§ 12-40. Definitions.

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

B.O.D. (denoting biochemical oxygen demand): The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five (5) days at twenty (20) degrees centigrade, expressed in parts per million by weight.

Building drain: 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, beginning five (5) feet outside the inner face of the building wall.

Building sewer: The extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.

Combined sewer: A sewer receiving both surface runoff and sewage.

Garbage: Solid wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food, and from the handling, storage, and sale of produce.

Industrial wastes: The liquid wastes from industrial processes as distinct from sanitary sewage.

Inspector: The inspector of the sewer system of the municipality, or the inspector's deputy, agent, or representative.

Natural outlet: Any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or ground water.

pH: The logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.

Plumbing facilities: Bathtub, shower, lavatory, water closest, and other similar fixtures.

Properly shredded garbage: The wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food which have been shredded to such degree that all particles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than one-half inch in any dimension.

Public sewer: A sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights, and which is controlled by public authority.

Sanitary sewer: A sewer which carries sewage and to which storm, surface, and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.

Sewage: A combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions, and industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface, and storm waters as may be present.

Sewage treatment plant: Any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.

Sewer: A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.

Sewer tie-in: A sewer tie-in is the same as a sewer connector and a sewer stub-out, all meaning that point where and that device by which a private sewer line from a structure connects into a public sewer.

Sewerage works: All facilities for collecting, pumping, treating, and disposing of sewage.

Storm sewer or storm drain: A sewer which carries storm and surface waters and drainage, but excludes sewage and polluted industrial wastes.

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

Watercourse: A channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.

(Code 1979, § 7-3011; Ord. No. 2003-2, 2-25-03)