Chapter 13.05
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sections:
13.05.040 Access to the public sanitary sewage conveyance system.
13.05.060 Hazardous industrial waste discharge.
13.05.070 Title to supplement other law.
13.05.010 Purpose.
The purposes of this chapter are: to regulate connections to and use of the town public sanitary sewerage system; to regulate the introduction of sewage, septage and industrial waste into the town public sanitary sewerage system; and to establish a system of fees and charges, credits and rebates for connection to and use of the town public sanitary sewerage system. [Ord. 2017-126 § 2 (Exh. A); Ord. 2002-05; prior code § 16-1-1.]
13.05.020 Title of title.
This title codified herein shall be known as the “Town of Sahuarita Wastewater Code.” [Ord. 2017-126 § 2 (Exh. A); Ord. 2002-05; prior code § 16-1-2.]
13.05.030 Definitions.
The following definitions shall apply throughout this title:
“Annual wastewater budget” means the amount budgeted in any one fiscal year by the town for the operation, maintenance, repair and replacement costs of the wastewater system.
“Applicant” means the owner or a representative of the owner of the property or unit requesting connection to the public sanitary sewerage system of the town.
“Approved” or “approval” means approved or approval in writing.
“Area under development” means the property for which sanitary sewerage service is requested by the applicant.
“Assignment” means the conveyance of sanitary sewer connection fee credits by the credit-holder to a subsequent purchaser of all or any part of the area under development specified in the credit agreement.
“Augmentation” means the construction of public sanitary sewerage facilities adjacent to or in replacement of existing public sanitary sewerage facilities for the purpose of increasing the capacity of the public system.
“Average user fee” means a user fee based upon the average discharge volume of a user class.
“Base sanitary sewerage facility size” means the minimum capacity sewage conveyance facility which is required to convey the predicted peak wet-weather wastewater flow from the area under development.
“Batch discharge” means a single, episodic discharge of accumulated waste, as opposed to a continuous, uninterrupted flow of waste material.
“Billing manager” means the manager of the department responsible for collection of charges and fees set forth in this title, or any employee of the department to whom the billing manager may delegate authority to carry out his or her functions under this title, or any person who shall, by operation of law, be authorized to carry out such functions.
“Blowdown” means the minimum discharge of recirculating water for the purpose of discharging materials contained in the water, the further buildup of which would cause concentration in amounts exceeding established limits.
“Building connection sewer (or BCS)” means the private sewer between the commercial or industrial building or any building that does not qualify as residential under the STC and the public or private sewer collection line.
“By-pass” means the intentional diversion of industrial wastewater from any portion of a wastewater treatment facility.
“Categorical pretreatment standards” means the National Pretreatment Standards promulgated by the EPA in accordance with Sections 307(b) and (c) of the CWA that specify pollutants or pollutant property discharge limits that apply to specific categories of industrial users pursuant to 40 C.F.R. Section 403.6 and Parts 405 through 471. This term includes prohibitive discharge standards under 40 C.F.R. Section 403.5, including local limits pursuant to 40 C.F.R. Section 403.5(d).
“Chemical oxygen demand (COD)” means the chemically oxidizable material in wastewater as represented by the reduction of dichromate ion, measured according to the procedures in Standard Methods.
“Commercial/industrial” means a property zoned or used for recognized commercial or industrial uses. Commercial/industrial uses include, but are not limited to, restaurants, bars, laundromats, hotels, motels, offices, in-home businesses with rest room facilities provided primarily for customer use, service stations, barber shops, beauty salons, hospitals, nursing homes, schools, churches, penal institutions, utilities, car washes, medical and dental laboratories, pet clinics, bakeries, industries, manufacturing, machinery and meat packing.
“Compliance schedule” means increments of progress in the form of dates for the commencement and completion of major events leading to the construction and operation of pretreatment facilities.
“Composite sample” means a combination of no fewer than eight individual samples obtained at equal time intervals for 24 hours or for the duration of the discharge, whichever is shorter. In the case of a batch discharge with a flow duration of less than 15 minutes, a single grab sample will be adequate.
“Connection fee” means the fee paid to town for permission to connect to the public sanitary sewerage system, as set forth in STC 13.10.025.
“Connection fee oversizing credit” means a credit for eligible construction costs, not including engineering and easement costs, of over-sizing public sanitary sewerage facilities to be applied against an applicant’s sewer connection fees.
