10.16.050 Use of public sewers.
(1) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any stormwater, surface water, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, uncontaminated cooling water, or unpolluted industrial process waters to any sanitary sewer.
(2) Stormwater and all other unpolluted drainage shall be discharged to storm sewers, or to a natural outlet approved by the director. Industrial cooling water or unpolluted process waters may be discharged, on written approval of the director, to a storm sewer or natural outlet.
(3) No person shall contribute or cause to be contributed, directly or indirectly, any pollutant or wastewater which will interfere with the operation or performance of the POTW. These general prohibitions apply to all such users of the POTW whether or not the user is subject to National Categorical Pretreatment Standards or any other national, state, or local Pretreatment Standards or requirements. A user may not contribute the following substances to any POTW:
(a) Any liquids, solids, or gases which by reason of their nature or quantity are, or may be, sufficient either alone or by interaction with other substances to cause fire or explosion or be injurious in any other way to the POTW or to the operation of the POTW. At no time shall two successive readings on an explosion hazard meter, at the point of discharge in the system (or at any point in the system) be more than five percent (5%) nor any single reading over ten percent (10%) of the Lower Exposure Limit (LEL) of the meter. Prohibited materials include, but are not limited to; gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, benzene, toluene, zylene, ethers, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, peroxides, chlorates, perchlorates, bromates, carbides, hydrides and sulfides, and any other substances which the city, the state or EPA has notified the User is a fire hazard or a hazard to the system.
(b) Solid or viscous substances which may cause obstruction to the flow in a sewer or other interference with the operation of the wastewater treatment facilities such as, but not limited to: grease, garbage with particules greater than one-half inch (2”) in any dimension, animal guts or tissues, paunch manure, bones, hair, hides or fleshings, entrails, whole blood, feathers, ashes, concrete, cinders, sand, spent lime, stone or marble dust, metal, glass, straw, shavings, grass clippings, rags, spent grains, spent hops, waste paper, wood, plastics, gas, tar, asphalt residues, residues from refining, or processing of fuel or lubricating oil, mud, or glass grinding or polishing wastes.
(c) Any wastewater having a pH less than 5.0, or greater than 9, unless the POTW is specifically designed to accommodate such wastewater, or wastewater having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment, and/or personnel of the POTW.
(d) Any wastewater containing toxic pollutants in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with other pollutants, to injure or interfere with any wastewater treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals, create a toxic effect in the receiving waters of the POTW, or to exceed the limitations set forth in a Categorical Pretreatment Standard. A toxic pollutant shall include but not be limited to any pollutant identified pursuant to Section 307(a) of the Act.
(e) Any noxious or malodorous liquids, gases, or solids which either singly or by interaction with other wastes are sufficient to create a public nuisance or hazard to life or are sufficient to prevent entry into the sewers for maintenance and repair.
(f) Any substance which may cause the POTW's effluent or any other product of the POTW such as residues, sludges, or scums, to be unsuitable for reclamation and reuse or to interfere with the reclamation process. In no case shall a substance discharged to the POTW cause the POTW to be in noncompliance with sludge use or disposal criteria, guidelines, or regulations developed under Section 405 of the Act; any criteria, guidelines, or regulations affecting sludge use or disposal developed pursuant to federal or state regulations and criteria applicable to the sludge method being used.
(g) Any substances which will cause the POTW to violate its NPDES and/or State Disposal System Permit or the receiving water quality standards.
(h) Any wastewater with objectionable color not removed in the treatment process, such as, but not limited to, dye waste and vegetable tanning solutions.
(i) Any wastewater having a temperature which will inhibit biological activity in the POTW treatment plant resulting in interference, but in no case wastewater with a temperature at the introduction into the sewers which exceeds 40°C (104° F).
(j) Any pollutants, including oxygen demanding pollutants (BOD, etc.), released at a flow rate and/or pollutant concentration which a user knows or has reason to know will cause interference to the POTW. In no case shall a slug load have a flow rate or contain concentration or qualities of pollutants that exceed for any time period longer than fifteen (15) minutes more than five (5) times the average twenty-four (24) hour concentration, quantities, or flow during normal operation.
(k) Any wastewater containing any radioactive wastes or isotopes of such halflife or concentration as may exceed compliance with applicable state or federal regulations.
