§ 28-26. Definitions and abbreviations.

(a)

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:

(1)

Act or "the act." The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as existing or as amended from time to time, 33 USC 1251 et seq. (1987).

(2)

Approval authority. The Florida Department of Environmental Protection or its successor agencies.

(3)

Authorized representative of the industrial user. An authorized representative of an industrial user shall mean any of the following:

a.

A responsible corporate officer, as defined in section 28-26, if the user is a corporation;

b.

A general partner or proprietor, if the user is a partnership or sole proprietor, respectively;

c.

A duly authorized representative of the individual designated in paragraph a and b above if:

1.

The authorization is made in writing by the individual designated in paragraph a and b above,

2.

The authorization specifies either an individual or a position having responsibility for the overall operation of the facility from which the discharge originates, (such as the position of plant manager, operator of a well, or a well field superintendent, or a position of equivalent responsibility) or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company, and

3.

The written authorization is submitted to the city.

d.

A duly authorized municipal official, if the user is a municipal department.

(4)

Batch discharge. A discharge from a holding tank to the sewer system after treatment at a noncontinuous or random frequency.

(5)

Best Management Practices (BMPs). Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices implementing prohibitions listed in section 28-204 of this chapter. Best management practices also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, industrial sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage.

(6)

BOD (denoting biochemical oxygen demand). The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five (5) days at twenty (20) degrees Celsius (20° C), expressed in milligrams per liter.

(7)

Building drain. In plumbing, that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system that receives the discharge from waste, and other allowable drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer beginning five (5) feet outside the building wall.

(8)

Building sewer. In plumbing, the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal and is also called "house connection," "service connection," "service lateral" or "house sewer."

(9)

Bypass. The intentional diversion of wastewater streams from any portion of an industrial user's pretreatment facility.

(10)

C. Celsius degrees.

(11)

Categorical Industrial User (CIU). A user subject to categorical pretreatment standards under Rule 62-625 F.A.C.

(12)

Categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard or national categorical pretreatment standard. Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with the act which apply to existing or new industrial users in specific subcategories and which appear in F.A.C. ch. 62-625, as existing or as may be amended from time to time.

(13)

City. The City of Fort Lauderdale.

(14)

COD (denoting chemical oxygen demand). A measure of the oxygen required to oxidize organic matter and oxidizable compounds in water, expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/l).

(15)

Combined wastestream formula (CWF). A procedure for calculating alternative discharge limits at industrial facilities where a regulated wastestream from an industrial user is combined with other allowable wastestreams prior to treatment or discharge as provided for in F.A.C. ch. 62-625, as existing or as may be amended from time to time.

(16)

Completion date. The date of completion of a new sanitary sewer collection system as certified by the city engineer.

(17)

Connection fee. The connection fee is a one-time, mandatory lump sum charge that represents a portion of the cost of the development of the sanitary sewer collection system attributable to a property and is required to be paid in order to connect to newly constructed sanitary sewer facilities constructed as part of WaterWorks 2011.

(18)

Control manhole. A structure that is accessible for the purpose of maintaining a building sewer. A control manhole may be used as an inspection chamber.

(19)

Cooling water. The water discharge from any system of condensation, air conditioning, cooling, refrigeration, or other sources. It shall contain no polluting substances which would produce BOD or suspended solids each in excess of ten (10) milligrams per liter by weight, or toxic substances as limited in this chapter or other polluting substances which may be limited in this chapter. No cooling water is permitted to be discharged to sanitary sewer without a variance.

(20)

Customer or consumer. An individual, corporation, partnership, firm or association furnished sewage disposal service by the city.

(21)

Daily maximum. The arithmetic average of all effluent samples for a pollutant collected during a calendar day.

(22)

Daily maximum limit. The maximum allowable discharge limit of a pollutant during a calendar day. Where daily maximum limits are expressed in terms of a concentration, the daily discharge is the arithmetic average measurement of the pollutant concentration derived from all measurements taken that day.

