835 R.I. Code R. 835-RICR-20-00-2.3

Current through December 3, 2024

Section 835-RICR-20-00-2.3 - Definitions

A. "Abatement meter" means a meter used to monitor water flow that does not enter the NBC's facilities.

B. "Act" or "the Act" means the Narragansett Bay Commission Act, R.I. Gen. Laws Chapters 46-25, 46-25.1 and 46-25.2, as amended.

C. "Authorized employees" or "Agents of the commission" 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:

1. If the user is a corporation, "authorized representative" means the President, a Vice-President, Secretary, or Treasurer of the corporation in charge of a principal business function, or any other person authorized to represent the corporation for financial purposes.

2. If the user is a partnership, association, or sole proprietorship, an "authorized representative" means a general partner or the proprietor, or any other person authorized to represent the partnership, association, or sole proprietorship for financial purposes.

3. If the user is an agent of or representing Federal, State, or local governments, an "authorized representative" means a director or highest official appointed or designated to oversee the operation and performance of the activities of the government facility.

E. "Biochemical oxygens 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) expressed in terms of weight and concentration (milligrams per liter (mg/I)).

F. "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.

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

H. "Building sewer" or "house connection" means the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal. Where authorized, the building sewer may service one (1) building or multiple buildings in the situation of associations, i.e. condominiums with shared appurtenances.

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

J. "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.

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

L. "Compound meter" means a two (2) dial meter with one (1) meter measuring water only used as a fire supply.

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

N. "Direct connection" means the connection of a building sewer directly to the NBC's facilities.

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

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

Q. "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.

R. "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 the NBC's facilities.

S. "Input meter" means a meter that measures the volume of water entering a property.

T. "May" means permissive.

U. "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.

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

W. "Narragansett Bay Commission" or "NBC" for the purposes of this Part shall be construed to mean the Narragansett Bay Commission in its capacity as a public corporation or acting through its authorized employees and agents.

X. "Output Meter" means a meter that measures the amount of flow that is discharged into the NBC's facilities.

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

Z. "Person" means any individual, partnership, co-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.

AA. "pH" means the logarithm (to the base ten (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.

BB. "Pollutant" means any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage, garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, medical wastes, chemicals 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).

CC. "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).

DD. "Public Utilities Commission" or "PUC" means the quasi-judicial tribunal as defined by R.I. Gen. Laws § 39-1-1et seq.

EE. "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 waters that are not discharged intentionally.

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

GG. "Service Area" means those cities and towns contemplated in R.I. Gen. Laws § 46-25-3(5) and any portion(s) thereof whose wastewater collection and treatment systems are serviced by the NBC, and any other city, town or district serviced by the NBC.

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

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

JJ. "Sewer use fee" means a charge levied on users for the availability and/or use of the wastewater treatment and collection system. Such fees shall include, but not be limited to, residential and non-residential consumption and fixed fees, pretreatment permit application fees, connection permit fees, sewer back-up removal fees, septic tank waste discharge fees, surcharges and other miscellaneous fees, charges, and assessments as set by the NBC and approved by the PUC pursuant to R.I. Gen. Laws Chapters 39-1 and 39-3, as amended.

KK. "Shall" means mandatory.

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

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

NN. "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, except in the case of combined sewers, wherein it will receive treatment at the NBC's facilities.

OO. "Surface water" means stormwater or other wash water or drainage carrying any pollutants that affect the characteristics of wastewater.

PP. "Total suspended solids" or "TSS" means:

1. Insoluble solids that either float on the surface or are suspended in water, wastewater, or other liquids;

2. Solid organic or inorganic particles (colloidal, dispersed, coagulated, flocculated) physically held in suspension by agitation or flow or;

3. The quantity of material removed from wastewater in a laboratory test, as prescribed in "Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater" and referred to as nonfilterable residue.

QQ. "True-up bill" means the bill showing amounts needed to bring account current following an estimated bill or meter reading.

RR. "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.

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

TT. "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.

UU. "Wastewater 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.

VV. "Well" means the method of the input water service to a property that is not connected to a public water supply.

WW. The Definitions in § 2.3 of this Part are limited only to this Part and not any other Rules and Regulations in existence or promulgated by the NBC in the future.

835 R.I. Code R. 835-RICR-20-00-2.3

Amended effective 10/27/2021