DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS.
Raleigh City Code § 8-2112
in effectSec. 8-2112. - DEFINITIONS AND ABBREVIATIONS.
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the following terms and phrases, as used in this article, shall have the meanings hereinafter designated:
Act or the Act: The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251, et seq.
Approval Authority: The Director of the Division of Water Quality of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) or his designee.
Authorized representative of the industrial user:
(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 (1) or more manufacturing, production, or operation facilities employing more than two hundred fifty (250) persons or having gross annual sales or expenditures exceeding twenty-five million dollars ($25,000,000.00) (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 or sole proprietorship, an authorized representative shall mean a general partner or the proprietor, respectively.
(3) If the industrial user is a Federal, State or local government facility, 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, or their designee.
(4) The individuals described in paragraphs (1) through (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 written authorization is submitted to the City.
(5) If the designation of an authorized representative is no longer accurate because a different individual or position has responsibility for the overall operation of the facility, or overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company, a new authorization satisfying the requirements of this section must be submitted to POTW Director prior to or together with any reports to be signed by an authorized representative not to exceed thirty (30) days.
Baseline monitoring report (BMR): A required report for all industrial users subject to a categorical pretreatment standard. A BMR provides information that documents an industrial user's compliance status with all applicable pretreatment standards.
Biochemcial oxygen demand (BOD): The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five (5) days at twenty (20) degrees Centigrade, usually expressed as a concentration (e.g., mg/l).
Building sewer: A sewer conveying waste water from the premises of a user to the POTW.
Bypass: The intentional diversion of waste streams from any portion of a user's treatment facility.
Categorical standards: National categorical pretreatment standards or pretreatment standards.
Consumer of sewer services or consumer: Any person who discharges waste water or other substances regulated by this Article into the POTW or otherwise uses the POTW and who is not an industrial user.
Control Authority: Refers to the POTW organization if the POTW organization's pretreatment program approval has not been withdrawn.
Division: The Division of Water Quality of the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Environmental Protection Agency or EPA: 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 said agency.
Food preparation or serving facility: Any commercial, or industrial facility that prepares or serves food, including a restaurant, cafe, cafeteria, snack bar, grill, deli, catering service, bakery, grocery store, butcher shop, or similar establishment.
Grab sample: A sample which is taken from a waste stream on a one-time basis without regard to the flow in the waste stream and over a period of time not to exceed fifteen (15) minutes.
Grease and septage haulers: Any person or business entity permitted by DENR to remove and haul grease or septage which would otherwise be transported to the POTW.
Hazardous waste: A substance which, if otherwise disposed of, would be a hazardous waste under 40 CFR Part 261.
Holding tank waste: Any waste from holding tanks, including but not limited to such holding tanks as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, septic tanks, and vacuum-pump tank trucks.
Indirect discharge or discharge: The discharge or the introduction from any nondomestic source regulated under Section 307(b), (c), or (d) of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1317), into the POTW (including holding tank waste discharged into the system).
Industrial user or user: Any person who is a source of indirect discharge.
Interference: The inhibition or disruption of the POTW collection system, treatment processes, operations, or its sludge process, use, or disposal, which causes or contributes to a violation of any requirement of the Control Authority's (and/or the POTW's if different from the Control Authority's) NPDES, collection system, or non-discharge 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 POTW 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) (42 U.S.C. 6901, et seq.), 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 POTW.
Medical waste: Isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes, and potentially contaminated laboratory wastes.
National categorical pretreatment standard or Categorical standard: Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with Sections 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1317) which applies to a specific category of industrial users, and which appears in 40 CFR Chapter 1, Subchapter N, Parts 405 through 471.
National prohibitive discharge standard or Prohibitive discharge standard: Absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in §8-2113 of this article and are developed under the authority of Section 307(b) of the Act and 40 CFR, Section 403.5.
New source:
(1) Any building, structure, facility, or installation from which there may be a discharge of pollutants, the construction of which commenced after the publication of proposed categorical 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 Section 307(c), 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 waste water 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 paragraphs (1)b. or (1)c. above but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
(3) For purposes of this definition, construction of a new source has commenced if the owner or operator has:
a. Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous onsite 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: Water used for cooling which does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product.
