"Best management practices (BMPs)": The schedules of activities, pollution treatment practices or devices, prohibition of practices, general good housekeeping practices, pollution prevention, waste minimization, educational practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices or devices to prevent or reduce the amount of pollutants entering the public sewer system, surface water, air, land, or groundwater. BMPs may include a physical, chemical, structural, or managerial practice or device that helps to achieve compliance with this chapter.

"Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)": The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory conditions for five days at a temperature of 20 degrees centigrade, expressed in milligrams per liter.

"Branch sewer": A sewer that receives wastewater from more than one public sewer from a relatively small area.

"Building connection": The extension from a sewer tap to the property line, or to the easement line of the property served.

"Building sewer": The extension from the building drain to the building connection or other place of disposal.

"Bypass": The intentional diversion of wastes from any portion of an industrial user’s pretreatment systems, devices, or facility.

"Categorical industrial user (CIU)": An industrial user subject to a categorical standard.

"Categorical pretreatment standards (national/Federal categorical pretreatment standards)": Standards promulgated by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) under the authority of Sections 307(b) and (c) of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1317) that apply to a specific category of industrial user, are published in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N (Parts 405—471), and are hereby incorporated in this chapter by reference.

"Chemical oxygen demand (COD)": The quantity of oxygen consumed from a chemical oxidation of inorganic and organic matter present in water or wastewater, expressed in milligrams per liter.

"City": The City of Phoenix.

"City Design Standards": City Design Standards Manual for water and wastewater systems as described in Section 28-16.

"Code of Federal Regulations (CFR)": The codification of the general and permanent rules and regulations published in the Federal Register by the executive departments and agencies of the Federal Government of the United States.

"Commissary": A food service establishment that acts as a base of operation for a mobile food establishment.

"Compliance sampling point": A manhole, petcock, valve, sampling port, open-channel flow device, or other waste plumbing device designated by the Director for monitoring wastewater flows and for collection of samples for determining compliance with effluent limits.

"Composite sample": A combination of individual samples obtained at regular intervals over a specified time period. The volume of each individual sample is either proportional to the flow rate during the sample period (flow composite) or constant and collected at equal time intervals during the composite period (time composite) as defined in the permit.

"Cooling water": The wastewater discharged from a heat transfer system such as condensation, air conditioning, cooling or refrigeration.

"Customer": Any person that has a City wastewater service account in their name or is a user of the POTW.

"Daily maximum:" The arithmetic average of all effluent samples for a pollutant collected during a sampling day. City samples may not be combined with non-City samples to determine compliance with the daily maximum.

"Daily maximum limit": The maximum allowable discharge limit of a pollutant during a sampling day. Where daily maximum limits are expressed in units of mass, the daily discharge is the total mass discharged over the course of the day. Where daily maximum limits are expressed as a concentration, the daily discharge is the arithmetic average measurement of the pollutant concentration derived from all measurements taken that day.

"Day": A calendar day unless stated otherwise.

"Department": The Water Services Department of the City of Phoenix.

"Department representative": An employee of the Department or a person under contract to perform work for the Department.

"Developer": A person that subdivides land or constructs, reconstructs, converts, structurally alters, relocates, or enlarges any structure.

"Director": The City Water Services Director, or a person designated in writing by the Director to act on the Director’s behalf.

"Discharge": The disposal of wastewater, pollutant(s), water, or liquid by a user to the POTW.

"Domestic waste": A typical residential-type waste that requires no pretreatment under this chapter before the waste is discharged to the public sewer system, and that excludes commercial, manufacturing, and industrial waste.

"Domestic wastewater": Waterborne wastes, that are derived from the ordinary living processes in a residential dwelling unit, that may be satisfactorily disposed of, without special treatment, by conventional POTW processes.

"Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)": The United States Environmental Protection Agency.

"Establishment, plant": An establishment or plant that produces liquid waste, which may contain suspended solids, that must discharged to the public sewer system.

"Existing source": A building, structure, facility, or installation from which there is or may be a discharge of pollutants that is not a new source as set forth in 40 CFR Section 403.3(M).

"Fats, oils, and grease (FOG)": A vegetable-based or animal-based substance that is used in or results from food cooking or preparation, and that becomes viscous or solidifies with a change in temperature or other ambient conditions.

"Food service establishment (FSE)": A user operating in a permanently constructed structure, building, or room, maintained, used, or operated in whole or part to store, prepare, serve, manufacture, package, or otherwise handle food for sale that uses or produces FOG.

"Free access": The ability of a Department representative to promptly and freely enter a user’s property or facility under safe and non-hazardous conditions to inspect the property or facility for compliance with the requirements of this chapter.

"Garbage": Swill, offal, and any accumulation of spoiled, partially or fully decomposed, rotting, or discarded animal, vegetable, or other matter that attends the preparation, handling, consumption, storage, or decay of plant or animal matter including meat, fish, fowl, buds, fruit, vegetable, or dairy products and their wrappers and containers.

