§ 66-31. 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 standard laboratory procedures in five days at 20 degrees Celsius, expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/l) or as parts per million (ppm).

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 the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning five feet (1.5 meters) 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."

City superintendent means the superintendent of water and sewer systems of the city, appointed by the city and authorized by the city to fulfill the requirements of this article and to be responsible for the operations of the water and sewer system.

Customer means any person, corporation, partnership, joint venture or public body that uses, has use of, has use for, or seeks to use the sewer system furnished by the city.

Developer means any person, corporation, partnership, joint venture, public body or legal entity that is selling, offering for sale, dividing, subdividing or developing property for residential, commercial or industrial use.

Easement means an acquired legal right for the specific use of land owned by others including such meaning as given under all applicable federal and state rules, regulations and statutes, including, without limitation, O.C.G.A. § 44-9-1.

Flammable means any material which is easily ignited and burns with unusual rapidity.

Floatable oil means oil, fat, or grease in a physical state such that it will separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment in an approved pretreatment facility. A wastewater shall be considered free of floatable fat if it is properly pretreated and the wastewater does not interfere with the collection and/or treatment system.

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

Industrial wastes means the wastewater or liquid waste, of whatever nature, arising out of any manufacturing, industrial processing, fabricating, treating, renovating, or other commercial trade or business operation, as distinct from domestic or sanitary wastes.

Interceptor line, trunk line or outfall line means the sewer line leading from owner/developer's property to the city's existing sewer line, treatment plant or treatment plant site. Such lines normally collect sewage or could collect sewage from more than one property owner and transport the sewage to the sewage treatment plant.

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

Nitrification means the conversion of nitrogenous matter into nitrates.

Objectionable means unacceptable, unsatisfactory, or displeasing to the physical senses.

Outfall line. See Interceptor line.

Owner means any individual, firm, company, partnership, corporation, institution, trust, organization, executor, or administrator owning property in the city.

pH means the reciprocal of the logarithm of the hydrogen in concentration. The concentration is the weight of hydrogen ions, in grams, per liter of solution. Neutral water, for example, has a pH value of 7.0 and a hydrogen ion concentration of 10.7.

Phosphorus means the chemical element phosphorus and its several compounds. Phosphorus removal shall mean the removal of phosphorus and phosphorus compounds by biological or chemical treatment or a combination of both.

Pollution means dredged soil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemical waste, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, industrial waste, municipal waste and agricultural waste discharged into the waters of the state.

Properly shredded garbage means the wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of foods 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 (1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.

Public sewer means a sanitary sewer owned and/or maintained by the city, and does not include building sewers or sewer connections or municipal sewers not under the city's jurisdiction.

Sanitary sewer means a sewer that carries liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions.

Sewage means the spent water of a community. The preferred term is wastewater. (See Wastewater. )

Sewage collector means all sewer lines, pumping stations and appurtenances thereto that are located on or required to be constructed in order to service the owner/developer's property with sewer service.

Sewer means a pipe or conduit that carries wastewater or drainage water.

Sewer system means all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating, transporting, and disposing of sewage, and all appurtenances thereto.

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 or flows during normal operation and which adversely affects the collection system and/or performance of the wastewater treatment works.

Standard Methods means the latest edition of the publication, Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, as published by the American Public Health Association, or such other equivalent testing methods as approved by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) or the environmental protection division (EPD), state department of natural resources.

Suspended solids means 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 filtering as prescribed in the most recent edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater and referred to as nonfilterable residue.

Total Kjeldahl nitrogen means the total of organic and ammonia nitrogen as defined in Standard Methods.

Trunk line. See Interceptor line.

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.

Unsanitary means unclean, unhealthy, or harmful to public health.

Wastewater means the spent water of a community. From the standpoint of source, it may be a combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions. (See also Sewage .)

Wastewater facilities means the structures, equipment and processes required to collect, carry away, and treat residential, commercial and industrial wastes and dispose of effluent.

Wastewater treatment works means an arrangement of devices and structures for the treatment of wastewater, industrial wastes and sludge and such term shall also mean the sewage disposal system and sewage transportation system where applicable in construing the rules and regulations of the city and its legal documents and contracts; sometimes used as synonymous with the terms "waste treatment plant," "wastewater treatment plant" or "water pollution control plant."

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

(Ord. No. 94-4, §§ 101—145, 4-5-1994)

Cross reference

Definitions generally, § 1-2.