Definitions.
Oklahoma City Municipal Code § 47-1
in effect§ 47-1. - Definitions.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
(A.1) Act or the Act means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 USC 1251 et seq.
(A.2) Approval authority means the director in a national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) State with an approved State pretreatment program and the appropriate Regional Administrator of the EPA in a non-NPDES State or NPDES State without an approved State pretreatment program. Currently, Oklahoma does have a NPDES State-approved pretreatment program.
(A.3) Authorized representative of the user.
a. if the user is a corporation, authorized representative means:
1. 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;
2. the manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operation facilities employing more than 250 persons or having gross annual sales or expenditures exceeding $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;
b. if the user is a partnership, or sole proprietorship, an authorized representative means a general partner or proprietor, respectively;
c. if the user is a Federal, State or local governmental facility, an authorized representative means a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility, or his/her designee;
d. the individuals described in Paragraphs (a) through (c) 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 entity, and the written authorization is submitted to the City.
(A.4) Authorized site or authorized disposal site means a wastewater disposal site authorized by the POTW.
(B.1) Best Management Practices means physical, structural, or managerial practices that decreases the potential for facilities to harm or pollute Publicly Owned Treatment Works (POTW).
(B.2) Biochemical oxygen demand 5 (BOD5or BOD5) means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure, five days at 20 degrees centigrade expressed in terms of weight and concentration (milligrams per liter (mg/l)).
(B.3) Building sewer means a sewer conveying wastewater from the premises of a user to the municipal sewage treatment facility.
(B.4) Bypass means the intentional diversion of waste streams from any portion of the user's treatment facility.
(C.1) Categorical user means a user subject to categorical pretreatment or categorical standards.
(C.2) Categorical pretreatment or categorical standard means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the U.S. EPA in accordance with § 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 USC 1317), as amended, which apply to a specific category of users and which appear in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405 through 471, as amended.
(C.3) City means The City of Oklahoma City or any authorized person acting in its behalf. (C.4) Color means the optical density at the visual wavelength of maximum absorption, relative to distilled water. One hundred percent transmittance is equivalent to zero optical density.
(C.5) 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.
(C.6) Consistent removal means reduction in the amount of 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 § 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 Act.
(C.7) Control authority means the "approval authority," defined hereinabove, or the office of the Utilities Director.
(C.8) 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.
(C.9) Customer Service Superintendent means the authorized representative of the Director who is designated by the Director as the Customer Service Superintendent of the Customer Service Division of Utilities Department or the Customer Service Superintendent's designated representative.
(D.1) DEQ means the Oklahoma State Department of Environmental Quality, its successors, designees and assigns.
(D.2) Department, as used or referenced in this article, means the Utilities Department of The City of Oklahoma City and its designated representatives.
(D.3) Direct discharge means the discharge of treated or untreated wastewater directly to the municipal wastewater collection and treatment system.
(D.4) Director or Director of Utilities means the person designated by the City to supervise the operation of the municipal wastewater collection and treatment system works and the water systems, and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this chapter, or her/his duly authorized representative.
(D.5) Disposal, disposing or dispose, as used or referenced in this article, means the receiving, depositing, disposing, storing, discharging, or otherwise putting wastewater from a pretreatment facility in a receptacle, vehicle, or place other than the pretreatment facility of origin or the initial transporting container or vehicle.
(E.1) Environmental Protection Agency or EPA means the United States 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.
(E.2) Existing source means any source of discharge, the construction or operation of which commenced prior to the publication of proposed categorical pretreatment standards which will be applicable to such source if the standard is thereafter promulgated in accordance with § 307 of the Act.
(F.1) Reserved.
(G.1) Grab sample means an individual sample collected over a period of time not exceeding 15 minutes.
(G.2) Grease, as used or referenced in this article, means wastewater which includes petroleum oil, fats, oils or greases of animal or vegetable origin and wastewater from a pretreatment facility designed for grease removal.
(H.1) Reserved.
(I.1) Indirect discharge or discharge means the introduction of pollutants into a POTW from any nondomestic source regulated under § 307(b) or (c) or (d) of the Act (33 USC 1317), as amended.
(I.2) Industrial discharge means the introduction of pollutants into a POTW from any nondomestic source regulated under § 307(b) or (c) or (d) of the Act (33 USC 1317), as amended.
(I.3) Industrial user or user means a source of direct or indirect discharge of nonresidential waste.
(I.4) Interference means a discharge which alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources:
a. inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or operations or its sludge processes, use or disposal; and
b. which causes a violation of the City's NPDES permit or prevents sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with any of the following statutory/regulatory provisions or permit issued thereunder (or more stringent State or local regulations): § 405 of the Clean Water Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA), including Title II, commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); any State regulations contained in the sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the SWDA; the Clean Air Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; and the Marine Protection, Research Sanctuaries Act.
(J.1) Reserved.
(K.1) Reserved.
(L.1) License (unless otherwise specifically qualified) refers to an annual pretreatment facility service and/or ODEQ wastewater transporting license.
