§ 122-181. General sewer use requirements.

(a)

Prohibited discharges. No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the following described waters or wastes into the county wastewater system:

(1)

Any pollutant, liquid, solid or gas which creates a fire or explosive hazard in the POTW or any discharge or with a flashpoint less than 140 degrees Fahrenheit or 60 degrees Celsius as measured using the test methods in 40 CFR 261.21; or any liquid, solid or gas, either singly or in combination with any other materials, that causes the atmosphere in the sewer to exceed the ten percent lower limit of any gases measured as methane.

(2)

Any waters containing toxic or poisonous solids, liquids or gases in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with other wastes, to injure or interfere with any waste treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals, create a public nuisance, or create any hazard in the receiving waters of the wastewater treatment facility.

(3)

Any waters or wastes having a pH lower than 5.5 or greater than 12.5, having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to sewers, structures, equipment or personnel or any water or wastes of sufficiently high pH and volume to raise the pH of the wastewater at the influent to a treatment plant above 9.0 for a period longer than one minute.

(4)

Solid or viscous substances in quantities or of such size capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers or other interference with the proper operation of the wastewater facilities such as, but not limited to, ashes, bones, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plastics, wood, unground garbage, whole blood, paunch manure, hair and fleshings, entrails and paper dishes, cups, milk containers, etc., either whole or ground by garbage grinders.

(5)

Any garbage that has not been properly shredded. Garbage grinders may be connected to sanitary sewers from homes, hotels, institutions, restaurants, hospitals, catering establishments or similar places where garbage originates from the preparation of food in kitchens for the purpose of consumption on the premises or when served by caterers.

(6)

Any waters or wastes containing toxic gases, vapors, fumes or odor-producing substances in sufficient quantity to cause the OSHA's atmospheric limits to be exceeded in the manholes, or any noxious or malodorous gas or substance capable of creating a public nuisance or hazard to life or preventing entry into sewers for the maintenance, inspection and repair thereof.

(7)

Any radioactive wastes or isotopes of such half-life or concentrations as may exceed limits established in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations.

(8)

Quantities of flow, concentrations or both which constitute a slug as defined in section 122-26.

(9)

Water or wastes containing substances which are not amenable to treatment or reduction by the wastewater treatment processes employed.

(10)

Any water or wastes, which by interaction with other waters or wastes in the county wastewater system, release obnoxious gases, form solids which interfere with the collection system or create a condition deleterious to structures and treatment processes.

(11)

Wastewater having a temperature higher than 150 degrees Fahrenheit (65 degrees Celsius) or causing the temperature at the influent to a treatment plant to exceed 104 degrees Fahrenheit (40 degrees Celsius).

(12)

Any substance which may cause the water pollution control facility effluent or any other products of the water pollution control facility, such as residues, sludges or scums, to be unsuitable for reclamation and reuse.

(13)

Any substance which will cause the water pollution control facility to violate its NPDES permit or the receiving water quality standards.

(14)

Any wastewater with objectionable color not removed in the treatment process, such as, but not limited to, dye wastes, ink wastes and vegetable tanning solutions.

(15)

Any unpolluted cooling water, groundwater, roof drainage, basement drainage, subsurface drainage or yard drainage through direct or indirect connection to the wastewater treatment facilities unless a storm sewer or other reasonable alternative for removal of such drainage does not exist, and then only when discharge is expressly permitted by a wastewater discharge permit and the appropriate charges are paid for the volume thereof. See subsection 122-82(d)(2).

(16)

Trucked or hauled wastes except at points designated by the water system director in accordance with section 122-193.

(17)

Pollutants, including oxygen demanding pollutants (BOD, etc.), released in a discharge at a flow rate and/or pollutant concentration which, either singly or by interaction with other pollutants, will cause interference with the POTW.

(18)

Petroleum oil, nonbiodegradable cutting oil or products of mineral oil origin, in amounts that will cause interference or pass through.

(b)

Local limits. No user shall discharge wastewaters to the sanitary sewer system or POTW which exceed the county's daily maximum discharge limits as developed by the water system and approved by the county board of commissioners. The currently adopted limits shall be on file and available at the office of the county clerk and at the office of the director of the county water system.