(23)

Developer. Any individual, corporation, partnership, firm or association developing a property or properties for resale, rental or lease, at or to which sewage disposal service is to be rendered by the city, and who shall have the legal right to negotiate for such service. Where applicable, the word means any individual, corporation, partnership, firm or association applying for the extension of sewers or force mains in order to serve a certain property.

(24)

Director. The person designated by the city to head the department responsible for the operation of the wastewater treatment facilities or his or her duly authorized representative.

(25)

Discharge. The introduction of pollutants into a WWF from any source.

(26)

Discharge of pollutant. Any release of effluent which causes an impairment of water quality to a degree that has an adverse effect on the beneficial use of the water, or is in violation of federal, state or local regulations.

(27)

Domestic user. All users of sewage treatment facilities not classified as industrial users.

(28)

Effluent. Sewage, water or other allowed liquid, discharging from any treatment device or facilities.

(29)

Environmental Protection Agency or EPA. The United States Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the regional water management division director, or other duly authorized official of said agency.

(30)

Equivalent residential connection (ERC). The factor used to calculate the connection fee to be charged to all properties.

(31)

Existing source. Any source of discharge that is not a new source.

(32)

Force main. A pressure sewer pipe line for the transmission of sewage. Such pipe cannot receive sewage, except under pressure by pumping.

(33)

Garbage. Solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food including, but not limited to, the handling, storage, and sale of produce.

(34)

Grab sample. An individual, discrete sample collected at a specific time. A grab sample includes all sub samples or aliquots, sample fractions, and all applicable field quality control samples collected at the same locations within a time not exceeding fifteen (15) minutes.

(35)

Ground garbage. Solid wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that has been shredded or comminuted to such a degree that all particles will be carried freely in suspension in public sewers, with no particle greater than one-half (½) inch in any dimension.

(36)

Indirect discharge or discharge. The introduction of pollutants into the WWF from any source.

(37)

Industrial cost recovery. Recovery by the grantee of the grant amount allocable to the treatment and/or transmission of wastes from industrial users of a treatment works.

(38)

Industrial user or user. Any nondomestic user of the WWF identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual of the U.S. Office of Management and Budget, as existing or as may be amended and supplemented from time to time.

(39)

Industrial waste. Any liquid, solid or gaseous substance or form of energy or combination thereof resulting from any process of industrial, commercial, governmental and institutional concerns, manufacturing, business, trade, or research, including the development, recovery, or processing of natural resources, or from sources identified in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual of the United States Office of Management and Budget, as existing or as amended (excluding well cooling water).

(40)

Influent. Sewage, raw or partly treated, flowing into any sewage treatment device pumping station or related facilities.

(41)

Inspection chamber. An accessible structure through which sewage from a building sewer flows and from which samples of such sewage may be collected for the purpose of being tested.

(42)

Instantaneous limit. 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.

(43)

Interceptor. A large size gravity flow sewer or force main for the transmission of sewage which has been designed to receive sewage from one (1) or more collecting sewers or pumping stations.

(44)

Interference. A discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, both:

a.

Inhibits or disrupts the WWF, its treatment processes or operations or its domestic wastewater residuals processes, use or disposal; and

b.

Is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the WWF permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation) or prevents use or disposal of domestic wastewater residuals in compliance with local regulations or rules of the FDEP and F.S. Ch. 403.

(45)

Laboratory determination. The measurements, tests, and analyses of the characteristics of waters and wastes in accordance with the provisions of 40 CFR 136 — Guidelines Establishing Test Procedures for the Analysis of Pollutants, as existing or as may be amended from time to time.

(46)

Local limit. Specific discharge limits developed and enforced by the director upon industrial or commercial facilities to implement the general and specific discharge prohibitions listed in section 28-204 of Article V.

(47)

Main sewer line. The major gravity sewer line to which one (1) or more lateral sewers may be tributary.

