The following words or terms, when used in this Chapter, shall have the following meaning unless the context clearly indicates otherwise:

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

"Approval authority" means the Executive Director of the DEQ.

"Authorized representative of the user" means:

1. (A) if the user is a corporation:

   1. (i) 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
   2. (ii) The manager of one or more manufacturing, production, or operation facilities employing more than two hundred fifty (250) persons or having gross annual sales or expenditures exceeding twenty-five (25) million dollars (in second-quarter 1980 dollars), if authority to sign documents has been assigned or delegated to the manager in accordance with corporate procedures.
2. (B) If the user is a partnership or sole proprietorship, a general partner or proprietor, respectively.
3. (C) 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. (D) A designee of any of the individuals described in subparagraphs (A) through (C), of this definition. The individual may designate another 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 DEQ and the CTT.

"Background level concentrations" means concentrations of pollutants, expressed in mg/l, assumed to be present in a POTW influent due to natural background sources, nonpoint sources, and discharges from users determined to be not significant, as established during the CTT's development of technically based local limits and as approved by the Approval Authority.

"Biochemical oxygen demand" means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures for five (5) days at 20 degrees centigrade, usually expressed as a concentration (e.g., mg/l).

"Categorical pretreatment standard" means 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(b) and (c)] which apply to a specific category of users and which appear in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405-471.

"Categorical standard" means 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(b) and (c)] which apply to a specific category of users and which appear in 40 CFR Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405-471.

"Central treatment trust" means a public trust having the State of Oklahoma as beneficiary which holds a permit issued under the NPDES Act, pursuant to the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended by the Federal Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C., Section 1251 et seq. and which receives waste water streams from third parties into a central waste water treatment system owned and operated by the public trust, and treats the commingled waste streams in the central waste water treatment system before discharging the resulting effluent pursuant to an NPDES permit into navigable water of the United States of America located in this state.

"Discharge" means the introduction of pollutants into the POTW from any nondomestic source regulated under Section 307(b), (c), or (d) of the Act.

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

"Executive Director" means the executive officer of the Department of Environmental Quality.

"Existing source" means any source of discharge, the construction or operation of which commenced prior to the publication by EPA of proposed categorical pretreatment standards, which will be applicable to such source if the standard is thereafter promulgated in accordance with Section 307 of the Act.

"Grab sample" means a sample which is taken from a wastestream without regard to the flow in the wastestream and over a period of time not to exceed fifteen (15) minutes.

"Indirect discharge" means the introduction of pollutants into the POTW from any nondomestic source regulated under Section 307(b), (c), or (d) of the Act.

"Industrial User" means a source of indirect discharge.

"Interference" means a discharge, which 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 therefore, is a cause of a violation of the CTT's NPDES permit (including an increase in magnitude or duration of a violation) 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.

"Loading capacity" means the amount of loading of a pollutant that a POTW can receive without risk of pass through or interference.

"Maximum allowable headworks loadings" means the loading capacity of the POTW for pollutants, expressed in lbs/day, minus allocations for background level concentrations and a safety factor.

"Medical waste" means 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.

"Municipality" means a city, town, county, district, association, or other public body created by or under State law.

"New source" means:

1. (A) 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 which will be applicable to such source if such standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with that section, provided that:

   1. (i) the building, structure, facility, or installation is constructed at a site at which no other source is located;
   2. (ii) the building, structure, facility, or installation totally replaces the process or production equipment that causes the discharge of pollutants at an existing source; or
   3. (iii) 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. (B) 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 new building, structure, facility, or installation meeting the criteria of subparagraph (A)(ii) or (iii) of this definition, but otherwise alters, replaces, or adds to existing process or production equipment.

3. (C) construction of a new source as defined under this definition has commenced if the owner or operator has:

   1. (i) begun, or caused to begin, as part of a continuous onsite construction program:

      1. (I) any placement, assembly, or installation of facilities or equipment; or
      2. (II) 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
   2. (ii) 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 definition.

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

"Pass through" means 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 CTT's NPDES permit, including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation.

"Person" means any individual, partnership, copartnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, public 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.

"pH" means the logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the concentration of the hydrogen ions measured in grams per liter of solution and expressed in Standard Units (SU).

"Pollutant" means 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).

"Pretreatment" means 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:

1. (A) by physical, chemical, or biological processes;
2. (B) by process changes; or
3. (C) by other means, except by diluting the concentration of the pollutants unless allowed by an applicable pretreatment standard.

"Pretreatment requirements" means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment imposed on a user, other than a pretreatment standard.

"Pretreatment standards" means prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.

"Prohibited discharge standards" means absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in OAC 252:623-3-1 and OAC 252:623-1-7(a).

"Prohibited discharges" means absolute prohibitions against the discharge of certain substances; these prohibitions appear in OAC 252:623-3-1 and OAC 252:623-1-7(a).

"Publicly owned treatment works" means a treatment works, as defined by Section 212 of the Act (33 U.S.C. Section 1292) which is owned by the CTT. 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.

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

"Sewage" means human excrement and gray water (household showers, dishwashing operations, etc.).

"Significant industrial user" means:

1. (A) a user subject to categorical pretreatment standards; or

2. (B) a user that:

   1. (i) discharges an average of twenty-five thousand (25,000) gpd or more of process wastewater to the POTW (excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling, and boiler blowdown wastewater);
   2. (ii) contributes a process wastestream which makes up five (5) percent or more of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the POTW treatment plant; or
   3. (iii) is designated as such by the DEQ 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. (C) Upon a finding that a user meeting the criteria in (B) of this definition has no reasonable potential for adversely affecting the POTW's operation or for violating any pretreatment standard or requirement, the DEQ may at any time, on its own initiative or in response to a petition received from a user, and in accordance with procedures in 40 CFR 403.8(f)(6), determine that such user should not be considered a significant industrial user.

"Slug" means any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or a non-customary batch discharge.

"Slug load" means any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including but not limited to an accidental spill or a non-customary batch discharge.

"Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Code" means a classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the United States Office of Management and Budget.

"Standards" means prohibited discharge standards, categorical pretreatment standards, and local limits.

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

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

"Treatment plant" means that portion of the POTW which is designed to provide treatment of municipal sewage and industrial waste.

"User" means a source of indirect discharge.

"Wastewater" means 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" means that portion of the POTW which is designed to provide treatment of municipal sewage and industrial waste.

Added at 18 Ok Reg 1601, eff 6-1-01

Amended at 24 Ok Reg 1535, eff 6-15-07