§ 44-52. Definitions.

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

Act or "the Act". The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. section 1251 et seq.

Appendix A or B. When used in this article refers to appendices of rates and charges in Division 23 of this article of the Dorchester Code of Ordinances.

Approval authority. The South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SCDHEC).

Authorized or duly authorized representative of the user.

(1)

If the user is a corporation:

a.

The president, secretary, treasurer, or a 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; or

b.

The manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operating facilities, provided the manager is authorized to make management decisions that govern the operation of the regulated facility including having the explicit or implicit duty of making major capital investment recommendations, and initiate and direct other comprehensive measures to assure long-term environmental compliance with environmental laws and regulations; can ensure that the necessary systems are established or actions taken to gather complete and accurate information for individual wastewater discharge permit or general permit requirements; and where authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.

(2)

If the user is a partnership or sole proprietorship: a general partner or proprietor, respectively.

(3)

If the user is a federal, state, or local governmental facility: a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility, or their designee.

(4)

The individuals described in paragraphs (1) through (3) above, may designate a duly authorized representative if the authorization is in writing, the authorization specifies the individual or position responsible for the overall operation of the facility from which the discharge originates or having overall responsibility for environmental matters for the company, and the written authorization is submitted to the county.

Biochemical oxygen demand or BOD. The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five days at 20 degrees centigrade, usually expressed as a concentration (e.g., mg/l).

Best management practices or BMPs. Schedules of activities, prohibitions of practices, maintenance procedures, and other management practices to implement the prohibitions listed in Section 44-131 [SC R.61-9-403.5(a)(1) and (b)]. BMPs include treatment requirements, operating procedures, and practices to control plant site runoff, spillage or leaks, sludge or waste disposal, or drainage from raw materials storage. BMPs may also include alternative means (i.e., management plans) of complying with, or in place of, certain established categorical pretreatment standards and effluent limits.

Categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard. Any regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with sections 307(b) and (c) of the Act (33 U.S.C. section 1317) that apply to a specific category of users and that appear in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405—471.

Categorical industrial user. An industrial user subject to a categorical pretreatment standard or categorical standard.

Civil litigation. Causes of action maintained against the industrial user, customer, owner or person which seeks equitable relief, monetary penalties, actual, consequential, special and/or punitive damages.

Chemical oxygen demand or COD. A measure of the oxygen required to oxidize all compounds, both organic and inorganic, in water.

Commercial. Of or relating to the exchange of goods and services of non-industrial nature.

Contract customer. Any legal entity, firm, company, or corporation licensed or governed by the State of South Carolina to provide sewer service to an area or political subdivision of the county.

Control authority. Dorchester County Water and Sewer Department ("DCWS", the "department," the "county").

County. Dorchester County, its departments, employees, and agents, including the control authority as defined herein, or the county council of Dorchester County.

Criminal prosecution . Pursuing punitive measures against an individual and/or organization through a court of law.

Customer. A person who receives or is financially responsible for water and/or sewer service from Dorchester County Water and Sewer Department whether individually, or through or provided to the person's agent or authorized representative.

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

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

Department. The Dorchester County Water and Sewer Department.

Development. Any residential subdivision, real estate development, commercial, industrial or institutional complex.

Director of water and sewer or "director". The person designated by the county to supervise the operation of the POTW, and who is charged with certain duties and responsibilities by this article. The term also means a duly authorized representative of the director of water and sewer.

Domestic. Of or relating to residential and household uses.

Dwelling. A residential unit.

Environmental Protection Agency or EPA. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the Regional Water Management Division Director, the Regional Administrator, or other duly authorized official of said agency.

Equivalent residential unit (ERU). Equal to that number of Single-family dwelling unit. One ERU shall be defined as 250 gallons per day (GPD) for the lower wastewater treatment plant and 400 gallons per day (GPD) for the upper wastewater treatment plant.

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

Fine. Monetary penalty assessed by control authority officials. Fines should be assessed by the department.

