§ 98-91. Definitions.

Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meanings of the terms used in this article shall be as follows:

Approved means approved by the city and the state department of environmental quality

BOD (denoting biochemical oxygen demand) means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20 degrees Celsius.

Building drain means that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning five feet outside the inner face of the building wall and is considered the property of the owner.

Building sewers means the extension from the building drain to the public sewer connection point approximately eight feet from the property line or places of disposal and is considered city property.

Chemical oxygen demand (COD) means a measure of oxygen-consuming capacity of inorganic and organic matter present in water or wastewater. It is expressed as the amount of oxygen consumed from a chemical oxidant in a specified test. It does not differentiate between stable and unstable organic matter and thus does not necessarily correlate with biochemical oxygen demand. Also known as OC and DOC, oxygen consumed and dichromate oxygen consumed, respectively.

Chlorine demand means the difference between the amount of chlorine added to water or wastewater and the amount of residual chlorine remaining at the end of a specified contact period. The demand for any given water varies with the amount of chlorine applied, time of contact and temperature.

City means the City of Alpena, Alpena County, Michigan, as represented by the Alpena City Council.

City manager means the chief administrative officer of the city appointed by the city council, regardless of title, or his or her authorized representative.

Clean Water Act means the Federal Pollution Control Act of 1972 (Public Law 92-500), as amended, by the Clean Water Act of 1977 (PL 95-217).

Combined sewer means a sewer receiving both surface runoff and sewage.

Combined system means the combined physical resources of the water division and the wastewater division and includes all subsequent additions, including pumps, mains, storage tanks, service connections, meters, vaults, pump stations, blowers, and all other facilities used or useful in pumping, treatment, and distribution of public water and the collection and treatment of wastewater.

Compatible pollutant means a substance amenable to treatment in the wastewater treatment plant such as biochemical oxygen demand, suspended solids, pH and fecal coliform bacteria, plus additional pollutants identified in NPDES permit if the publicly owned treatment works was designed to treat such pollutants, and in fact does remove such pollutant to a substantial degree. Examples of such additional pollutants may include: Chemical oxygen demand, total organic carbon, phosphorus and phosphorus compound, nitrogen compounds, fats, oils and greases of animal or vegetable origin.

Connection fee means the amount charged for the installation of a service pipe and cleanout at the time and in the amount hereinafter provided, to each premise in the city that connect to the sewer main. The established fee will be determined by the average cost for materials, labor, and restoration required to accomplish the connection, and a reasonable allowance to facilitate the equal distribution of costs associated with the original construction of the system's infrastructure. The average connection fee for various sized pipes will be reviewed annually and adjusted as needed to ensure recovery of actual costs for installing the service pipe.

Customer means the person who owns or leases any home or dwelling, retail or wholesale business, multifamily dwelling, manufacturing establishment, educational, religious or social establishment, or any federal, state or local government office or service facility that are served by the system.

Customer service charge means the charge levied to all customers for administrative costs associated with the collection and treatment of wastewater, including without limitation the costs for postage, office supplies, labor, utilities, rent and contracted services related to utility billing services. The customer service charge is a means of distributing these costs equally to all utility customers.

Debt service charge means charges levied to customers of the system and which are used to pay principal, interest and administrative costs of retiring the debt incurred for construction of the system. The debt service charge shall be in addition to the user charge specified in this section.

Federal grant means a grant in aid in construction of wastewater treatment works provided under PL 92-500, or the Federal Clean Water Act.

Footing drain means a pipe or conduit which is placed around the perimeter of a building foundation and which intentionally admits groundwater.

Garbage means solid wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food and from the handling, storage and sale of produce.

Incompatible pollutants means any pollutant which is not a compatible pollutant.

Industrial wastes means the wastewater discharges from industrial, manufacturing trade or business process, as distinct from their employees' domestic wastes or wastes from sanitary conveniences.

Infiltration means that portion of groundwater which is unintentionally admitted to a sewer.

Laboratory determination means the measurements, tests and analyses of the characteristics of waters and wastes in accordance with the methods contained in the latest edition at the time of any such measurement, test or analysis, of Standard Methods for Examination of Water and Wastewater, a joint publication of the American Public Health Association, the American Waterworks Association and the American Water Pollution Control Federation or in accordance with any other method prescribed by the rules and regulations promulgated pursuant to this division.

