§ 8.20.030. Definitions.
For the purposes of this chapter:
"Acute toxicity" means any poisonous effect produced by a single short-term exposure that results in severe biological injury or death.
"Agricultural pollution" means pollution that can result from the liquid or solid wastes from farming, including runoff from pesticides, fertilizers, and feedlots; erosion and dust from plowing; animal manure and carcasses, crop residues, and debris.
"Algae" means simple rootless plants that grow in bodies of water in relative proportion to the amount of nutrients available. Algae blooms, sudden growth spurts, can adversely affect water quality.
"Aquifer" means an underground bed or stratum of earth, gravel, or porous stone that contains water.
"Aquifer recharge area" means a unity of land surface into which precipitation can infiltrate and thus charge or fill the storage space in the rock.
"Bacteria" means single-celled microorganisms that lack chlorophyll. Some cause diseases, others aid in pollution control by breaking down organic matter in air and water.
"Best management practices" means techniques found to be the most effective, practical means of preventing or reducing pollution from a particular nonpoint source.
"Biochemical oxygen demand (BOD)" means a measure of the dissolved oxygen required to decompose organic matter in water. It is a measure of pollution, since heavy waste loads have a high demand for oxygen.
"Buffer strips" means strips of grass or other erosion-resisting vegetation left between or below cultivated strips or fields, and water bodies.
"Chlorinated hydrocarbons" means a class of persistent, broad-spectrum insecticides that linger in the environment and accumulate in the food chain. Examples include DDT, aldrin, dieldrin, heptachlor, chlordane, lindane, endrin, mirex, and toxaphene.
"Chronic" means longlasting or frequently recurring, as a disease.
"Clear cut" means a forest management technique that involves harvesting all of the trees in one area at one time. Under certain soil and slope conditions, the practice can contribute sediment to water pollution.
"Coliform organism" means any of number of organisms common to the intestinal tract of humans and animals whose presence in wastewater is an indicator of pollution and of potentially dangerous bacterial contamination.
"Combined sewers" means a sewerage system that carries both sanitary sewage and stormwater runoff. During dry weather, combined sewers carry all wastewater to the treatment plant. During a storm, only part of the flow is intercepted because of plant overloading; the remainder may go untreated to the receiving stream.
"Dissolved oxygen (DO)" means a measure of the amount of oxygen available for biochemical activity in a given amount of water. Adequate levels of DO are needed to support aquatic life.
"Effluent" means a waste liquid discharge from a manufacturing or treatment process into the environment, partially or completely treated, or in its natural state. Generally used to describe discharges into water.
"Erosion" means the wearing away of the land surface by wind or water. Erosion occurs naturally from weather or runoff, but is often intensified by land-clearing practices.
"Eutrophication" means the reduction of dissolved oxygen in natural or artificial lakes, reservoirs, or estuaries which leads to deterioration of aesthetic or life-supporting qualities.
"Evaporation ponds" means areas in which sludge from sewage or other sources is dumped and allowed to dry out.
"Filtration" means, in wastewater treatment, the mechanical process that captures particulate matter by separating water from solid material.
"Flour" means the finely ground silt resulting from the abrasion of the surface of the earth by glaciers; found in streams and rivers which originate at glaciers.
"Ground cover" means vegetation propagated to reduce soil erosion.
"Groundwater" means water beneath the land's surface; the water that enters wells and issues from springs.
"Hazardous waste" means any waste or combination of wastes that pose a significant present or potential hazard to human beings or other living organisms.
"Heavy metals" means metallic elements such as mercury, chromium, cadium, arsenic, and lead, that have high molecular weights.
"Herbicide" means a chemical that controls or destroys undesirable plants
"Infiltration" means the flow of water through small openings in the earth.
"Infiltration gallery" means a horizontal well that collects water along its entire length; usually laid in the earth near a body of surface water, but sometimes constructed beneath the surface water itself.
"Inorganic compounds" means chemical compounds that do not contain carbon.
"Leachate" means liquid that has percolated through solid waste or other materials, and contains substances dissolved from them.
"Leaching" means the process by which soluble materials in the soil, such as nutrients, pesticides, or other contaminants, are transported into a lower layer of soil or are dissolved and carried away by water.
"Logging roads" means a road, restricted from use by the general public by a locked gate or other barrier; and prepared for the purpose of travel exclusively by log trucks, timber harvesting machinery and other vehicles necessary for timber management.
"Mining" means extraction from the earth, sediments or waters of any metallic or nonmetallic mineral sand, gravel, peat or construction rocks.
"Multiple use" means harmonious use of land for more than one purpose: i.e. grazing of livestock, wildlife production, recreation, watershed, and timber production. Not necessarily the combination of uses that will yield the highest economic return or greatest unit of output.
"Nutrients" means elements or compounds essential to growth and development of living things; carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, potassium, and phosphorus are important nutrients.
"Off-road vehicles" means forms of motorized transportation that do not require prepared surface, and can be used to reach remote areas.
"Organic" means referring to or derived from living organisms. In chemistry, any compound containing carbon.
"Oxidation pond" means a holding area in which organic wastes are broken down by aerobic bacteria.
"Percolation" means flow of water through pores or spaces in rock or soil.
"Permeability" means the quality of a layer of silt that enables water or air to move through it. Terms used to describe permeability are very slow, slow, moderately slow, moderate, rapid, very rapid, etc.
"Person" means any individual, public or private corporation, political subdivision, government agency, municipality, industry, partnership, association, firm, trust, estate or any other entity.
"Pesticide" means any substance used to control such pests as rats, weeds, insects, algae, and fungi.
