Chapter 14.26.010
General Provisions
Sections:
14.26.010.020 Purpose and Intent.
14.26.010.050 Responsibility for Administration.
14.26.010.060 Regulatory Consistency.
14.26.010.070 Ultimate Responsibility of Discharger.
14.26.010.080 Repeal of Conflicting Ordinances.
14.26.010.010 Title.
This division shall be known as the “Urban Storm Water Quality, Management and Discharge Control Ordinance” of the City of Vacaville and may be so cited.
(Ord. 1985, Amended, 07/25/2023; Ord. 1972, Repealed and Replaced, 02/22/2022)
14.26.010.020 Purpose and Intent.
The purpose and intent of this division is to ensure the health, safety, and general welfare of the citizens of the City, and protect and enhance the water quality of watercourses and water bodies in a manner pursuant to and consistent with the Federal Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.) by reducing pollutants in storm water discharges to the maximum extent practicable and by prohibiting non-storm water discharges to the storm drain system.
(Ord. 1985, Amended, 07/25/2023; Ord. 1972, Repealed and Replaced, 02/22/2022)
14.26.010.030 Definitions.
The terms used in this division shall have the following meanings:
“Best management practices” means activities, practices, prohibition of practices, procedures, site design measures, design standards, and source control measures to prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants and/or soil erosion directly or indirectly to the municipal storm drain system and waters of the United States. BMPs include but are not limited to: treatment facilities to remove pollutants from storm water; operating and maintenance procedures; facility management practices to control runoff, spillage or leaks of non-storm water, waste disposal, and drainage from materials storage; erosion and sediment control practices; and the prohibition of specific activities, practices and procedures and such other provisions as are contained and/or specified in the State Water Resources Control Board NPDES Permit CAS000004 and any subsequent amendments thereto, and such other provisions as the City determines appropriate for the control of pollutants.
“City” means the City of Vacaville.
“Clean Water Act” means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.), and any subsequent amendments thereto.
“Construction activities” means activities subject to National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) General Permit For Storm Water Discharges Associated with Construction and the City’s municipal storm water NPDES permit. These include construction or demolition projects resulting in land disturbance. Such activities include, but are not limited to, clearing and grubbing, grading, excavating, and demolition.
“Development” means construction, rehabilitation, redevelopment, or reconstruction of any public or private residential project, industrial, commercial, retail, transportation, institutional, or other nonresidential project including public agency projects.
“Development runoff requirements” means the provisions in the Phase II storm water permit that contain design standards or performance criteria to address both the construction and post-construction phase impacts of new projects and redeveloped projects on storm water quality and quantity.
“Discharge of a pollutant” means addition of any pollutant or combination of pollutants to waters of the United States from any point source within the jurisdiction of the City. The term includes addition of pollutants to waters of the United States from: surface runoff which is collected or channeled by man; discharges through pipes, sewers, or other conveyances owned by a state, municipality, or other person which do not lead to a treatment works; and discharges through pipes, sewers, or other conveyances, leading into privately owned treatment works. (See definition of “Pollutant.”)
“Erosion” means the physical detachment of soil due to wind or water. Often the detached fine soil fraction becomes a pollutant transported in storm water runoff.
“Erosion control” means BMPs used to minimize soil detachment.
“Hazardous materials” means any material, including any substance, waste, or combination thereof, which because of its quantity, concentration, or physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics may cause, or significantly contribute to, a substantial present or potential hazard to human health, safety, property, or the environment when improperly treated, stored, transported, disposed of, or otherwise managed (California Health and Safety Code Section 25117).
“Illicit connections” means either of the following:
1. Any drain or conveyance, whether on the surface or subsurface, which allows an illegal discharge to enter the storm drain system including but not limited to any conveyances which allow any non-storm water discharge including sewage, process wastewater, and wash water to enter the storm drain system and any connections to the storm drain system from indoor drains and sinks, regardless of whether said drain or connection had been previously allowed, permitted, or approved by a government agency; or
2. Any drain or conveyance connected from a commercial or industrial land use to the storm drain system which has not been documented in plans, maps, or equivalent records and approved by the City.