(48)

Medical waste. Isolation wastes, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological wastes, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding or other materials, surgical wastes, potentially contaminated laboratory wastes and dialysis wastes.

(49)

Meter measurement. The act of or result of determining the quantity of water supplied or being discharged by a user and determined by an instrument or device used for such measurements and approved by the director.

(50)

Method detection limit. An estimate of the minimum amount of a substance that an analyte process can reliably detect. An MDL is analyte- and matrix-specific and is laboratory dependent.

(51)

Monthly average. The sum of all daily discharges measured during a calendar month divided by the number of daily discharges measured during that month.

(52)

Monthly average limit. 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.

(53)

New source.

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 the act and F.A.C. ch. 62-625, 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;

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 of 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 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 section 2 or 3 above but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.

c.

Construction of a new source, as defined in this article, has commenced if the owner or operator has begun, or caused to begin as part of a continuous onsite construction program any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment, or 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 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 section.

(54)

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.

(55)

Nonpolar oil and grease. Oil and grease which originates from petroleum products including light hydrocarbons and heavy hydrocarbons such as, but not limited to, jet fuels, crude oils, diesel fuel, asphalt, lubricants and cutting fluids.

(56)

Non-significant Categorical Industrial User (NSCIU). A user that discharges one hundred (100) gallons per day (gpd) or less of total categorical wastewater (excluding sanitary and boiler blowdown wastewater, unless specifically included in the pretreatment standard) and:

a.

Has consistently complied with all applicable categorical pretreatment standards and requirements;

b.

Annually submits the certification statement required in section 28-232(b)(2), together with any additional information necessary to support the certification statement; and

c.

Never discharges any untreated categorical process wastewater.

(57)

Operation and maintenance. The process and act of keeping all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage in normal operation and in a good state of repair, including the replacement of such facilities when necessary.

(58)

Pass through. A discharge that exits the WWF 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 WWF's permit, (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).

(59)

Permit. An industrial waste discharge permit, including a no discharge permit issued to an industrial user by the city.

(60)

Person. Any individual, partnership, co-partnership, firm, company, corporation, governmental entity, or any other legal entity; or their legal representatives, agents, or assigns.

(61)

pH. A measure of the acidity or alkalinity of a solution, expressed in standard units.

(62)

Plumbing. All pipes, fittings, and appurtenances on the property owner's side of the property line or outside easement areas. This includes the property owner's extension from the sewer lateral up to and including the house plumbing.

(63)

Point source. Any discernible, confined and discrete conveyance including but not limited to a pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft from which pollutants are or may be discharged.

(64)

Polar oil and grease. Oil and grease which originates from animals or vegetables and may include waxes, fatty acids, fats, oil and soaps.

(65)

Pollutant. Any waste that exceeds the limits for acceptable discharge to the WWF including but not limited to the following wastes: dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock, sand, dirt and industrial, municipal or agricultural waste or substance discharged into water.

(66)

Pollution. Any man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological or radiological integrity of water.

(67)

ppm. Part per million by weight, or milligrams per liter.

(68)

Pretreatment. 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 discharging or otherwise introducing such pollutants into the WWF. The reduction or alteration can be obtained by physical, chemical, or biological processes, by process changes or by other means, except as prohibited by F.A.C. ch. 62-625.

(69)

Pretreatment facilities. Structures, devices or equipment for the purpose of removing deleterious wastes from sewage generated from a premises prior to its discharge into a public sewer.

(70)

Pretreatment requirements. Any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, other than a pretreatment standard, imposed on an industrial user.

(71)

Pretreatment standard or standards. Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits to a WWF promulgated by the state, which applies to industrial users. This term includes prohibited discharge limits established in F.A.C. ch. 62-625.

(72)

Prohibited discharge standards or prohibited discharges. Absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances, as set forth in section 28-204 of this chapter.

