Chapter 13.31
WASTEWATER DISCHARGE PERMIT FEES
Sections:
13.31.040 City permit fee schedule.
13.31.050 Permits issued by other governmental agencies.
13.31.060 Transfer of ownership or control.
13.31.070 Administrative appeals to the department.
13.31.010 Purpose.
The purpose of this chapter is to establish a fee system for city waste discharge permits issued by the city of Walla Walla pursuant to Chapter 13.30. Fees established herein are based on factors related to the complexity of permit issuance and compliance and to charge fees to fully recover, but not exceed, the costs of the permit program based on expenses incurred in the issuance and comprehensive administration of city waste discharge permits. Fee amounts contained in this chapter represent the city’s true estimate of fee eligible permit program costs and reflect the city’s commitment to fully recover all eligible expenses. The city shall continue to examine the feasibility of adopting, when applicable, alternative permit fee systems. Any alternative fee system, such as variable permit fees, shall ensure continued full recovery of eligible program costs and may be based on pollutant loading and toxicity and may be designed to encourage recycling and reduction of the quantity of pollutants. (Ord. 2014-01 § 3 (part), 2014).
13.31.020 Applicability.
This chapter applies to all persons holding or applying for a city of Walla Walla waste discharge permit issued by the city pursuant to Chapter 13.30, including persons holding permits that remain in effect under WAC 173-216-040, 173-220-180(5), or 173-226-050. (Ord. 2014-01 § 3 (part), 2014).
13.31.030 Definitions.
A. As used in this chapter and the regulations incorporated herein by reference, the following definitions shall apply:
1. “Administrative expenses” means those costs associated with issuing and administering permits under Chapter 13.30.
2. “Annual permit fee” means the fee charged by the city for annual expenses associated with activities specified in Chapter 13.30.
3. “Chemical pulp mill with chlorine bleaching” means any pulp mill that uses chlorine or chlorine compounds in their bleaching process.
4. “City” means the city of Walla Walla.
5. “Combined food processing waste treatment facility” means a facility that treats wastewater from more than one separately permitted food processor and receives no domestic wastewater or waste from industrial sources other than food processing.
6. “Combined industrial waste treatment” means a facility which treats wastewater from more than one industry in any of the following categories: inorganic chemicals, metal finishing, ore concentration, organic chemicals, or photofinishers.
7. “Combined sewer overflow (CSO)” means the event during which excess combined sewage flow caused by inflow is discharged from a combined sewer, rather than conveyed to the sewage treatment plant because either the capacity of the treatment plant or the combined sewer is exceeded.
8. “Contaminants of concern” means a chemical for which an effluent limit is established (this does not include pH, flow, temperature, or other “nonchemical parameters”). Petroleum constituents will be considered as one contaminant of concern even if more than one effluent limit is established (e.g., total petroleum hydrocarbons and BTEX).
9. “Crop preparing” means the preparation of fruit for wholesale or retail sale by washing and/or other processes in which the skin of the fruit is not broken and in which the interior part of the fruit does not come in direct contact with the wastewater.
10. “Cubic yards per year” means the total production from an aggregate production facility in cubic yards during the most recent completed calendar year.
11. “Disturbed acres” means the total area which will be disturbed during all phases of the construction project or common plan of development or sale. This includes all clearing, grading, and excavating, and any other activity which disturbs the surface of the land.
12. “Domestic wastewater” means water carrying human wastes, including kitchen, bath, and laundry wastes from residences, buildings, industrial establishments or other places, together with any ground water infiltration or surface waters that may be present.
13. “Domestic wastewater facility” means all structures, equipment, or processes required to collect, carry away, treat, reclaim or dispose of domestic wastewater together with such industrial waste as may be present.
14. “Ecology” means the Department of Ecology.
15. “Existing operations” means those industrial operations requiring a wastewater discharge permit before July 1, 1993.
16. “EPA” means the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
17. “Flavor extraction” means the recovery of flavors or essential oils from organic products by steam distillation.
18. “Food processing” means the preparation of food for human or animal consumption or the preparation of animal byproducts, excluding crop preparing. This category includes, but is not limited to, fruit and vegetable processing, meat and poultry products processing, dairy products processing, beer production, rendering and animal feed production. Food processing wastewater treatment plants that treat wastes from only one separately permitted food processor must be treated as one facility for billing purposes.