“Credit agreement” means an agreement between an applicant and town for reimbursement by connection fee oversizing credits for the credit-eligible construction costs of oversizing or augmenting public sanitary sewerage facilities directed by the department.
“CWA” means the Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq., as amended.
“Department” means town of Sahuarita wastewater utility.
“Developer” means one or more individuals or incorporated entities that pay the costs of connection fees and constructing qualifying public sanitary sewerage system improvements if required.
“Development” means one or more properties in common ownership.
“Director” means the director of the department, or any employee of the department to whom the director may delegate authority to carry out his or her functions under this title, or any person who shall, by operation of law, be authorized to carry out such functions.
“Discharge” means the intentional or unintentional release of any substance or materials into the SWTRF, directly or indirectly.
“Discharge limits” means the permissible limits of regulated industrial waste that may be discharged to the SWTRF.
“Disposal systems” means a device or system for the treatment or disposal of sanitary sewage, either by surface or underground methods, and includes the associated sewage plumbing systems, treatment works, disposal wells and other systems.
“Domestic source” means any source within the town.
“Engineering estimate” means an estimate by town engineering staff using the best available data, judgment and experience.
“EPA” means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
“Existing source” means any source which is not a new source or a new indirect industrial user.
“Fixture unit” means a unit of measure which expresses the potential loading on the public sanitary sewerage system of different kinds and sizes of plumbing fixtures.
“Flow-through reach of sanitary sewer” means that part of a sanitary sewer that is located within a development, extends through to the upstream boundary of the development and terminates at a standard manhole.
“Food service facility” means any facility involved in the preparation or sale of food, including but not limited to restaurants, bakeries, grocery stores and cafeterias.
“Grab sample” means any individual sample collected over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.
“Hauler” means a person who transports wastewater or sludge away from the source, other than by the SWTRF conveyance system, to the SWTRF for treatment and disposal.
“Hazardous substance” means, pursuant to 40 C.F.R. Part 300.5 and Section 101(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response Compensation and Liability Act (“CERCLA”), 42 U.S.C. Section 9601 et seq., any substance designated pursuant to Section 311(b)(2)(A) of the CWA; any element, compound, mixture, solution, or substance designated pursuant to Section 102 of CERCLA; any hazardous waste having the characteristics identified under or listed pursuant to Section 3001 of the Solid Waste Disposal Act (but not including any waste the regulation of which under the Solid Waste Disposal Act (42 U.S.C. Section 6901 et seq.) has been suspended by act of Congress); any toxic pollutant listed under Section 307(a) of the CWA; any hazardous air pollutant listed under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act (42 U.S.C. Section 7521 et seq.); and any imminently hazardous chemical substance or mixture with respect to which the EPA Administrator has taken action pursuant to Section 7 of the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. Section 2601 et seq.). The term does not include petroleum, including crude oil or any fraction thereof which is not otherwise specifically listed or designated as a hazardous substance in the first sentence of this paragraph, and the term does not include natural gas, natural gas liquids, liquefied natural gas, or synthetic gas usable for fuel (or mixtures of natural gas and such synthetic gas).
“Hazardous waste” and “hazardous industrial waste” shall have the same meaning as defined in 40 C.F.R. 261.3.
“House connection sewer (or HCS)” means the private sewer between the residential building and the public or private collection sewer.
“Individual disposal system” means a privately owned and maintained device or system for the treatment or disposal of sewage from a single housing or business unit.
“Industrial user” means any source of industrial wastewater.
“Industrial waste” means any regulated substance present in wastewater.
“Industrial wastewater” means the wastewater discharged to the SWTRF containing industrial waste.
“Industrial wastewater sludge” means the solids or semisolids, residues, and precipitate separated from or created in industrial wastewater.
“Inspector” means a person authorized by the director to inspect wastewater generation, conveyance, processing and disposal facilities.
“Interference” means a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with discharge(s) from other sources, (1) inhibits or disrupts the SWTRF, its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and (2) causes a violation of any requirement of the SWTRF’s aquifer protection permit (“APP”), including but not limited to an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal.
“Letter agreement” means a written agreement between the town of Sahuarita and applicant that specifies the required improvements and development time period for the applicant to construct on-site or minor off-site improvements in exchange for the town’s commitment to provide sewer service. A letter agreement does not guarantee that capacity is available.
“Mg/l” means milligrams per liter, a weight-to-volume relationship; for dilute aqueous solutions, the milligrams per liter relationship is closely equivalent to parts-per-million.
