12.06.010 General provisions.
A. Purpose and Policy. This chapter sets forth uniform requirements for users of the publicly owned treatment works (POTW) for the City of Hood River and enables the City to comply with all applicable state and federal laws, including the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq.) and the General Pretreatment Regulations (40 CFR Part 403). The objectives of this chapter are:
1. To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the POTW that will interfere with its operation;
2. To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the POTW that will pass through the POTW, inadequately treated, into receiving waters, or otherwise be incompatible with the POTW;
3. To protect both POTW personnel who may be affected by wastewater and sludge in the course of their employment and the general public;
4. To promote reuse and recycling of industrial wastewater and sludge from the POTW;
5. To provide for fees for the equitable distribution of the cost of operation, maintenance, and improvement of the POTW; and
6. To enable the City to comply with its National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit conditions, sludge use and disposal requirements, and any other federal or state laws to which the POTW is subject.
This chapter shall apply to all users of the POTW. This chapter authorizes the issuance of wastewater discharge permits; provides for monitoring, compliance, and enforcement activities; establishes administrative review procedures; requires user reporting; and provides for the setting of fees for the equitable distribution of costs resulting from the program established herein.
B. Administration. Except as otherwise provided herein, the City Engineer shall administer, implement, and enforce the provisions of this chapter. Any powers granted to or duties imposed upon the City Engineer may be delegated by the City Engineer to a duly authorized City employee, or other personnel.
C. Abbreviations. The following abbreviations, when used in this chapter, shall have the designated meanings:
•BOD – Biochemical Oxygen Demand
•BMP – Best Management Practice
•BMR – Baseline Monitoring Report
•CFR – Code of Federal Regulations
•CIU – Categorical Industrial User
•COD – Chemical Oxygen Demand
•DEQ – Oregon Department of Environmental Quality
•EPA – U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
•gpd – Gallons per Day
•IU – Industrial User
•mg/l – Milligrams per Liter
•NPDES – National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System
•NSCIU – Non-Significant Categorical Industrial User
•POTW – Publicly Owned Treatment Works
•RCRA – Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
•SIU – Significant Industrial User
•SNC – Significant Noncompliance
•TSS – Total Suspended Solids
•U.S.C. – United States Code
D. Definitions. Unless a provision explicitly states otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this chapter, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated:
“Act” or “the Act” means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. Section 1251 et seq.
“Approval authority” means the State of Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
“Authorized representative of the user” means:
1. If the user is a corporation:
a. The president, secretary, treasurer, 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 operation facilities, provided the manager is authorized to make management decisions that govern the operation of the regulated facility including having the explicit or implicit duty of making major capital investment recommendations, and initiate and direct other comprehensive measures to assure long-term environmental compliance with environmental laws and regulations; can ensure that the necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and accurate information for individual wastewater discharge permit requirements; and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
2. If the user is a partnership or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, 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 their designee.
4. The individuals described in subsections (1) through (3) of this definition 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 written authorization is submitted to the City.
“Best management practices” or “BMPs” means schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in HRMC 12.06.020(A)(1) and (2) (40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b)). BMPs include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.
“Biochemical oxygen demand” or “BOD” means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five days at 20 degrees centigrade, usually expressed as a concentration (e.g., mg/l).
“Categorical industrial user” means an industrial user subject to a categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard.
“Categorical pretreatment standard” or “categorical standard” means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with Sections 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1317) which apply to a specific category of users and which appear in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405 through 471.
“Chemical oxygen demand” or “COD” means a measure of the oxygen required to oxidize all compounds, both organic and inorganic, in water.
“City” means the City of Hood River, the City Council of Hood River, or its authorized representative.
“City Engineer” means the professional engineer designated by the City to supervise the operation of the POTW, and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this chapter. The term also means a duly authorized representative of the City Engineer.
“Composite sample” means the sample resulting from the combination of individual wastewater samples taken at selected intervals based on an increment of either flow or time, as specified by the City Engineer or representative thereof.
“Control authority” means the City of Hood River, the City Council of Hood River, or its authorized representative.
“Daily average” means the arithmetic average of all effluent samples for a pollutant collected during a calendar day.
“Daily maximum limit” means the maximum allowable discharge limit of a pollutant during a calendar day. Where daily maximum limits are expressed in units of mass, the daily discharge is the total mass discharged over the course of the day. Where daily maximum limits are expressed in terms of a concentration, the daily discharge is the arithmetic maximum measurement of the pollutant concentration derived from all measurements taken that day.
“Environmental Protection Agency” or “EPA” means the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the Regional Water Management Division Director, or other duly authorized official of said agency.
“Existing source” means any source of discharge, that is not a “new source.”
“Grab sample” means a sample which is taken from a wastestream without regard to the flow in the wastestream and over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.
“Indirect discharge” or “discharge” means the introduction of pollutants into the POTW from any nondomestic source regulated under Section 307(b), (c), or (d) of the Act.
