Chapter 14.07
PROHIBITED DISCHARGES
Sections:
14.07.010 Prohibited discharge standards.
14.07.020 Federal and state requirements.
14.07.030 Local pretreatment standards.
14.07.040 BOD, suspended solids and FOG limitations.
14.07.050 City’s right of revision.
14.07.060 Procedure for violations.
14.07.010 Prohibited discharge standards.
(1) General Prohibitions. No person shall introduce or cause to be introduced into the OHSS any pollutant or waste water which causes pass-through or interference. These general prohibitions apply to all users of the OHSS whether or not they are subject to categorical pretreatment standards or any other national, state or local pretreatment standards or requirements.
(2) Specific Prohibitions. No person shall introduce or cause to be introduced into the OHSS the following pollutants, substances or waste water:
(a) Fire and Explosive Hazards. Pollutants which create a fire or explosive hazard in the OHSS including, but not limited to, waste streams with a close-cup flashpoint of less than 140° (60° C) using the test methods specified in 40 CFR 261.21;
(b) Toxic Gases, Vapor. Pollutants which result in the presence of toxic gases, vapors, or fumes within the OHSS in a quantity that may cause acute worker health and safety problems;
(c) Trucked Pollutants. Trucked or hauled pollutants;
(d) Noxious or Malodorous Liquids. Noxious or malodorous liquids, gases, solids, or other waste water which, either singly or by interaction with other wastes, are sufficient to create a public nuisance or a hazard to life, or to prevent entry into the sewers for maintenance or repair;
(e) Coloring, Dye. Waste water which imparts color which cannot be removed by the treatment process such as, but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions, which consequently imparts color to the treatment plant’s effluent, thereby violating the city’s NPDES permit. Color (in combination with turbidity) shall not cause the treatment plant effluent to reduce the depth of the compensation point for photosynthetic activity by more than 10 percent from the seasonably established norm for aquatic life;
(f) Radioactive Waste. Waste water containing any radioactive wastes or isotopes except as specifically approved by the supervisor in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations;
(g) Sludge, Screening. Any sludges, screenings, or other residues from the pretreatment of industrial wastes or from industrial processes;
(h) Medical Waste. Medical wastes, except as specifically authorized by the supervisor;
(i) Toxicity. Waste water causing, alone or in conjunction with other sources, the treatment plant’s effluent to fail a toxicity test;
(j) Other Explosive Hazards. Any liquid, solids, or gases which by reason of their nature or quantity are, or may be, sufficient either alone or by interaction with other substances to cause fire or explosion or be injurious in any other way to the OHSS or to the operation of the OHSS. At no time shall two successive readings on an explosion meter, at the point of discharge into the system (or at any point in the system), be more than five percent nor any single reading over 10 percent of the lower explosive limit (LEL) of the meter;
(k) NPDES Permit Violations. Any substance which will cause the OHSS to violate its NPDES and/or other disposal system permits;
(l) Harmful to Sewer System. Any waste water, which in the opinion of the supervisor can cause harm either to the sewers, sewage treatment process, or equipment; have an adverse effect on the receiving stream; or can otherwise endanger life, limb, public property, or constitute a nuisance;
(m) Septage. The contents of any tank or other vessel owned or used by any person in the business of collecting or pumping sewage, effluent, septage, or other waste water except for pump out material from the Oak Harbor Marina;
(n) Hazardous Waste. Any hazardous wastes as defined in rules published by the state of Washington or in EPA Rules 40 CFR Part 2611;
(o) Pesticides. Persistent pesticides and/or pesticides regulated by the Federal Insecticide Fungicide Rodenticide Act (FIFRA). Pollutants, substances, or waste water prohibited by this section shall not be processed or stored in such a manner that they could be discharged to the OHSS;
(p) Local Standards. Substances identified in OHMC 14.07.040(1), (5), (6), (7), (8) and (10). (Ord. 1004, 1995).
14.07.020 Federal and state requirements.
Federal and state requirements and limitations on discharges to the OHSS shall be met by all commercial and industrial users which are subject to such standards. (Ord. 1004, 1995).
14.07.030 Local pretreatment standards.2
No person shall discharge any of the following substances or conditions into any public sanitary sewer in the city, into any sewer flowing into any waste water plant owned or operated by the city:
(1) (a) Storm Water. No person shall discharge any storm water or ground water, roof runoff, subsurface drainage or any water from downspouts, yard drains, fountains and ponds, sump pumps, septic tanks or lawn sprays into any sanitary sewer. Water from swimming pools, boiler drains, blowoff pipes or cooling water from various equipment may be discharged into the sanitary sewer by an indirect connection where such discharge is cooled if required, and flows into the sanitary sewer at a rate not to exceed the capacity of the sanitary sewer including downstream facilities; provided, the water does not contain materials or substances in suspension or solution in violation of the terms of this chapter; and provided further, that cooling water from any air conditioning unit or other cooling unit shall in no event exceed one-tenth of a gallon per minute per ton capacity of the air conditioner or cooling unit. Dilution of any waste discharged into the sanitary sewer system is prohibited whether accomplished by combining two or more water streams or accomplished by adding other liquids solely for the purpose of diluting the discharge. Dilution may be an acceptable means of complying with the pH prohibition;
(b) Any water or waste which contains wax, grease, oil, plastic or other substances that will solidify or become discernibly viscous at temperatures between 32 degrees Fahrenheit and 150 degrees Fahrenheit or zero degrees Centigrade and 65 degrees Centigrade;
(c) Solid or viscous substances in quantity capable of causing obstruction to the flow of sanitary sewers or capable of interfering with the operation of the waste water treatment works. Such substances include but are not limited to acids, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plastics, wood, whole blood, animal wastes, animal body parts, lime slurry, lime residue, paint residue, fiberglass or bulk solids;
(d) Any garbage except properly shredded garbage;
(e) Any noxious or malodorous substance which, singly or by interaction with other wastes in the sewage system, is capable of causing objectionable odors or hazards to health, life or property or which can by itself or in combination with other substances in the sewage system result in concentrations exceeding the limits established in this chapter or any substance which creates any other condition harmful to the structure or treatment processes of the waste water treatment system.