“Illicit or illegal discharge” means any nonpermitted or nonexempt discharge to the storm water conveyance system that violates this chapter or is prohibited under federal, state, or local statutes, ordinances, codes, laws, rules, or regulations, or which degrades the quality of receiving waters. The term “illicit discharge” includes all non-storm water discharges not composed entirely of storm water, except discharges that are identified as exceptions under Section 14.26.020.010 (as such section may be amended or renumbered from time to time). The term does not include discharges that are regulated by a NPDES permit (other than the NPDES permit for discharges from the MS4).
“Incidental irrigation runoff” means unintended amounts (volume) of runoff, such as unintended, minimal overspray from sprinklers that escapes the landscaped area of intended use. Water leaving an intended use area is not considered incidental if it is part of the facility design, if it is due to excessive application, if it is due to intentional overflow or application, or if it is due to negligence.
“Industrial activities” means activities subject to NPDES industrial permits as defined in 40 CFR Section 122.26(b)(14).
“Low impact development (LID)” means sustainable practice that benefits water supply and contributes to water quality protection. LID uses site design and storm water management to maintain the site’s predevelopment runoff rates and volumes. The goal of LID is to mimic a site’s predevelopment hydrology by using design techniques that infiltrate, filter, store, evaporate, and detain runoff close to the source of rainfall.
“Maximum extent practicable (MEP)” means a standard for water quality that applies to all MS4 operators regulated under the NPDES program. Since no precise definition of MEP exists, it allows for maximum flexibility on the part of MS4 operators as they develop and implement their programs to reduce the discharge of pollutants to the maximum extent practicable, including management practices, control techniques and system, design and engineering methods, and such other provisions as the administrator or the state determines appropriate for the control of pollutants.
“Municipal separate storm sewer systems (MS4)” means a conveyance or system of conveyances (including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, manmade channels, or storm drains) owned and/or operated by the City under Section 208 of the Clean Water Act designed or used for collecting or conveying storm water for discharge to waters of the United States and is not a combined sewer and/or part of a publicly owned treatment works (POTW) as defined at 40 CFR Section 122.2.
“National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) storm water discharge permits” means general, group, and individual storm water discharge permits which regulate facilities defined in federal NPDES regulations pursuant to the Clean Water Act. The California Regional Water Quality Control Board, Central Valley Region (hereinafter, Regional Board) and the State Water Resources Control Board have adopted general storm water discharge permits, including but not limited to the general construction activity permit, the general industrial activity permit and the general permit for storm water discharges from small municipal separate storm sewer systems under which the City has obtained coverage for its municipal storm water discharges.
“Non-storm water discharge” means any discharge to the storm drain system that is not composed entirely of storm water.
“Person” means any person, firm, corporation, business entity, or public agency, whether principal, agent, employee, or otherwise.
“Phase II storm water permit” means the NPDES general storm water permit applicable to the City, Water Quality Order No. 2013-0001-DWQ, General Permit No. CAS000004, and any subsequent amendment, reissuance or successor to this NPDES permit.
“Pollutant” means anything which causes or contributes to pollution. Pollutants may include, but are not limited to: paints, varnishes, and solvents; oil and other automotive fluids; nonhazardous liquid and solid wastes and yard wastes; refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter, or other discarded or abandoned objects, articles, and accumulations, so that same may cause or contribute to pollution; floatables; pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers; hazardous substances and wastes; sewage, fecal coliform and pathogens; dissolved and particulate metals; animal wastes; wastes and residues that result from constructing a building or structure (including, but not limited to, sediments, slurries, and concrete rinsates); and noxious or offensive matter of any kind.
“Pollution” means the human-made or human-induced alteration of the quality of waters by waste to a degree which unreasonably affects, or has the potential to unreasonably affect, either the waters for beneficial uses or the facilities which serve these beneficial uses (California Water Code Section 13050).
“Porter-Cologne Act” means the Porter-Cologne Water Quality Control Act and any subsequent amendments thereto (California Water Code Section 13000 et seq.).
