The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Act or the act means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.

Approval authority means the director of the division of environmental management of the state department of environment, health and natural resources or his designee.

Authorized representative of the industrial user means:

(1) If the industrial user is a corporation, authorized representative shall mean:

• A. The president, secretary 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 gross annual sales or expenditures exceeding $25,000,000 (in second-quarter 1980 dollars), if authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.

(2) If the industrial user is a partnership, association, or sole proprietorship, an authorized representative shall mean a general partner or the proprietor.

(3) If the industrial user is representing federal, state or local governments, or an agent thereof, an authorized representative shall mean a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility.

(4) The individuals described in 1, (2) 3 above may designate another 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 authorization is submitted to the town.

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure, five days at 20 degrees Celsius expressed in terms of weight and concentration (mg/l).

Building sewer means a sewer conveying wastewater from the premises of a user of the town's treatment works.

Categorical standards means national categorical pretreatment standards or pretreatment standards.

Cooling water means the water discharged from any use such as air conditioning, cooling or refrigeration, or to which the only pollutant added is heat.

Direct discharge means the discharge of treated or untreated wastewater directly to the waters of the state.

Director means the town director of public works.

Environmental Protection Agency or EPA means the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the term may also be used as a designation for the administrator or other duly authorized official of the agency.

Grab sample means a sample that is taken from a waste stream on a one-time basis without regard to the flow in the waste stream and without consideration of time.

Holding tank waste means any waste from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks and vacuum-pump tank trucks.

Indirect discharge means the discharge or the introduction of nondomestic pollutants from any source regulated under section 307(b) or (c) of the act (33 U.S.C. 1317) into the town's treatment works (including holding tank wastes discharged into the system).

Industrial user means any person or entity that is a source of indirect discharge.

Interference means the inhibition or disruption of the town's treatment processes, operation or its sludge process, use or disposal, that causes or contributes to a violation of any requirement of the town's NPDES or nondischarge permit or prevents sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with specified applicable state and federal statutes, regulations or permits. The term includes prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal by the town's treatment works in accordance with section 405 of the act (33 U.S.C. 1345) or any criteria, guidelines or regulations developed pursuant to the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), the Clean Air Act, the Toxic Substances Control Act, the Marine Protection Research and Sanctuary Act (MPRSA) or more stringent state criteria (including those contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Title IV of SWDA) applicable to the method of disposal or use employed by the town.

National categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with section 307(b) and (c) of the act (33 U.S.C. 1317) that applies to a specific category of industrial users and that appears in 40 CFR chapter 1, subchapter N, parts 405-471.

National pollution discharge elimination system or NPDES permit means a permit issued pursuant to section 402 of the act (33 U.S.C. 1342) or pursuant to G.S. 143-215.1 by the state under delegation from the EPA.

National prohibitive discharge standard or prohibitive discharge standard means any regulation developed under the authority of section 307(b) of the act and 40 CFR 403.5.

New source means:

1. Any source of a discharge, the construction or operation of which commenced after the publication of proposed categorical pretreatment standards under section 307(c) of the act (33 U.S.C. 1317(c)) that will be applicable to such source if the standard is thereafter promulgated in accordance with section 307(c), provided that:
   • A. No other source is located at that site;
   • B. The source completely replaces the process or production equipment of an existing source at that site; or
   • C. The new wastewater generating process of the source is substantially independent of an existing source at that site; and the construction of the source creates a new facility rather than modifying an existing source at that site.
2. For the purposes of this definition, construction or operation has commenced if the owner or operator has:
   • A. Begun, or caused to begin as part of a continuous on-site construction program:
     1. Any placement, assembly or installation of facilities or equipment;
     2. Significant site preparation work including clearing, excavation, or removal of existing buildings, structures or facilities necessary for the placement, assembly or installation of new source facilities or equipment.
   • B. Entered into a binding contractual obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment intended to be used in its operation within a reasonable time. Options to purchase or contracts that can be terminated or modified without substantial obligation under this definition in accordance with the provisions as stated in 40 CFR 403.3(K).

