Rhode Island Code of Regulations
Title 835 - Narragansett Bay Commission
Chapter 20 - Sewer Usage
Subchapter 00 - N/A
Part 1 - Use of the Wastewater Facilities
Section 835-RICR-20-00-1.2 - Definitions

A. "Act" or "the Act" means the Narragansett Bay Commission Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapters 46-25 and 46-25.1, as amended.

B. "Appurtenance" means auxiliary structures attached to a sewer, which shall include, but not be limited to, pump stations, slots, regulators, outfalls, force mains, manholes, catch basins, tide gates, monitoring devices, and metering chambers.

C. "Authorized employees" or "Agents of the NBC" means a person who by reason of his or her general position, contract, or job description with the NBC has specific duties and responsibilities to perform on behalf of the NBC.

D. "Authorized representative of user" means:

E. "Batch discharge" means a discharge that does not flow on a continuous basis or the discharge of all or part of the contents of a tank that occurs intermittently or over a short period of time. A holding tank or equalization tank which receives concentrated batch discharges that are then discharged or "bled" into the sewer system over an extended period of time shall be considered a batch discharge.

F. "Best management practices" or "BMP" means a practice or combination of practices determined to be effective and practical means of preventing or reducing the amount of pollution generated. BMPs may include technological, economic, and institutional methods.

G. "Biochemical oxygen demand" or "BOD" means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure for five (5) consecutive days at twenty degrees Centigrade (20° C) (sixty-eight degrees Fahrenheit (68° F)) expressed in terms of weight and concentration (milligrams per liter (mg/l)).

H. "Biologicals" means preparations made from living organisms and their products, including vaccines, cultures, etc., intended for use in diagnosing, immunizing, or treating humans or animals or in research pertaining thereto.

I. "Blood products" means any products derived from human blood, including, but not limited to, whole blood, blood plasma, platelets, red or white blood corpuscles, and other derived licensed products, such as interferon, etc.

J. "Board of Commissioners" means the Narragansett Bay Commission sitting as a governing body at a duly authorized meeting with a quorum being present.

K. "Body fluids" means liquids emanating or derived from humans including blood, blood products, cerebrospinal, pleural, peritoneal and pericardial fluids, amniotic fluids, and semen and vaginal secretions, but excluding feces, urine, nasal secretions, sputum, sweat, tears, saliva, and breast milk, unless any such excluded substance contains visible blood or is isolation waste.

L. "Building drain" means that part of the lowest horizontal piping within a building that carries water, wastewater, or stormwater to a building sewer.

M. "Building sewer" or "house connection" means the sewer pipe or drain line connecting a building or other structure to the public sewer for wastewater disposal.

N. "Bypass" means the intentional diversion of waste streams from any portion of a user's treatment facility.

O. "Categorical industrial user" means industrial users subject to EPA categorical pretreatment standards.

P. "Catch basin" means a cistern located at the point where a street gutter discharges into the sewer and designed to catch and retain matter that would not readily pass through the sewer. It also means a reservoir or well into which surface water may drain off.

Q. "Categorical pretreatment standard" or "Categorical standard" means any Regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by the EPA in accordance with §§307(b) and (c) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, which applies to a specific category of users and which appears in 40 C.F.R. Chapter I, Subchapter N, Parts 405-471(2018) incorporated herein by reference, not including amendments.

R. "Chemical oxygen demand" or "COD" means a measure of the amount of oxygen required to oxidize organic and oxidizable inorganic compounds in water.

S. "Clean Water Act" means the Federal Water Pollution Control Act, also known as the Clean Water Act, as amended, 33 U.S.C. § 1251 et seq.

T. "Color" means the optical density at the visual wavelength of maximum absorption, relative to distilled water, one hundred percent (100%) transmittance is equivalent to zero (0.0) optical density.

U. "Combined sewer" means a sewer intended to receive and convey both wastewater and surface runoff from storms.

V. "Commission" means the Narragansett Bay Commission in its capacity as a public corporation or acting though its authorized employees and agents. (See "Board of Commissioners" definition, § 1.2(J) of this Part.)

W. "Composite sample" means the sample collection technique resulting from the combination of individual wastewater grab samples taken at selected intervals based on either an increment of flow or period of time.

X. "Concentrated discharge" means either a batch or continuous discharge with a mass load exceeding one hundred percent (100%) of the daily maximum allowable mass load, as calculated for each individual user for any parameter regulated under § 1.5 of this Part. The concentrated discharge mass load shall be calculated as follows:

Y. "Contact cooling water" means any water used for cooling purposes which comes into direct contact with the object being cooled such as any raw material, intermediate product, waste product or finished product.

Z. "Dilution" means the addition of water or wastewater to another wastewater stream in order to change the concentration of certain pollutants or pollution causing agents.