National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System, or NPDES, permit: 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.
Non-discharge permit: A permit issued by the State pursuant to G.S. 143-215.1(d) for a waste which is not discharged directly to surface waters of the State or for a waste water treatment works which does not discharge directly to surface waters of the State.
Pass through: A discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the State in quantities or concentrations which, alone or with discharges from other sources, causes a violation, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation, of the Control Authority's (and/or POTW's, if different from the Control Authority's) NPDES, collection system, or non-discharge permit.
Person: Any individual, partnership, copartnership, 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 government entities.
pH: A measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance, expressed as standard units, and calculated as the logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the concentration of hydrogen ions expressed in grams per liter of solution.
Pollutant: Any "waste" as defined in G.S. 143-213(18) and dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal, and agricultural waste and certain characteristics of waste water (e.g., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, metals, BOD, COD, toxicity, and odor).
POTW Director: The City of Raleigh Director of Public Utilities, or authorized representative.
POTW treatment plant: That portion of the POTW designed to provide treatment to waste water.
Pretreatment or treatment: The reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature of pollutant properties in waste water prior to or in lieu of discharging or otherwise introducing such pollutants into a POTW collection system and/or treatment plant. The reduction or alteration may be obtained by physical, chemical or biological processes, or process changes or other means, except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable pretreatment standard.
Pretreatment program: The program for the control of pollutants introduced into the POTW from non-domestic sources which was developed by the City 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 requirements: Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a pretreatment standard.
Pretreatment standards: Prohibited discharge standards, categorical standards, or local limits which apply to an industrial user.
Publicly-owned treatment works (POTW) or municipal waste water system: A treatment works as defined by Section 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. 1292) which is owned in this instance by the City. This definition includes any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature. It also includes sewers, pipes, and other conveyances only if they convey waste water to the POTW treatment plant. For the purposes of this article, POTW shall also include any sewers that convey waste waters to the POTW from persons outside the City who are, by contract or agreement with the City, or in any other way, users of the City's POTW.
Severe property damage: Substantial physical damage to property, damage to the user's treatment facilities which causes them to become inoperable, or substantial and permanent loss of natural resources which can reasonably be expected to occur in the absence of a bypass. Severe property damage does not mean economic loss caused by delays in production.
Significant industrial user: An industrial user who discharges waste water into a publicly owned treatment works and who:
(1) Discharges an average of 25,000 gallons per day or more of process waste water to the POTW(excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown waste waters); or
(2) Contributes process waste water which makes up five (5) per cent or more of the NPDES or Non-discharge permitted flow limit or organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant. In this context, organic capacity refers to BOD, TSS, Ammonia; Total Phosphorus, and Total Nitrogen; or
(3) Is required to meet a national categorical pretreatment standard; or
(4) Is found by the City, the Division of Water Quality 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 waste water treatment system, the quality of sludge, the system's effluent quality, or compliance with any pretreatment standards or requirements.
(5) Subject to Division of Water Quality approval under 15A NCAC 02H .0907(b), the Control Authority may determine that an industrial user meeting the criteria in paragraphs (1) and (2) above has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW';i§ .....i; operation or for violating any pretreatment standards or pretreatment requirement, the POTW';i§
(6) Subject to Division of Water Quality approval under 15A NCAC 02H .0907(b), the Control Authority may determine that an industrial user meeting the criteria in paragraph (3) above meets the requirements of 40 CFR Part 403.3(v)(2) and thus is a non-significant categorical industrial user.
Significant noncompliance or SNC: The status of noncompliance of a Significant Industrial User when one or more of the following criteria are met. Additionally, any Industrial User who meets the criteria in Part (1)c.; (1)d.; or (5) below shall also be SNC.