Nondischarge permit means a disposal system permit issued by the state pursuant to G.S. 143-215.1.

Nondomestic pollutants means any substances other than human excrement and household gray water (shower, dishwashing operations, etc.). Nondomestic pollutants include the characteristics of the wastewater (i.e., including but not limited to pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity and odor).

Pass through means a discharge that exits the town's treatment works into waters of the state in quantities or concentrations that, alone or with discharges from other sources, causes a violation of the town's NPDES or nondischarge permit or a downstream water quality standard.

pH means a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance, expressed as standard units, and calculated as the logarithm (base 10) of reciprocal of the concentration of hydrogen ions expressed in grams per liter of solution.

Pollutant means any waste as defined in G.S. 143-213(13) and dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste discharged into water.

Pretreatment or treatment means the reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater to a less harmful state prior to or in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing such pollutants into the town's treatment works. The reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical or biological processes, or process changes or other means, except by dilution as prohibited by 40 CFR 403.6(d).

Pretreatment program means the program for the control of pollutants introduced into the town's treatment works from nondomestic sources developed by the town in compliance with 40 CFR 403.8 and approved by the approval authority as authorized by G.S. 143-215.3(a)(14) in accordance with 40 CFR 403.11.

Pretreatment standards and requirements means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, including national pretreatment categorical standards and prohibitive discharge standards imposed on an industrial user.

Significant industrial user means any industrial user of the wastewater disposal system who has an average daily process wastewater flow of 50,000 gallons or more, or who contributes more than five percent of any design or treatment capacity (i.e., allowable pollutant load) of the wastewater treatment plant receiving the indirect discharge, or who is required to meet a national categorical pretreatment standard, or who is found by the town, the division of environmental management or the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to have the potential for impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing industrial users, on the wastewater treatment system, the quality of sludge, the system's effluent quality, or compliance with any pretreatment standards or requirements.

Significant noncompliance means a status of noncompliance equivalent to reportable noncompliance as defined in 15A NCAC.0903(b)(10).

Slug load means any pollutant (including BOD) released in a discharge at a flow rate or concentration that will cause a violation of the specific discharge prohibitions in section 36 to 158 and is of a nonroutine, episodic nature including but not limited to an accidental spill or a noncustomary batch discharge.

Standard industrial classification (SIC) means a classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, 1987.

Stormwater means any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation and resulting therefrom.

Superintendent means the person designated by the town to supervise the operation of the publicly owned treatment works and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this article, or his duly authorized representative.

Suspended solids means the total suspended matter that floats on the surface of, or is suspended in water, wastewater or other liquids, and is removable by laboratory filtering.

Toxic pollutant means any pollutant or combination of pollutants listed as toxic in regulations promulgated by the administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency under the provision of CWA 307(a) or other acts.

Treatment plant means that portion of the town's treatment works designed to provide treatment to wastewater.

Treatment works means a treatment works is as defined by section 212 of the act (33 U.S.C. 1292) and, in this instance, as is owned by the town. This definition includes any sewers that convey wastewater to the town's treatment plant, but does not include pipes, sewers or other conveyances not connected to a facility providing treatment. For the purposes of this article, the term "treatment works" shall also include any sewers that convey wastewaters to the town's treatment works from persons outside the town who are, by contract or agreement with the town, users of the town's treatment works.

User means any person who contributes, causes or permits the contribution of wastewater into the town's treatment works including persons who contribute such wastes from mobile sources.

Wastewater means the liquid and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, mobile sources, treatment facilities and institutions together with any groundwater, surface water, and stormwater that may be present, whether treated or untreated, that is contributed into or permitted to enter the treatment works.

Wastewater permit means as set forth in section 36 to 166.

Water pollution means the manmade or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological and radiological integrity of water.

Waters of the state means all streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, reservoirs, aquifers, irrigation systems, drainage systems and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface or underground, natural or artificial, public or private, that are contained within, flow through, or border upon the state or any portion thereof.

(Ord. of April 5, 1993, § I)

Cross References: Definitions generally, § 1 to 2.