§ 26-46. General provisions.
(a)
Purpose and policy.
(1)
This article sets forth uniform requirements for users of the publicly-owned treatment works (POTW), enables the City of Texarkana, Arkansas to comply with all applicable state and federal laws including the Clean Water Act (33 United States Code, 1251 et seq. ) and the General Pretreatment Regulations (Code of Federal Regulations, Title 40, Part 403) and allows the city to control miscellaneous unsewered discharges.
(2)
The objectives of this article are:
a.
To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the POTW that may interfere with the operation of the POTW;
b.
To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the POTW which may pass through the POTW, inadequately treated, into receiving waters or otherwise be incompatible with the POTW;
c.
To protect both POTW personnel and the general public who may be affected by the wastewater and sludge from the POTW;
d.
To promote reuse and recycling of wastewater and sludge from the POTW;
e.
To enable the Cities of Texarkana to comply with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit conditions, sludge disposal conditions, sludge use and disposal requirements, and any other federal or state laws to which the POTW is subject; and
f.
To protect the waters of the state within the jurisdiction of the city from the introduction of pollutants.
(b)
Applicability.
(1)
This article shall apply to all users of the POTW and authorizes the issuance of wastewater discharge permits to nondomestic users; provides for monitoring, compliance and enforcement; establishes administrative review procedures; requires user reporting; and provides for the setting of fees for the equitable distribution of costs resulting from the program established herein.
(2)
On and after the adoption of this article any person discharging or seeking approval to discharge nondomestic wastewater into the public sewers, including storm sewers, within the City of Texarkana, Arkansas, or within its jurisdiction or wishing to discharge transported wastes into the wastewater treatment system shall be required to comply with the requirements herein before such approval may be granted.
(c)
Administration.
(1)
Except as otherwise provided herein, the control authority shall administer, implement, and enforce the provisions of this article.
(d)
Definition of terms. Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, this following terms and phrases shall be defined as follows:
(1)
Act shall mean the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 United States Code 1251, et seq., 86 Stat. 816, Pub. L. 92-500.
(2)
Approval authority shall mean the director in an NPDES state with an approved state pretreatment program and the appropriate regional administrator in a non-NPDES state or NPDES state without an approved state pretreatment program.
(3)
Approved analytical procedures shall mean analytical procedures approved for the testing of wastewater samples in accordance with Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, Part 136 (40 CFR 136) and amendments thereto or any method that has been approved for analyses in accordance with the approval procedure outlined in 40 CFR 136 or those analytical procedures approved by the Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission (TNRCC) or the Arkansas Department of Pollution Control and Ecology (ADPC&E) as appropriate.
(4)
Authorized representative shall mean:
a.
The responsible corporate officer, if the user submitting the report is a corporation. Responsible corporate officer shall be a president, secretary, treasurer or vice president of the corporation in charge of the principal business function or any other person who performs similar policy or decision-making function for the corporation; or by the manager of one or more manufacturing, production or operation facilities provided the manager is authorized to make management decisions which govern the operation of the regulated facility including having the explicit or implicit duty of making major capital investment recommendations and initiate and direct other comprehensive measures to assure long-term compliance with environmental laws and regulations; can ensure the necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and accurate information for individual wastewater discharge permit requirements and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures;
b.
A general partner or proprietor if the user submitting the reports is a partnership or sole proprietorship, respectively;
c.
A duly authorized representative of the individual designated in paragraphs a. or b. above if:
1.
The authorization is submitted in writing to the control authority by the individual described in paragraph a. or b. above;
2.
The authorization specifies either an individual or a position having responsibility for the overall operation of the facility from which the discharge originates, such as a plant manager, operator of a well or well field superintendent or a position of equivalent responsibility or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company.
d.
If authorization under paragraph c. above is no longer accurate because a different individual or position has responsibility for the overall operation of the facility, or the overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company, a new authorization satisfying the requirements in paragraph c above shall be submitted to the control authority prior to or together with the next report to be signed by an authorized representative.
