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

(a)   “BOD” (denoting Biochemical Oxygen Demand) shall mean the quantity of oxygen in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures in five (5) days at 20° C., expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/l).

(b)   “Building Drain” shall mean 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 the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning five (5) feet (1.5 meters) outside the inner face of the building wall.

(c)   “Building Sewer” shall mean the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.

(d)   “Combined Sewer” shall mean a sewer receiving both surface runoff and sewage.

(e)   “Garbage” shall mean solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking and dispensing of food, and from the handling, storage and sale of produce.

(f)   “Industrial Wastes” shall mean the liquid wastes from industrial manufacturing processes, trade, or business as distinct from sanitary sewage.

(g)   “Natural Outlet” shall mean any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake, or other body of surface or groundwater.

(h)   “Person” shall mean any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group.

(i)    “pH” shall mean the logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.

(j)    “Properly Shredded Garbage” shall mean 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 (1/2) inch (1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.

(k)   “Public Sewer” shall mean a sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights, and is controlled by public authority.

(l)    “Sanitary Sewer” shall mean a sewer, which carries sewage, and to which storm, surface, and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.

(m)  “Sewage” shall mean a combination of the water-carried wastes from residents, business buildings, institutions, and industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface, and storm waters as may be present.

(n)   “Sewage Treatment Plant” shall mean any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.

(o)   “Sewage Works” shall mean all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage.

(p)   “Sewer” shall mean a pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.

(q)   “Shall” is mandatory; “May” is permissive.

(r)    “Slug” shall mean any discharge of water, sewage, or industrial waste which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds for any period of duration longer than fifteen (15) minutes more than five (5) times the average twenty-four (24) hours concentration or flows during normal operation.

(s)   “Storm Drain” (sometimes termed “Storm Sewer”) shall mean a sewer, which carries storm and surface waters and drainage, but excludes sewage and industrial wastes, other than unpolluted cooling water.

(t)    “Superintendent” shall mean the Sewer Operator or authorized Agent of the City.

(u)   “Suspended Solids” shall mean solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in water, sewage, or other liquids, and which are removable by laboratory filtering.

(v)   “Watercourse” shall mean a channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.

(Ord. 02-2005; Code 2016)