(L.2) Licensee shall mean a person holding a valid current license issued in his name.
(M.1) Maximum allowable discharge limit means the maximum concentration (or loading) of a pollutant allowed to be discharged at any time, determined from the analysis of a discrete or composite sample collected, independent of the flow rate and the duration of the sampling event.
(M.2) Medical waste means isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood byproducts, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, fomites, etiologic agents, contaminated bedding, surgical wastes, potentially contaminated laboratory wastes and dialysis wastes.
(M.3) Monthly average limit means the numerical value by which a pollutant is limited to be discharged over any calendar month. Compliance with the monthly average limit shall be determined from the numerical value of all samples taken during any calendar month.
(M.4) Municipal systems means sanitary sewage collection systems constructed, operated or maintained by a municipality or trust for the benefit of such a municipality.
(N.1) National Categorical Pretreatment Standard or pretreatment standard means any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with § 307(B) and (C) of the Act (33 USC 1346), as amended, which applies to users. This term includes, but is not limited to, prohibitive discharge limits established pursuant to 40 CFR 403.5.
(N.2) National pollution discharge elimination system permit or NPDES permit means a permit issued pursuant to § 402 of the Act and 40 CFR 403.5 (33 USC 1342).
(N.3) National prohibitive discharge standard or prohibitive discharge standard means any regulation developed under the authority of § 307(b) of the Act and 40 CFR 403.5, as amended.
(N.4) New source means:
a. 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 § 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:
1. the building, structure, facility or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or
2. the building, structure, facility or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or
3. 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.
b. 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 a.2 or a.3 above but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.
c. construction of a new source as defined under the paragraph has commenced if the owner or operator has:
1. 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
2. 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 paragraph.
(N.5) 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.
(N.6) Non-significant industrial user or non-significant user means a user not classified as a categorical industrial user or a significant industrial user.
(N.7) Normal production day means a production day that conforms to information regarding the quantity and quality by which the discharge is permitted.
(O.1) Oklahoma City-County Health Department, as used or referenced in this article, means the legal entity by that name established, pursuant to Title 63 of the Oklahoma Statutes, and its designated representatives.
(P.1) 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, are a cause of a violation of any requirement of the City's NPDES permit (including but not limited to an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).
(P.2) Permittee means the user or entity to which an Industrial Wastewater Discharge Permit has been issued.
(P.3) 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 or local governmental entities.
(P.4) Petroleum Product Tank means a fixed tank for storing petroleum product including but not limited to underground and aboveground storage tanks.
(P.5) PH means a measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a substance, expressed in standard units.
(P.6) Pollutant means any dredged soil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, industrial wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, agricultural and other wastes, and the characteristics of the wastewater (i.e., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, chemical oxygen demand (COD), toxicity, odor).
(P.7) Pollution means the manmade or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water.
(P.8) Pretreatment or treatment means the reduction of the amount of pollutants, the elimination of pollutants, or the alteration of the nature 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 a POTW. This reduction or alteration can 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.
(P.9) Pretreatment requirements means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a national pretreatment standard, imposed on a user.
(P.10) Pretreatment standards or standards means all prohibitive discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.
(P.11) Pretreatment system refers to any apparatus deemed necessary by the Director to protect the collections system and POTW.
(P.12) Prohibited discharge standards or prohibitive discharges means absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in Section 47-211 of this chapter.
(P.13) Publicly owned treatment works (POTW) or municipal wastewater collection and treatment system means a "treatment work" as defined by § 212 of the Act (33 USC 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 sewage or wastes and any conveyances which convey wastewater to a treatment plant. The term also means the municipal entity having jurisdiction over the users and responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the treatment works. For the purposes of this chapter, "POTW" shall also include any sewers that convey wastewaters to the POTW from persons outside the City who are, by contract or agreements with the City, users of the City's POTW.
(P.14) POTW treatment plant means that portion of the POTW designed to provide treatment of wastewater.
(P.15) Peak day limit means the concentration of a pollutant not to be exceeded when measured by an instantaneous grab sample taken at any time during a normal production day. If only one sample is taken during a calendar month, the peak day limit is not applicable to determine compliance; the 30-Day average limit will be used to determine user compliance.
(P.16) Pretreatment facility or pretreatment facilities, as used or referenced in this article, means any facility or receptacle which is required by any provision of this Code to collect, filter, or pretreat nondomestic wastewater.
(Q.1) Reserved.
(R.1) Residential discharge shall mean any discharge which does not include any industrial discharge.
(R.2) Residential user or domestic user shall mean any contributor to or user of the Oklahoma City sanitary sewer and wastewater system whose discharge is, determined by the Director to be, primarily of a character discharged into the sanitary sewer system of a residential or housekeeping unit. Any user discharging industrial waste as a part or portion of its regular discharge shall not be deemed a residential user.
