§ 74-428. Definitions.

Accidental discharge means a discharge prohibited by this article which occurs by chance and without planning or thought prior to occurrence.

Clean Water Act means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act (33 U.S.C. 1251 et seq.), and any subsequent amendments thereto.

Commissioner means the Commissioner of the Department of Watershed Management or his designee.

Construction activity means activities subject to the Georgia Erosion and Sedimentation Control Act or NPDES General Construction Permits. These include construction projects resulting in land disturbance. Such activities include but are not limited to clearing and grubbing, grading, excavating, and demolition.

Department means the Department of Watershed Management (DWM).

Illicit discharge means any direct or indirect non-stormwater discharge to the storm sewer system of the city, except as exempted in section 74-437 of this article.

Illegal connection means either of the following:

(a)

Any pipe, open channel, drain or conveyance, whether on the surface or subsurface, which allows an illicit discharge to enter the storm drain system including but not limited to any conveyances which allow any non-stormwater discharge including sewage, process wastewater, and wash water to enter the storm drain system, regardless of whether such pipe, open channel, drain or conveyance has been previously allowed, permitted, or approved by the department of watershed management; or

(b)

Any pipe, open channel, drain or conveyance connected to the storm sewer system of the City of Atlanta which has not been documented in plans, maps, or equivalent records and approved by an authorized enforcement agency.

Industrial activity means activities subject to NPDES Industrial Permits as defined in 40 CFR, Section 122.26 (b)(14).

National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Storm Water Discharge Permit means a permit issued by the Georgia EPD under authority delegated pursuant to 33 USC 1342(b) that authorizes the discharge of pollutants to waters of the United States, whether the permit is applicable on an individual, group, or general area-wide basis.

Storm sewer system of the City of Atlanta means any facility designed or used for collecting and/or conveying stormwater, including but not limited to any roads with drainage systems, highways, streets, curbs, gutters, inlets, catch basins, piped storm drains, pumping facilities, structural stormwater controls, ditches, swales, natural and man-made or altered drainage channels, reservoirs, and other drainage structures, and which is:

(1)

Owned or maintained by the City of Atlanta; and

(2)

Not part of a publicly-owned treatment works.

Non-stormwater discharge means any discharge to the storm drain system that is not composed entirely of stormwater.

Person means, except to the extent exempted from this article, any individual, partnership, firm, association, joint venture, public or private corporation, trust, estate, commission, board, public or private institution, utility, cooperative, city, county or other political subdivision of the state, any interstate body or any other legal entity.

Pollutant means anything which causes or contributes to pollution. Pollutants may include, but are not limited to: paints, varnishes, and solvents; petroleum hydrocarbons; automotive fluids; cooking grease; detergents (biodegradable or otherwise); degreasers; cleaning chemicals; non-hazardous liquid and solid wastes and yard wastes; refuse, rubbish, garbage, litter, or other discarded or abandoned objects and accumulations, so that same may cause or contribute to pollution; floatables; pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers; liquid and solid wastes; sewage, fecal coliform and pathogens; dissolved and particulate metals; animal wastes; wastes and residues that result from constructing a building or structure; concrete and cement; and noxious or offensive matter of any kind.

Pollution means the contamination or other alteration of any water's physical, chemical or biological properties by the addition of any constituent and includes but is not limited to, a change in temperature, taste, color, turbidity, or odor of such waters, or the discharge of any liquid, gaseous, solid, radioactive, or other substance into any such waters as will or is likely to create a nuisance or render such waters harmful, detrimental or injurious to the public health, safety, welfare, or environment, or to domestic, commercial, industrial, agricultural, recreational, or other legitimate beneficial uses, or to livestock, wild animals, birds, fish or other aquatic life.

Premises mean any building, lot, parcel of land, or portion of land whether improved or unimproved including adjacent sidewalks and parking strips.

Publicly-owned treatment works (POTW) means a treatment works as defined by section 212 of the Clean Water Act, which is owned by a state or municipality (as defined by section 502(4) of the Clean Water Act). This definition includes any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling and reclamation of municipal sewage or industrial wastes of a liquid nature. It also includes sewers, pipes and other conveyances only if they convey wastewater to a POTW treatment plant. The term also means the municipality as defined in section 502(4) of the Clean Water Act, which has jurisdiction over the indirect discharges to and the discharges from such a treatment works.

State waters means any and all rivers, streams, creeks, branches, lakes, reservoirs, ponds, drainage systems, springs, wells, and other bodies of surface and subsurface water, natural or artificial, lying within or forming a part of the boundaries of the State of Georgia which are not entirely confined and retained completely upon the property of a single person.

Stormwater runoff or stormwater means any surface flow, runoff, and drainage consisting entirely of water from any form of natural precipitation, and resulting from such precipitation.

Structural stormwater control means a structural stormwater management facility or device that controls stormwater runoff and changes the characteristics of that runoff including, but not limited to, the quantity and quality, the period of release or the velocity of flow.

Violator means any person, business or commercial entity violating any provision of this article or allowing any person or persons under their control or authority to violate any provision of this article.

(Ord. No. 2003-75, § 3, 6-24-03)