§ 154-299. General discharge prohibitions.

(a)

The discharge of any wastewater, including contaminated storm water, spillage, and clean-up water, except through one of the following procedures is prohibited:

(1)

Permitted discharge to the city water pollution control facilities;

(2)

Direct discharge with a NPDES permit; or

(3)

Off-site disposal by a company licensed to disposal of wastewater.

(b)

It shall be unlawful, and grounds for revocation of its permit, for any user to introduce or cause to be introduced, directly or indirectly, into a POTW, any pollutant or wastewater which will interfere with the operation or performance of the water pollution control facilities, cause a pass-through, or cause the city to be in violation of any permits, whether or not the user is subject to other national pretreatment standards or any national, state, or local pretreatment requirements. No user shall contribute, or cause to be contributed, any of the following to city water pollution control facilities:

(1)

Any liquid, solids or gases which by reason of their nature or quantity are, or may be, sufficient either alone or by interaction with other substances to cause fire or explosion or be injurious or hazardous in any way to the wastewater treatment facility personnel or the operation of the facility. At no time shall any discharge have a flash point of less than 140° Fahrenheit as measured by a closed cup flash point tester using the test methods specified in 40 CFR § 261.21, nor shall two successive readings on a meter capable of reading L.E.L. (lower explosive limit) at any point in the pollution control facility be more than five percent nor any single reading be greater than ten percent. (Examples of liquids, solids or gases to which this section includes, but is not limited to, are gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, benzene, toluene, xylene, ethers, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, peroxides, chlorates, perchlorates, bromates, polychlorinated biphenyls, polybromated biphenyls, carbides, hydrides, stoddard solvents, and sulfides.)

(2)

Any ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, offal, plastics, wood, paunch manure, hair and fleshlings, entrails, lime residues, beer or distillery slops, chemical residues, paint or ink residues, cannery waste, bulk solids, fatty oil and grease or any other solid or viscous substance capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers or other interference with the proper operation of the water pollution control facilities.

(3)

Any wastewaters or wastes having a pH lower than 5.0 or higher than 12.0 at any time, or having any corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment, and personnel of the water pollution control facilities.

(4)

Any wastewaters or wastes containing toxic substances in such concentrations as to constitute a hazard to humans or animals, or to interfere with any wastewater treatment process, or which results in the discharge of a toxic substance in toxic amounts to the water pollution control facility, or causing alone or in conjunction with other sources, the POTW's effluent to fail a toxicity test.

(5)

Any reactive, noxious or malodorous gas or substance capable of creating toxic gases in toxic amounts, vapors, fumes, public nuisance, or acute worker health or safety problems, hazard to life, or of preventing entry into sewers for their maintenance, inspection, and repair.

(6)

Any substance which may cause the water pollution facility effluent or may cause other products of the water pollution control facility such as residues, sludges or scums, to be unsuitable for reclamation and reuse.

(7)

Any substance which will cause the water pollution control facility to violate its NPDES permit or cause a violation of the water quality standards of the receiving waters.

(8)

Any wastewater with objectionable color not removed in the treatment process, such as, but not limited to, dye wastes, paint wastes, pulp and paper manufacturing wastes, and vegetable tanning solutions.

(9)

Any wastewater having a temperature exceeding 65.5° Celsius (150° Fahrenheit) or containing heat in amounts which will inhibit biological activity in the water pollution control facility, but in no case heat in such quantities that the temperature at the influent to a water pollution control treatment facility exceeds 40° Celsius (104° Fahrenheit).

(10)

Any pollutant, including oxygen-demanding pollutants or suspended solids, released at a flow and/or pollutant concentration which will cause interference to the operations and maintenance of the water pollution control facilities.

(11)

Any wastewater containing quantities of radium, or naturally occurring or artificially produced radioisotopes in excess of accepted limits for drinking water.

(12)

Any wastewater containing more than 100 mg/l of petroleum oil, cutting oil, or products of mineral oil origin; as tested by Standard Methods, 19th edition, test number 5520 F (hydrocarbons).

(13)

Any unpolluted cooling water, process water, ground water, roof drainage, basement drainage, subsurface drainage, or yard drainage through direct or indirect connection to the sanitary sewer, unless a storm sewer or other reasonable alternative for removal of such drainage does not exist, and then only when discharge is permitted by the industrial wastewater discharge permit and the appropriate charges are paid for the volume thereof.

(14)

Any septage, chemical toilet contents, industrial sludges or similar matter or materials, unless specifically authorized by the commissioner through issuance of a permit pursuant to this article.

(15)

Medical wastes, except as specifically authorized by the commissioner in a wastewater discharge permit.

(16)

Detergents, surface-active agents, or other substances which may cause excessive foaming in the POTW.

(17)

Any trucked or hauled pollutants, except at discharge points designated by the commissioner.

(c)

No user shall ever increase the use of process water, or in any way attempt to dilute or dilute a discharge, as a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve compliance with the limitations contained in the federal categorical pretreatment standards, or for any other pollutant-specific limitation developed by the city or the State of Georgia.

(Ord. No. 1998-71, § 2, 10-13-98; Ord. No. 2013-67(12-O-0563), §§ 2, 3, 12-11-13 )