Food service establishment (establishment(s)). Any commercial facility discharging kitchen or food preparation (raw, pre-cooked, or cooked) wastewaters including restaurants, motels, hotels, cafeterias, hospitals, schools, bars, fish markets, coffee shops, bakeries, etc., and any other facility which, in the department's opinion, would require a grease trap installation by virtue of its operation. Such definition normally includes any establishment which is required to have a South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (SC DHEC) foodservice license.

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

Garbage Disposal. A device which shreds or grinds up bio-degradable waste materials into smaller portions for discharge into the county wastewater system. The smallest disposal must be equipped with a motor of three-quarters HP or greater and shall be subject to review and approval by the department.

Grab sample. A sample that is taken from a waste stream without regard to the flow in the waste stream and over a period of time not to exceed 15 minutes.

Gray water. All of the liquid contained in a grease interceptor that lies below the floating grease layer and above the food solids layer (on the bottom of the tank).

Grease. A material either liquid or solid, composed primarily of fat, oil, and grease from animal or vegetable sources. The terms "fats, oils, and grease (FOG), and oil and grease, or oil and grease substances" shall be included in this definition.

Grease hauler. A person who collects the contents of a grease trap/interceptor and transports it to an approved recycling or disposal facility. The grease hauler pump truck will have a DHEC license prominently displayed. The grease hauler may also provide other services to a food services facility related to grease interceptor maintenance.

Grease interceptor. A device located underground and outside of a food service establishment designed to collect, contain, or remove food wastes and grease from the wastewater stream while allowing the balance of liquid waste to discharge in the wastewater system by gravity. Interceptors shall have two inspection hatches on the top surface.

Grease trap. A device usually located in a good service establishment under a double sink designed to collect, contain or remove food wastes and grease from the wastewater stream while allowing the balance of the liquid waste to discharge to the wastewater collection system by gravity. Traps shall have a removable lid on the top surface to facilitate inspection, cleaning and maintenance. A grease trap is generally the smaller device and is serviced by a food service facility employee. The terms grease trap and grease interceptor are often used interchangeably.

Grease trap inspector. (county inspector) . A county employee appointed by the department's director and trained to do inspections of grease traps/interceptors. They will be identified by a photo county ID.

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

Industrial service. Service to customers engaged in a process which creates or changes raw or unfinished materials into another form or product.

Industrial wastes. The liquid wastes from commercial and industrial processes and operations, as distinct from domestic sewage.

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.

Institution. Any building used as a hospital, church, school or similar public facility.

Interference. A discharge that, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, inhibits or disrupts the POTW, its treatment processes or operations or its sludge processes, use or disposal, and is a cause of a violation of the county's NPDES permit or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with any of the following statutory/regulatory provisions or permits issued thereunder, or any more stringent State or local regulations: section 405 of the Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act, including Title II commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); any state regulations contained in any state sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of the Solid Waste Disposal Act; the Clean Air Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act; and the Marine Protection, Research, and Sanctuaries Act.

Local limit. Specific discharge limits developed and enforced by the county upon industrial or commercial facilities to implement the general and specific discharge prohibitions listed in SC R.61-9-403.5(a)(1) and (b).

May. Permissive.

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

Meeting. An informal compliance meeting with the IU to resolve recurring noncompliance.

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

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.

Multiple family dwelling unit. Any building containing two or more single-family dwelling units and having individual water connections to each dwelling unit.

Natural outlet. Any outlet into a water course, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or groundwater.

New source.

(1)

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 section 307(c) of the Act that will be applicable to such source if such Standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section, provided that:

a.

The building, structure, facility, or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located; or

b.

The building, structure, facility, or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or

c.

The production or 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 integrated with the existing plant, and the extent to which the new facility is engaged in the same general type of activity as the existing source, should be considered.

(2)

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 building, structure, facility, or installation meeting the criteria of subsection (1)(b) or (c) above but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.

(3)

Construction of a new source as defined under this paragraph has commenced if the owner or operator has:

a.

Begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous onsite construction program:

1.

Any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment; or

2.

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

b.

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 paragraph.

Noncontact cooling water. Water used for cooling that does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product, or finished product.

Non-transient water usage. Stationary, site-specific water usage from a single hydrant for the purpose of construction.

NPDES permit. National Pollution Discharge Elimination System Permit issued to the county pursuant to Section 402 of the Federal Clean Water Act.

Owner. A person, who is not a tenant, who has the right to possess, use, or convey property, or is recognized as such in equity because use and vested title belong to that person, even though legal title may belong to someone else. Where indicated by context, the agent and duly authorized representatives of such persons.

Pass through. A discharge which exits the POTW into waters of the United States 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 county's NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.

Person. Any individual, partnership, copartnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity, or any other legal entity; or their legal representatives, agents, or assigns. This definition includes all federal, state, and local governmental entities.

Permissive non-conforming customer. An owner whose property is a multi-unit building consisting of four or more residential units served by a single sewerage connection, and where water service is not available from the department, is not separately metered by the department, or has not been purchased from the department based on previous policy.

pH . The logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution and indicates the strength of acidity or alkalinity of a substance. A pH value of 7.0 is considered neutral. A stabilized pH will be considered as a pH which does not change beyond the specified limits when the waste is subjected to aeration. pH below 7.0 is acid, above alkaline.

Pollutant. Dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, filter backwash, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, municipal, agricultural and industrial wastes, and certain characteristics of wastewater (e.g., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, or odor).

P.P.M. Parts per million by weight expressed in pounds. One million pounds of water or sewage equals approximately 120,000 gallons.

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

Pretreatment standards or standards. Pretreatment standards shall mean prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.

Prohibited discharge standards or Prohibited discharges. Absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in section 44-131 of this article.

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

Public sewer. A sewer in which all owners of abutting properties shall have equal rights, and is controlled by public authority.

Publicly owned treatment works or POTW. A treatment works, as defined by section 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. section 1292), which is owned by the county. This definition includes any devices or systems used in the collection, storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature and any conveyances, which convey wastewater to a treatment plant.

Receiving stream. That body of water, stream or watercourse receiving the discharged waters from the sewage treatment plant or formed by the discharge of the sewage treatment plant.

Sanitary sewer. A sewer which carries sewage or polluted industrial waste and to which storm, surface and ground waters or unpolluted industrial waste are not intentionally admitted.

Septic tank. A private domestic sewage treatment system consisting of an underground tank, distribution box and drain field designed and constructed in accordance with any or all existing local and state requirements.

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

Service. The provision of water and/or sewer rights to a person, including availability to and/or access by a person to the water and sewerage systems.

Service area. The place of use of water and/or sewer rights available to and served by Dorchester County.

Sewage. Human excrement and gray water (household showers, dishwashing operations, etc.).

Sewage treatment plant. Any arrangement or device and structures for treating sewage.

Sewer. A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.

Sewerage system. All facilities for collecting, conveying, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage.

Shall. Mandatory.

Show cause. A formal meeting requiring the IU to appear and demonstrate why the control authority should not take a proposed enforcement action against it. The meeting may also serve as a forum to discuss corrective actions and compliance schedules.

Significant industrial user (SIU). Except as provided in paragraphs (3) and (4) of this definition, a significant industrial user is:

(1)

An industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or

(2)

An industrial user that:

a.

Discharges an average of 25,000 gpd or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater);

b.

Contributes a process waste stream which makes up five percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant; or

c.

Is designated as such by the county on the basis that it has a reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement.

(3)

The county, at its discretion, may determine that an industrial user subject to categorical pretreatment standards is a non-significant categorical industrial user rather than a significant industrial user on a finding that the industrial user never discharges more than 100 gallons per day (gpd) of total categorical wastewater (excluding sanitary, non-contact cooling and boiler blowdown wastewater, unless specifically included in the pretreatment standard) and the following conditions are met:

a.

