Division I. General Regulations
Chapter 6.02
GENERAL PROVISIONS
Sections:
6.02.010 Purpose and policy.
A. The purpose of this division is:
1. To set forth uniform requirements for Western Municipal Water District’s users of the publicly owned treatment works (“POTW”) for WRCRWA; and
2. To enable the Western Municipal Water District to comply with all applicable state and federal laws, including the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq.) and the General Pretreatment Regulations (Title 40 CFR Part 403); and
3. To state that Western Municipal Water District (“Western”) recognizes WRCRWA’s authority and responsibilities as defined by Federal Pretreatment Regulations (Title 40 CFR Part 403) including its role as the control authority.
B. The objectives of this division are:
1. To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the publicly owned treatment works (“POTW”) that will interfere with its operation;
2. To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the POTW that will pass through the POTW, inadequately treated, into receiving waters, or otherwise be incompatible with the POTW;
3. To protect both POTW personnel who may be affected by wastewater and sludge in the course of their employment and the general public;
4. To prevent the introduction of pollutants into Western’s collection system that obstruct flows within the collection system or otherwise cause damage to the collection system or otherwise cause or contribute to sanitary sewer overflows;
5. To promote reuse and recycling of industrial wastewater and sludge from the POTW;
6. To provide for fees for the equitable distribution of the cost of operation, maintenance, and improvement of the publicly owned treatment works; and
7. To enable WRCRWA to comply with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (“NPDES”) permit conditions, sludge use, and disposal requirements, and any other federal or state laws to which the POTW is subject.
C. The division contains specific enforcement provisions to resolve noncompliance with Western’s ordinance, thereby allowing Western to resolve noncompliance through implementation of this division in a timely manner. The intent of such enforcement is to protect Western’s collection systems, all treatment processes and downstream POTWs, and also to operate with the highest degree of efficiency.
D. This division shall apply to all of Western’s users of WRCRWA’s POTW. The division authorizes issuance of individual wastewater discharge permits; provides for monitoring, compliance, and enforcement activities; establishes administrative review procedures; requires user reporting; and provides for setting of fees for the equitable distribution of costs resulting from the program established herein.
E. It is the policy of Western that:
1. The provisions of this division shall apply to any user or aspect of Western’s collection system, and any downstream POTW; and
2. All fees associated with the implementation of this division and provisions of the pretreatment program shall be in amounts adopted by resolution of Western’s board of directors, and any amendments thereto; and
3. The control authority’s rules and regulations shall apply in all cases where inconsistencies apply. (Ord. 387 § 1.1, 2017)
6.02.020 Administration.
This division shall be administered by the general manager of Western, under the control and direction of the board of directors. It is the intent of this division to recognize that WRCRWA’s member agencies, including Western, with a pretreatment program approved by WRCRWA have the primary responsibility for compliance monitoring and enforcement of the federal, state and locally mandated pretreatment regulations. However, in the event a member agency, including Western, does not take appropriate action to enforce pretreatment standards and requirements, WRCRWA has the right to take administrative or legal action. Any powers granted to or duties imposed upon the general manager may be delegated by the general manager to a duly authorized individual. (Ord. 387 § 1.2, 2017)
6.02.030 Abbreviations.
The following abbreviations, when used in this division, shall have the designated meanings:
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BOD |
Biochemical Oxygen Demand |
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BMP |
Best Management Practice |
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BMR |
Baseline Monitoring Report |
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CERCLA |
Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act |
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CFR |
Code of Federal Regulations |
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CIU |
Categorical Industrial User |
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COD |
Chemical Oxygen Demand |
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EPA |
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency |
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gpd |
gallons per day |
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IU |
Industrial User |
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mg/L |
milligrams per Liter |
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µg/L |
micrograms per Liter |
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NPDES |
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System |
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POTW |
Publicly Owned Treatment Works |
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RCRA |
Resource Conservation and Recovery Act |
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SIU |
Significant Industrial User |
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SNC |
Significant Noncompliance |
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TSS |
Total Suspended Solids |
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U.S.C. |
United States Code |
(Ord. 387 § 1.3, 2017)
6.02.040 Definitions.
Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this division, shall have the following meanings.
“Act” or “the Act” means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq.
