The city shall classify all nonresidential users either by assigning each one to a user classification according to the principal activity conducted on the user’s premises, by the analysis of the individual user, or by a combination thereof. The purpose of such collective and/or individual classification is to facilitate the regulation of wastewater discharges based on wastewater constituents and characteristics, to provide an effective means of source control, and to establish a system of charges and fees which will ensure an equitable recovery of the city’s costs.

Each user shall initially be classified as either a significant industrial user subject to the requirements of the federal pretreatment program or a minor user (commercial or nondomestic) that is not subject to the federal pretreatment program requirements. Minor users may be further classified by like business activity or by the similarity of waste discharge characteristics. Each minor user within a user class shall have the same pretreatment, monitoring, and record keeping requirements. Minor users may be exempted from the permit requirements of this chapter at the discretion of the city if they are known to discharge only domestic sewage (as defined). (Ord. 2282 NCS §3 (part), 2007.)