“Industrial user” means a source of indirect discharge.
“Instantaneous discharge limit” means the maximum concentration of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from the analysis of any discrete or composited sample collected, independent of the industrial flow rate and the duration of the sampling event.
“Interference” means a discharge, which alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or operations or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and, therefore, 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 any more stringent state or local regulations: Section 405 of the Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act, including Title II, commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); 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.
“Local limits” means specific discharge limits developed and enforced by the City upon industrial or commercial facilities to implement the general and specific discharge prohibitions listed in 40 CFR 403.5(a)(1) and (b).
“May” means discretionary or permissive.
“Medical waste” means isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes, potentially contaminated laboratory wastes, and dialysis wastes.
“Monthly average” means the sum of all “daily discharges” measured during a calendar month divided by the number of “daily discharges” measured during that month.
“Monthly average limit” means the highest allowable average of “daily discharges” over a calendar month, calculated as the sum of all “daily discharges” measured during a calendar month divided by the number of “daily discharges” measured during that month.
“National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit” means a permit issued to a POTW or other discharger pursuant to Section 402 of the Act.
“New source” means:
1. Any building, structure, facility, or installation from which there is (or may be) a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after the publication of proposed pretreatment standards under Section 307(c) of the Act which will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section; provided, that:
a. The building, structure, facility, or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or
b. The building, structure, facility, or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or
c. The production or wastewater generating processes of the building, structure, facility, or installation are substantially independent of an existing source at the same site. In determining whether these are substantially independent, factors such as the extent to which the new facility is integrated with the existing plant, and the extent to which the new facility is engaged in the same general type of activity as the existing source, should be considered.
2. Construction on a site at which an existing source is located results in a modification rather than a new source if the construction does not create a new building, structure, facility, or installation meeting the criteria of subsection (1)(b) or (c) of this definition but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
3. Construction of a new source as defined under this section has commenced if the owner or operator has:
a. Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous on-site construction program:
i. Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment; or
ii. Significant site preparation work including clearing, excavation, or removal of existing buildings, structures, or facilities which is necessary for the placement, assembly, or installation of new source facilities or equipment; or
b. Entered into a binding contractual obligation for the purchase of facilities or equipment which are intended to be used in its operation within a reasonable time. Options to purchase or contracts which can be terminated or modified without substantial loss, and contracts for feasibility, engineering, and design studies do not constitute a contractual obligation under this definition.
“Noncontact cooling water” means water used for cooling which does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product.
“Pass through” means a discharge which exits the POTW into 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 any requirement of the City’s NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.
“Person” means any individual, partnership, co-partnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity, or any other legal entity; or their legal representatives, agents, or assigns. This definition includes all federal, state, and local governmental entities.
“pH” means a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, expressed in standard units.
“Pollutant” means dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, municipal, agricultural and industrial wastes, and certain characteristics of wastewater (e.g., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, or odor).
“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 POTW. This reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical, or biological processes; by process changes; or by other means, except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable pretreatment standard.
“Pretreatment requirements” means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.
“Pretreatment standards or standards” shall mean prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.
“Prohibited discharge standards” or “prohibited discharges” means absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in HRMC 12.06.020(A).
“Publicly owned treatment works” or “POTW” means a “treatment works,” as defined by Section 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1292) which is owned by the City. This definition includes any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature and any conveyances which convey wastewater to a treatment plant.
“Septic tank waste” means any sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks.
“Sewage” means human excrement and gray water (household showers, dishwashing operations, etc.).
“Shall” means mandatory.
Significant Industrial User (SIU). Except as provided in subsection (3) of this definition, a “significant user” is:
1. An industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or
2. An industrial user that:
a. Discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling, and boiler blowdown wastewater);
b. Contributes a process wastestream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant; or
c. Is designated as such by the City on the basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
3. Upon a finding that a user meeting the criteria in subsection (2) of this definition has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW’s operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement, the City may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from an industrial user, and in accordance with procedures in 40 CFR 403.8(f)(6), determine that such user should not be considered a significant industrial user.
“Slug load” or “slug discharge” means any discharge at a flow rate or concentration which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in HRMC 12.06.020(A). A slug discharge is any discharge of a nonroutine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or a noncustomary batch discharge, which has a reasonable potential to cause interference or pass through, or in any other way violate the POTW’s regulations, local limits or permit conditions.
“Storm water” means any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation, including snowmelt.
“Total suspended solids” or “suspended solids” means the total suspended matter that floats on the surface of, or is suspended in, water, wastewater, or other liquid, and which is removable by laboratory filtering.
“User” or “industrial user” means a source of indirect discharge.
“Wastewater” means liquid and water-carried industrial wastes and sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which are contributed to the POTW.
“Wastewater treatment plant” or “treatment plant” means that portion of the POTW which is designed to provide treatment of municipal sewage and industrial waste. (Ord. 2075 §2 (Exh. A), 2023)