§ 41-41. Costs passed on to industry.

(a)

If the character of the discharge from an industry or business is such that the city or Trinity River Authority incurs additional cost for transporting or treating its wastewater, the industry or business shall pay a surcharge. If by reason of the strength of its discharge an industry is disconnected from city services, the industry shall pay a disconnection fee. Surcharges and fees may be set by the director as follows:

(1)

Surcharge for industry. Any industrial user that discharges over-strength wastewater shall pay a surcharge assessed by the city using the formula in section 41-41(b)(6);

(2)

Surcharge for class groups. Class I, II, or III commercial and industrial establishments which discharge wastewater into the city sanitary sewer system shall meet the requirements of this section. Class I, II and III are defined as:

Class I - Eating places: Includes restaurants, bars, lounges and other establishments which engage in preparation of food or beverage which is served directly to the consumer;

Class II - Equipment service facilities: Includes establishments which perform or provide washing, cleaning or servicing of automobiles, trucks, buses, machinery or equipment; this class includes public facilities, facilities limited to specific companies, and attended and/or coin-operated establishments; and

Class III - Food and kindred products processing: Includes commercial establishments which engage in the preparation, packaging, processing or distributing of food, food products, grains or produce, other than those included in Class I, and which discharge less than one hundred fifty thousand (150,000) gallons of wastewater per month.

(b)

All businesses falling within one (1) or more of the above class groups shall be subject to and pay a surcharge as set forth in section 41-41(b)(6) below. In addition, these class groups shall comply with the following requirements:

(1)

The director may require that the establishments in the different class groups pay a surcharge based on wastewater strength determination for that particular class group. Strengths for biochemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids may be determined on samples collected from establishments in each class group;

(2)

Flow determinations may be made by estimating flow from water consumption records or flow meters as outlined in this chapter, except that a permit may not be required. If a business that falls under the requirements of this section is located in a larger facility served by a master meter, the director may estimate the wastewater flow from the business;

(3)

If a business contains operations from more than one (1) class group and it is determined that the surcharge rate for a particular class group would not adequately compensate the city for its costs of treatment, the director may assess an additional charge based on a proportional average of the class groups involved or require the business to pay an industrial surcharge as outlined in this chapter;

(4)

A business placed into a class group may elect to have its surcharge determined from composite samples in lieu of the class averages provided that:

a.

A written request to do so is submitted to, and approved by, the director;

b.

The business installs a manhole built to the director's specifications at the sole expense of the requesting business;

c.

The entity obtains and strictly follows at its expense a self-monitoring procedure to include sampling and analyses prescribed by the director;

d.

The requesting entity agrees and understands that the director may obtain check samples, either grab or composite, from the monitoring site for the purpose of checking the accuracy of the self-monitoring procedures and analyses prescribed above, and that in the event of discrepancies, the director's data shall be used for determining the surcharge; and

e.

The laboratory employed by the requesting business has been approved by the director prior to implementation of self-monitoring. Subsequent changes in the laboratory shall have prior approval by the director.

(5)

At the option of the director, the business may be removed from a class surcharge group and surcharges determined in compliance with this chapter;

(6)

The formula for determining industrial and class surcharge for chapter 41 is:

Surcharge = Q X 8.34 X [a (BOD - 250) + b (TSS - 250)] X 1.20

where:

Q = Flow of wastewater expressed in millions of gallons (example: 1.0 = 1 million gallons);

8.34 = Weight in pounds of one (1) gallon of water

250 = Normal limits of BOD or normal limits of TSS in domestic wastewater expressed in mg/l;

1.20 = Cost factor to recover administrative overhead cost including, but not limited to, sampling cost;

a = Unit cost of treatment per pound of BOD; and

b = Unit cost of treatment per pound of TSS;

(7)

Upon request by a business listed as Class I, II, or III, the director may conduct an on-site inspection for the purpose of determining whether or not the type of operation conducted by the business is likely to generate extra-strength sewerage. On the basis of this inspection, the business may be excluded from the class surcharge. If exempted, the owner shall notify the director of any significant changes in his or her business. This notification shall be within ten (10) days of the date that this significant change occurs. This exception may become null and void if, upon subsequent investigation, extra-strength sewerage is actually being generated by the business or the operation of the business changes, at which time a redetermination may be made.

(c)

Other fees. If a surcharge for an industry does not recover all of the sampling cost, as calculated by using the administrative cost recovery factor described in this article, the amount of sampling cost not recovered may be added to that industry's surcharge.

(Ord. No. 8140, § 1, 3-20-03)