“Administrator” means the person, agency and/or entity designated by WRCRWA to supervise and manage the operations of the POTW, and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities as set forth in WRCRWA’s Ordinance No. 2016-OR8, as said ordinance may be revised from time to time. The term also means a duly authorized representative of the administrator.
“Approval authority” means California Regional Water Quality Control Board for the Santa Ana Region.
“Authorized or duly authorized representative of the user” means:
1. If the user is a corporation:
a. The president, secretary, treasurer, or a vice president of the corporation in charge of a principal business function, or any other person who performs similar policy or decision making functions for the corporation; or
b. The manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operating facilities, provided the manager is authorized to make management decisions that 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 environmental compliance with environmental laws and regulations; can ensure that 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.
2. If the user is a partnership or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, respectively.
3. If the user is a federal, state, or local governmental facility: a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility, or their designee.
4. The individuals described in subsections (1) though (3) of this definition may designate a duly authorized representative if the authorization is in writing, the authorization specifies the individual or position responsible for the overall operation of the facility from which the discharge originates or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company, and the written authorization is submitted to WRCRWA.
“Best management practices” or “BMPs” means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in WMWDC 6.04.010(A) and (B) (40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b)). BMPs include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.
“Biochemical oxygen demand” or “BOD” means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five days at 20 degrees centigrade, usually expressed as a concentration (e.g., mg/L).
“Board of directors” or the “board” means the board of directors of the Western Municipal Water District of Riverside County.
“Categorical industrial user” means an industrial user subject to a categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard.
“Categorical pretreatment standard” or “categorical standard” means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with Sections 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1317) that apply to a specific category of users and that appear in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405 through 471.
“Chemical oxygen demand” or “COD” means a measure of the oxygen required to oxidize all compounds, both organic and inorganic, in water.
“Collection system” means the wastewater conveyance systems owned and operated by Western or WRCRWA for purposes of conveying wastewater to WRCRWA’s POTW for treatment and excludes sewer service lateral connections.
“Contracting agency” means any member agency or outside entity contracted by WRCRWA to perform pretreatment program services in another member agency’s jurisdiction.
“Control authority” means the Western Riverside County Regional Wastewater Authority also referred to as “WRCRWA.”
“Daily maximum” means the arithmetic average of all effluent samples for a pollutant collected during a calendar day.
“Daily maximum limit” means the maximum allowable discharge limit of a pollutant during a calendar day. Where daily maximum limits are expressed in units of mass, the daily discharge is the total mass discharged over the course of the day. Where daily maximum limits are expressed in terms of a concentration, the daily discharge is the arithmetic average measurement of the pollutant concentration derived from all measurements taken that day.
“Environmental Protection Agency” or “EPA” means the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the Regional Water Management Division Director, the Regional Administrator, or other duly authorized official of said agency.
“Existing source” means any source of discharge that is not a “new source.”
“General manager” means Western’s general manager or duly authorized representative designated in writing. The WRCRWA administrator is specifically identified in this division in regard to those responsibilities that are solely WRCRWA’s responsibilities. Approvals or other actions attributed in this division to WRCRWA may be taken by the WRCRWA administrator. The WRCRWA administrator may duly authorize a representative as may be designated in writing, which representative may include Western’s general manager.
“Grab sample” means a sample that is taken from a wastestream without regard to the flow in the wastestream and over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.
“Indirect discharge” or “discharge” means the introduction of pollutants into the POTW from any nondomestic source.
“Instantaneous limit” means the maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from the analysis of any discrete or composited sample collected, independent of the industrial flow rate and the duration of the sampling event.
“Interference” means a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, both:
1. Inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or operations, or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and
2. Therefore 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 the following statutory provisions and regulations or permits issued thereunder (or more stringent state or local regulations): Section 405 of the Clean Water Act, the Solid Waste Disposal Act (“SWDA”) (including Title II, more commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (“RCRA”), and including state regulations contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to subtitle D of the SWDA), the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, and the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act.
“Local limit” means specific discharge limits developed and enforced by WRCRWA upon industrial or commercial facilities to implement the general and specific discharge prohibitions listed in 40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b).
“Medical waste” means 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.