The industrial user, prior to the county's finding, has consistently complied with all applicable categorical pretreatment standards and requirements;

b.

The Industrial user annually submits the certification statement required in Section 44-135(14) [see SC R.61-9-403.12(q)], together with any additional information necessary to support the certification statement; and

c.

The industrial user never discharges any untreated concentrated wastewater.

(4)

Upon a finding that a user meeting the criteria in subsection (2) of this part has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement, the county may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from an industrial user, and in accordance with procedures in SC R.61-9-403.8(f)(6), determine that such user should not be considered a significant industrial user.

Significant violator ("SV"). Any person permitted to discharge industrial wastewater into the county's system whose discharge exceeds any of the following:

(1)

Chronic violations of wastewater discharge limits, defined here as those in which 66 percent or more of all of the measurements taken during a six-month period exceed (by any magnitude) the daily maximum limit or the average limit for the same pollutant parameter;

(2)

Technical review criteria (TRC) violations, defined here as those in which 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 daily maximum limit or the average limit multiplied by the applicable TRC (TRC = 1.4 for B.O.D., TSS, fats, oils, and grease, and 1.2 for all other pollutants except pH.);

(3)

Any other violation of a pretreatment effluent limit (daily maximum or longer-term average) that the control authority determines has caused, alone, or in combination with other discharges, interference or pass through (including endangering the health of POTW personnel or the general public);

(4)

Any discharge of a pollutant that has caused imminent endangerment to human health, welfare or the environment or has resulted in the POTW's exercise of its emergency authority to halt or prevent such a discharge;

(5)

Failure to meet, within 90 days after the schedule date, a compliance schedule milestone contained in a local control mechanism or enforcement order for starting construction, completing construction, or attaining final compliance;

(6)

Failure to provide, within 30 days after the due date, required reports such as baseline monitoring reports, 90-day compliance reports, periodic self-monitoring reports, and reports on compliance with compliance schedules;

(7)

Failure to accurately report noncompliance;

(8)

Any other violation or group of violations which the control authority determines will adversely affect the operation or implementation of the local pretreatment program.

Single-family dwelling unit. Any building containing one or more single family dwelling units and having only one water connection for all dwelling units, or only one water connection for more than one but not all dwelling units.

Slug load or slug discharge. Any discharge at a flow rate or concentration, which could cause a violation of the prohibited discharge standards of this article. A slug discharge is any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or a non-customary batch discharge, which 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.

Storm sewer/ or storm drain . A sewer which carries storm and surface waters and drainage, but excludes sewage and polluted wastes.

Storm water. Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation, including snowmelt.

Tenant. A person renting or leasing property from the owner or the owner's selected representative.

Total suspended solids or suspended solids. The total suspended matter that floats on the surface of, or is suspended in, water, wastewater, or other liquid, and that is removable by laboratory filtering.

Transient water usage. Water usage from pre-identified hydrant locations for the purpose of filling a tanker or other water vessel vehicles.

User or industrial user (IU). Any person who directly or indirectly discharges, or causes or permits the discharge of, wastewater to the POTW, or whom otherwise maintains an open connection, whether shared or individual, for direct or indirect discharge of wastewater to the POTW.

Unit. Including but not limited to each apartment in a complex, each business in a business park, each residential apartment in a condominium, each store in a shopping center, each separate lot in a subdivision, each separate mobile home in a mobile home park, each residence in a duplex or quadraplex, and generally the premises of each separate dwelling place, place of business, and/or place of manufacture receiving water and/or sewer service from the Department.

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

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

Water connection. All materials including valves, pipe, fittings, meter, and meter box necessary to convey water from the most convenient water main to the most convenient property line of the customer.

Waterworks system. All property, wells, equipment, pumps, piping, water storage tanks, water connections, records, structure, and any other associated appurtenances necessary to provide water service owned and operated by the County of Dorchester.

(Ord. No. 12-02, 3-5-2012)