashes, garbage, offal, oil, tar, chemicals and all other substances except sewage and industrial wastes.

    "Outfall" means any outlet, natural or constructed, which is the point of final discharge of sewage or of treatment plant effluent into any watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body or surface or ground water.

    "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 Columbus NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).

    "Person" means any and all persons, natural or artificial, including any individual, firm, company, municipal or private corporation, association, society, institution, enterprise, governmental agency or other entity.

    "pH" means the logarithm (to the base 10) of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution expressed in gram-atoms per liter of solution.

    "Phosphorus" means the chemical element phosphorus, total. The laboratory determinations shall be made in accordance with procedures set forth in "standard methods" as defined in this chapter.

    "Pollutant" means any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, industrial wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, agricultural and industrial wastes, that has the characteristics of the wastewater (i.e., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, odor).

    "Premises" means a parcel of real estate including any improvements thereon which is determined by the city to be a single user for purposes of receiving, using and paying for service.

    "Pretreatment" means the treatment of industrial sewage from privately owned industrial sources prior to introduction into a public treatment works.

    "Pretreatment requirements" means any substantive or procedural requirements related to pretreatment, other than a National Pretreatment Standard imposed on an industrial user.

    "Pretreatment standards" means prohibitive discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards and local limits.

    "Primary sewer main" for purposes of this chapter means the public sewer main which is required to transport sewage from the building sewer of the nearest prospective customer to the proposed point of connection at the sewage works' existing sewer main.

    "Properly shredded garbage" means the wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that has 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 one-half inch in any dimension.

    "Publicly owned treatment works or POTW" means devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of sewage or industrial wastes and any conveyances which convey wastewater to the Columbus wastewater treatment plant.

    "RCRA" means Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, Public Law 94-482 including all subsequent amendments and applicable regulations promulgated thereto.

    "Receiving stream" means the watercourse, stream or body of water receiving the waters finally discharged from the sewage treatment plant.

    "Replacement costs" means the expenditures for obtaining and installing equipment, accessories or appurtenances which are necessary during the service life of the treatment works to maintain the capacity and performance for which such works were designed and constructed.

    "Sanitary sewage" means sewage discharged from the sanitary conveniences of dwellings (including apartment houses, hotels and motels), office buildings, factories or institutions and which is free from storm water, surface water and industrial wastes.

    "Secondary sewer main" for purposes of this chapter means the public sewer main which is required to provide services from a prospective customer to the primary sewer main.

    "Septic tank waste" means any sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers and septic tanks.

    "Service charge" means the basic charge levied on all users of the public sewerage system for wastes which do not exceed in strength the concentration values above which a surcharge will be made.

    "Sewage" means the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions and industrial establishments, singular or in any combination, together with such ground, surface and storm waters as may be present.

    "Sewage treatment plant" means the arrangement of devices, structures and equipment used for treating and disposing of sewage and sludge.

    "Sewage works" means the organization and all facilities for collecting, transporting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage and sludge, namely, the sewerage system and the sewage treatment plant.

    "Sewer" means a pipe or conduit for carrying sewage or other waste liquids.

    1.    "Private sewer" means a primary sewer which is not owned by a public authority.

    2.    "Public sewer" means a primary sewer or secondary sewer in which all owners of abutting property have equal rights and which is controlled by the sewage works.

    3.    "Sanitary sewer" means a sewer which carries sewage and to which storm, surface and ground waters and unpolluted industrial waste waters are not intentionally admitted.

    4.    "Storm sewer" means a pipe or conduit designed or intended to carry storm water, surface water and ground water drainage and which may carry unpolluted noncontact cooling and other unpolluted waters but which excludes sanitary sewage and industrial wastes.

    "Sewerage system" or "sewage system" means the network of sewers and appurtenances used for collecting, transporting and pumping sewage to the sewage treatment plant.

    "Significant industrial user" means industrial users including all categorical and noncategorical with an average process flow of twenty-five thousand gallons per day (gpd) or more, noncategoricals contributing five percent or more of the POTW's dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity, or any industrial user designated by the control authority to have a reasonable potential to adversely affect the POTW's operation (40 CFR 403.3(t). All categorical industries are included in this category.

    "Significant noncompliance" means an industrial user which exhibits one or more of the following criteria:

    1.    Violations of the industrial users discharge permit;

    2.    "Chronic violations" means sixty-six percent or more of the measurements exceed the same daily maximum limit or the same average limit in a six-month period (any magnitude of exceedance);

    3.    "Technical review criteria" means violations or (magnitude of exceedance): thirty-three percent or more of the measurements exceed the same daily maximum limit or the same average limit by more than the TRC in a six-month period.

    a.    There are two groups of TRC's (TRC X limit):

    i.    Group I for conventional pollutants (BOD, TSS, Oil and Grease, NH3-N, Total P): TRC = 1.4,

    ii.    Group II for all other pollutants: TRC = 1.2.

    b.    Limitations refer to local or federal categorical limits, whichever is more stringent;

    4.    Any other violation(s) of a permit limitation that the POTW believes has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference (e.g., slug loads) or pass- through; or endangered the health of the sewage treatment personnel or the public;

    5.    Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health/welfare or to the environment and has resulted in the POTW's exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge;

    6.    Violations of compliance schedule milestones, contained in a local control mechanism or enforcement order, for starting construction, completing construction and attaining final compliance by ninety days or more after the schedule date;

    7.    Failure to provide reports for compliance schedules, self-monitoring data or categorical standards within thirty days from the due date;

    8.    Failure to accurately report noncompliance;

    9.    Any other violation or group of violations that the control authority considers to be significant.

    "Sludge" means any solid, semi-solid or liquid waste generated from a municipal, commercial or industrial wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant or air pollution control facility or any other waste having similar characteristics and effects as defined in standards issued under Sections 402, 405 and 503 of the Federal Act and in the applicable requirements under Sections 3001, 3004 and 4004 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act Public Law 94-580.