AA. "Discharge" means the introduction of water, wastewater, and/or pollutants into the NBC's facilities from any source.

BB. "District" or "Narragansett Bay Commission District" is defined per R.I. Gen. Laws Chapter 46-25.

CC. "Direct connection" means the connection of a building sewer directly to a sewer owned by the NBC.

DD. "Drainlayer" or licensed plumber shall mean either an individual, partnership, or corporation to whom a license has been issued to install and repair sewers, sewer connections, house connections, during the period when such license is valid, and the proper agents and representatives of such drainlayer. A drainlayer may be a state-licensed underground utility contractor or master plumber.

EE. "Easement" means the acquired legal right to use land owned by others for a specific purpose.

FF. "Emerging pollutants of concern" means any pollutant or class of pollutants with potential deleterious impacts to the environment and/or public health and which is increasingly being detected in the environment. Long-term impacts of such pollutants may be poorly understood, and regulatory controls on their release may be lacking or under development.

GG. "Environmental Protection Agency" or "EPA" means the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency or, where appropriate, the term may also be used as a designation for the Regional Water Management Division Director or other duly authorized official of said agency.

HH. "Executive director" means the Executive Director of the Narragansett Bay Commission or his or her designee.

II. "Existing source" means, but is not limited to, any source of discharge, the construction or operation of which commenced prior to the publication of proposed categorical pretreatment standards under §§307(b) and (c) (33 U.S.C. § 1317) of the Clean Water Act, which will be applicable to such source if the standard is thereafter promulgated in accordance with §307 of the Clean Water Act.

JJ. "Facility" or "Facilities" (See "Wastewater facilities" definition).

KK. "Flow monitoring" means methods such as approved open channel flow meters with pressure and velocity sensors, instantaneous level and velocity survey during peak flow hours, or volumetric weir survey during peak flow hours.

LL. "Garbage" means, but is not limited to, the wastes resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and serving of food, and from the handling, storage, and sale of produce.

MM. "Garbage disposal unit" or "Garbage grinder" means a mechanical device used for grinding, shredding, or macerating garbage to a small particle size before discharge to the sewer.

NN. "Grab sample" means a sample which is collected on a one-time basis with no regard to the flow quantity or volume and without consideration of time.

OO. "Grease" means volatile and non-volatile residual fats, oils, fatty acids, soaps, waxes, mineral oils, and other materials of similar composition.

PP. "Grease removal device" means a device for removal of grease and/or oil from a wastewater discharge.

QQ. "Green infrastructure" refers to the range of measures that use plant or soil systems, permeable pavement or other permeable surfaces or substrates, stormwater harvest and reuse, or landscaping to store, infiltrate, or evapotranspirate stormwater and reduce flows to sewer systems or to surface waters.

RR. "Indirect connection" means a building sewer connection that is not a direct connection; and whose wastewater discharge shall, notwithstanding the passage in its normal course through other sewers or conduits, ultimately discharge in whole or in part through NBC sewers.

SS. "Industrial wastes" means wastewater from industrial processes, trade, or business as distinct from domestic or sanitary wastes.

TT. "Infectious wastes" means wastewater contaminated by or containing any agent or organism, such as a virus or bacteria, capable of being communicated by invasion and multiplication in body tissues and capable of causing disease or adverse health impacts in humans.

UU. "Interceptor sewer" means sewer lines that receive wastewater from a trunk sewer and convey it to the treatment facility and does not refer to a grease interceptor. These are the largest diameter sewer lines.

VV. "Interference" means a discharge which, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, both: inhibits or disrupts the NBC's facilities, treatment processes or operations, or sludge processes, use, or disposal; and therefore is a cause of a violation of any requirement of the NBC's RIPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation) or of the prevention of sewage sludge use or disposal in compliance with any of the following statutory/regulatory provisions or permits issued thereunder (or more stringent State or local Regulations): §405 of the Clean Water Act; the Solid Waste Disposal Act (SWDA) (42 U.S.C. Chapter 82), including Title II commonly referred to as the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA); State Regulations contained in any State sludge management plan prepared pursuant to Subtitle D of SWDA; the Clean Air Act; the Toxic Substances Control Act (15 U.S.C. Chapter 53); and the Marine Protection, Research and Sanctuaries Act (33 U.S.C. § 1401 et seq.).

WW. "Isolation waste" means biological waste and discarded materials contaminated with blood, excretion, exudates, or secretions from humans who are isolated to protect others from certain highly communicable diseases, or isolated animals known to be infected with highly communicable diseases and specified by the Center for Disease Controls (CDC) as classification 4.

XX. "Low impact development" or "LID" refers to methods of land development that strive to mimic natural processes for managing stormwater on the site while still achieving water protection goals. LID strategies work to improve onsite water management through the use of features that support infiltration and the natural irrigation of the landscape.