(2) No person shall discharge any substances exceeding the following concentrations into the public sanitary sewers of the city:
(a) Salts of heavy metals in solution or suspension in concentrations toxic to biological waste water treatment processes or in concentrations sufficient to adversely affect sludge digestion or any other biochemical, biological or other waste water treatment process or harmful to the biology of the receiving water to which the flow of the waste water treatment facility discharges, or exceeding any of the following limits:
|
Toxic Substance |
mg/l |
|---|---|
|
Arsenic |
3 |
|
Cadmium |
1 |
|
Chromium |
3 |
|
Copper |
3 |
|
Lead |
1.89 |
|
Mercury |
0.2 |
|
Nickel |
3 |
|
Silver |
3 |
|
Zinc |
3 |
(b) Cyanide or cyanogen compounds capable of liberating hydrocyanic gas or acidification in excess of two mg/l as Cx;
(c) Radioactive materials defined as hazardous materials under federal laws and applicable regulations, including any substance required by the United States Department of Transportation to have Type A packaging or Type B packaging under regulations found in 49 CFR 173.426;
(d) Any waste waters containing phenols or other taste-producing substances in such concentrations as to produce a detectable odor or taste in the stream or other watercourse receiving the effluent from the treatment facilities;
(e) Materials such as fuller’s earth which cause unusual concentrations of inert solids or other solids such as sodium chloride, calcium chloride or sodium sulphate; materials which cause excessive discoloration of the sewage; materials which cause unusual biochemical oxygen demand or an immediate oxygen demand; materials with a high hydrogen sulfide content; materials with unusual flow and concentration characteristics. (Ord. 1004, 1995).
14.07.040 BOD, suspended solids and FOG limitations.
No person shall discharge any substances exceeding the following concentrations:
(1) Waste water having temperature higher than 104 degrees Fahrenheit;
(2) Waste water containing more than 250 mg/l of suspended solids;
(3) Waste water containing BOD5 in excess of 250 mg/l;
(4) Total FOG exceeding an average of 100 mg/l based on a mathematical average of three grab samples obtained no less than 10 minutes apart or 830 pounds per million gallons of either oil or grease or any combination of oil and grease if it appears that the amounts of oil and grease can do any of the following: deposit grease or oil on the sanitary sewer lines in such a manner as to clog or interfere with the flow of sewage, overload the grease handling equipment of the waste water system, exceed waste water treatment process capacity of the city, or have any harmful effect on the treatment process or the treatment equipment due to the nature and quality of the substances;
(5) Acids or alkalis having a pH value lower than 6.0 or higher than 9.0;
(6) Detergents. Detergents, surface-active agents, or other substances which may cause excessive foaming in the OHSS as determined by the supervisor;
(7) Animal Materials, Etc. Grease, animal guts or tissues, paunch manure, bones, hair, hides or fleshings, entrails, whole blood, feathers, ashes, cinders, sand, spent lime, stone or marble dusts, metal, glass, straw, shavings, grass clippings, rags, spent grains, spent hops, waste paper, wood, plastics, gas, tar asphalt residues, residues from refining or processing of fuel or lubricating oil, mud, or glass grinding or polishing wastes;
(8) BOD General Standard. Pollutants, including oxygen-demanding pollutants (BOD, etc.), released in a discharge at a flow rate and/or pollutant concentration which, either singly or by interaction with other pollutants, will cause interference with the OHSS;
(9) Petroleum. Nonpolar FOG such as petroleum oil, nonbiodegradable cutting oil, or products of mineral oil origin, in amounts that will cause interference or pass-through;3
(10) Degreasers, enzymes or other chemicals that cause high pH and emulsify grease, fats and oils. (Ord. 1004, 1995).
14.07.050 City’s right of revision.
The city reserves the right to establish, by ordinance or in waste water discharge permits, more stringent standards or requirements on discharges to the OHSS. The users of the OHSS shall then assure compliance with the standards established. (Ord. 1004, 1995).
14.07.060 Procedure for violations.
Upon any violation of any provision of this section the supervisor may take any or all of the following actions:
(1) Discontinue sewer service and water service to the offending premises;
(2) Apply for appropriate court action, with the assistance of the city attorney;
(3) Require pretreatment facilities or other action to end the violation forthwith;
(4) Require the user to pay a surcharge equal to the cost to the city of dealing with the offending matter;
(5) Apply to court for the levy of a fine for violation of this chapter. (Ord. 1004, 1995).
Note: Although EPA’s pretreatment amendments (Domestic Sewage Exemption - DSE rules published on July 24, 1990) allow the discharge of hazardous wastes mixed with domestic sewage.
Note: Municipalities in Region 10 have been required to establish local limits for the following pollutants: As, Cd, Cr, Cu, CN, Pb, Hg, Ni, Ag, and Zn. In addition to these toxic limits, a treatment system can establish a FOG limit for vegetable and petroleum-based oils or two separate FOG limits, one for vegetable and one for petroleum-based oils. Some treatment systems have also included a BOD and TSS limit for purposes of establishing an extra strength charge. The OHSS may need to establish limits for pollutants not listed in this section. The municipality may set limits at a daily maximum or for other durations (e.g., instantaneous maximum or monthly average). The municipality should define these durations in its definition section.
Note: This general prohibition may not be necessary for OHSS that have a specific FOG local limit that covers vegetable and petroleum-based oils.