“Member agency” means city of Corona, city of Norco, Home Gardens Sanitary District, Jurupa Community Services District, Western Municipal Water District.
“Monthly average” means the sum of all “daily discharges” measured during a calendar month divided by the number of “daily discharges” measured during that month.
“Monthly average limit” means the highest allowable average of “daily discharges” over a calendar month, calculated as the sum of all “daily discharges” measured during a calendar month divided by the number of “daily discharges” measured during that month.
“New source” means:
1. Any building, structure, facility, or installation from which there is (or may be) a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after the publication of proposed pretreatment standards under Section 307(c) of the Act that will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section; provided, that:
a. The building, structure, facility, or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or
b. The building, structure, facility, or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or
c. The production or wastewater generating processes of the building, structure, facility, or installation are substantially independent of an existing source at the same site. In determining whether these are substantially independent, factors such as the extent to which the new facility is integrated with the existing plant, and the extent to which the new facility is engaged in the same general type of activity as the existing source, should be considered.
2. Construction on a site at which an existing source is located results in a modification rather than a new source if the construction does not create a new building, structure, facility, or installation meeting the criteria of subsections (1)(b) or (c) of this definition but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
3. Construction of a new source as defined under this paragraph has commenced if the owner or operator has:
a. Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous on-site construction program:
i. Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment; or
ii. Significant site preparation work including clearing, excavation, or removal of existing buildings, structures, or facilities which is necessary for the placement, assembly; or
b. Entered into a binding contractual obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment which are intended to be used in its operation within a reasonable time. Options to purchase or contracts which can be terminated or modified without substantial loss, and contracts for feasibility, engineering, and design studies do not constitute a contractual obligation under this paragraph.
“Noncontact cooling water” means water used for cooling that does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product.
“Pass through” means a discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of WRCRWA’s NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
“Person” means any individual, partnership, copartnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity, or any other legal entity; or their legal representatives, agents, or assigns. This definition includes all federal, state, and local governmental entities.
“pH” means a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, expressed in standard units.
“Pollutant” shall include, but is not limited to: 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).
“Pretreatment” means the reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater prior to, or in lieu of, introducing such pollutants into the POTW. This reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical, or biological processes; by process changes; or by other means, except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable pretreatment standard.
“Pretreatment requirements” means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.
“Pretreatment standards” or “standards” shall mean prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.
“Prohibited discharge standards” or “prohibited discharges” means absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in WMWDC 6.04.010.
“Publicly owned treatment works” or “POTW” means the treatment works, as defined by Section 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1292), owned by WRCRWA. This definition includes any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature and any conveyances which convey wastewater to a treatment plant.
“Septic tank waste” means any sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks.
“Sewage” means human excrement and gray water (household showers, dishwashing operations, etc.).
Significant Industrial User (“SIU”). Except as provided in 40 CFR 403.3(v)(3), a “significant industrial user” is:
1. An industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or
2. An industrial user that:
a. Discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater);
b. Contributes a process wastestream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant; or
c. Is designated as such by WRCRWA on the basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
“Significant noncompliance (“SNC”)” has the same definitions as 40 CFR 403.8.
“Slug load” or “slug discharge” means any discharge at a flow rate or concentration which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in WMWDC 6.04.010. A slug discharge is any discharge of a nonroutine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or a non customary batch discharge, which has a reasonable potential to cause interference or pass through, or in any other way violate the POTW’s regulations, local limits or permit conditions.
“Storm water” means any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation, including snowmelt.
“Total suspended solids” or “suspended solids” means the total suspended matter that floats on the surface of, or is suspended in, water, wastewater, or other liquid, and that is removable by laboratory filtering.
“User” means any person who contributes or discharges, or causes or permits the contribution or discharges of wastewater directly or indirectly into WRCRWA’s POTW.
“Wastewater” means liquid and water carried industrial wastes and sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which are contributed to the POTW.
“Wastewater treatment plant” or “treatment plant” means that portion of the POTW which is designed to provide treatment of municipal sewage and industrial waste.
“Western” means the Western Municipal Water District of Riverside County.
“WRCRWA” means the Western Riverside County Regional Wastewater Authority. (Ord. 387 § 1.4, 2017)