(1)

Discharges under 10,000 gallons per day, where applicable, may be required to meet a mass limit in pounds per day equivalent to industrial flows of 10,000 gallons per day.

(2)

Conventional pollutants: biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), total suspended solids (TSS), ammonia as NH ₃ -N and total phosphorus will be regulated by high strength surcharge in accordance with section 122-189.

(c)

State requirements. Any laws or regulations promulgated by the state relative to the construction or use of wastewater facilities which are more strict than the regulations provided in the county Code are incorporated in this section by reference, and such regulations may be enforced by the county.

(d)

Federal pretreatment standards.

(1)

The federal government has adopted regulations governing wastewater discharges from industries into publicly owned wastewater treatment works (POTWs). These federal regulations are generally referred to as the federal pretreatment standards, or the Federal Categorical Pretreatment Standards, as set forth in 40 CFR chapter 1, subpart n, parts 405—471. Any portion of these federal standards which are more strict than the regulations in this article are incorporated by reference, and such regulations may be enforced by the county.

(2)

It is the affirmative obligation of all industrial users regulated by the federal pretreatment standards, inclusive of the Federal Categorical Pretreatment Standards, to comply with the federal standards whether or not the industry has received notification from the county or any other jurisdiction of the existence and nature of the federal standards.

(3)

Where a categorical pretreatment standard is expressed only in terms of either the mass limits or either the mass or the concentration of a pollutant in wastewater, the department director may impose equivalent concentration or mass limits in accordance with 40 CFR 403.6.

(4)

When wastewater subject to a categorical pretreatment standard is mixed with wastewater not regulated by the same standard, the department director shall impose an alternative limit using the combined wastestream formula in 40 CFR 403.6(e).

(5)

A user may obtain a variance from a categorical pretreatment standard if the user can prove pursuant to the procedural and substantive provisions in 40 CFR 403.13 that factors relating to its discharge are fundamentally different from the factors considered by EPA when developing the categorical pretreatment standards.

(6)

A user may obtain a net gross adjustment to a categorical standard in accordance with 40 CFR 403.15.

(e)

Modifications to federal standards.

(1)

From time to time, the federal government may alter existing federal pretreatment standards or promulgate new standards. None of the provisions contained in this Code shall prevent the timely implementation of new or altered federal standards by the industries to whom the new or altered standards apply. Where new or altered federal standards are more strict than the standards presently being imposed by the county, the county may, without prejudice, immediately revise any industrial wastewater discharge permits to reflect the new or altered standards. If the industrial user is unable to immediately conform to the new or altered standards, a reasonable schedule for compliance shall be provided by the department director.

(2)

Where the county's wastewater treatment system achieves consistent removal of pollutants limited by federal pretreatment standards, the county may apply to the approval authority for modification of specific limits in the federal pretreatment standards. "Consistent removal" shall mean reduction in the amount of a pollutant or alteration of the nature of the pollutant by the wastewater treatment system to a less toxic or harmless state in the effluent which is achieved by the system in 95 percent of the samples taken when measured according to the procedures set forth in section 403.7(c)(2) of title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations, part 403, "General Pretreatment Regulations for Existing and New Sources of Pollution," promulgated pursuant to the Clean Water Act, as amended. The county may then modify pollutant discharge limits in the federal pretreatment standards if the requirements contained in 40 CFR part 403, section 403.7, are fulfilled and prior approval from the state environmental protection division is obtained.

(f)

County's right of revision. The county reserves the right to establish, by ordinance or in wastewater discharge permits, more stringent standards or requirements on discharges to the POTW.

(g)

Dilution. No user shall ever increase the use of process water, or in any way attempt to dilute a discharge, as a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve compliance with a discharge limitation unless expressly authorized by an applicable pretreatment standard or requirement. The water system director or his agent may impose mass limitations on users who are using dilution to meet applicable pretreatment standards or requirements, or in other cases when the imposition of mass limitations is appropriate.

(Ord. of 6-28-88, § 3-26-91)