§ 13.08.520. Prohibited wastes—Specifically.

Specifically prohibited from public sewers are the following:

A.

Unpolluted waters: groundwater, stormwater and surface water, roof runoff, tidewater, subsurface drainage, uncontaminated cooling water, and uncontaminated industrial process water;

B.

Flammables: gasoline, benzene, naphtha, fuel oil, crude oil, lubricating oils and flammable or explosive liquids, solids or gases, or any other oils or greases of hydrocarbon or petroleum origin;

C.

High or low pH: waters or wastes having a pH lower than 5.5 or higher than 9.5, or having any corrosive or injurious properties capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment, sewerage systems and personnel;

D.

Solids or viscous substances: solids or viscous substances in quantities or of such size as to be capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers, or other interference with the proper operation of the sewerage systems, such as but not limited to ashes, cinders, straw, hair, rags, feathers, paunch manure, entrails, paper products, sand, mud, metal, glass, wood, plastics, rubber, latex and lime slurries;

E.

Liquids having high temperatures: liquids or vapors having a temperature higher than one hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit or sixty-five degrees Celsius;

F.

Viscous materials: waters or wastes containing fats, wax, grease or oils of vegetable or animal origin in excess of one hundred mg/l or containing other substances which may solidify or become viscous at temperatures between thirty-two degrees Fahrenheit or zero degrees Celsius and one hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit or sixty-five degrees Celsius. Waters or wastes containing such substances, excluding normal household waste, shall exclude all visible floating oils, fats and greases. The use of chemical or physical means (such as temperature variation, emulsifying agents, mechanical mixers) to bypass or release fats, oils and greases into the municipal sewerage system is prohibited. If the discharge concentration for any fats, oils or greases is in excess of one hundred mg/l after treatment, the department of public works and the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority District, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Sewerage System may increase the discharge concentration limit on a case-by-case basis, when the user demonstrates to the department of public works' or the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority District, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Sewerage System's satisfaction that the discharge is not contributing to public nuisance conditions;

G.

Garbage: garbage that has not been properly shredded;

H.

Toxic metals: waters or wastes containing strong acid, steel pickling wastes, concentrated plating solutions, whether neutralized or not, or any amounts of toxic or objectionable metals in excess of the concentrations attainable by acceptable control technology including, but not limited to, the following:

antimony

arsenic

barium

beryllium

boron

cadmium

chromium

copper

iron

lead

manganese

mercury

nickel

selenium

silver

tin

zinc

In general, wastes containing the above metals shall be treated to reduce their concentrations to the minimum levels attainable by chemical precipitation processes or other equally effective methods. In no case, however, shall allowable metal concentrations be higher than those concentrations allowed by applicable state or federal law;

I.

Toxic nonmetals: waters or wastes containing amounts of objectionable nonmetals in excess of concentrations attainable by acceptable control technology including, but not limited to:

ammonia

cyanides

herbicides

hexavalents

pesticides

phenols

phosphates

sulfates

sodium chlorate

chlorides

polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB's)

sulfides

In no case, however, shall allowable nonmetal concentrations be higher than those concentrations allowed by applicable state or federal law;

J.

Radioactive wastes: radioactive wastes or isotopes of such half-life or concentrations as may exceed limits established by the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority District, Massachusetts Water Resources Authority Sewerage System in compliance with state or federal regulations;

K.

Materials which exert or cause:

1.

Excessive concentrations of inert suspended solids (such as, but not limited to, fuller's earth, lime slurries and lime residues) or of dissolved solids (such as, but not limited to, sodium chloride, sodium sulfate and ferrous iron compounds) or any other sludges or deposited solids resulting from an industrial or pretreatment process,

2.

Excessive discoloration or turbidity (such as, but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions),

3.

Excessive biochemical oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD) or chlorine requirements,

4.

Unusual volume of flow or concentration of wastes constituting "slugs" as defined in this chapter;

L.

State and federal requirements: waters or wastes containing substances, as determined by the Metropolitan District Commission Sewerage Division, which are not amenable to treatment only to such degree that the sewage treatment plant effluent cannot meet the requirements of other agencies having jurisdiction over discharge of effluent to the receiving waters;

M.

Dilution: the attainment of specific levels for discharge to municipal sewers by dilution in the absence of treatment is prohibited.

(C.O.86-23 § 8 (part); C.O. 83-52 § 60 (Art. III § 6))