(5)
Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD 5 ) shall mean the relative quantity of oxygen required for the biochemical degradation of organic matter and the oxygen used to oxidize inorganic material such as sulfides and ferrous iron under standardized laboratory procedures (Approved Analytical Procedures), where a diluted sample is incubated for five (5) days at twenty (20) degrees Celsius and the results are expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/L).
a.
Carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand (CBOD 5 ) shall mean a BOD 5 where a nitrification inhibitor is added to the sample prior to incubation in accordance with Approved Analytical Procedures.
(6)
Boiler blowdown water shall mean the discharge of boiler recirculation water for the purpose of discharging materials contained in the water, the buildup of which would cause concentration in amounts exceeding limits established by best engineering practice.
(7)
Building drain shall mean that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from drainage pipes inside the walls of a building and conveys it to a building sewer.
(8)
Building sewer shall mean the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.
(9)
Bypass shall mean the intentional diversion of wastestreams from any portion of the user's treatment facility.
(10)
Categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard shall mean any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with sections 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1317) which apply to a specific category of users and which appear in 40 CFR chapter I, subchapter N, parts 405-471.
(11)
Categorical user shall mean a nondomestic user of the Texarkana POTW that is subject to categorical pretreatment standards as defined above.
(12)
City shall mean the City of Texarkana, Arkansas, together with all its governing and operating bodies.
(13)
Composite sample shall mean a sample made up of a mixture of discrete samples collected at the same sampling point at equal intervals over a twenty-four-hour period, with each interval not to exceed two (2) hours. In a flow-proportional composite sample, the discrete portions are varied according to flow. Where flow is not continuous over a twenty-four-hour period, portions shall be collect at equal intervals over the period of discharge in a twenty-four-hour period, with each interval not to exceed two (2) hours.
(14)
Control authority shall mean the Executive Director of the Texarkana Water Utilities or his duly authorized representative.
(15)
Control mechanism shall mean a wastewater discharge permit, a no-discharge permit, a consent order, an administrative order, a certified letter, or other written or verbal instrument whose purpose is to limit, control or stop wastewater discharges from nondomestic sources.
(16)
Direct discharge or discharge of pollutant shall mean a discharge into the waterways of the State of Arkansas, including storm drains, natural and man-made ditches, and other outlets.
(17)
Discharge limitations shall mean any restriction(s) established by this article on the quantities, rates and/or concentrations of chemical, physical, biological, and other constituents which are discharged into the sanitary sewer system.
(18)
Domestic wastewater shall mean wastewater normally derived from the sanitary conveniences of single or multi-family dwellings, from office buildings or from commercial establishments, factories, and institutions which originates from toilet facilities, baths, or kitchens (provided there is no commercial preparation of foods), free from storm water, surface water, and industrial or other process wastes.
a.
Normal domestic wastewater shall mean domestic wastewater in which the concentration of total suspended solids does not exceed two hundred (200) mg/l, the concentration of five-day carbonaceous biochemical oxygen demand does not exceed two hundred (200) mg/l and the concentration of ammonia as nitrogen does not exceed twenty (20) mg/L, measured by approved analytical procedures.
(18)
Environmental Protection Agency or EPA shall mean the United States Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the Regional Water Management Division Director, or other duly authorized official of said agency.
(20)
Existing source shall mean any building, structure, facility or installation from which there is a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced prior to the publication of proposed pretreatment standards under section 307(c) of the Act. 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 for a new source but otherwise alters, replaces or adds to the existing process or production equipment.
(21)
Garbage shall mean animal and vegetable wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking, and serving of foods and from the handling, storage, or sale of produce; composed largely of putrescible organic matter and its natural moisture.
(22)
Grab sample shall mean an individual sample collected in a wastestream without regard to the flow in the wastestream and over a period of time not to exceed fifteen (15) minutes. Grab samples shall be used for pH, cyanide, total phenols, oil and grease, total petroleum hydrocarbons, sulfide, and volatile organics analyses.
(23)
Incompatible waste shall mean wastes which cannot or should not be commingled for disposal due to differing processing, storage, and disposal requirements.
(24)
Indirect discharge shall mean the discharge or the introduction of pollutants into the POTW from any nondomestic source regulated under section 307(b), (c) or (d) of the act or this article, including holding tank and equalization basin waste and any other nondomestic wastewater discharged into the sanitary sewer system.
