Division I. Sewer Utility1
Chapter 13.02
DEFINITIONS
Sections:
13.02.010 Definitions.
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this title shall be set forth in this section.
“BOD” (denoting biochemical oxygen demand) shall mean the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20 degrees centigrade, expressed in parts per million by weight.
“Building drain” shall mean that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste, and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning five feet outside the inner face of the building wall.
“Building sewer” shall mean the extension from the building drain on private property and owned and maintained by the property owner to the side sewer or other place of disposal.
“City” shall mean the city of West Richland, Washington.
“City engineer” shall mean the city engineer of the city, or his duly authorized representative.
“Collection system” shall mean the sanitary sewer piping portion of the public sewer system designated and constructed to collect sewage from individual side sewers.
“Combined sewer” shall mean a sewer which carries both sewage and storm, surface, ground and other unpolluted waters.
“Commercial establishment” or “business establishment” shall mean a building or portion thereof used in a trade, business or professional, including a building or portion thereof not included within the meaning of terms single- and multiple-family dwelling units, but excluding industrial establishments.
“Director” shall mean the city director of public works or his authorized deputy, agent or representative.
“Equivalent residential units” shall mean any residential or nonresidential use which has been reasonably found by the public works director to place a demand on the city’s sewerage system or water system approximately equal to the demands thereon by a single-family residential unit.
“Garbage” shall mean solid wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food and from the handling, storage, and sale of produce.
“Industrial establishment” or “industrial concern” shall mean a building or portion thereof used for the production of articles from raw or prepared materials by giving the materials new forms, qualities, properties or combinations whether by hand labor or machines.
“Industrial wastes” shall mean a polluted liquid, solid, or gaseous substance, or combinations thereof, resulting from any process of industry, manufacturing, food processing, business, trade or research, including the development, recovering, or processing of natural resources, and including garbage discharged through a building sewer but distinguished from sanitary plumbing wastewater and precipitation runoff.
“Infiltration” shall mean the water entering a sewer system, including sewer service connections, from the ground through such means as, but not limited to, defective pipes, pipe joints, connections, or manhole walls. Infiltration does not include and is distinguished from storm inflow.
“Interceptor” shall mean a sanitary sewer pipe designed and constructed to intercept and convey discharges from collection systems to the treatment plant.
“Interference” means a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, either (1) inhibits or disrupts the waste water treatment plant, its treatment processes or operations; (2) inhibits or disrupts its sludge processes, use or disposal; or (3) is a cause of a violation of the city’s NPDES permit or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with any of the following statutory/regulatory provisions or permits issued thereunder (or more stringent state or local regulations): Section 405 of the Clean Water Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act, including Title II commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act; any state regulations contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act, the Clean Air Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; and the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act.
“Multiple-family dwelling unit” means a building or portion thereof used or designed as a residence for three or more households and containing three or more dwelling units.
“Natural outlet” shall mean any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, or other body of water.
“Pass through” means a discharge which exits the waste water treatment plant into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations which, along or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the city’s NPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).
“Permit” shall mean a building permit issued following an approved connect order, or a carbon copy of the building permit, which shall be visibly posted on the premises where the work is being accomplished.
“Person” shall mean any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation, or group.
“pH” shall mean the logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.
“Preliminary treatment facilities” shall mean any facilities installed, maintained, and paid for by a property owner or user for the purpose of controlling the content, characteristics, volume, or flow rate of sewage.
“Premises” shall be defined as a continuous tract of land, building or group of adjacent buildings under a single control with respect to use of water and responsibility for payment therefor. Subdivision of such use or responsibility shall constitute a division into separate premises as here defined.
“Pretreatment” shall mean the necessary treatment of wastewater by the discharger before the wastewater is introduced into the public sewer system. “Necessary treatment” is defined by state and federal regulations for each industry, but, in general, means that the wastewater quality must not interfere with flow in the public sewer system or with sewage treatment plant processes.
“Properly shredded garbage” shall mean the wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food that has been shredded to such a degree that all particles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than three-eighths of an inch in any dimension.
“Public sewer” shall mean a sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights, and which is controlled by public authority.
“Public sewer system” shall mean the sanitary sewer or storm sewer facilities owned and maintained by the city, or any sewerage acquired or constructed by such agency, excluding building and side sewers.
“Sanitary sewer” shall mean a public sewer which does not by design or intention convey infiltration, storm inflow or other unpolluted water.
“Sewage” shall mean a combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, commercial establishments, institutions, industrial establishments, or other property, and includes industrial waste, as defined herein.
“Sewage treatment plant” shall mean an arrangement of devices, structures and equipment for treating domestic and industrial wastes. This term is synonymous with wastewater treatment plant and treatment works.
“Sewer” shall mean a pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
“Shall” is mandatory; “may” is permissive.
“Side sewer” shall mean a storm or sanitary sewer pipe located on a public right-of-way and connecting the building sewer to the collection system and maintained by the connecting building sewer owner.
“Single-family residential unit” shall mean a residential establishment consisting of a detached building designed for, or occupied exclusively by, one family.
“Slug” shall mean any discharge of water, sewage, or industrial waste which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds, for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes, more that five times the average 24-hour concentration or flow during normal operation.
“Storm inflow” shall mean the water discharged into a sewer system, including service connections from such sources as, but not limited to, downspouts, cellar, yard, and area drains, footage drains, cooling water discharges, drains from springs and swampy areas, manhole covers, cross-connections from storm sewers and combined sewers, catch basins, natural outlets, watercourses, stormwaters, surface runoff, street wash waters, or drainage. Storm inflow does not include, and is distinguished from, infiltration.
“Storm sewer” shall mean a public sewer system intended to convey through a footing drain, downspout, and storm side sewer discharges, storm and precipitation runoff, groundwater, and other polluted water, to a natural outlet.
“Suspended solids” shall mean solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in, water, sewage or other liquids, and which are removable by filtering the liquid, and include matter which, upon dilution with water, sewage or wastewater, results in the formation of suspended solids.
“Unpolluted water” shall mean water in its natural state, unpolluted precipitation runoff, surface water, groundwater, or water which after use for any purpose, is not substantially changed in quality as defined and regulated by authorized sanitarians, the Department of Social and Health Services, the Department of Ecology, and the Environmental Protection Agency.
“Wastewater” is a comprehensive term which includes domestic waste, properly shredded garbage, industrial waste, sewage, polluted storm or precipitation runoff, and other polluted waters.
“Watercourse” shall mean a channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently. [Ord. 2-11 § 1, 2011; Ord. 37-06 § 1, 2006; Ord. 16-03 § 1, 2003. Formerly 13.02.010 – 13.02.430].
Editor’s Note: For provisions authorizing cities to charge for connections to the city sewerage system, see RCW 35.92.025.