"Grab sample": An individual sample of effluent collected in 15 minutes or less, without regard to flow or time of day.

"Gravity interceptor": A plumbing appurtenance or appliance that is installed in a sanitary or waste drainage system to intercept solid or viscous pollutants, FOG, petroleum oil, non-biodegradable cutting oil, or products of mineral oil origin from wastewater discharge and is identified by volume and gravity separation.

"Hydromechanical interceptor": A plumbing appurtenance or appliance that is installed in a sanitary drainage system to intercept nonpetroleum FOG from wastewater discharge and is identified by flow rate and capacity.

"Industrial discharge": Discharge to the POTW of a pollutant that is not domestic wastewater and that:

"Industrial user": Is a person that:

"Industrial waste": Any sludge, liquid, or free-flowing waste, including cooling water, resulting from any industrial or manufacturing process or from the development, recovery, or processing of natural resources, with or without suspended solids, excluding uncontaminated water.

"Inflow": Water other than wastewater that enters the public sewer system (including sewer service connections) from sources such as roof leaders, cellar drains, foundation drains, drains from springs and swampy areas, manhole covers, cross connections between storm drains and sewers, catch-basins, stormwater, surface runoff, street wash water, or drainage.

"Instantaneous limit": The maximum pollutant concentration allowed to be discharged at any time. Compliance with the instantaneous limit is determined from an analysis of the collected discrete or composite sample independent of the industrial flow rate and duration of the sampling event.

"Interference": A discharge that, alone or in conjunction with a discharge from other sources, both:

"Lateral sewer": A sewer that discharges into a branch or other sewer and has no other sewer that dicharges into it.

"Local limits": Specific discharge limits developed by the City that apply to industrial or commercial facilities that implement the general and specific discharge prohibitions set forth in 40 CFR 403.5(A)(1) and (B).

"Main sewer": A sewer that receives wastewater from two or more branch sewers as tributaries.

"Maintenance": Keeping the POTW in a state of repair, including expenditures necessary to maintain the performance and capacity for which it was designed and constructed.

"Medical waste": Isolation waste, infectious agents, human blood and blood products, pathological waste, sharps, body parts, contaminated bedding, surgical waste, potentially contaminated laboratory waste, and dialysis waste.

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

"Monthly average limits": 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.

"National pretreatment standard": A regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with Sections 307(b) and (c) of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1317 et seq.) that applies to industrial users. This term includes prohibitive discharge limits established pursuant to 40 CFR Section 403.5.

"Natural outlet": An outlet into a watercourse, ditch, or other body of surface or ground water.

"New source": A 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 pursuant to Section 307(c) of the Clean Water Act that were adopted by EPA as set forth in 40 CFR Section 403.3(m).

"Non-contact cooling water": Water used for cooling that does not come into direct contact with a raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product.

"Non-significant industrial user (NSIU)": An industrial user that the Director determines has an industrial discharge that causes or has the reasonable potential to cause harm or damage to the POTW, worker safety, public safety, or the environment.

"NPDES or AZPDES permit": A National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit, issued to the City by the EPA, or an Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (AZPDES) permit, issued to the City by the State of Arizona, which imposes standards governing the quality of the treated effluent discharged from the POTW into waters of the United States.

"Pass-through": A discharge from the POTW into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations that, alone or in conjunction with discharges from other sources, violates any requirement of the POTW NPDES or AZPDES permits (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation) or that causes or contributes to a violation of an applicable numeric or narrative water quality standard.

"Permit": A written wastewater discharge control mechanism the Director issues to particular users or classes of users under the authority of this chapter.

"Permittee, permit holder": A person that owns, operates, or controls property, a facility, equipment or processes operated under a permit to discharge wastewater to the POTW.

"Person": An individual, partnership, co-partnership, firm, company, corporation, association, organization, joint stock company, trust, state, municipality, Indian tribe, legally constituted improvement district, political subdivisions of the State or Federal governmental agency, or any other legal entity, including their legal representatives, agents or assigns.

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

"Planning and Development Director": The Director of the Planning and Development Department, or a person designated in writing by the Director to act on the Director’s behalf.

"Pollutant": Dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical waste, chemical waste, biological material, radioactive material, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment, rock, sand, dirt, industrial, municipal and agricultural wastes, and certain characteristics of wastewater (e.g., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, or odor). This includes any substance or effluent limit identified in this chapter.

"Pollution prevention": Source reduction and other practices that reduce or eliminate the creation of pollutants through:

"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, introducing such pollutants into the POTW. This reduction or alteration can be achieved by physical, chemical, or biological processes; by process changes; or by other means; except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable pretreatment standard.

"Pretreatment device": Equipment, material, devices, structures, or facilities to reduce, eliminate, or alter the nature of pollutant properties in wastewater before or in lieu of introducing pollutants into the POTW.

"Pretreatment requirements": The duties or responsibilities related to pretreatment imposed upon POTW users by this chapter, other than a pretreatment standard.

"Pretreatment standards": Prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.