(25)
Interference shall mean a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, both:
a.
Inhibits or disrupts the POTW, it treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and
b.
Is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the POTW's NPDES 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 any of the following statutory provisions and regulations or permits issued thereunder (or more stringent state or local regulations):
1.
Section 405 of the Act;
2.
Solid waste disposal act (SWDA) (including title II, more commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation Recovery act (RCRA), and including state regulations contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the SWDA);
3.
Clean air act;
4.
Toxic substances control act; and
5.
Marine protection, research and sanctuaries act.
(26)
Maximum allowable headworks loading shall mean the maximum pounds of pollutant per day, established under EPA guidelines, designed to protect the POTW, to prevent pass through and interference, and to protect the POTW worker and the environment.
(27)
Medical waste shall mean isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes, potentially contaminated laboratory wastes and dialysis wastes.
(28)
May is permissive.
(29)
National pollutant discharge elimination system permit or NPDES permit shall mean an authorization, license or equivalent control document issued by the EPA or an approved state, issued pursuant to section 402 of the Act.
(30)
New source shall mean any building, structure, facility or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants, the construction from which commenced after the publication of proposed pretreatment standards under section 307(c) of the act which will be applicable to such source if pretreatment standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section, provided that:
a.
The building, structure, facility, or installation is constructed at a site on 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 site. 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 shall be considered in determining whether the source is substantially independent.
d.
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 in paragraphs (27)b. or c. but otherwise alters, replaces or adds to existing process or production equipment.
e.
Construction of a new source has commenced if the owner or operator has:
1.
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 are necessary for the placement, assembly, or installation or new source facilities or equipment; or
2.
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.
(31)
Noncontact cooling water shall mean water used for cooling which does not come into direct contract with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product. Noncontact cooling water shall be considered a dilution wastestream for use in the combined wastestream formula.
(32)
Nondomestic user or industrial user shall mean a source of indirect discharge which does not constitute a "discharge of pollutants" (direct discharge) under regulations issued pursuant to section 402 of the Act; any person who discharges or causes a discharge of nondomestic wastewater into the sanitary sewer system.
(33)
Nondomestic wastewater shall mean all wastewater resulting from any industrial, commercial, manufacturing, food preparation or food processing operation or from development of any natural resource, or any mixture of these with water or domestic wastewater, as distinct from domestic wastewater.
(34)
Outlet shall mean any point of discharge into a watercourse or channel, natural or manmade, in which a flow of water occurs continuously or intermittently, and any pond, ditch, lake, or other body of surface or ground water.
(35)
Owner or operator shall mean the owner or operator of any facility or activity subject to regulation under this article and any person or persons who possess any interest in the structure or property to which such ownership relates.
(36)
Pass through shall mean 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 NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
(37)
Person shall mean any and all persons, natural or artificial, including any individual, partnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity or any other legal entity; or its legal representatives, agents, or assigns. This definition includes all federal, state, and local government entities.
(38)
pH shall mean a measurement of the hydrogen-ion concentration in solution, expressed as the logarithm (base ten) of the reciprocal of the hydrogen-ion concentration in gram moles per liter of solution, measured in accordance with approved analytical procedures; a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, expressed in standard units (S.U.).
(39)
Plumbing inspector shall mean any individual official, board, department or agency established and authorized by the state, county, city, or other political subdivision created by law to administer and enforce the provisions of the plumbing code as adopted or amended.
(40)
Pollutant shall mean dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, municipal agricultural and industrial wastes, and certain characteristics of wastewater (e.g. pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, or odor).
(41)
Pollution control inspector shall mean the technical supervisor, chief pollution control technician, pollution control technician, or other employee of the Texarkana Water Utilities designated by the control authority to administer and enforce this article.
(42)
Pretreatment shall mean the treatment of a waste before discharge into a POTW or outlet, to remove or to neutralize substances injurious to the sewers and subsequent treatment processes or to affect a partial reduction in load on the treatment process. Pretreatment may be by physical, chemical, or biological processes, process changes or by other means, except as prohibited by 40 CFR 403.6(d) and by the terms of this article.