(R.3) Residential or housekeeping unit shall mean a unit or units which are maintained and operated solely for the use and benefit of the occupants dwelling in said unit or units as their primary place of residence, including, but not limited to, residential houses, multifamily residential houses, duplexes, triplexes, apartments, apartment complexes, condominiums, condominium complexes, mobile homes, and mobile home parks.
(R.4) Responsible party means the entity who, at the discretion of the Director, is deemed to have caused the violation(s).
(S.1) Sample port means the last discharge point of the pretreatment system prior to commingling with sanitary waste.
(S.2) Septic tank waste means any sewage from holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks.
(S.3) Service means the inspecting, cleaning, constructing, installing, operating or maintaining of a pretreatment facility, or any portion thereof. Provided, however, service as defined in this subsection shall not include installation or maintenance of pretreatment facilities by licensed plumbers under the BOCA Code.
(S.4) Sewage means human excrement and gray water (household showers, dishwashing operations, etc.).
(S.5) Significant industrial user or significant user means: (a) users subject to categorical pretreatment standards; and (b) any other user that (i) discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more of process wastewater, (ii) contributes a process waste stream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the treatment plant, or, (iii) is designated as significant by the City on the basis that the user has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.
(S.6) Slug load means any discharge at a flow rate or concentration which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in Section 47-211 of this chapter or any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including, but not limited to, an accidental spill or non-customary batch discharge.
(S.7) Standard analysis methods shall mean the examination and analytical procedures set forth in the latest edition at the time of analysis of "Methods for Chemical Analysis of Water and Wastes" as approved by the Environmental Protection Agency's Water Quality Control Laboratory, Cincinnati, Ohio, or other procedures set forth in the Federal Regulations, 40 CFR 136, Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of Pollutants.
(S.8) Standard industrial classification (SIC) means a classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by U.S. Office of Management and Budget.
(S.9) Stormwater means any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation and resulting therefrom, including but not limited to rain, snow, sleet, hail and snow melt.
(S.10) Sewage collection systems includes gravity sewage collection lines not larger than 12 inches in diameter and except systems constructed in whole or in part with funds from EPA and/or administered by DEQ.
(S.11) Small commercial sewage treatment system means a sewage treatment system which serves a public or commercial establishment which exhibits a flow of not greater than 5,000 gallons per day. This includes such establishments as small restaurants, retail stores, and commercial office buildings, but does not include residential systems, alternative systems, lift stations, discharging systems, or land treatment systems.
(S.12) Storage tank waste shall mean the wastewater from storage, loading and unloading, transportation or conveyance of any raw material, immediate product, finished product, by-product, or waste product.
(T.1) Thirty-day average limit means the numerical value by which a pollutant is limited to be discharged over any 30-day period. Compliance with the 30-Day average limit shall be determined from the numerical value of all samples taken during any 30-day period.
(T.2) 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 liquids, and which is removable by laboratory filtering.
(T.3) 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 provisions of § 307 of the Clean Water Act (33 USC 1317), as amended, or other acts or regulations promulgated by the United States or the State of Oklahoma.
(T.4) Transport, transporting or transportation, as used or referenced in this article, means the transporting, hauling, moving or otherwise removal of wastewater from a pretreatment facility.
(T.5) Treatment plant effluent means any discharge of pollutants from the POTW into waters of the State.
(U.1) User means any person who contributes, causes or permits the contribution of wastewater into the City's municipal wastewater collection and treatment system.
(U.2) Utilities Department means the City's Utilities Department. (V.1) Reserved.
(W.1) Wastewater or sewage means the liquid and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes, including but not limited to grease, from all sources, including, but not limited to, dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, manufacturing facilities, and institutions, together with any groundwater, surface water, and stormwater that may be present, whether treated or untreated, and which flows into or is permitted to enter the municipal wastewater collection treatment system.
(W.2) Wastewater discharge permit has the meaning as set forth in Article VII, Division 3 of this chapter and referenced in 40 CFR 403.8(f)(1)(iii).
(W.3) 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, which are contained within, flow through, or border upon the State or any portion thereof.
(X.1) Reserved.
(Y.1) Reserved.
(Z.1) Reserved.
(Code 1980, § 41-1.3; Ord. No. 19830, § 1, 9-29-92; Ord. No. 20277, § 1, 1-24-95; Ord. No. 20916, § 1, 10-21-97; Ord. No. 20934, § 1, 11-12-97; Ord. No. 22053, § 1, 10-8-02; Ord. No. 23451, § 8, 9-25-07; Ord. No. 24155, § 1, 10-19-10; Ord. No. 24966, § 1, 9-9-14; Ord. No. 25109, § 1, 3-3-15; Ord. No. 27272, § 1, 1-31-23)
Source: City of Oklahoma City, Municipal Code and City Charter (Municode Library, library.municode.com)URL: https://library.municode.com/ok/oklahoma_city/codes/code_of_ordinances?nodeId=OKMUCO2020_CH47SESEDI_ARTIINGE_S47-1DEFetched: 10/28/2026