§ 98-81. Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under EPA approved, laboratory procedure in five days at 20 degrees Celsius, expressed in milligrams per liter.

Building drain means that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste and other drainage pipes inside the walls of buildings and conveys it to the building sewer, which begins five feet outside the inner face of the building wall.

Building sewer means the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal, also called house connection or service connection.

City means the City of Woodstock, Cherokee County, Georgia, or the city's authorized deputy agent or representative.

Combined sewer means a sewer receiving both surface runoff and sewage.

Customer means every person who is responsible for contracting (expressly or implicitly) with the city in obtaining, having or using sewer connections with, or sewer tap to, the sewer system of the city and in obtaining, having or using water and other related services furnished by the city for the purpose of disposing of wastewater and sewage through such system. The terms shall include the occupants of each unit of a multiple family dwelling unit building as a separate and distinct customer.

Easement means an acquired legal right for the specific use of land owned by others. A sewer easement shall be a minimum of ten feet in width. No structure may be constructed over any part of an easement.

Floatable oil means oil, fat or grease in a physical state such that it will separate by gravity from wastewater in a gravity separation test under laboratory conditions. A wastewater shall be considered free of floatable oil if it never contained floatable fat or if it is properly pretreated and the wastewater does not interfere with the collection system.

Flush toilet means the common sanitary flush commode in general use for the disposal of human excrement.

Garbage means the animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and serving of foods.

Health officer means the director of the county board of health or other person designated by the county board of commissioners and their duly appointed assistants.

Industrial wastes means the wastewater from industrial processes as distinct from domestic or sanitary wastes.

Infiltration/inflow means wastewater and surface water which leaks into the sewers through cracked pipes, joints, manholes or other openings.

May is permissive. See Shall.

Municipality means the governmental body having jurisdiction over the maintenance and operations of the water and sanitary sewer system within the city and adjacent areas of the county.

Natural outlet means any outlet, including storm sewers and combined sewer overflows, into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or groundwater.

Normal wastewater means wastewater discharged into the sanitary sewers in which the average concentration of total suspended solids is not more than 350 milligrams per liter (mg/l), BOD is not more than 300 mg/l, total phosphorous is not more than 15 mg/l, total Kjeldahl nitrogen is not more than 20 mg/l, and the total flow is not more than 25,000 gallons per day.

Person means any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group.

pH means the logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration.

Pit privy means a shored, vertical pit in the earth completely covered with a flytight slab on which is securely located a flytight riser covered with hinged flytight seat and lid.

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

Public sewer means a common sewer controlled by a governmental agency or public utility.

Sanitary sewer means a sewer that carries liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions, together with minor quantities of groundwater, stormwater and surface waters that are not intentionally admitted.

Septic tank means a subsurface impervious tank designed to temporarily retain sewage or similar waterborne wastes together with:

(1)

A sewer line constructed with solid pipe, with the joints sealed, connecting the impervious tank with a plumbing stub out.

(2)

A subsurface system of trenches, piping and other materials constructed to drain the clarified discharge from the tank and distribute it underground to be absorbed or filtered.

Sewage means the spent water of a community. The equivalent term is "wastewater."

Sewage works (sewerage) means all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage.

Sewer means a pipe or conduit that carries wastewater.

Shall is mandatory. See May.

Slug means any discharge of water or wastewater which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes more than five times the average 24-hour concentration of flows during normal operation and shall adversely affect the collection system and/or performance of the wastewater facilities.

Storm drain and storm sewer mean a drain or sewer for conveying water, groundwater, subsurface water or unpolluted water from any source and excluding sewage and industrial wastes other than unpolluted cooling water.

Superintendent means the utilities superintendent or the city's authorized deputy, agent or representative.

Suspended solids means the total suspended matter that either floats on the surface of, or is in suspension in, water, wastewater or other liquids, and that is removable by laboratory filtration as approved by EPA and referred to as nonfilterable residue.

Unpolluted water means water of a quality equal to or better than the effluent criteria in effect or water that would not cause violation of receiving water quality standards and would not be benefited by discharge to the sanitary sewers and wastewater treatment facilities provided.

Wastewater means the spent water of a community. From the standpoint of source, it may be a combination of the liquid-carried and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions, together with minor quantities of groundwaters, stormwaters and surface waters that are not intentionally admitted.

Wastewater facilities, wastewater treatment works and water pollution control facility mean the structures, equipment and processes required to collect, carry away and treat domestic and industrial wastewater and dispose of the effluent.

Watercourse means a natural or artificial channel for the passage of water, either continuously or intermittently.

(Ord. No. 2008-0005, 5-12-2008)

Cross reference

Definitions generally, § 1-2.