"Point source" means any discernible, confined, and discrete conveyance, including but not limited to any pipe, ditch, channel, tunnel, conduit, well, discrete fissure, container, rolling stock, concentrated animal feeding operation, or vessel or other floating craft, from which pollutants are or may be discharged.
"Pollution" means the presence of matter or energy whose nature, location, or quantity produces undesired environmental effects.
"Potable water" means water that is safe for drinking and for use in cooking.
"Reservoir" means any holding area, natural or artificial, used to store, regulate, or control water.
"Road" means any street, highway, or other course, paved or unpaved, for the purpose of motor vehicle travel, with the exception of logging roads.
"Runoff" means that portion of water from rain, snow-melt, or irrigation that is not absorbed by soil, and flows over the ground surface to return to streams.
"Salinity" means a measure of the amount of dissolved salt in water.
"Salt water intrusion" means replacement of fresh surface water or groundwater by salt water. If the salt water comes from the ocean, it is referred to as sea water intrusion.
"Sanitary landfill, landfilling" means protecting the environment when disposing of solid waste. Waste is spread in thin layers, compacted by heavy machinery, and covered with soil daily.
"Sanitary sewers" means underground pipes that carry only domestic or commercial waste, not stormwater.
"Sedimentation ponds" means holding areas for wastewater in which floating wastes are skimmed off, and settled solids are pumped out for disposal.
"Seepage" means water that flows through the soil.
"Settleable solids" means materials heavy enough to sink to the bottom of wastewater.
"Sewage" means the total or organic waste and wastewater generated by residential and commercial establishments.
"Sewer" means any pipe or conduit used to collect and carry away sewage or stormwater runoff from the generating source to treatment plants or receiving streams. A sewer that conveys household and commercial sewage is called a sanitary sewer. If it transports runoff from rain or snow, it is called a storm sewer. Stormwater runoff and sewage are often transported in the same system of combined sewers.
"Silt" means finely divided particles of soil or rock. Often carried in cloudy suspension in water, and eventually deposited as sediment.
"Sludge" means the solid residue removed from sewage during wastewater treatment. Sludge disposal is handled by incineration, dumping, or burial.
"Solid waste disposal" means the final placement of refuse that cannot be salvaged or recycled.
"Spoil" means dirt or rock that has been removed from its original location, destroying the composition of the soil in the process, often a consequence of strip-mining or dredging.
"Storm sewer" means a conduit that collects and transports rain and snow runoff. In a separate sewerage system, storm sewers are separate from those carrying domestic and commercial wastewater.
"Surface water" means water on the earth's surface that is exposed to atmosphere, such as rivers, lakes, streams, and the oceans.
"Tailings" means residue of raw materials or waste separated out during the processing of crops or mineral ores.
"Topsoil" means a presumed fertile soil or soil material, or a soil that responds to fertilization; ordinarily rich in organic matter, used to dress roadbanks, lawns, and gardens.
"Toxic pollutants" means a combination of pollutants including disease-carrying agents which, after discharge and exposure, ingestion, inhalation, or assimilation into any organism, can cause death or disease, mutations, deformities, or malfunctions in such organisms or their offspring.
"Toxicity" means the capacity of a substance to produce injury or disease in living organisms.
"Toxic substances" means those materials, or combinations of materials, including disease-causing agents, which after discharge and upon exposure, ingestion, inhalation or assimilation into any organism, either directly from the environment or indirectly by ingestion through food chains, will, on the basis of information available, cause death, disease, behavioral abnormalities (including malfunctions in reproduction) or physical deformations, in affected organisms or their offspring; the term includes the following substances, and any other substance identified as a toxic pollutant under Section 307(a) of the Clean Water Act of 1977: Aldrin/dieldrin; arsenic; benzidine; carbon tetrachloride; cadmium; dichlorobenzidine; chlorinated ethanes; chloroform; chromium; demeton; dichlorethylenes; dinitrotoluene; fluoranthene; diphenylhydrazine; endrin; hexachlorocyclopentadiene; ethylbenzene; lindane; mercury; nickel; nitrobenzene; naphthalene; silver; vinyl chloride; acenaphthene; antimony; chlorinated benzenes; chloroalkyl ethers; DDT; dichloropropane and dichloropropene; halomethanes; malathion; tetrachloroethylene; trichloroethylene; polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons; endosulfan; mirex; pentachlorophenol; phenol; acrylonitrile; asbestos; benzene; beryllium; chlorinated naphthalene; 2-chlorophenol; chlorphenols; chlorophenoxy, herbicides; cyanides; 2, 4-dichlorophenol; acrolein; chlordane; nitrosamines; copper; dichlorobenzenes; guthirocyclohexane; isophorone; lead; methoxychlor; nitrophenols; parathion; phthalate esters; PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls); selenium; p-dioxin; thallium; toluene; toxaphene; zinc; and 2, 4-dimethylphenol.
"Urban runoff" means stormwater from city streets, usually carrying litter and organic wastes.
"Variance" means government permission for a delay or exception in the application of a given law, ordinance, or regulation.
"Waste" means unwanted materials left over from manufacturing processes, or refuse from places of human or animal habitation.
"Waters" means any creek, river, tributary, pond, lake, or other surface drainage or associated wetland.
"Water table" means the level of groundwater.
"Wetland" means those areas that are inundated or saturated by surface or groundwater at a frequency and duration sufficient to support, and that under normal conditions do support, a prevalence of vegetation adapted for life in saturated soil conditions. Wetlands generally include swamps, marshes, bogs, and similar areas.
(Ord. 85-02-05-01 § l (part): prior code § 95.30.030)