YY. "May" means permissive.

ZZ. "Medical waste" means any solid waste that is generated in the diagnosis, treatment (e.g., provision of medical services), or immunization of human beings or animals, in research pertaining thereto, or in the production or testing of biologicals.

AAA. "Municipality" means any city, town, State authority, or sewer district that discharges wastewater into facilities owned by the NBC.

BBB. "Municipal sewer system" means the system of public sewers, consisting of pipes, catch basins, storm drains, and pump stations owned, operated, and maintained by the cities and towns and not part of the NBC Facilities.

CCC. "National pretreatment standard" means any Regulation containing pollutant discharge limits promulgated by EPA in accordance with §§307(b) and (c) of the Clean Water Act, which applies to a specific category of Industrial Users.

DDD. "NBC sewer line" means any sewer owned and maintained by the Narragansett Bay Commission. This excludes all sewers owned and maintained by towns, municipalities, or private entities.

EEE. "New source" means any source of a discharge, the construction or operations of which commenced after the publication of proposed Categorical Pretreatment Standards under §307(c) of the Clean Water Act, that will be applicable to such source if the standards are thereafter promulgated in accordance with §307(c),

FFF. "Noncontact cooling water" means water used for cooling which does not come into direct contact with any raw material, intermediate product, waste product or finished product.

GGG. "Non-significant categorical user" refers to an industrial user subjected to EPA categorical pretreatment standards discharging no more than one hundred (100) gallons of categorical wastewater daily to the NBC sewer system. This classification of user shall not discharge untreated concentrated wastes and must consistently comply with Pretreatment Standards and Requirements. This definition was established by the EPA through the Pretreatment Streamlining Regulations to ease the regulatory burden on sewer agencies. The NBC may reclassify an industrial user as a non-significant categorical user strictly at the sole discretion of the NBC.

HHH. "Outfall" means the mouth of a sewer, drain, or conduit where an effluent is discharged into the receiving waters.

III. "Owner" or "Operator" means any person who owns, leases, operates, controls, or supervises a source.

JJJ. "Pass through" means a discharge that exits the NBC's facilities into waters of the United States in quantities or concentrations that, alone or in conjunction with a discharge or discharges from other sources, causes a violation of any requirement of the NBC's RIPDES permit (including an increase in the magnitude or duration of a violation).

KKK. "Person" means any individual, partnership, firm, company, corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate, municipality, any local, State or Federal agency, or any other legal entity, or their legal representatives, agents, or assigns.

LLL. "PFAS" or "per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance" means any of a man-made class of compounds that have multiple fluorine atoms attached to an alkyl chain (e.g., PFOA, PFOS, GenX); PFAS are considered emerging pollutants of concern.

MMM. "pH" means the logarithm (to the base 10) of the reciprocal of the hydrogen ion concentration in moles per liter (m/l) of solution. Neutral wastewaters are numerically equal to seven (7), the number increases to show increasing basicity and decreases to show acidity.

NNN. "Pollutant" means any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemical wastes, industrial wastes, biological materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discarded equipment, rock, sand, cellar dirt, and agricultural and industrial waste that affect the characteristics of wastewater (i.e., pH, temperature, TSS, turbidity, color, BOD, COD, toxicity, odor).

OOO. "Pollution" means the man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical, biological, and radiological integrity of water.

PPP. "Pretreatment" or "Treatment" means the reduction or elimination of pollutant properties in wastewater or their alteration to a less harmful state thereby rendering them less harmful to the facilities prior to or in lieu of discharging or introducing such pollutants into the NBC's facilities. The elimination, reduction, or alteration can be accomplished by physical, chemical, or biological processes, process changes, or by other means, except as prohibited by 40 C.F.R. § 403.6(d) (2018), incorporated herein by reference, not including later amendments.

QQQ. "Pretreatment standards and requirements" means any substantive or procedural requirement related to pretreatment, including National pretreatment categorical standards and prohibitive discharge standards imposed upon a user.

RRR. "Publicly owned treatment works" or "POTW" means the facility defined by §212 of the Clean Water Act owned by the NBC, including any devices and systems used in the storage, treatment, recycling, and reclamation of municipal sewage and industrial waste. The systems include sewers, pipes, and equipment used to carry wastewater to the treatment facility.

SSS. "Receiving stream" or "Waters of the state" means all streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways, wells, springs, reservoirs, aquifers, irrigation systems, drainage systems, and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface or underground, natural or artificial, public or private, that are contained within, flow or border upon the State of Rhode Island or any portion thereof.

TTT. "Record plan" or "As-built plans" means a revised set of drawings and/or plans submitted by a contractor upon completion of a project that reflects all the changes made during the construction process. The Record Plans show the exact dimensions, geometry, and locations of all the elements included in the project as constructed.

