As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the designated meanings.

Best management practice (BMP) means schedules of activities, prohibition of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to prevent or reduce the pollution of protected surface waters. BMPs also include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw material storage.

City Manager means the City Manager for the City of Phoenix or the City Manager’s designee.

Direct connection means any pipe, conduit or other conveyance that is inserted into any part of the public storm drain system either temporarily or permanently.

Discharge means any release, spill, leak, pump, flow, escape, leaching (including subsurface migration or deposition to groundwater), dumping or disposal of any liquid, semi-solid or solid substance to a public right-of-way or public storm drain system.

Discharge permit means a City-issued document (permit) authorizing the release of uncontaminated stormwater or non-stormwater to the public storm drain system for a specified period of time.

Firefighting activities means all emergency response activities that control or extinguish fires. The phrase does not include the release of significant materials that occur after an emergency situation has ended.

Green stormwater infrastructure means infrastructure constructed with a range of measures that use plant or soil systems, permeable pavement or other permeable surfaces or substrates, stormwater harvest and reuse, or landscaping to store, infiltrate, or evapotranspirate stormwater and reduce flows to the public storm drain system or to surface waters. These features are also sometimes referred to as low impact development (LID).

Illicit connection means any man-made conveyance or drainage system, pipeline, conduit, inlet or outlet, through which the discharge of any pollutant to the public storm drain system occurs or may occur. The term "illicit connection" does not include legal nonconforming connections.

Nonresidential property means any real property that is actually or intended to be used for commercial, industrial, agricultural, or recreational purposes, including but not limited to the immediate vicinity of five or more connected residential dwelling units, and residential subdivisions or dwellings that have not been occupied by a bona fide purchaser or tenant.

NPDES/AZPDES permit means an authorization to discharge stormwater issued under the NPDES/AZPDES program.

NPDES/AZPDES program means the Federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program administered nationally pursuant to 33 U.S.C. Section 1342 and the Arizona Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (AZPDES) Program administered in Arizona pursuant to Arizona Revised Statutes, Title 49, Chapter 2, Article 3.1.

Owner means a property owner or any person or entity that has physical control, authority, or responsibility for a business, property, or stormwater management device.

Permit means written authorization to engage in specific conduct or an activity that is issued pursuant to and in accordance with the particular laws, rules, or ordinances governing that conduct or activity.

Pollutant means fluids, contaminants, toxic wastes, toxic pollutants, dredged spoil, solid waste, substances and chemicals, pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers and other agricultural chemicals, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, petroleum products, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and mining, municipal, and agricultural waste, or any other liquid, solid, gaseous or hazardous substances.

Pollution means the presence of pollutants on land or in stormwater.

Pollution prevention means operational procedures and processes and improvements in housekeeping or management techniques that reduce potential or actual releases of pollutants to the environment including all air, water and land resources affected by those pollutants.

Post-construction stormwater control means any device or feature permanently installed and designed to manage or treat stormwater, including but not limited to retention, detention, storage, infiltration, or treatment systems.

Public storm drain system means all or any part of the publicly owned stormwater conveyance system, including roads with drainage systems, municipal streets, catch basins, curbs, gutters, ditches, manmade channels or storm drains located within easements, rights-of-way, parks, streets, roads, or highways, or in common areas of real property leased from the City of Phoenix, that are used for collecting, retaining, or conveying stormwater.

Release means any spilling, leaking, pumping, pouring, emitting, emptying, discharging, injecting, placing, leaching, dumping, or disposing into or on any land in a manner that significant materials, pollutants, or stormwater has the reasonable potential to be introduced into the public storm drain system.

Significant materials means any solid, liquid, or gaseous substance other than uncontaminated stormwater, that can release pollutants, including but not limited to: raw materials; fuels; solvents; detergents; finished materials; hazardous substances designated under Section 101(14) of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation and Liability Act, 42 U.S.C. Section 9601(14); any chemical for which a report must be filed pursuant to Section 313 of Title III of the Superfund Amendments and Reauthorization Act of 1986, 42 U.S.C. Section 11023; fertilizers; pesticides; herbicides; and waste materials, including garbage, trash, ashes, slag, yard waste, animal waste, and sludge.

Stormwater means rainfall runoff, snow melt runoff, and surface runoff and drainage.

Stormwater management plan (SWMP) means a document, tailored to the facility’s site-specific conditions and activities, identifying the facility’s plan for eliminating, minimizing or reducing the amount of pollution in stormwater discharged from the site.

Stormwater pollution prevention plan means a site-specific, written document that identifies potential sources of stormwater pollution at a site; describes practices to reduce pollutants in stormwater discharges from a site; and identifies procedures the site operator will implement to comply with the terms and conditions of a NPDES/AZPDES permit.

Surface water quality standard means a standard adopted for a protected surface water pursuant to Section 49-221, Arizona Revised Statutes and, in the case of waters of the United States, pursuant to Section49-222, Arizona Revised Statutes.

Uncontaminated means the absence of pollutants. (Ord. No. G-3589, § 1; Ord. No. G-5707, 2012; Ord. No. G-7116, § 3, 2023)