Harwich Water Department & Wastewater

Article I. Definitions

Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this ordinance shall be as follows:

 "Act" or "the Act" shall mean the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. 1251, et seq, and the regulations promulgated thereunder, as amended from time to time.

"Board" shall mean the Board of Wastewater Commissioners of the Town of Harwich.

"BOD" (Biochemical Oxygen Demand) shall mean the quantity of oxygen utilized in the

biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedures in five (5) days at 20 degrees centigrade, expressed in milligrams per liter (mg/1).

"Building Drain" shall mean 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. The building drain ends at the building sewer which begins five (5) feet or (1.5) meters outside the inner face of the building's wall.

"Building Sewer" shall mean the extension from the building drain, five feet (5') or one and one half (1.5) meters outside the inner face of the building's wall, to the public sewer or other place of disposal.

"Combined Sewer" shall mean a sewer receiving both surface runoff water and sanitary sewage.

"Department of Environmental Protection", or "DEP" shall mean the Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection, established pursuant to M.G.L. Chapter 21, Section 26 or, where appropriate, the Administrator, Superintendent or other duly authorized official of said agency.

"Superintendent" shall mean the person appointed by the Town of Harwich as the Superintendent of the Wastewater (or Sewer) Department of the Town of Harwich, who is vested with the authority and responsibility for the implementation and enforcement of these rules and regulations or the authorized deputy, agent, or representative.

"Environmental Protection Agency", or "EPA" shall mean the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or, where appropriate, the Administrator or other duly authorized official of said Agency.

"Garbage" shall mean solid wastes from the domestic or commercial handling, storage, preparation, cooking, and dispensing or sale of produce.

"Industrial Wastes" shall mean any water carried or liquid wastes resulting from any process or industrial manufacturing processes, trade, business, or activity listed in 310 CMR 15.004.

"Natural Outlet" shall mean any outlet into a watercourse, pond, lake, or other body of surface ground water.

"NPDES" shall mean National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System.

"Person" shall mean any individual, partnership, co-partnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint venture, joint stock company, trust, estate, governmental entity, or their legal representatives, agents or assigns. The masculine gender shall include the feminine, the singular shall include the plural where indicated by the context.

"pH" shall mean the logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the concentration of hydrogen ions expressed in grams per liter of solution.

"Private Wastewater Collection, Treatment, and Disposal Facilities" shall mean any system, not owned and/or controlled by a municipal (town) sewer department, used for the collection, treatment, and disposal of wastewater from one or more properties.

"Properly Shredded Garbage" shall mean the wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing and sale of food that has been shredded to such a degree that all particles will be carried freely under the conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than one-half (1/2) inch (1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.

"Public property" shall mean land, right-of way, or easement owned or controlled by the Town, or other Town, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, United States government, or any department, political subdivision, or governmental entity.

"Public Sewer" shall mean a sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights and is controlled by a municipal sewer department.

"Sanitary Sewer" shall mean a sewer which carries wastewater from residential dwellings or commercial facilities without industrial waters or waste and to which stormwaters, surface waters, and groundwaters are not intentionally admitted.

"Sewage" shall mean a combination of the water-carrying wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions, and industrial establishments, together with such materials, surface waters, and storm waters as may be present. The preferred term is wastewater.

"Sewage Treatment Facility" shall mean any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating wastewater. The preferred phrase is wastewater treatment facility.

"Sewer" shall mean a pipe or conduit for carrying wastewater.

"Sewer Department" shall mean the Town of Harwich's wastewater collection, treatment, and disposal system(s) owned and operated by the Town of Harwich.

"Shall" is mandatory; "May" is permissive.

"Slug" shall mean any discharge of water, sewage, or industrial waste which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds, for any period of duration, longer than fifteen (15) minutes, more than five (5) times the average twenty-four (24) hour concentration or flows during normal operation.

"Storm Drain" (sometimes termed "Storm Sewer") shall mean a sewer which carries storm, surface, and drainage waters, but excludes wastewater and industrial wastes, other than unpolluted cooling water.

"Suspended Solids" shall mean solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in water, wastewater, or other liquids, and which are removable by laboratory filtering.

"Town" shall mean the Town of Harwich, Massachusetts or its legal representative, agent, or assign.

"Town Administrator" shall mean the Town of Harwich Select Board appointed Town Administrator.

"Watercourse" shall mean a channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently. 

"Wastewater" shall mean the liquid and water-carried industrial, non-domestic or domestic wastes, including sewage, industrial wastes, other wastes, or any combination thereof, from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities, and institutions, together with any groundwater, surface water and stormwater that may be present.

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