    "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 longer than fifteen minutes more than five times the average twenty-four hour concentration or flow during normal operation; further a slug dose is considered any discharge of nonroutine episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill on a noncustomary batch discharge.

    "Solid waste" means and includes trash, ashes, rags, bottles, tin cans, tree limbs, manure of domestic animals, offal, dead animals or portions thereof, foodstuffs and wastes thereof other than normally contained in sanitary sewage and any and all other solid objects, materials, refuse or debris. The term ashes shall include the residual resulting from the combustion of coal, coke, wood or any other material or substance and shall include soot, cinders, slag and charcoal.

    "Standard methods" means the laboratory procedures set forth in the latest edition, at the time of analysis, of "Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater" prepared and published jointly by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation.

    "Storm water" means that portion of rain, snow or sleet which runs off over the surface of the ground, streets, structures and roofs into sewers, storm sewers or natural waters.

    "Surcharge" means the extra charges for sewerage service assessed customers whose sewage is of such a nature that it imposes upon the sewage works a burden greater than that covered by the basic service charge.

    "Surface water" means water flowing in natural or artificial channels or confined in lakes, ponds, swamps or similar depressions.

    "Suspended solids" means solids which either float on the surface of or are in suspension in water, sewage or other liquid and which are removable by laboratory filtration. Their concentration shall be expressed in milligrams per liter. Quantitative determinations shall be made in accordance with procedures set forth in "standard methods."

    "Total revenue" for purposes of this chapter means that revenue obtained from monthly minimum billing for the use of and service rendered by the sewage works and does not include front foot assessments, permit or inspection fees or other charges.

    "Total solids" means the sum of suspended and dissolved solids.

    "Toxic amount" means concentrations of any pollutant or combination of pollutants, which upon exposure to or assimilation into any organism will cause adverse effects, such as cancer, genetic mutations and physiological manifestations as defined in standards issued pursuant to Section 307(a) of Public Law 92-500.

    "Toxic pollutants" means any pollutant or combination of pollutants listed as toxic in regulations promulgated by the administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency under the provision of the Act.

    "Treatment plant effluent" means any discharge of pollutants from the POTW into waters of the state.

    "Unpolluted water" means water of quality equal to or better than the effluent criteria in effect or water that would not cause violation of receiving water quality standards and would not be benefited by discharge to the sanitary sewers and wastewater treatment facilities provided.

    "Upset" means an exceptional incident in which a discharger unintentionally and temporarily is in a state of noncompliance due to factors beyond the reasonable control of the discharger and excluding noncompliance to the extent caused by operational error, improperly designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of preventive maintenance, or careless or improper operation thereto.

    "User class" means the division of wastewater treatment customers by source, function, waste characteristics and process or discharge similarities (i.e., residential, commercial, industrial, institutional and governmental in the user charge system and as industrial and nonindustrial in the industrial cost recovery system).

    1.    "Residential user" means a user of the treatment works whose premises or building is used primarily as a residence for one or more persons, including all dwelling units, etc.

    2.    "Commercial user" means any establishment listed in the Office of Management and Budget's "Standard Industrial Classification Manual" (1972 Edition) involved in a commercial enterprise, business or service which, based on a determination by the city, discharges primarily segregated domestic wastes or wastes from sanitary conveniences.

    3.    "Institutional user" means any establishment listed in the "SICM" involved in a social, charitable, religious and/or educational function which, based on a determination by the city, discharges primarily segregated domestic wastes or wastes from sanitary conveniences.

    4.    "Governmental user" means any federal, state or local governmental user of the wastewater treatment works.

    5.    "Industrial user" means any manufacturing or processing facility that discharges industrial waste to a publicly owned treatment works. Industrial users shall be as identified in the "SICM" under Divisions A, B, D, E or I.

    6.    "User classification" means a classification of user based on the 1972 edition of the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Manual, prepared by the executive office of management and budget.

    "Volatile organic matter" means the material in the sewage solids transformed to gases or vapors when heated at five hundred fifty degrees Celsius for fifteen to twenty minutes.

    "Wastewater" means industrial waste or sewage or any other waste, including that which may be combined with any ground water, surface or storm water, that may be discharged to the POTW.

    "Wastewater constituents and characteristics" means the individual chemical, physical, bacteriological and radiological parameters including volume, flow rate and other parameters that serve to define, classify or measure the contents, quality, quantity and strength of wastewater.

    "Watercourse" means a channel in which a flow of water occurs either continuously or intermittently. (Ord. 99-16 (part), 1999)