§ 6.12.010. General discharge requirements and regulations.

A.

State and Federal Requirements. State and federal requirements and limitations on sewer discharges imposed by any statute, code, regulation, permit, order, or other regulatory or enforcement action shall apply in any case where they are more stringent than those required by this Title.

B.

District's Right of Revision. The District reserves the right to establish by Ordinance or Resolution, more stringent limitations or requirements for discharges to the District's Sewer System if deemed necessary to comply with the objectives presented in Section 6.04.010(A) of this Title.

C.

Accidental Sewer Discharges. Each Industrial User shall provide spill containment and/or protection from accidental discharge of prohibited materials or other substances regulated by this Title. Facilities to prevent accidental discharge of prohibited materials shall be provided and maintained at the owner or User's own cost and expense. Detailed plans showing facilities and operating procedures to provide this protection shall be submitted to the District for review, and shall be approved by the District before construction of the facility. No User who commences contribution to the District's Sewer System after the effective date of this Title shall be permitted to introduce pollutants into the system until accidental discharge procedures have been approved by the District. Review and approval of such plans and operating procedures shall not relieve the Industrial User from the responsibility to modify the User's facility as necessary to meet the requirements of this Title. In the case of an accidental discharge, slug load, or bypass of any sewage pretreatment equipment, it is the responsibility of the User to immediately telephone and notify the District of the incident. The notification shall include location of discharge, type of waste, concentration and volume, and corrective actions.

1.

Written Notice. Within five days following an accidental discharge, slug load, or bypass the User shall submit to the General Manager a detailed written report describing the cause of the discharge and the measures to be taken by the User to prevent similar future occurrences. Such notification shall not relieve the User of any fines, civil penalties, or other applicable law.

2.

Notice to Employees. A notice shall be permanently posted on the User's bulletin board or other prominent place advising employees whom to call in the event of an accidental discharge, slug load, or bypass. Employers shall insure that all employees who may cause or suffer such a discharge to occur are advised of the emergency notification procedure.

D.

Application for Non-domestic Sewer Discharge Permit.

1.

Purpose. It is necessary for the District to review all Non-Domestic Sewer Users for purposes that include, but are not limited to:

a.

Identification of applicable commercial category(s) for determination of periodic Commercial Sewer Rates;

b.

To determine if an Industrial Sewer Rate shall be required;

c.

Verification of adequate sewer Capital Capacity at the site for the proposed operation;

d.

To determine if additional information, plumbing plans, sewer plans, or sewage pretreatment, controls, and monitoring devices shall be required;

e.

To identify Users and operations regulated by the National Pretreatment Program.

2.

The District may issue a Non-domestic Sewer Discharge Permit to a User to establish the means and method of implementing an Industrial Sewer Rate and compliance with the acquired sewer Capital Capacity. A Permit may also be issued to establish discharge requirements and conditions necessary to protect the POTW and public, which may include but is not limited to such devices as spill containment, pH control, oil and grease separation, solids separation, pollutant discharge standards, pretreatment maintenance procedures, etc.

3.

Duty to Submit Sewer Discharge Permit Application.

a.

All Food Service Establishments [FSEs] and other Commercial and Industrial Non-domestic Users proposing to discharge non-domestic wastewater into the District's Sewer System are required to submit a District Non-domestic Sewer Discharge Permit Application to the General Manager.

The Application shall present information indicating the type and quantity of non-domestic wastewater being discharged, or proposed for discharge, plans and specifications for any pretreatment facilities designed to reduce or remove pollutants or materials to the District's Sewer System, and any other pertinent information necessary to control discharge to the District's Sewer System. This Application is considered an integral part of the Non-domestic Sewer Discharge Permit and any construction plan review and approval. Based on the information submitted on the Permit Application and the District's investigation of the User's establishment and plumbing plan and facilities plan review, a Non-domestic Sewer Discharge Permit may be required. Users not required to obtain a Permit are still required to meet the District's discharge standards.

All Users shall submit a completed permit application upon:

i.

Requesting a new connection to the sewer;

ii.

Change of an existing sewer account or establishing a new account;

iii.

No less than thirty (30) days prior to planned change of business operations;

iv.

No less than thirty (30) days prior to planned expansion of business operations, equipment, or production;

v.

No less than thirty (30) days prior to planned substantial change of wastewater strength or volume; or

vi.

Immediately upon becoming aware of events described in the above Sections 6.12.010(D)(3)(a)(iii—v).

b.

The District may require a User to submit a current permit application if the District has reason to believe any of the conditions listed in Sections 6.12.010(D)(3)(a)(i—vi) have been met. The District may also require on site plumbing plans, sewer plans, equipment plan/schedules, and any other information as may be required to verify that adequate sewer Capital Capacity is available at the business location, to determine if any of the National Pretreatment Program regulations apply, and to determine that the District's Sewer System operations are adequately protected.