(l) No person shall discharge wastewater containing in excess of:
(1.0) mg/L arsenic
(0.11) mg/L cadmium
(0.25) mg/L chrome, hexavalent
(1.0) mg/L chromium, total
(1.0) mg/L copper
(0.2) mg/L free cyanide
(0.64) mg/L total cyanide
(0.4) mg/L lead
(0.05) mg/L mercury
(1.0) mg/L nickel
(0.2) mg/L silver
(1.0) mg/L zinc
(50) mg/L of oil or grease of mineral, animal, vegetable, or petroleum origin.
(4) No discharger shall increase the use of potable or process water in any way, nor mix separate waste streams for the purpose of diluting a discharge as a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve compliance with the standards set forth in this Ordinance.
(5) When the director determines that a user is contributing to the POTW any of the above enumerated substances in such amounts as to interfere with the operation of the POTW, the director shall: 1) Advise the user of the impact of the contribution on the POTW; and 2) Develop effluent limitation(s) for such user to correct the interference with the POTW.
(6) If any waters or wastes are discharged, or are proposed to be discharged to the public sewers, which waters contain the substances or possess the characteristics enumerated in subsection (4) of this section, and which in the judgment of the director may have a deleterious effect upon the sewage works, processes, equipment, or receiving waters, or which otherwise create a hazard to life or constitute a public nuisance, the director may:
(a) reject the wastes; or
(b) require pretreatment to an acceptable condition for discharge to the public sewers; and/or
(c) require control over the quantities and rates of discharge; and/or
(d) require payment to cover the added cost of handling and treating the wastes not covered by existing sewer charges under the provisions of subsection (11) of this section.
If the director permits the pretreatment or equalization of waste flows, the design and installation of the plants and equipment shall be subject to the review and approval of the director, and the requirements of all applicable codes, ordinances, and laws.
(7) Grease, oil, and sand interceptors shall be provided when, in the opinion of the director, they are necessary for the proper handling of liquid wastes containing grease in excessive amounts, or any flammable wastes, sand, or other harmful ingredients; except that such interceptors shall not be required for private living quarters or dwelling units. All interceptors shall be of a type and capacity approved by the director and shall be located as to be readily and easily accessible for cleaning and inspection.
(8) Where preliminary treatment or flow-equalizing facilities are provided for any waters or wastes, they shall be maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective operation by the owner at his expense.
(9) When required by the director, the owner of any property served by a building sewer carrying industrial wastes shall install a suitable control manhole together with such necessary meters and other appurtenances in the building sewer to facilitate observation, sampling, and measurement of the wastes. Such manhole, when required, shall be accessibly and safely located, and shall be constructed in accordance with plans approved by the director. The manhole shall be installed by the owner at his expense, and shall be maintained by him so as to be safe and accessible at all times.
(10) All measurements, tests, and analyses of the characteristics of waters and wastes to which reference is made in this Chapter shall be determined in accordance with the latest edition of “Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater,” published by the American Public Health Association, and shall be determined at the control manhole provided, or upon suitable samples taken at the control manhole. In the event that no special manhole has been required, the control manhole shall be considered to be the nearest downstream manhole in the public sewer to the point at which the building sewer is connected. Sampling shall be carried out by customarily accepted methods to reflect the effect of constituents upon the sewage works and to determine the existence of hazards to life, limb, and property. The particular analyses involved will determine whether a twenty-four-hour composite of all outfalls of the premise is appropriate or whether a grab sample or samples should be taken. Normally, but not always, BOD and suspended solids analyses are obtained for twenty-four-hour composites of all outfalls whereas pH's are determined from periodic grab samples.
(11) No statement contained in this section shall be construed as preventing any special agreement or arrangement between the city of Pullman and any industrial concern whereby an industrial waste of unusual strength or character may be accepted by the city for treatment; provided, however, that any such special agreement or arrangement shall provide that the industrial concern shall pay for all direct and indirect costs and expenses incurred in accepting the industrial waste of unusual strength or character which are greater than the direct and indirect cost of accepting industrial waste of usual strength. “Industrial waste of unusual strength or character” may be characterized as waste from an industry and which has pollutant concentration which exceeds the range of concentration of the pollutants in normal domestic sewage.
Any agreement or arrangement is subject to restrictions imposed by state or federal permits and regulations. (Ord. 87-29 §4, 1987; Ord. 83-13 §1, 1983; Ord. 80-12 §5, 1980).