Chapter 12.01
DEFINITION OF TERMS
Sections:
12.01.010 Definitions.
Whenever used in this title, the following words or phrases shall be defined as specified below, unless otherwise specifically defined in the section in which they are used:
“AASHTO” means American Association of State Highway and Transportation Officials.
“ASTM” means American Society for Testing Materials.
“BOD” or “biochemical oxygen demand” means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20 degrees Celsius, expressed in milligrams per liter.
“Capping-off” means the action taken to disconnect and plug the sewer from the plumbing outlet of a building.
“City” means the city of Ketchikan, Alaska.
“Collection system” means the system of public sewers to be operated by the city designed for the collection of sanitary sewage.
“Commercial user” means any premises used for commercial or business purposes which is not an industrial user as defined in this title.
“Connection” means the physical linkage of a private sewer line with the public sewer.
“Contractor, licensed side sewer” means any person, partnership, corporation or association duly qualified and competent to do work incidental to the construction or repair of side sewers under permits issued under this title and who shall have been duly licensed by the state of Alaska.
“Cover” means the depth of material lying between the top of the sewer or drain and the finish grade immediately above it.
“Domestic waste” means any wastewater emanating from dwellings or from domestic activities associated with a dwelling.
“Downspout” means a pipe which conducts water from a roof of a building or structure.
“DPW” means the director of public works or his designee.
“Dwelling, multiple” means a multiple-family dwelling, namely a building designed and/or used to house two or more families living independently of each other and including in each unit all necessary household functions of each such family; and shall also include trailer or mobile home parks; trailer or mobile home courts. Each trailer, mobile home or stall and each motel unit, hotel room, apartment, cabin and cottage shall be deemed a separate dwelling unit.
“Dwelling, single” or “single-family residence” means a building designed and/or used to house a single family.
“Equivalent residential unit” or “ERU” means a unit of wastewater which incurs the same costs for operation and maintenance as the average volume of domestic wastes discharged from a single-family residence in the treatment works service area. In the city, one ERU shall be equivalent to 1,550 cubic feet per month of wastewater with domestic strength. The volume attributed to an ERU where a user discharges wastes of strength significantly different from average domestic waste strength shall be adjusted appropriately to account for the difference in the costs of treating such wastes according to the rate schedule in KMC 12.09.045.
“Industrial user” shall be as defined in Section 35.905 of the Environmental Protection Agency Rules and Regulations for Water Pollution Control Construction Grants for Waste Treatment Work as published in Volume 43, Number 188 of the Federal Register, dated September 27, 1978, copies of which are on file and available for public inspection, copying, and sale in the office of the city clerk, which definition is expressly adopted and incorporated by reference into this title and shall be deemed a part hereof as though set forth in full.
“Industrial waste” means the portion of the wastewater emanating from an industrial user which is not domestic waste or waste from sanitary conveniences.
“Interceptor” means a sewer which will receive the flow from a number of other large sewers or outlets or conducts the water to a point for treatment or disposal.
“Lateral” means a sewer which will receive the flow from one or more side sewers and discharge into a trunk or interceptor.
“Occupant” means any owner or other person in physical possession of a structure to which sewer service is available.
“Operation and maintenance” means all activities, goods, and services which are necessary to maintain the proper capacity for performance of the treatment works for which such works were designed and constructed. “Operation and maintenance” includes replacement as defined in this section.
“Owner” means the person or persons, corporation or other legal entity holding title to land, or as a vendee or vendees under a land sales contract, or holding other title or interest in land whether said interest is equitable, legal, joint, reputed, record, or otherwise; provided, however, in determining such ownership, the owner as shown on the most current assessment records of the Ketchikan Gateway Borough may be relied upon as a conclusive determination of such ownership.
“Permit” means an authorization issued by the city prior to any construction relating to a side sewer.
“Person” means and includes any individual, firm, company, partnership, joint venture, public or private corporation, governmental agency or unit of government, association, receiver, society, group or other entity and the singular term includes the plural and reference to any gender includes all genders.
“Plumbing outlet” means, in plumbing, the part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system that receives the discharge from waste and other drainage pipes inside the walls of a building and conveys it to the side sewer. The side sewer shall be deemed to begin 30 inches outside the outer face of the building wall.
“Public treatment works” means a treatment works owned and operated by a public authority.
“Replacement” means acquisition and installation of equipment, accessories, or appurtenances which are necessary during the service life of the treatment works to maintain the capacity and performance for which such works were designed and constructed.
“Sanitary sewage” means water carrying waste discharged from the sanitary facilities of structures occupied or used by people.
“Sanitary sewer” means a sewer designed to transport sanitary sewage.
“Service area” means all the area served by the treatment works and for which there is one uniform user charge system.
“Service, commercial” means all sanitary sewage systems other than residential.
“Service, residential” means any sanitary sewerage system serving a single unit housing accommodation, whether it be a private home or a multiple dwelling containing five units or less.
“Sewage” means the spent water of a community. It may be a combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, and industrial establishments, plants and institutions, or other sources, together with any groundwater, surface water and stormwater that may be present. “Wastewater” and “sewage” shall be deemed equivalent terms.
“Sewage treatment plant” means an arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.
“Sewerage system” means the structures, devices, and equipment intended for the collection, transportation and pumping of sewage.
“Sewer, private” means a sewer exclusive of side sewers, which is neither owned nor operated by the city.
“Sewer, public” means any sanitary sewers, including but not limited to trunks, laterals, stubs and force mains, whether constructed by the city or any other person, and owned or conveyed to the city and lying within a public right-of-way or an easement.
“Shall” is mandatory; “may” is permissive.
“Side sewer” means a sanitary sewer pipe leading from a plumbing outlet, drain or other facility to the public sewer system.
“Storm drain” means a public or private drain which carries storm and surface waters or drainage effluent from storm plumbing outlets, and other water unpolluted by human or industrial waste.
“Stormwater” means waters on the surface of the ground, roof drains, or underground resulting from rainfall or other natural precipitation.
“Structure” means anything constructed or erected the use of which requires location or attachment to something having location on the ground, and shall, in addition, include, but not be limited to, trailers, mobile homes and house trailers, but shall not include fences and walls.
“Stub” means a sewer constructed from the public sewer as defined in this section to the property line or edge of public right-of-way or easement on the property being served, whichever is closest to the facility to be served.
“Suspended solids” or “SS” means solids that either float on the surface or are in suspension in water, sewage, or other liquids, and which are removable by laboratory filtering.
“Treatment works” means all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage. “Treatment system” and “sewerage system” shall be deemed equivalent terms for treatment works.
“Trunk” means a sewer that receives one or more tributary branches and serves a large territory.
“User” means every person using any part of the public treatment works of the city.
“User charge” means the periodic charges levied on all users of the public treatment works, and shall, at a minimum, cover each user’s proportionate share of the cost of operation and maintenance; however, may include other amounts, including, but not limited to, debt service.
“Wastewater” means the spent water of a community. It may be a combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, and industrial establishments, plants and institutions, or other sources, together with any groundwater, surface water and stormwater that may be present. “Wastewater” and “sewage” shall be deemed equivalent terms.
“Winter water waste” means the practice of allowing water to flow on a continuous basis to avoid freezing of water in pipes during winter months. (Ord. 930 § 2, 1980)