UUU. "Regulated medical waste" means a special category of solid waste that includes specific types of medical waste that includes solid, semisolid, or liquid materials, but does not include domestic sewage materials. This waste is subject to the handling and tracking requirements of Rhode Island DEM. Categories of regulated medical waste are defined as blood, blood products, body fluids, contaminated sharps, discarded cultures and stocks of infectious agents and associated biologicals, isolation wastes, pathological waste, and oncological waste.

VVV. "Residential users" means persons only contributing sanitary wastewater to the municipal wastewater system.

WWW. "Rhode Island Pollutant Discharge Elimination System Permit" or "RIPDES Permit" means a permit issued pursuant to §402 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. § 1342).

XXX. "Sanitary sewer" means a sewer that is designed to carry liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants, and institutions together with minor quantities of ground, storm, and surface wastes that are not discharged intentionally.

YYY. "Sewage" means human excrement and gray water (e.g. household showers, dish washing operations, etc.).

ZZZ. "Septage" means the liquid, solid, and gaseous contents of a septic tank, holding tank, chemical toilet, camper, and/or trailer.

AAAA. "Septic tank" means an underground tank used for the disposal of domestic wastes.

BBBB. "Service connection" or "Building connection", means the connection between the building sewer pipe and the public sewer pipe.

CCCC. "Sewer" means a pipe, conduit, and/or other appurtenance, typically underground, designed to transport wastewater and/or stormwater.

DDDD. "Sewer use fee" means a charge levied on users for use of the wastewater treatment and collection system.

EEEE. "Shall" means mandatory.

FFFF. "Significant industrial user" means any industrial user that is classified under any of the following:

GGGG. "Significant noncompliance" means:

HHHH. "Sludge" means the solids, residues, and precipitate separated from or created in water and wastewater by the unit processes of a publicly owned treatment works, industrial pretreatment system, or water treatment or purification processes.

IIII. "Slug" means any discharge of a non-routine, episodic nature, including but not limited to, an accidental spill or a non-customary batch discharge.

JJJJ. "Source" means any building, structure, facility, or installation from which there is or may be the discharge of pollutants.

KKKK. "Standard methods" means methods for the examination of water and wastewater published jointly by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association, and the Water Pollution Control Federation.

LLLL. "Standard industrial classification code" or "SIC code" means a classification pursuant to the Standard Industrial Classification Manual issued by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget.

MMMM. "Storm sewer" means a sewer that carries stormwater and other wash waters or drainage, but excludes domestic, sanitary, commercial, and industrial wastes. Also called a "storm drain."

NNNN. "Stormwater" means surface water and any other source of run-off. It is normally collected in sewers separate from the sanitary sewers and receives minimal, if any, treatment prior to discharge to receiving waters.

OOOO. "Subdivision" means the division or re-division of a lot, tract, or parcel of land into two (2) or more lots, tracts, and/or parcels. Any adjustment to existing lot lines of a recorded lot by any means shall be considered a subdivision. The division of property for purposes of financing constitutes a subdivision.

PPPP. "Surface water pollutant" means stormwater or other wash water or drainage carrying any pollutants which affect the characteristics of wastewater.

QQQQ. "Suspended solids" means:

RRRR. "Toxic pollutants" means any substance listed as toxic under §307(a)(l) of the Clean Water Act, and listed under the Hazardous Substances Right-to-Know Act, R.I. Gen. Laws § 28-21-1 et seq., and as may otherwise be designated by the NBC.

SSSS. "Treatment plant effluent" means any discharge from an NBC wastewater treatment plant into waters of the State.

TTTT. "Turbidity" means a condition in water or wastewater caused by the presence of suspended matter, resulting in the scattering and absorption of light rays and determined by measurement of light diffraction, usually reported in arbitrary turbidity units.

UUUU. "User" means any person, firm, corporation, government or other entity that discharges, causes or permits the discharge of wastewater into the NBC's facilities.

VVVV. "Wastewater" means all the spent water of a community. It may include, but not be limited to, a combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants, institutions, and governmental facilities, whether treated or untreated, together with any groundwater, surface water, and stormwater that may be present which are contributing to the NBC's facilities.

WWWW. "Wastewater facilities" or "Facilities" means the structures, equipment, and processes required for the collection, treatment, and disposal of wastewater and sewage sludge that are owned and operated by the NBC.

XXXX. "Wastewater treatment plant" or "Treatment plant" means an arrangement of devices and structures for treating wastewater and sludge. Sometimes used as synonymous with waste treatment plant, sewage treatment plant, or wastewater treatment works.

YYYY. "Zero discharge wastewater pretreatment system" means a pretreatment system with no process wastewater discharges to the sewer system.

ZZZZ. ABBREVIATIONS. The following abbreviations shall have the designated meanings: