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City of San Mateo Municipal Code.

7.38.030 DEFINITIONS.

The following words and phrases used in this chapter shall be as defined herein. Words, terms and phrases used in this chapter not defined shall be as defined, interpreted or used in the Pretreatment Regulations. Terminology for analytical testing shall be that contained in "Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of Pollutants," published in Title 40 CFR, Part 136.

"Authorized enforcement official" means the City Manager or designee that are authorized to enforce the provisions of this chapter.

"Authorized representative of the user" means:

(1) A principal executive officer of at least the level of vice president, if the user is a corporation;

(2) A general partner or proprietor if the user is a partnership or proprietorship, 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

(4) A duly authorized representative of the individual designated above if such representative is responsible for the overall operation of the facilities from which the discharge originates, or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company, and the written authorization is submitted to the Director.

"Backwater protection" means a backwater valve, ejector or pump system, or relief valve or a combination of two or more of these devices that is approved by the building official and intended to prevent sewage from backflowing into a structure.

"Best management practices (BMPs)" means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, general good housekeeping practices, pollution prevention practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the discharge of pollutants directly or indirectly to "waters of the United States." BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material storage.

"City" means City of San Mateo.

"Composite sample" means a sequential collection of equal volume grab samples obtained from a single source of specified time intervals and combined in a single container. A composite sample may also be collected in increments with individual sample volumes determined in proportion to measured flow at the time of each sampling, or samples taken at given individual flow increments.

"Director" means the City of San Mateo Director of Public Works or designee.

"District" means Estero Municipal Improvement District.

"Domestic waste" means the liquid and waterborne wastes derived from ordinary living processes, free from industrial wastes and of such character as to permit satisfactory disposal, without special treatment, into the sanitary sewer system.

"Drainage unit fixture" means a drainage unit fixture as defined in the Uniform Plumbing Code.

"Food service facility" means a commercial, industrial, or institutional establishment that uses or generates grease when preparing food. Any such facility that has a cook-top or baking oven on the premises shall be subject to pretreatment requirements for food service facilities.

"Grab sample" means a sample that is taken from a waste stream without regard to the flow in the waste stream and over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.

"Grease" means fats, oils, waxes, and other constituents. Grease may be of vegetable or animal origin, including butter, lard, margarine, vegetable fats and oils, and fats in meats, cereals, seeds, nuts and certain fruits. Grease may also be of mineral origin, including kerosene, lubricating oil, and road oil. Grease in the wastewater collection system is generally present as, but need not be, a floatable solid, a liquid, a colloid, an emulsion, or a solution.

"Hazardous material" or "hazardous waste" or "hazardous substance" means any material, substance, or waste so designated by statutes of the State of California or the United States government.

"Industrial waste" means the gaseous, liquid, and solid waste from any production, manufacturing or processing operation of whatever nature from commercial, industrial, or institutional operations, including the washing of vehicles, machines, and equipment.

"Interceptor" means a receptacle designed and constructed to intercept, separate, and prevent the passage of prohibited substances into the sanitary sewer system.

"Interference" means a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the sanitary sewer system, wastewater treatment system processes or operations, or sludge processes, use or disposal, and therefore, causes a violation of the POTW's National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit or prevents sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with any of the following statutory or regulatory provisions or permits issued thereunder, or any more stringent State or local regulations: Section 405 of the Clean Water Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA); any State regulations contained in any State sludge management plan prepared pursuant to SWDA Subtitle D; the Clean Air Act (CAA); the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA); and the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act.

"New source" means any building, structure, facility, or installation from which there is, or may be, a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after the effective date of this chapter, or after publication of proposed pretreatment standards under Section 307(c) of the Clean Water Act which will be applicable to such source if such standards are promulgated, provided certain location and construction criteria are met.

"Nuisance" means anything that meets all of the following requirements:

(1) Is injurious to human health or the environment, or is indecent or offensive to the senses, or an obstruction to the free use of property, so as to interfere with the comfortable enjoyment of life and property;

(2) Affects at the same time an entire community or neighborhood, or any considerable number of persons, although the extent of the annoyance or damage inflicted upon individuals may be unequal;

(3) Occurs during or as a result of the treatment or disposal of wastes.

"Pass through" means a discharge through the POTW into the 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 the NPDES permit.

"Person" means any individual, partnership, firm, association, or public agency.

"Point of discharge" means the point or points designated as such in a waste discharge permit. Where no designation is made it shall mean the point where the private sewer joins the public sewer.

"Pollutant" means dredged soil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharge into water.

"Pollution" means the man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water.

