The city finds that, in order to provide for the public health and welfare, and to
comply with the laws and regulations of the State of Georgia and the United States
Government, it is necessary to set uniform requirements for all users of the water
pollution control facilities of the city; to establish effluent limits; to require
minimum frequencies of inspections depending upon size of the city sewer system, to
require pretreatment, where necessary, by system users; to regulate the use of municipal
pollution control facilities through the issuance of permits to certain industrial
users; to establish charges and fees for the equitable distribution of costs; and
to authorize monitoring and enforcement activities.
The purpose of article V is to prevent the introduction into the municipal pollution
control facilities of pollutants which will interfere with the proper operation of
the system or contaminate the resulting sludge; to prevent the introduction into the
municipal pollution control facilities of pollutants which will cause the city to
be in violation of any permits; to prevent the introduction into municipal pollution
control facilities of toxic pollutants which would pass through the facilities in
toxic amounts, into receiving water or the atmosphere, or otherwise be incompatible
with the facilities; to prevent unauthorized discharges of pollutants into the environment;
to improve the opportunity to recycle and reclaim wastewaters and sludges from the
facilities; and to provide for equitable distribution of the cost of the municipal
pollution control facilities.
The city finds that criteria are needed to better control the discharge of grease
and oils to the city's sewer system and that due to the diameters of the existing
sewer piping system that certain portions of the city require additional inspections
to accommodate compliance with this section. The accumulation of grease and oils discharged
into the sewer system can lead to grease blockages, which in turn can cause overflows
from the sewer system. The city must protect its sewer system against accumulations
of grease and oils. Sources of grease and oil discharges include industrial users
of the sewer system and food service establishments. Industrial users are subject
to industrial user permitting and pretreatment requirements. The best method for reducing
discharges of grease and oil from food service establishments is the installation
of grease traps at the food service establishment and proper maintenance of the grease
traps by the owner or operator of the food service establishment. The sewer use ordinance
establishes requirements that control the discharge of grease and oil from industrial
sources and food service establishments.