(43)
Pretreatment requirements shall mean any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a pretreatment standard, imposed on any nondomestic user and any substantive or procedural requirement imposed on any nondomestic user by the control authority in order to regulate the user's wastewater under the provisions of this article.
(44)
Pretreatment standard shall mean any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits or prohibitions promulgated by the EPA or the state or the city which applies to nondomestic users, including prohibitive discharges outlined in section 26-47 of this article. Pretreatment standards shall include best management practices (BMP) defined as schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in 40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b), including, but not limited to, treatment requirements, operating procedures and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leakage, sludge and waste disposal or drainage from raw materials storage.
(45)
Process wastewater shall mean any water which, during manufacturing or processing, comes into direct contact with or results from the production or use of any raw material, intermediate product, finished product, by-product or waste product. Process wastewater excludes domestic, noncontact cooling, and boiler blowdown wastewaters.
(46)
Prohibited discharge standards or prohibited discharges shall mean absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances as outlined in this article.
(47)
Properly shredded garbage shall mean 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 flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than one-half (½) inch in diameter.
(48)
Public sewer shall mean a sewer in which all owners of abutting property have substantially equal right and which is controlled by the city.
(49)
Publicly-owned treatment works or POTW shall mean a treatment works as defined by section 212 of the Act which is owned by the city. This definition shall include:
a.
Any devices and systems used in storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal wastewater or liquid industrial wastes;
b.
Sewers, pipes, and other appurtenances used in the transportation of wastewater to the treatment plant portion of the POTW;
c.
The municipality as defined in section 502(4) of the Act, which has jurisdiction over the indirect discharges to and the discharges from such a treatment works; and
d.
Any sewers that convey wastewaters to the POTW from persons outside the city who are, by contract or agreement, users of the POTW.
(50)
POTW treatment plant shall mean the portion of the POTW which is designed to provide treatment (including recycling and reclamation) of municipal wastewater and industrial wastes.
(51)
Sanitary sewer shall mean a sewer in which liquid and waterborne wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants, and institutions are carried and to which storm, surface, and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.
(52)
Septic tank waste shall mean any domestic sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks.
(53)
Severe property damage shall mean substantial physical damage to property, damage to the treatment facility which causes it to become inoperable, or substantial and permanent loss of natural resources which can reasonably be expected to occur in the absence of a bypass. Severe property damage shall not include economic loss caused by delays in production.
(54)
Sewer shall mean a pipe or conduit and appurtenances for the collection, transport, or pumping of wastewater.
(55)
Shall is mandatory.
(56)
Significant industrial user shall mean any nondomestic user of the city's wastewater disposal system who:
a.
Is subject to Categorical Pretreatment Standards under 40 CFR 403.6 and 40 CFR chapter 1, subchapter N;
b.
Discharges an average of 25,000 gallons or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling, and boiler blowdown wastewaters) per workday;
c.
Contributes a process wastestream which makes up five (5) per cent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic (BOD 5 , TSS, etc.) design capacity of the POTW treatment plant;
d.
Has a reasonable potential, in the opinion of the control authority, to adversely affect the POTW treatment plant's operation (inhibition, pass through of pollutants, sludge contamination, or endangerment of POTW workers, etc.) or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement;
d.
Is found by the control authority to have a significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing industries, on the POTW, the wastewater treatment system, the quality of sludge, the system's effluent quality or air emissions generated by the system, or may pose a health/welfare hazard to the POTW workers or the public or may injure the environment.
(57)
Significant noncompliance shall mean any violation or violations which meet one (1) or more of the following criteria:
a.
Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined as those in which sixty-six (66) per cent or more of all the measurements taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) any numeric limit for the same pollutant parameter;
b.
Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined as those in which thirty-three (33) per cent or more of all the measurements for each pollutant parameter taken during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of any numeric limit multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC = 1.4 for BOD 5 , 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 section 26-46(d)(43) and (44) the control authority determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference, pass-through or has endangered the health of the POTW personnel or the general public;
d.