“Post-construction BMPs” means structural and nonstructural controls which detain, retain, or treat runoff to minimize the discharge of runoff and pollutants from a development site for the life of the project after final stabilization is attained.
“Premises” means any building, lot, parcel of land, or portion of land whether improved or unimproved including adjacent sidewalks and parking strips.
“Storm drain system” means the publicly owned and maintained facilities operated by the City by which storm water is collected and/or conveyed, including, but not limited to, any roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, gutters, curbs, inlets, piped storm drains, pumping facilities, retention and detention basins, natural and human-made or altered drainage channels, reservoirs, and other drainage structures which are within the City and are not part of a publicly owned treatment works as defined at 40 CFR Section 122.2.
“Storm water conveyance system” has the same meaning as storm drain system.
“Storm water facilities operation and maintenance plan” means a plan identifying the locations and characteristics of storm water management facilities on a newly developed or redeveloped site and describing maintenance activities, schedules, and responsibilities to ensure the ongoing proper operation of those facilities.
“Storm water management facility” means any device designated to detain, retain, filter, or infiltrate storm water.
“Storm water” or “storm runoff” means any surface flow, runoff, and drainage consisting entirely of water from rainstorm events.
“Urban runoff” means storm water runoff from an urbanized area, including streets and adjacent domestic and commercial properties that carry pollutants of various types into the storm drain system and watercourses.
“Urbanized area” means a densely settled core of census tracts and/or census blocks that have population of at least 50,000 people, along with adjacent territory containing nonresidential urban land uses as well as territory with low population density included to link outlying densely settled territory with the densely settled core.
“Watercourse” means any natural stream, whether flowing continuously or not, that is fed from permanent or natural sources, including, but not limited to, rivers, creeks, runs, and rivulets.
“Waters of the United States” means surface watercourses and water bodies as defined at 40 CFR Section 122.2, including all natural waterways and definite channels and depressions in the earth that may carry water, even though such waterways may only carry water during rains and storms and may not carry storm water at and during all times and seasons.
Any term(s) defined in the Clean Water Act and/or the implementing regulations thereto, and which are not specifically defined in this section, shall, when used in this division, have the same meaning as set forth in said act or regulation.
(Ord. 1985, Amended, 07/25/2023; Ord. 1972, Repealed and Replaced, 02/22/2022)
14.26.010.040 Applicability.
This division shall apply to all water entering the storm drain system generated on any developed and undeveloped lands lying with the City, including any amendments or revisions thereto.
(Ord. 1985, Amended, 07/25/2023; Ord. 1972, Repealed and Replaced, 02/22/2022)
14.26.010.050 Responsibility for Administration.
The City Manager shall administer, implement, and enforce the provisions of this division. Any powers granted or duties imposed upon the City Manager may be delegated in writing by the City Manager to persons or entities acting in the beneficial interest of or in the employ of the City.
(Ord. 1985, Amended, 07/25/2023; Ord. 1972, Repealed and Replaced, 02/22/2022)
14.26.010.060 Regulatory Consistency.
This division shall be construed to assure consistency with the requirements of the Clean Water Act and Porter-Cologne Act and acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, or any applicable implementing regulations.
(Ord. 1985, Amended, 07/25/2023; Ord. 1972, Repealed and Replaced, 02/22/2022)
14.26.010.070 Ultimate Responsibility of Discharger.
The standards set forth herein and promulgated pursuant to this division are minimum standards; therefore this division does not intend nor imply that compliance by any person will ensure that there will be no contamination, pollution, nor unauthorized discharge of pollutants into waters of the United States caused by said person. This division shall not create liability on the part of the City, or any officer, employee, board, commission or authority of the City, for any damages that result from any discharger’s reliance on this division or any administrative decision lawfully made thereunder.
(Ord. 1985, Amended, 07/25/2023; Ord. 1972, Repealed and Replaced, 02/22/2022)
14.26.010.080 Repeal of Conflicting Ordinances.
All ordinances and parts of ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
(Ord. 1985, Amended, 07/25/2023; Ord. 1972, Repealed and Replaced, 02/22/2022)