"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 sanitary sewer system. This reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical, or biological processes; by process changes; or by other means, except as prohibited by 40 CFR Section 403.6(d).

"Pretreatment requirements" means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.

"Pretreatment standard" or "National pretreatment standard" means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with Sections 307(b) and (c) of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1317) which apply to industrial users. Such standards include specific prohibitions, categorical pretreatment standards, and local prohibitive discharge limits as defined in 40 CFR 403-471 and its amendments.

"Pretreatment system" means a device or devices, process or processes, and/or procedures designed to pretreat industrial wastes prior to discharge to the sanitary sewer system.

"Priority organic toxic pollutant" means any pollutant or combination of pollutants that contain(s) carbon in its molecular structure and is listed in 40 CFR 401.15 and its amendments.

"Prohibited discharges" means industrial wastes containing characteristics which are in noncompliance with the general and specific prohibited discharge standards stated in the Pretreatment Regulations and this chapter.

"Publicly owned treatment works" or "POTW." A treatment works as defined by Section 212 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1292), which, in this instance, is the City of San Mateo Wastewater Treatment Plant, and all publicly owned devices or systems used in the conveyance, storage, treatment, reclamation, and disposal of wastewater.

"Sewage" or "wastewater" means water carried domestic and/or industrial wastes from residences and commercial, industrial, and institutional establishments, together with such groundwater, surface water, and stormwater as may enter the sanitary sewer system.

"Sewer" or "sanitary sewer" means sewers, lift stations, and other appurtenances designed for conveyance of sewage, and further defined as follows:

(1) "Building sewer" means a sewer conveying wastewater from the premises of a user to a public sewer;

(2) "Public sewer" means a sewer that is controlled by the City, District or other public agency;

(3) "Sanitary sewer" means a sewer designed for conveyance of domestic, commercial and industrial waste and which are not intended for conveyance of stormwater, surface water or groundwater.

(4) "Sewer lateral" means a privately owned sewer service line conveying the wastewater of a discharge from a residence, building or other structure to a public sewer, including direct connections where permitted.

"Significant industrial user" means: (1) a categorical industrial user, as defined in the Federal Pretreatment Regulations; (2) discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day (gpd) or more of process wastewater; (3) contributes a process waste stream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the WWTP; or (4) is designated as such by the Director on the basis that the user has a reasonable potential to adversely affect the operation of the WWTP or agency sanitary sewer systems or to violate any pretreatment standard or requirement.

"Significant noncompliance" for the purpose of complying with public participation provisions in the Federal Pretreatment Regulations and this chapter, means:

(1) Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined here as those in which 66% or more of all of the measurements taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) a numeric pretreatment standard or requirement;

(2) Technical Review Criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which 33% or more of all of the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement, multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC = 1.4 for BOD, TS, fats, oil, and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH).

(3) Any other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement (daily maximum, long-term average, instantaneous limit, or narrative standard) that the Director determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass through (including endangering the health of agency personnel or the general public);

(4) Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or to the environment or has resulted in the exercise of the Director's emergency authority as provided in this chapter;

(5) Failure to meet, within 90 days after the schedule date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a waste discharge permit or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance;

(6) Failure to provide, within 30 days after the due date, required reports such as baseline monitoring reports, 90-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;

(7) Failure to accurately report non-compliance;

(8) Any other violation or group of violations, that the Director determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the pretreatment program.

"Slug discharge" means a batch discharge or other discharge of limited duration at a flow rate or pollutant concentration that could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards specified in this chapter.

"Storm drain" or "storm drain system" means the system of pipes and channels used to collect and convey stormwater.

"Stormwater" means any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation.

"Toxic pollutant" means any pollutant or combination of pollutants listed as toxic in regulations promulgated under provisions of Clean Water Act, and published in 40 CFR 401.15 and its amendments.

"Trucked or hauled waste" means any waste which is transported or otherwise moved from the original point of generation. Such wastes may include, but are not limited to, trucked grease interceptor pumpage; pumpage from chemical toilets, recreational vehicles, or septic tanks; purge water from polluted site monitoring wells; and industrial process wastes.

"User" or "industrial user" means any person who discharges, causes, or permits the discharge of industrial or domestic waste into a sanitary sewer, or has potential to discharge an industrial or domestic waste from its premises.

"Wastewater" or "sewage" means water carried domestic and/or industrial wastes from residences and commercial, industrial, and institutional establishments, together with such groundwater, surface water, and stormwater as may enter the sanitary sewer system.

"Wastewater treatment plant," or "WWTP," means the City of San Mateo Wastewater Treatment Plant.