The District may, at its discretion, conduct wastewater sampling and analysis of the non-domestic wastewater discharge of any non-domestic sewer discharger. Said analysis may be for BOD, TSS, and/or any other parameter as may be required to determine compliance with Title 6 of the District Code. The results of this analysis may be used to determine the required sewer Capital Capacity for the User and/or to determine the sewer rate. The frequency of non-domestic sampling may vary as determined by the District.

All monitoring and laboratory analysis voluntarily submitted to supplement that data which is collected by the District must be arranged and paid for by the industrial (non-domestic) user, and is subject to District review/approval of collection and analysis methods and procedures prior to District acceptance of the data arising therefrom. Data resulting from collection or analysis procedures not conforming to accepted standards of sample collection, preservation and analysis will not be considered valid for the purposes of determining industrial (non-domestic) sewer rates or charges. In general, only lab data supplied by State-certified analytical laboratories using prescribed sample collection methods is deemed acceptable for such purposes.

c.

The permit application shall be submitted to the District no less than thirty (30) calendar days from the date of request, unless a written request for due-date extension is received prior to the due-date and is granted by the General Manager. A request for due-date extension must be received prior to the due-date, must be a specific request, and must include a valid reason for the request.

The District shall not provide sewer service for Users that fail to furnish an acceptable permit application and all information as requested by the District in a timely manner. Termination of existing sewer service and reconnection to the District sewer shall be at the User's expense.

E.

Requirement to install sewage pretreatment equipment, monitoring devices and controls. The General Manager may require Non-domestic Sewer Users to install and maintain sewage pretreatment equipment, sewage monitoring devices, and sewage controls to implement the General Provisions listed in Section 6.04.010 of this Title and to provide data necessary for calculation of industrial sewer service rates. The General Manager shall indicate general requirements and approve the installation of specific devices and procedures proposed by the User. This process is generally performed in conjunction with construction plan check submittals. Acquisition, proper installation and maintenance of such devices shall be the User's responsibility and shall be a condition of sewer use, unless otherwise approved in a Non-Domestic Sewer Discharge Permit issued by the District. This Section describes a non-exclusive list of equipment, devices and controls that may be required by the General Manager.

1.

Gravity Grease Interceptor - Food Service Establishments. The General Manager may require any person who operates, owns or maintains a food service establishment to install an acceptable gravity grease interceptor (also referred to as an oil and grease interceptor, or gravity separation interceptor) per the District Engineering Department standards. The User shall cause all food waste, floor drains, floor sinks, prep sinks, waste container wash racks, dishwashers, garbage grinders and other treatable wastes to be directed through a gravity grease interceptor and shall keep all domestic wastewater from restrooms, hand sinks, showers, drinking fountains, condensate (i.e. ice melt, air conditioning), and beverage dispensers separate from the treatable wastewater until the food service wastewater has passed through all necessary pretreatment equipment, devices, and monitoring facilities. The General Manager shall determine the required size of the gravity grease interceptor (in terms of the operating hydraulic capacity), normally in conjunction with the construction plan check process.

2.

Gravity Separation Clarifier - Other Non-domestic Sewer Users. The General Manager may require any person who operates, owns or maintains a facility for the servicing or repair of vehicles, construction equipment, industrial transportation, power equipment, or a manufacturing process that has the potential to discharge objectionable quantities of treatable wastes, to install an acceptable gravity separation clarifier (also referred to as a sand and oil interceptor) per the District Engineering Department standards. All treatable wastewater generated from such operations shall pass through this clarifier before being discharged into the District's Sewer System. The General Manager shall determine the required size of the gravity separation clarifier (in terms of the operating hydraulic capacity), normally in conjunction with the construction plan check process.

3.

Gravity Grease Interceptor and Gravity Separation Clarifier - General Requirements.

a.

All interceptor chambers shall be immediately accessible at all times for the purpose of inspection and cleaning. At no time shall any material, debris, obstacles or obstructions be placed in such a manner so as to prevent immediate access to the interceptor/clarifier.

b.

Any interceptor or clarifier legally and properly installed before the year 1983 shall be acceptable as an alternative to the interceptor/clarifier specified herein, provided such interceptor/clarifier is effective in removing floatable and settleable material and is so designed and installed that it can be inspected and properly maintained.

c.

If the General Manager finds either by engineering knowledge or by observation, that an interceptor/clarifier is incapable of retaining adequately the floatable and settleable material in the wastewater flow, is structurally incomplete, causes damage to the District's Sewer System, or is incorrectly sized for the facility, the General Manager declare that the interceptor/clarifier does not meet the requirements of this Title and shall require the User to install, at the User's expense, an acceptable interceptor/clarifier.

d.

