§ 82-250. Miscellaneous provisions.
(a)
Pretreatment charges and fees. The county may adopt from time to time reasonable fees for reimbursement of costs of setting up and operating the county's pretreatment program which may include:
(1)
Fees for wastewater discharge permit applications including the cost of processing such applications;
(2)
Fees for monitoring, inspection, and surveillance procedures including the cost of collection and analyzing a user's discharge, and reviewing monitoring reports submitted by users;
(3)
Fees for reviewing and responding to accidental discharge procedures and construction;
(4)
Fees for filing appeals;
(5)
Surcharge fees for higher strength wastewater for compatible pollutants;
(6)
Charges for costs incurred by the county due to an industry's noncompliance which results in damages, obstructions, or any other impairment to the POTW or environment, or any expense of whatever character or nature to the county.
(7)
Other fees as the county may deem necessary to carry out the requirements contained herein. These fees relate solely to the matters covered by this article and are separate from all other fees, fines, and penalties chargeable by the county.
(b)
Industrial waste surcharge for compatible pollutants.
(1)
The county, at its discretion, shall charge and assess all IU's discharging industrial strength wastewater into the county sewerage system. The surcharge shall be in addition to any sewer service charges, for those wastes containing pollutant concentrations consistently greater than any of the following:
DOMESTIC WASTEWATER CONCENTRATIONS:
a.
Chemical oxygen demand (COD) 350 mg/L
b.
Total suspended solids (TSS) 200 mg/L
c.
Phosphorous (P) 5.0 mg/L
d.
Total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) 25.0 mg/L
(2)
IU's subject to surcharge fees may still be required to pretreat their discharge if their discharge exceeds any of the limitations shown in appendix A1 for other regulated pollutants or if there is insufficient capacity at the receiving POTW.
(3)
The mass limits in Appendix A1 define the total mass load allocated to industry for compatible pollutants at each POTW and is based on each facility's overall design criteria minus the current and planned future domestic loading. An appropriate safety factor is already built into these figures. The difference between the total figure and the existing permitted industrial load shall be used to calculate the remaining capacity available for new industries or expansion of existing industries.
(4)
Allocation of the mass based discharge parameters shall be on a first come, first serve basis and each IU shall be issued a permit allowing a monthly average and daily maximum mass discharge for each pollutant permitted. Once permitted, the mass allowed in the discharge permit is added to the total industrial inventory for the appropriate POTW, thereby reducing the remaining available capacity allowed for future industrial use. However an industry which fails to utilize a significant portion of its permitted discharge may be subject to a reduction so as not to tie up capacity that might otherwise be available to new or expanding IUs.
(5)
The county shall have the right to reduce an IU's discharge permit for any parameter, for reasons including but not limited to the following:
a.
Operational problems or emergency at the POTW;
b.
Reduction in capacity at the POTW,
c.
Order of or federal regulatory agency;
d.
Failure of the industry to comply with its discharge permit;
e.
Failure of the IU to control surges or slug loadings;
f.
Failure of the industry's discharge to realize a significant portion of the mass load allocated to it.
(6)
Where TKN test results are not available or feasible, the TKN shall be calculated based on the ammonia-nitrogen test (NH 3 ) which shall be taken as 60 percent of the TKN, unless the value of the organic nitrogen component can be shown.
(7)
At the county's discretion, IU's subject to surcharge may be issued discharge permits with specific limitations for flow and concentration in addition to mass of pollutants in the discharge. Application for any increase in discharge limits shall be made in writing to the county. Unauthorized increases in discharge shall be subject to enforcement actions, as outlined in section 82-245 of this document.
(8)
Surcharge fees for the compatible pollutants and other fees such as may be reasonable and appropriate shall be established and revised from time to time in the Fulton County fee schedule.
(9)
Industrial surcharges shall be billed separately from other sewer service charges. Invoices will be sent either monthly or bi-monthly and payment shall be received within 30 days. Payments not received within 30 days will be assessed interest at 1.5 percent per month. Failure to pay surcharges may result in enforcement actions as outlined in section 82-245.
(10)
The amount of the surcharge, which is hereby charged and assessed against all IUs discharging industrial wastewater into the county sewerage system, shall reflect the cost incurred by the county in handling excess COD, TSS, P, and TKN. This surcharge shall include a proportionate share of charges for maintenance and operation of the water pollution control facilities including depreciation, solids handling, disposal and other incidental expenses. IU's shall also be responsible as provided in subsection 82-250(b)(8), or the cost of sampling and analysis required to determine the concentration, C, used in calculating the surcharge fees.
(11)
The surcharge amount will be based on the number of pounds (lbs.) of pollutant discharged over and above domestic strength wastewater for the four compatible pollutants and shall be calculated using the following formula:
S = U * (C - L) * F * 8.34
Where:
S
= the surcharge amount in dollars.
U
= the unit charge (cost/lb) established in the Fulton County fee schedule for a particular pollutant (COD, TSS, P, & TKN above).
C
= the concentration in milligrams per liter of the permitted pollutant, as either measured or estimated by methods approved by the county and the IU.
L
= the domestic wastewater concentration limit for the surcharge pollutant (COD, TSS, P, and TKN given above).
F
= the volume of flow (expressed in millions of gallons) discharged during the billing period from the IU as either measured or estimated by methods approved by the county and the IU. 8.34 = the "density" of water (lbs. per gallon).
(12)
The unit cost for each pollutant shall be determined annually by the director in order that the above factors may correctly represent current treatment and handling costs.
(13)
IU's may choose to pre-treat their discharge to the domestic strength concentrations indicated above in lieu of paying surcharge fees. In such cases, design and construction of pretreatment facilities shall be reviewed, and permitted by the county and shall be subject to all other provisions of these regulations as appropriate. IU's which provide pretreatment to avoid paying surcharge fees may still be subject to surcharge fees where the pretreatment facility fails to lower pollutant levels to domestic concentrations.
(14)
Industries which discharge only wastewater generated from restrooms and do not discharge process wastewater shall be exempt from the surcharge requirements (even though their wastewater may exhibit higher than domestic concentrations for some compatible pollutants) provided they have met the following criteria:
a.
A request is made in writing to the director to be exempt from surcharge fees on this basis.
b.
They provide the county with adequate documentation showing that their discharge is only connected to restroom plumbing and there is no process water in use.
(Res. No. 06-1167, 11-15-06)