(1) Violations of waste water discharge limits.
a. Chronic violations of waste water discharge limits, defined here as those in which sixty-six (66) per cent or more of all the measurements taken for the same pollutant parameter (not including flow) during a six-month period exceed by any magnitude a numeric pretreatment standard or requirement including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 CFR Part 403.3(1).
b. Technical Review Criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which thirty-three (33) per cent or more of all 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 including instantaneous limits, as defined by 40 CFR Part 403.3(1) multiplied by the applicable TRC; (TRC = 1.4 for BOD, TSS, fats, oil, and grease); 1.2 for all other pollutants (except flow and pH).
c. Any other violation of a pretreatment standard or requirement as defined by 40 CFR 403.3(1) (daily maximum, long-term average, instantaneous limit, or narrative standard) that the Control Authority and/or POTW Director determines has caused, alone or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass through; or endangered the health of the sewage treatment plant personnel or the public.
d. Any discharge of a pollutant or waste water that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare, or to the environment or has resulted in either the Control Authority's or the POTW's, if different from the Control Authority's, exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge.
(2) Violations of compliance schedule milestones, contained in a pretreatment permit or enforcement order, for starting construction, completing construction, and attaining final compliance by ninety (90) days or more after the schedule date.
(3) Failure to provide reports for compliance schedule, self-monitoring data, baseline monitoring reports, ninety (90) day compliance reports, and periodic compliance reports within thirty (30) days from the due date.
(4) Failure to accurately report noncompliance.
(5) Any other violation or group of violations that the Control Authority and/or POTW Director determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program.
Slug load, slug discharge or slug: Any discharge at a flow rate or concentration which has a reasonable potential to cause interference or pass through, or in any other way violates the POTW';i§\i; regulations, local limits, or industrial user permit conditions. This can include but is not limited to spills and other accidental discharges; discharges of a non-routine, episodic nature; a non-customary batch discharge; or any other discharges that can cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in §8-2113 of this ordinance.
Standard Industrial Classification (SIC): A classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget, 1987.
Stormwater: Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation and resulting there from.
Suspended solids: The total suspended matter that floats on the surface of, or is suspended in, water, waste water or other liquids, and which is removable by laboratory filtering.
Toxic substances: Substances listed or defined as toxic in 15A NCAC 2B Section .0200.
Upset: An exceptional incident in which there is unintentional and temporary noncompliance with categorical pretreatment standards because of factors beyond the reasonable control of the user. An upset does not include noncompliance to the extent caused by operational error, improperly designed treatment facilities, inadequate treatment facilities, lack of preventive maintenance, or careless or improper operation.
Vehicle maintenance facility: Any commercial or industrial facility where automobiles, trucks, or equipment are serviced or maintained, including garages, service stations, repair shops, oil and lubrication shops, or similar establishments.
Waste water: 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, which are contributed into or permitted to enter the POTW.
Waste water permit: As set forth in §8-2127 of this article.
Waters of the State: All streams, rivers, brooks, swamps, sounds, tidal estuaries, bays, creeks, lakes, waterways, reservoirs and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface or underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained within, flow through, or border upon the State or any portion thereof.
This article is gender neutral and the masculine gender shall include the feminine and vice-versa. "Shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissive or discretionary. The use of the singular shall be construed to include the plural and the plural shall include the singular as indicated by the context of its use.
The following abbreviations, when used in this article, shall have the designated meanings:
(1) BOD: Biochemical Oxygen Demand.
(2) CFR: Code of Federal Regulations.
(3) COD: Chemical Oxygen Demand.
(4) EPA: Environmental Protection Agency.
(5) gpd: Gallons per day.
(6) l: Liter.
(7) mg: Milligrams.
(8) mg/l: Milligrams per liter.
(9) G.S.: North Carolina General Statutes.
(10) NPDES: National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.
(11) O & M: Operation and maintenance.
(12) POTW: Publicly-owned treatment works.
(13) RCRA: Resource Conservation and Recovery Act.
(14) SIC: Standard Industrial Classification.
(15) SWDA: Solid Waste Disposal Act.
(16) TSS: Total suspended solids.
(17) TN: Total Nitrogen.
(18) U.S.C.: United States Code.
(19) F.O.G.: Fats, Oils, Grease.
(20) TP: Total Phosphorus.
(Ord. No. 2011-981, §1, 12-6-11)
Source: City of Raleigh, North Carolina, City Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/nc/raleigh/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=DIVIICOGEOR_PT8PUUT_CH2WASESE_ARTCUSSASESY_DIV1GEPR_S8-2112DEABFetched: 11/1/2026