Any discharge of a pollutant or pollutants that has caused an imminent endangerment to human health or welfare or to the environment or has resulted in the POTW's exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such discharge;
e.
Failure to meet, within ninety (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;
f.
Failure to provide, within thirty (30) days after the due date, required reports including, but not limited to, baseline monitoring reports, ninety-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;
g.
Failure to accurately report noncompliance;
h.
Any other violation or group of violations the control authority determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program; or
i.
The current definition accepted by Region VI of the EPA.
(58)
Sludge shall mean the accumulated solids separated from liquids, such as water and wastewater, during processing and any solid material containing large amounts of entrained water collected during water or wastewater treatment. This definition shall include settled solids resulting from chemical treatment, coagulation, flocculation, sedimentation, flotation, or biological oxidation of water and wastewater and materials removed from septic tanks.
(59)
Slug load shall mean any discharge of a nonroutine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or a noncustomary batch discharge or any discharge which could cause a violation of the prohibited standards in section 26-47 of this article.
(60)
Storm sewer shall mean a pipe or other conveyance which carries storm and surface water, street wash, and other wash waters or drainage, but excludes domestic and nondomestic wastewater.
(61)
Storm water shall mean any flow occurring during or following any form of precipitation and resulting from such precipitation, including snowmelt.
(62)
Stormwater runoff shall mean that portion of the rainfall which is normally drained into the storm sewers or finds its way to natural or manmade drainage channels.
(63)
Surcharge shall mean the charge in addition to the published sewer use rate designated to recover costs, incurred during the treatment of nondomestic wastewater, above the standard rate. The basis for surcharge on industrial wastes is a capital and operating cost for suspended solids, oxygen demand, and ammonia exceeding the concentration and loads established by this article or upon which the published water and sewer rates are based.
(64)
Texarkana Water Utilities or TWU shall mean the bi-city water and wastewater utility department of the Cities of Texarkana, Arkansas and Texarkana, Texas that functions operationally for both cities while maintaining financial functions, including revenues and expenditures, separate and apart. The utilities is managed by an executive director who answers directly to the city managers of both the Texarkanas.
(65)
Total suspended solids or TSS shall mean the solid materials which will be retained on a glass fiber filter (Whatman grade 934AH or equivalent) when filtered under vacuum and dried in a laboratory oven at 103° - 105° Celsius according to approved analytical procedures.
(66)
Toxic pollutants shall mean any pollutant or combination of pollutants listed in regulations promulgated by the EPA under the provisions of the act, section 307(a), or other acts.
(67)
Unpolluted water or unpolluted drainage shall mean any water or waste containing none of the following:
a.
Free or emulsified grease or oil;
b.
Acid or alkali;
c.
Phenols or other substances imparting taste or odor in receiving waters;
d.
Toxic or poisonous substances in suspension, colloidal state or solution;
e.
Noxious or odorous gases;
f.
Total suspended solids and/or five-day biochemical oxygen demand in concentrations greater than ten (10) mg/L; or
g.
Color in excess of one hundred fifty (150) Jackson Turbidity Units.
(68)
Upset shall mean an exceptional incident in which there is unintentional and temporary noncompliance with Categorical Pretreatment Standards because of factors beyond the reasonable control of the user. An upset does not include noncompliance to the extent caused by operational error, improperly designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of preventive maintenance, or careless or improper operation.
(69)
User shall mean any person who contributes or causes or permits the contribution of wastewater into the city's POTW.
(70)
Waste disposer or disposer shall mean the POTW which accepts liquid transported waste for treatment and disposal through the POTW treatment plant.
(71)
Waste generator or generator shall mean any person, by site, whose act or process produces waste regulated under this article whose first act causes a waste to become subject to regulation.
(72)
Waste transporter or transporter shall mean the owner or operator of a truck or other vehicle used for delivery of wastes to the POTW other than via the sanitary sewer collection system.
(73)
Wastewater shall mean liquid and water-carried wastes and sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which are contributed to the POTW.
(Ord. No. K-526, § 1, 6-19-95; Ord. No. M-39, § 1(Att. 1), 12-19-11)