"Prohibited discharge standards or prohibited discharges": Absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances as set forth in Section 28-8.

"Publicly owned treatment works (POTW)": The treatment works and connecting sewer collection system that are owned or operated, in whole or in part, by the City to provide wastewater collection and disposal services. The POTW includes any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of sewage or industrial waste, and any conveyances that transport wastewater to the City’s wastewater treatment plant.

"Public sewer": A branch, main, or trunk sewer controlled and maintained by the City that carries wastewater and to which stormwater, surface water, and groundwater may not be introduced.

"Published by the Department": Publication of written information, materials, or documents by the Department in a manner intended to provide notice to interested or affected parties. Publication may be accomplished by direct mail, conspicuous posting at City facilities, or posting on the Department’s website.

"Recycling": A material is recycled if it is used, reused, or reclaimed. A material is used or reused if it is either: (A) employed as an ingredient (including its use as an intermediate) to make a product; however, a material will not satisfy this condition if distinct components of the material are recovered as separate end products (as when metals are recovered from metal containing secondary materials), or (B) employed in a particular function as an effective substitute for a commercial product. A material is reclaimed if it is processed to recover a useful product or if it is regenerated. Examples of reclaimed material include the recovery of lead values from spent batteries and the regeneration of spent solvents.

"Replacement": The installation of equipment, accessories, and appurtenances during the useful life of the POTW that are necessary to maintain the capacity and performance of the POTW for which it was designed and constructed.

"Representative sample": A sample that mimics the volume and nature of the discharge, reflects the normal process or operating cycle of the facility, and that is collected using techniques specified in 40 CFR 136.3 at a designated compliance sampling point located downstream of pretreatment and upstream of other confluences.

"Septage": Liquid or solid material removed from a septic tank, cesspool, portable toilet, holding tank, or similar treatment works that receives domestic, commercial, or industrial wastewater and includes grease removed from a grease interceptor at a food service establishment.

"Sewage": Human excrement and gray water (e.g., water from showers, tubs, sinks, dishwashing operations, etc.) from residences, businesses, institutions, and industrial establishments.

"Sewer": A pipe or conduit designed and used to carry wastewater.

"Sewer system": The City sewer system consists of the POTW.

"Sewer tap": The wye, saddle, or other device placed on a sewer to receive a building connection.

"Significant industrial user":

"Slug load or slug discharge": A discharge at a flow rate or concentration that would cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards in Section 28-8. A slug discharge is a discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or a non-customary batch discharge, that has a reasonable potential to cause interference or pass-through, or in any other way violate the POTW’s regulations, local limits, or permit conditions.

"Source reduction": Any practice that:

"Standard Industrial Classification (SIC)": A coded classification of industries based upon economic activity developed by the U.S. Department of Commerce as published in the Standard Industrial Classification Manual by the Office of Management and Budget, and supplanted by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS).

"State": State of Arizona.

"Storm sewer or storm drain": A pipe or conduit that carries storm and surface water and drainage, but excludes sewers carrying wastewater.

"Stormwater": Rainfall runoff, snow melt runoff, and surface runoff and drainage.

"Total organic carbon (TOC)": The total of all organic compounds expressed in milligrams per liter.

"Total suspended solids (TSS)": Solids measured in milligrams per liter that either float on the surface of or are in suspension in water, wastewater, or other liquids and that are removed by a laboratory filtration device.

"Treatment parameter": A fundamental characteristic of sewage around which treatment is designed, such as, but not limited to, flow, BOD, and TSS.

"Trunk sewer": A sewer that receives wastewater from multiple tributary main sewers and serves as an outlet for a large territory.

"Upset": An exceptional incident that results in unintentional and temporary noncompliance with technology-based permit effluent limits due to factors beyond the reasonable control of the permittee, which excludes such factors as operational error, improperly designed or inadequate treatment facilities, or improper operation and maintenance or lack thereof.

"User": A person that discharges, causes, or permits the discharge of wastewater into the POTW.

"Waste minimization": An activity that eliminates or reduces the amount of any pollutant from entering the waste stream or the environment. This may include a change in raw materials, operational improvement, process improvement, product reformulation, reuse, or reclamation.

"Wastewater": Liquid and water-carried industrial waste and sewage from residential dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial and manufacturing facilities, and institutions, whether treated or untreated, that is discharged to the POTW.

"Wastewater treatment plant": The part of the POTW that treats municipal sewage and industrial waste.

"Watercourse": A channel in which water flows continuously or intermittently. (Ord. No. G-1935, § 2; Ord. No. G-2489, § 1; Ord. No. G-2649, § 2; Ord. No. G-2788, § 1; Ord. No. G-3116, § 1; Ord. No. G-3384, § 1; Ord. No. G-3662, § 1; Ord. No. G-4176, § 1, 1999; Ord. No. G-4635, § 1a, 2004; Ord. No. G-5444, § 3, 2009; Ord. No. G-5590, § 1, 2011; Ord. No. G-6740, § 1, 2020)