19. “Gross revenue for business” means the gross income from Washington business activities as reported to the Washington State Department of Revenue.
20. “Hazardous waste cleanup sites” means any facility where there has been confirmation of a release or threatened release of a hazardous substance that requires remedial action other than Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) corrective action sites.
21. “Industrial facility” means any facility not included in the definition of municipal/domestic facility.
22. “Industrial gross revenue” means the annual amount of the sales of goods and services produced using the processes regulated by the wastewater discharge permit.
23. “Industrial stormwater” means an operation required to be covered under Ecology’s NPDES and state waste discharge baseline general permit for stormwater discharges associated with industrial activities or modifications to that permit or having an individual wastewater permit for stormwater only.
24. “MGD” means permitted flow expressed in million gallons per day.
25. “Manufacturing” means the making of goods and articles by hand or especially by machinery into a manufactured product.
26. “Median household income” means the most recent available census data, updated yearly based on inflation rates as measured by the Federal Bureau of Labor Statistics and published as the Consumer Price Index.
27. “Metal finishing” means the preparation of metal surfaces by means of electroplating, electroless plating, anodizing, coating (chromating, phosphating and coloring), chemical etching and milling, and printed circuit board manufacture.
28. “Municipal/domestic facility” means a publicly owned facility treating domestic wastewater together with any industrial wastes that may be present, or a privately owned facility treating solely domestic wastewater.
29. “Municipal gross revenue” means gross receipts from monthly, bimonthly, and/or quarterly user charges for sewer services received from all classes of customers. Included in these user charges are user charges and fees based on wastewater constituents’ strengths and characteristics including high-strength surcharges and charges based on biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, oil and grease, toxicants, heavy metals, and flow, etc.
a. Municipal gross revenue includes charges for receipt and treatment of septic tank wastes, holding tank wastes, chemical toilet wastes, etc.
b. Municipal gross revenue includes all amounts received from other municipalities for sewage interception, treatment, collection, or disposal.
c. Gross revenue excludes:
i. Amounts derived by municipalities directly from taxes levied for the support or maintenance of sewer services.
ii. Late charges, penalties for nontimely payment by customers, interest on late payments, and all other penalties and fines.
iii. Permit fees and compliance monitoring fees for wastewater discharge permits issued by municipalities with local pretreatment programs. Permit fees which are charged to cover the cost of providing sewer service are not excluded from municipal gross revenue.
iv. Receipts by a municipality of special assessments or installments thereof and interests and penalties thereon, and charges in lieu of assessments.
v. Connection charges.
vi. Revenues from sales of by-products such as sludge, processed wastewater, etc.
30. “Municipality” means a city, town, county, district, association, or other public body created by or in accordance with state law and that has jurisdiction over disposal of sewage, industrial wastes, or other wastes, or an Indian tribe or an authorized Indian tribal organization, or a designated and approved management agency under 33 U.S.C. Section 1288. State government agencies are not included in this definition.
31. “Noncontact cooling water with additives” means water used for cooling that does not come into direct contact with any raw materials, intermediate product, waste product or finished product, but which may contain chemicals or additives added by the permittee to control corrosion or fouling of the cooling system.
32. “Noncontact cooling water without additives” means water used for cooling that does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product or finished product, and which does not contain chemicals added by the permittee. The noncontact cooling water fee without additives category applies to those facilities which discharge only noncontact cooling water and which have no other wastewater discharges required to be permitted under RCW 90.48.160, 90.48.162, and 90.48.260.
33. “NPDES permit” means a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit issued by Ecology under Section 402 of the federal Clean Water Act and RCW 90.48.260.
34. “Person” means any political subdivision, government agency, municipality, industry, public or private corporation, partnership, association, firm, individual, or any other entity whatever.
35. “Portable facility” means a facility that is designed for mobility and is moved from site to site for short term operations. A portable facility applies only to an asphalt batch plant, portable concrete batch plant and portable rock crusher.