“Multifamily residence” means more than one residential unit on a single lot. This includes duplexes, townhomes, condominiums and apartments.
“New source” means 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 CWA which will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section.
“Off-site sanitary sewerage improvements” means all sanitary sewerage construction necessary to connect on-site facilities to an existing public sanitary sewerage system as required by the department.
“On-site sanitary sewerage improvements” means all sewerage system facilities within the area under development.
“Operator” means a person who operates a business and therefore controls the operation and indirect discharge.
“Over-sizing” means the increase in size of a public sanitary sewerage facility which is required to serve property not owned by the applicant.
“Owner” means property owner, including a tenant possessing an option to purchase.
“Pass-through” means a discharge that exits the SWTRF into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with discharge(s) from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the SWTRF’s NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
“Permit” means either of the following, depending on the context:
1. An industrial wastewater discharge permit authorizing discharge of industrial waste into the SWTRF; or
2. A septage disposal permit authorizing discharge of septage into the SWTRF.
“Person” means an individual, association, partnership, corporation, municipality, state or federal agency or other entity, or an agent or employee thereof.
“Pollutant” means any substance that causes pollution, including, but not limited to, fluids, contaminants, toxic wastes, toxic pollutants, dredged material, solid waste, substances and chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals, incinerator residue, sewage, sewage screenings, sewage sludge, garbage, munitions, petroleum products, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and mining, industrial, municipal and agricultural wastes or any other liquid, solid, gaseous or hazardous substances.
“Pollution” means the alteration of the chemical, physical, biological and/or radiological integrity of water by humans.
“Pretreatment” means the reduction, elimination, or alteration of industrial wastewater quantities or properties by physical, chemical or biological processes, process changes or by other means, except dilution prior to or in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing such industrial wastewater into the SWTRF.
“Private sanitary sewage conveyance system” means a sewer connecting a residence or other building to the public sanitary sewer system. The term includes house connection sewer (HCS) and building connection sewer (BCS).
“Private water company” means any nonmunicipal company, firm, corporation, partnership, association, irrigation district or water cooperative, as well as any natural person, that provides water to users.
“Private well” means a water well not owned by a municipal corporation, a special taxing district, or a private water company.
“Property” means a contiguous parcel of land either in common ownership or as identified by a single town tax code number.
“Public sanitary sewage conveyance system” means those parts of the public sanitary sewerage system that convey sanitary sewage from the points of connection of any private sanitary sewage conveyance system to the public wastewater treatment and disposal facilities.
“Public sanitary sewerage system” means the system owned by the town including all gravity sanitary sewer mains; wastewater pumping systems; treatment and disposal facilities; and all appurtenances required to collect, transport, treat, store, reclaim, discharge or recharge the liquid and solid phases of wastewater.
“Qualifying public sewer improvement” means an addition to the public sewer system conforming to the requirements of STC 13.10.025.
“Rebate” means the repayment to an applicant by the town of the cost of a public sewer facility installed by the applicant. The repayment shall be funded from nonparticipating rate connection fees paid by other developments which connect to the rebate-eligible facility.
“Rebate line” means a line constructed to provide service to an area under development which also provides at least 51 percent of its capacity to currently unsewered properties which did not participate in the cost of its construction.
“Representative sample” means a sample of industrial waste or industrial wastewater that is as nearly identical in content and consistency as possible to that of the industrial waste or industrial wastewater being sampled.
“Residential” means a building designed to be used as a single-family dwelling on a lot owned by one entity. This single-family home will have an individual water meter serviced by the water provider.
“Residential user” means one discharging domestic wastewater from a dwelling unit and includes, but is not limited to, persons residing in single-family dwellings, apartments, condominiums, townhouses, and mobile homes, regardless of whether the mobile home is located on a separate residential lot or within a mobile home park.
“Residual capacity” means the remaining capacity in a sanitary sewerage conveyance facility after the predicted peak wet-weather flow from the development constructing the facility has been subtracted from the theoretical full-flow capacity of the facility.
“Sanitary sewage” means the wastes from toilets, baths, sinks, lavatories, laundries, drains, and other plumbing fixtures in residences, institutions, public and business buildings, mobile homes and other places of human habitation, employment or recreation.
“Sanitary sewer” means a sewer for conveyance of sanitary sewage or industrial wastewaters, and into which there is no intentional admission of storm, surface, ground or pool backwash waters, or industrial wastes toxic to treatment processes, unless authorized by the department. The public sanitary sewers of the town are operated as separate sanitary sewers and not as combined sewers intended to receive both wastewater and storm or surface water.