(73)

Process wastewater. Any water which, during manufacturing or processing comes into direct contact with or results from the production of or use of any raw material, intermediate product, byproduct, or waste product.

(74)

Property owner. The record title holder of a premises served or to be served with a sewer connection by the city.

(75)

Public sewer. A sewer which is owned or controlled by the city, or both.

(76)

Responsible corporate officer.

a.

A president, secretary, treasurer, or 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.

b.

A manager, provided the manager:

1.

Is authorized to make management decisions governing the operation of the regulated facility including having duty of making major capital investment recommendations;

2.

Is authorized to initiate comprehensive measures to assure compliance with laws;

3.

Can ensure that necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and accurate information of control mechanism requirements; and

4.

Has been assigned or delegated the authority to sign documents in accordance with corporate procedures.

(77)

Sample. A representative part of a larger whole which can be presented as evidence of quality. Samples are recognized depending on the collection method as follows:

a.

Grab sample. An individual sample collected from a wastestream in less than fifteen (15) minutes without regard for flow or time.

b.

Time proportional composite sample. A sample consisting of a minimum of eight (8) equal volume, discrete sample aliquots collected at equal time intervals over the compositing period and combined to form a representative sample.

c.

Flow proportional composite sample. A sample consisting of a minimum of eight (8) discrete sample aliquots collected proportional to the flow rate of the liquid being sampled over the compositing period and combined to form a representative sample. Two (2) methods may be used to collect this type of sample. One (1) method collects equal volume aliquots at time intervals which vary based on the stream flow. The other method collects aliquots of varying volume, based on stream flow, at constant time intervals.

(78)

Sanitary sewer. A sewer which carries sewage (wastewater) and to which storm, surface, and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.

(79)

Sanitary sewer collection system. The system of sanitary sewers, laterals and manholes intended for the provision of sanitary sewer service to a single area defined by specific geographic boundaries.

(80)

Septic tank waste. Any sewage contained in holding tanks such as vessels, chemical toilets, campers, trailers, and septic tanks.

(81)

Service lateral. A sewer connection extending from the collecting sewer in the street to a customer's property line or from the collecting sewer in an easement to the easement line, and the term is often referred to as a "house connection".

(82)

Severe property damage. Substantial physical damage to property, damage to a 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.

(83)

Sewage. A combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions, and industrial establishments, together with such infiltration as may be present, and is often referred to as "wastewater."

(84)

Sewage flow meter. A device that measures and records the flow of sewage (wastewater). It may also measure the rate of flow.

(85)

Sewer (also known as collection sewer). The gravity flow sloping pipe facility installed in public streets, rights-of-way, and easements for the collection of sewage.

(86)

Sewer system of the city. The sanitary sewer collection system within the corporate limits of the city.

(87)

Sewerage system. All facilities for collecting, pumping, transmission, treatment, and disposal of sewage.

(88)

Significant industrial user (SIU). Except as provided in paragraphs c and d below, means the following:

a.

CIUs; and

b.

Any other user that discharges an average of twenty-five thousand (25,000) gpd or more of process wastewater to the WWF (excluding sanitary and boiler blowdown wastewater); contributes a process waste stream which makes up five (5) percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the WWF; or is designated as such by the director on the basis that the user has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the WWF's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement in accordance with paragraph 62-625 F.A.C.

c.

The director may determine that a user subject to categorical pretreatment standards is a NSCIU in accordance with section 28-26(a).

d.

Upon finding that a user meeting criteria in paragraph b above has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the WWF's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement, the director may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from a user, and in accordance with paragraph 62-625.500(2)(e), F.A.C., determine that such user is not an SIU.

(89)

Sludge. Accumulated solids, residues, and precipitates generated as a result of waste treatment or processing, including wastewater treatment, water supply treatment, or operation of an air pollution control facility, and mixed liquids and solids pumped from septic tanks, grease traps, privies, or similar waste disposal appurtenances.