36. “Residential equivalent” means a single-family residence or a unit of sewer service that yields an amount of gross revenue equal to the annual user charge for a single-family residence. In cases where the permit holder does not maintain data on gross revenue, user charges, and/or the number of single-family residences that it serves, “residential equivalent” means an influent flow of two hundred fifty gallons per day.
37. “Sewer service” means the activity of receiving sewage deposited into and carried off by a system of sewers, drains, and pipes to a common point, or points, for disposal or for transfer to treatment for disposal, and activities involving the interception, transfer, storage, treatment, and/or disposal of sewage, or any of these activities.
38. “State waste discharge permit” means a permit required under RCW 98.48.260.
39. “Stormwater” means an industrial operation or construction activity discharging stormwater runoff as defined in 40 CFR 122.26 (b)(14) or facilities that are permitted as a significant contributor of pollutants as allowed in the federal Clean Water Act at Section 402(p)(2)(E).
40. “Tons per year” means the total production from an asphalt production facility in tons during the most recent completed calendar year.
41. “Vegetable/bulb washing” means the washing, packing, and shipping of fresh vegetables and bulbs when there is no cooking or cutting of the product before packing. (Ord. 2014-01 § 3 (part), 2014).
13.31.040 City permit fee schedule.
A. Application Fee. In addition to the annual fee, first time applicants (except those applying for coverage under a general permit) will pay a onetime application fee of twenty-five percent of the annual permit fee, or two hundred fifty dollars, whichever is greater.
B. Annual Fee. Permit holders shall pay an annual permit fee to the city in accordance with the fee schedule adopted in WAC 173-224-040 for industrial facility categories which is incorporated herein by reference. The addition of any new category or fee to, or amendment or repeal of any category or fee in, the fee schedule adopted in WAC 173-224-040 for industrial facility categories shall be deemed to amend the annual fees adopted by this section, and it shall not be necessary for the Walla Walla city council to take any action with respect to such addition, amendment, or repeal.
1. Facilities that operate within several fee categories or subcategories shall be charged from that category or subcategory with the highest fee.
2. Where no clear industrial facility category exists for placement of a permit holder, the city may elect to place the permit holder in a category with dischargers or permit holders that contain or use similar properties or processes and/or a category which contains similar permitting complexities to the city or Ecology.
3. Facilities with subcategories based on gallons per day (gpd) shall have their annual permit fee determined by using the maximum daily flow or maximum monthly average permitted flow in gallons per day as specified in the waste discharge permit, whichever is greater. (Ord. 2014-01 § 3 (part), 2014).
13.31.050 Permits issued by other governmental agencies.
A. The city shall not charge permit fees for:
1. Permits issued by Ecology, EPA, a city, town, or municipal corporation under RCW 90.48.165;
2. Permits issued by the Energy Facilities Site Evaluation Council under RCW 80.50.071; or
3. Permits administered by the EPA under 33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq.
B. Nothing herein shall restrict the city from charging fees to recover administrative expenses of permits it issues for discharges into municipal sewer systems, nor for charging fees to recover administrative expenses related to monitoring compliance with delegated pretreatment programs. (Ord. 2014-01 § 3 (part), 2014).
13.31.060 Transfer of ownership or control.
The city shall charge permit fees from the permit holder on record with the city. In the event that ownership or control of a permitted facility or activity is transferred, it shall not be the responsibility of the city to transfer funds between a new and previous permit holder, and the city shall not refund fee charges prospectively in the event of a transfer. Fees paid by a previous permit holder shall be deemed to satisfy the corresponding fee payment requirements of a new permit holder. Agreements between a new and previous permit holder are not binding on the city. (Ord. 2014-01 § 3 (part), 2014).
13.31.070 Administrative appeals to the department.
Any person aggrieved by a determination made under this chapter by the city may file a written appeal to the city no later than each fiscal year’s first billing due date for payment of fees. Such appeal shall state the reasons that the aggrieved person believes that the city’s determination is contrary to the requirements of the Walla Walla Municipal Code, and specific actions that he/she is requesting that are consistent with those requirements. The city shall either issue a revised determination or a statement upholding the original determination. (Ord. 2014-01 § 3 (part), 2014).
13.31.080 Deposits.
The city shall deposit permit fee payments in the wastewater fund. (Ord. 2014-01 § 3 (part), 2014).