Local agency means the city or its designated official or department.

Major contributing industry means any industrial users of the publicly owned treatment works that:

(1)

Has a flow of 50,000 gallons or more per average work day;

(2)

Has a flow greater than five percent of the flow carried by the system receiving the waste;

(3)

Has in its waste, a toxic pollutant in toxic amounts as defined in the standards issued under section 307(a) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972; or

(4)

Is found by the permit issuance authority in connection with the issuance of an NPDES permit to the publicly owned treatment works receiving the waste, to have significant impact, either singly or in combination with other contributing industries, on that treatment works or upon the quality of effluent from that treatment works. All major contributing industries shall be monitored.

Natural outlet means any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or ground water.

NPDES permit means a permit issued pursuant to the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System prescribed in U.S. Public Law 92-500.

Operation, maintenance, administrative and replacement costs means all costs, direct and indirect, necessary to provide adequate water supply on a continuing basis to conform with federal, state and local wastewater management requirements and to assure optimum long-term management of the wastewater division of the combined system, including the funding of a capital reserve fund which fund, on an annual basis, shall be equivalent to the average annual depreciation of the capital components of the system.

Person means any individual, firm, company, association, society or group.

pH means the logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration of a solution expressed in gram atoms per liter of solution.

PL 92-500 means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act of 1972, being Public Law 92-500 of the 92 Congress, adopted on October 18, 1972.

Premises shall mean a parcel of property or lot and includes appurtenant land and improvements.

Properly shredded garbage means the wastes from the preparation, cooking or dispensing of food that have been shredded to such degree that all particles will be carried freely under the flow condition normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than one-half inch in any dimension.

Public sewer means a sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights, and is controlled by the local agency.

Replacement means the replacement in whole or in part of any equipment in the wastewater transportation or treatment systems to ensure continuous treatment of wastewater in accordance with the NPDES permit and other state and federal regulations.

Sanitary sewer means a sewer which carries wastewater and to which stormwater, surface water and groundwater are not intentionally admitted.

Service line inspection fee means the amount charged to perform inspections to ensure the all service line installation materials and techniques conform to ordinance requirements. The fee is established to recover equipment, labor, and administrative costs associated with the inspection of the service line.

Sewer means a pipe or conduit for carrying wastewater.

Sewer service charge means the sum applicable of the user charge, surcharges and debt service charges.

Shall is mandatory; may is permissive.

Storm sewer or storm drain means a sewer which carries storm and surface waters and drainage, but excludes sewage and polluted industrial wastes.

Suspended solids means solids what either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in water, sewage or other liquids and which are removable by laboratory filtering.

User charge means a charge levied on users of the treatment works for the cost of operation and maintenance of sewerage works pursuant to section 204 (b) of PL 92-500 and includes the cost of replacement.

User class means the kind of user connected to sanitary sewers including but not limited to residential, industrial, commercial, institutional and governmental, as further defined below:

(1)

Residential user means a user of the treatment works whose premises or buildings are used primarily as a domicile for one or more persons, including dwelling units such as detached, semi-detached and row houses, mobile homes, apartments, or permanent multifamily dwelling (transit lodging is not included, it is considered commercial).

(2)

Commercial user means an establishment listed in the Office of Management and Budget's Standard Industrial Classification Manual, 1972 Edition, involved in a commercial enterprise, business or service which, based on a determination by the local agency, discharges primarily segregated domestic wastes or wastes from sanitary conveniences and which is not a residential user or an industrial user.

(3)

Institutional user means any establishment listed in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual involved in a social, charitable, religious or educational function which, based on a determination by the local agency, discharges primarily segregated domestic wastes or wastes from sanitary conveniences.

(4)

Governmental user means any federal, state or local government user of the wastewater treatment works.

Wastewater means combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business building, institutions and industrial establishments, together with such groundwaters as may be present.

Wastewater treatment plant means any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.

Wastewater works means all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of wastewater.

Watercourse means a channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.

(Ord. No. 01-308, § 1, 4-2-2001)

Cross reference

Definitions generally, § 1-2.