(90)

Slug discharge. Any discharge of nonroutine, episodic nature, which has a reasonable potential to cause interference or pass through or in any other way violate the WWF's regulations, local limits or permit conditions.

(91)

Standard industrial classification code (SIC). A classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the United States Office of Management and Budget.

(92)

Storm water. Any flow occurring during or following rainfall resulting from such precipitation.

(93)

Technical review criteria violations. Violations defined as those which thirty-three (33) percent or more of all of the measurements for each pollutant parameter taken during a six-month period equal or exceed the product of the numeric pretreatment standard or requirement including instantaneous limits, multiplied by the applicable technical review criteria. The technical review criteria is 1.4 for BOD, TSS, total oil and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH.

(94)

Testing. The analysis of samples of sewage.

(95)

Total suspended solids. 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.

(96)

Total toxic organics (TTO). The summation of all quantifiable values, greater than 0.01 mg/l, of toxic organic substances identified by the EPA for electroplating point source categories listed in 40 CFR 413.02(i) and for metal finishing subcategories listed in 40 CFR 433.11(e).

(97)

Toxic substance. Any substance, whether gaseous, liquid, or solid, which when discharged to the sewer system in sufficient quantities may tend to interfere with any sewage treatment process or to constitute a hazard to human beings or animals or inhibit aquatic life or create a hazard to recreation in the receiving waters of the effluent from the sewage treatment plant.

(98)

Unpolluted water. Water discharged in its original state or water discharged which, after use for any purpose, is at least equal chemically, physically, and biologically to the water from its original source, i.e., potable water, groundwater, river and canal water.

(99)

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 industrial user.

(100)

User or industrial user. Any person who directly or indirectly discharges, causes or permits the discharge of wastewater into the WWF.

(101)

User charge. Charges assigned to each user which defray a proportionate share of the cost of operation and maintenance of the sewerage system and is often referred to as "sewage disposal service charge."

(102)

Wastewater. Liquid and water-carried wastes and sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, which are contributed to the WWF.

(103)

Wastewater rate (also known as sewer charge or user charge). The charge established for the collection, treatment and disposal of sewage (wastewater) based upon volume discharged into a sewer and a fixed charge based on meter size and customer costs.

(104)

Wastewater facility or WWF. Any facility which can reasonably be expected to be a source of water pollution and include any or all of the following: the collection/ transmission system, the treatment plant, the reuse or disposal system, and/or the residuals management facility.

(105)

Wastewater treatment plant or treatment plant. That portion of the WWF which is designed to provide treatment of municipal sewage and industrial waste.

(106)

WaterWorks 2011. A ten-year program approved by the commission on December 10, 2002 for the implementation of water and wastewater capital improvements.

(b)

Abbreviations. The following abbreviations, when used in this chapter, shall have the following 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
EPA	United States Environmental Protection Agency (federal)
ERC	Equivalent Residential Connection
F.A.C.	Florida Administrative Code
FDEP	Florida Department of Environmental Protection
F.S.	Florida Statutes
GPD	gallons per day
IWDP	Industrial waste discharge permit
IU	Industrial user
MDL	Method Detection Limit
MG/L	milligrams per liter
NPDES	National pollutant discharge elimination system
NSCIU	Non-Significant categorical industrial user
O & M	Operation and maintenance
RCRA	Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
SIC	Standard industrial classification
SIU	Significant industrial user
SNC	Significant noncompliance
TRC	Technical Review Criteria
TSS	Total suspended solids
TTO	Total toxic organics
USC	United States Code
WWF	City of Fort Lauderdale Wastewater Treatment Facilities

 

(Code 1953, § 37-1; Ord. No. C-77-91, § 1, 7-19-77; Ord. No. C-83-65, § 1, 5-17-83; Ord. No. C-98-61, § 1, 10-20-98; Ord. No. C-02-39, § 1, 12-17-02 ; Ord. No. C-08-26, § 1, 6-17-08 ; Ord. No. C-12-49, § 1, 12-18-12 )