Interceptor and Clarifier Abandonment. Every interceptor/clarifier that has been abandoned or has been otherwise discontinued from further use, or to which no waste or soil pipe from a plumbing fixture is connected, shall have the inlet pipe and outlet pipe of the interceptor capped or plugged, shall have the interceptor/clarifier wastewater removed therefrom and be completely filled with earth, sand, gravel, concrete, or other approved material. The User shall be required to properly abandon such interceptor/clarifier within thirty (30) days of discontinued use.

Where interceptors/clarifiers are abandoned by a User who is no longer available, the property owner shall be required to properly abandon said interceptor/clarifier within thirty (30) days of notice by the District.

The General Manager shall approve the method of interceptor/clarifier abandonment. The General Manager may approve an abandonment method that ensures the interceptor/clarifier can be restored in the event it is needed in the future. All interceptor/clarifier abandonments shall be inspected by the District.

e.

Interceptor and Clarifier Maintenance. The interceptor/clarifier shall be properly maintained. It shall be cleaned as often as is necessary to ensure that settleable and floatable materials do not accumulate to impair the efficiency of the interceptor/clarifier. All interceptor/clarifier interior plumbing shall be maintained to the District's standards. When an interceptor/clarifier is cleaned, the accumulated sediment and floating material shall be removed by trucking to a legally designated disposal site. All Users required to use and maintain an interceptor/clarifier shall keep maintenance and pumping records in accordance with Section 6.12.010(E)(6). These records shall include the date, the name of the waste hauler, the volume of waste removed, and the disposal site of the waste.

An interceptor/clarifier is not considered to be properly maintained if accumulations of sediments and floating material total more than twenty-five (25) percent of the operating fluid capacity of any chamber. The interceptor/clarifier must be pumped empty during maintenance and the entire contents hauled off site; the pumping or maintenance contractor shall not perform any on site treatment of wastewater, shall not re-introduce wastewater to the interceptor/clarifier or the District sewer, and shall not partially pump the interceptor/clarifier contents. See Section 6.08.020(G) of this Title for specific prohibited discharges.

The owner of any FSE, commercial or industrial facility discharging through an interceptor or clarifier, the lessee and sub-lessee, if there be such, any proprietor, operator or superintendent of such facility, are individually and severally liable for any failure of proper maintenance of such interceptor or clarifier.

4.

Monitoring Facility Specifications. The General Manager may require to be provided and operated at the expense of each Non-domestic Sewer User, monitoring facilities to allow inspection, sampling, and flow measurement of the building sewer and/or internal drainage measurement of the building sewer and/or internal drainage systems of the User's facility. The monitoring facility shall be located so that wastewater samples can be taken immediately downstream from the regulated waste stream. The monitoring facility should normally be situated on the User's premises, but the General Manager may, when such a location would be impractical or cause undue hardship on the User, allow the facility to be constructed in the public street or sidewalk area and located so that it will not be obstructed by landscaping or parked vehicles.

There shall be ample room in or near the sampling manhole, or facility, to allow accurate sampling and preparation of samples for analysis. The facility, sampling, and measuring equipment shall be maintained at all times in a safe and proper operating condition at the expense of the User.

Whether constructed on public or private property, the sampling and monitoring facilities shall be provided in accordance with the District's requirements and all applicable local construction standards and specifications. Monitoring or metering facilities may be required to include a security closure that can be locked by the District during sampling or upon termination of service. Construction shall be completed within ninety (90) calendar days following written notification by the General Manager.

If the District requires a User to install monitoring facilities, each such User shall submit plans for the construction of a District approved monitoring facility to facilitate the inspection sampling and metering of wastewater flows.

5.

Other Monitoring Equipment and Controls. The General Manager may require or approve devices proposed by the User for monitoring, treatment, and control of wastewater volume and quality. Such devices include, but are not limited to, pH controllers, alarms, chart recorders, automatic chemical feed systems, pH neutralization, equalization, biological treatment, BOD and TSS reduction, diffused air flotation, sewer solenoid valves, flow meters, spill containment structures, policies and procedures, etc. The General Manager shall approve such devices on a case by case basis for each specific application and purpose. In general, such devices shall be installed, maintained and calibrated per the manufacturer's specifications. Such devices shall be tamper-proof or tamper-resistant, shall be electrically integrated where appropriate such that monitoring or treatment devices cannot be bypassed or defeated, and shall be installed in a manner that can be inspected and verified by District staff at all reasonable hours.

6.

Documentation of Proper Maintenance. All such Users shall keep and maintain records regarding the maintenance, calibration and standardization of wastewater monitoring, treatment and control devices and systems for a minimum of three years. All monitoring equipment shall be maintained and calibrated according to the manufacturer's specifications or as required by this Title. Once installed, all monitoring equipment shall be operated to facilitate continuous measurement.

( Ord. No. 28-D, § 2(Exh. A), 4-22-2014 )