“Septage” means anaerobic wastewater originating from a domestic source, be it from a residential, commercial, or industrial facility, that is not hazardous waste and is compatible with the biological wastewater treatment plant process.
“Severe property damage” means substantial physical damage to property, damage to treatment facilities which causes them to become inoperable, or substantial and permanent loss of natural resources which can be reasonably expected to occur in the absence of a by-pass. “Severe property damage” does not mean economic loss by delays in production.
“Sewer service agreement” means a formal agreement between the town and applicant that specifies the required improvements that will be made by the applicant. The sewer service agreement shall also document requirements for over-sizing, augmentation or flow-through, or connection fee discounts or connection fee oversizing credits as provided in STC 13.10.025. A sewer service agreement does not guarantee that capacity is available.
“Sewerage facilities” and “sewerage systems” means both sanitary sewage conveyance and treatment facilities and the associated appurtenant systems.
“Significant industrial user” means any industrial user (1) subject to categorical pretreatment standards; (2) that discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of industrial wastewater; (3) that discharges industrial wastewater that makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the SWTRF; or (4) designated as such by the town on the basis that the industrial user has a potential for adversely affecting the SWTRF’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
“Significant noncompliance” means violation(s) that meet one or more of the following criteria:
1. Chronic violations of industrial wastewater discharge limits, defined here as those in which 66 percent or more of all the measurements taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) the daily maximum limit or the average limit for the same pollutant parameter.
2. Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which 33 percent or more of all of the measurements for each pollutant parameter taken during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of the daily maximum limit or the average limit multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC = 1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil, and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH).
3. Any other violation of a pretreatment effluent limit (daily maximum or longer-term average) that the director determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharge, interference or pass-through (including endangering the health of SWTRF personnel or the general public).
4. Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or to the environment or has resulted in the SWTRF’s exercise of its emergency authority under 40 C.F.R. 403.8(f)(1)(vi)(B) to halt or prevent such a discharge.
5. Failure to meet, within 90 days after the scheduled date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a local control mechanism or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance.
6. Failure to provide, within 30 days after due date, required reports such as baseline monitoring reports, 90-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with compliance schedules.
7. Failure to accurately report noncompliance.
8. Any other violation or group of violations which the director determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program.
“Single-family residence” means a building, with or without the usual accessory buildings, designed to be used as a home and shall be the only dwelling located on a parcel of ground. This single residential dwelling may be a mobile or manufactured home, or a townhouse unit or multiplex unit with its own separate building connection sewer.
“Slug load” means any industrial wastewater discharge at a volume or concentration that will cause interference with or upset of the SWTRF; any grab sample, the concentration of which exceeds five times the allowable discharge limit; or any discharge of a nonroutine, episodic nature, including, but not limited to, an accidental spill or a noncustomary batch discharge.
“Solid industrial waste” means any garbage, refuse, sludge from a wastewater treatment plant, water supply treatment plant, or air pollution control facility and other discarded material, including solid, liquid, semisolid, or containing gaseous materials resulting from industrial, commercial, health care, mining, and agricultural operations, and from community activities.
“Special facilities” means a sanitary sewage treatment or conveyance facility, such as a package sanitary sewage treatment plant or a sanitary sewage pumping facility with associated pressure sewers and other appurtenances, constructed by another governmental entity or a private developer, that is not included in the capital improvement program of the department. If the facility requires expenditures for operation, maintenance, repair or replacement that are in addition to the established expenditures of the department, it shall be treated as a special facility.
“Spill protection facilities” means a physical barrier that provides protection from accidental discharge or spill into the SWTRF of prohibited, hazardous, or other industrial wastewaters that are regulated through this title.
“Standard Methods” means the most recent edition of “Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater,” published jointly by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association and the Water Environment Federation.
“Strength” means the relative difficulty of treatment of wastewater, expressed in terms of chemical oxygen demand and suspended solids.
“Suspended solids (SS)” means solids that float on or are suspended in water, sanitary sewage or industrial wastes, and which are removable by a laboratory filtration device. Quantitative determination of suspended solids shall be made by procedures in Standard Methods.
“SWTRF” means the Sahuarita wastewater treatment and reclamation facility, including all of the industrial wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal systems connected to the SWTRF that are owned, operated or contracted in part or in whole by the town.
“Total solids” means the total solids content of wastewater which is all the matter that remains as residue from a sample upon evaporation at 103 degrees to 105 degrees Celsius according to the procedures in Standard Methods.
“Town” means the town of Sahuarita.
“Toxic pollutant” means any pollutant listed as toxic under Section 307(a)(1) of the CWA.
“Transfer” means the ability to use connection fee credits on any property owned by the credit-holder in the town except as otherwise specified or limited in a credit agreement.
“Unit” means an element of property development, either dwelling, fixture or building, which can be identified as an individual entity for purposes of wastewater flow calculations and connection fee assessment.
“Up gradient” means potential development that may discharge into the gravity sewerage system of the proposed development.
“Upset” means an exceptional incident involving unintentional and temporary noncompliance with discharge limits because of factors beyond the reasonable control of the industrial 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.
“User” means one who discharges wastewater to the wastewater system.
“User class” means a grouping of users having similar discharge strength, conducting a similar business, or living in the same dwelling unit type.
“User class average” means total wastewater discharge for a user class divided by the number of users in the class.
“User fee” means the basic monthly charge levied on users of the public sanitary sewerage system.
“Wastewater” means any water containing any pollutant or other waste.
“Wastewater system” means the sanitary sewerage systems and wastewater treatment works of the town.
“Wastewater treatment facility” means any plant, disposal field, lagoon, pumping station, incinerator, or other works used to treat or stabilize sanitary sewage. [Ord. 2017-126 § 2 (Exh. A); Ord. 2012-071 §§ 1, 2; Ord. 2002-05; prior code § 16-1-3.]
13.05.040 Access to the public sanitary sewage conveyance system.
No person shall open or enter the public sanitary sewage conveyance system or insert any object or dump any solid or liquid material into the public sanitary sewage conveyance system, or allow any object or any solid or liquid material to enter the public sanitary sewage conveyance system, except as authorized in advance by the department in accordance with this title and established departmental directives. [Ord. 2017-126 § 2 (Exh. A); Ord. 2002-05; prior code § 16-1-4.]
13.05.050 Hazardous waste.
Hazardous waste shall not be disposed of in any town facility. [Ord. 2017-126 § 2 (Exh. A); Ord. 2002-05; prior code § 16-1-5.]
13.05.060 Hazardous industrial waste discharge.
An industrial user shall notify the SWTRF, the EPA Regional Industrial Waste Management Division Director, and State Hazardous Industrial Waste authorities in writing of any discharge into the SWTRF of a substance which, if otherwise disposed of, would be a hazardous industrial waste under 40 C.F.R. Part 261. [Ord. 2017-126 § 2 (Exh. A); Ord. 2002-05; prior code § 16-1-6.]
13.05.070 Title to supplement other law.
All requirements listed in this title are in addition to any other rule or regulation established by the town, or federal, state, county, or local agencies having jurisdiction over the regulation of wastewater, liquid waste or contaminated water. [Ord. 2017-126 § 2 (Exh. A); Ord. 2002-05; prior code § 16-1-8. Formerly 13.05.080.]
13.05.080 Notices.
Any notice required to be given under this title shall be in writing and served by mail, in person, or by certified mail, return receipt requested. Any such notice shall be served upon or mailed to an authorized representative at the address last known or to the occupant(s) or owner(s) of record of property upon which the alleged violations occurred. [Ord. 2017-126 § 2 (Exh. A); Ord. 2002-05; prior code § 16-1-9. Formerly 13.05.090.]
13.05.090 Time limits.
Following a written request, any time limit provided in any written notice or in any provision of this title or in any regulation adopted pursuant to it shall be extended only by a written directive of the director. The request must contain adequate justification for the extension of time limit. [Ord. 2017-126 § 2 (Exh. A); Ord. 2002-05; prior code § 16-1-10. Formerly 13.05.100.]
13.05.100 Severability.
If any provision of this title is invalidated by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remaining provisions shall not be affected and shall continue in full force and effect. [Ord. 2017-126 § 2 (Exh. A); Ord. 2002-05; prior code § 16-1-11. Formerly 13.05.110.]
13.05.110 Conflict.
All other ordinances of the town and parts thereof inconsistent or conflicting with any part of this title are hereby repealed to the extent of such inconsistency or conflict. Notwithstanding the foregoing, and to the extent permitted by law, provisions of a sewer service agreement that conflict with this code shall supersede the provisions of this code. [Ord. 2017-126 § 2 (Exh. A); Ord. 2002-05; prior code § 16-1-12. Formerly 13.05.120.]