§ 3-3. Definitions.

The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this chapter, shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning:

Air pollution means the presence in the outdoor atmosphere of one or more air contaminants in such quantities and duration as is or tends significantly to be injurious to human health or welfare, animal or plant life, or property, or would unreasonably interfere with the enjoyment of life or property.

Alter means to make or effect any physical change in, or change in the method of operation of, any machine, equipment, device, or other article, or combination thereof which constitutes a source of pollutant emissions subject to the provisions of this chapter, and which increases the amount of such emissions.

Approvable air curtain open pit destructor means a device specifically approved by the director as being consistent with engineering and design requirements established by the director and used to accomplish the controlled high-temperature, minimum-emission burning of land clearing debris (trees, brush and vegetation only). Such device shall consist of a large blower or fan designed to deliver at least 800 standard cubic feet per minute of air for each foot of length of the pit in which the burning is accomplished and a nozzle-equipped plenum chamber designed to deliver air at a minimum air velocity of 150 feet per second in a flat sheet or curtain of air blowing diagonally downward across the pit. The pit used to accomplish the burning with the air curtain destructor must be the exact length of the manifold plenum chamber, eight feet or less across in the direction of airflow perpendicular to the manifold plenum chamber, 12 feet or deeper (consistent with local soil conditions) and have all four sides vertical. New pits conforming to these requirements shall be excavated as necessary to replace pits in which the high temperature operation has resulted in crumbling or erosion of the burning pit such that the pit no longer has the required four smooth vertical walls and/or is no longer consistent with the dimension requirements provided herein. The director may also require any additional design and/or operating conditions for the air curtain open pit destructor as are necessary to accomplish minimum-emission, smoke-free burning of the land clearing debris.

Contaminant means dust, fumes, smoke or other particulate, vapor, gas, odorous substance or any combination thereof, but not including uncombined water vapor or steam condensate.

Control device means any equipment, device or other article designed and/or installed for the purpose of reducing or preventing the discharge of contaminant emissions to the air.

Direct heating equipment means any device where fuel is burned in direct contact with, and for purpose of heating, air that comes in direct contact with the material being processed.

Director means the director of the Air Quality Division of the Wyandotte County/Kansas City, Kansas Public Health Department or his authorized representative.

Emission source means any machine, equipment, device or other article or operation that directly or indirectly releases contaminants into the outdoor atmosphere.

Existing means equipment, machines, devices, articles, contrivances or installations which are in being at a stated time, except that any such existing equipment, machine, device, article, contrivance or installation which is altered shall be reclassified as "new," as defined in this section. Any existing equipment, machines, devices, articles or installations that are moved to a new physical location shall also be classified as "new," as defined in this section.

Incinerator means any device or structure used for the destruction or volume reduction of garbage, rubbish, or other liquid or solid waste materials by combustion pursuant to disposal or salvaging operations.

Indirect heating equipment means any device where fuel is burned to produce usable heat by transfer through a heat conducting materials barrier or by a heat storage medium to a material to be heated so that the material being heated is not contacted by, and adds no substance to, the products of combustion.

Malfunction means any sudden and unavoidable failure of air pollution control equipment or process equipment or of a process to operate in a normal or usual manner. Failures that are caused entirely or in part by poor maintenance, careless operation, or any other preventable upset condition or preventable equipment breakdown shall not be considered malfunctions.

Multiple-chamber incinerator means any article, machine, equipment, contrivance, structure or part of a structure used to dispose of combustible refuse by burning, consisting of three or more refractory lined combustion furnaces in series, physically separated by refractory walls, interconnected by gas passage ports or ducts and employing adequate design parameters necessary for maximum combustion of the material to be burned. The refractories shall have a pyrometric cone equivalent of 31, tested according to the method described in the American Society for Testing Materials, Method C-24, or any superseding method.

New means equipment, machines, devices, articles, contrivances or installations built or installed or altered or moved to a new physical location outside the original premises on or after a stated time.

Nonresidential waste means solid, liquid, or gaseous material or a combination thereof resulting from the construction or the prosecution of any business, industry, trade or agricultural operation, from the conduct of a salvage operation, refuse collection and/or refuse disposal operation, or from any demolition operation. The term "nonresidential waste" includes, but is not limited to, plastics, wood, cartons, rubber, grease, oils, asphaltic materials, chemicals, land clearing debris, weeds, trees, grass, brush, logs, limbs, other vegetation, tires, and cinders. The term "nonresidential waste" includes all refuse and waste excepting exclusively household waste generated and disposed of at the residential site where generated during the normal habitation of exclusively residential premises containing five or fewer dwelling units. Waste generated from residential premises containing more than five dwelling units shall be classified as nonresidential waste. Waste generated from residential premises and disposed of at a location other than at the site where generated shall also be classified as nonresidential waste.

Official observer means a designated representative of the director who has been certified by the director as qualified on the basis of actual testing to determine the degree of opacity of visible plumes by direct visual observation. The director shall develop and make public necessary requirements for official observers based upon actual testing of the ability of the official observer to accurately determine the opacity of visible plumes. Official observers shall be required to be retested at least once every six months in order to maintain their certification.

Opacity means the degree to which an observer's view of transmitted light is obscured by passing through a contaminant emission, with zero percent opacity being equivalent to perfect transparency and 100 percent opacity being perfectly opaque.

Open burning means the burning of any materials wherein contaminants resulting from such combustion are emitted directly into the ambient air without passing through a stack or chimney from an enclosed chamber. For the purposes of this definition, a chamber shall be considered enclosed when, during the combustion process, only such apertures, ducts, stacks, flues or chimneys as are required to supply combustion air to permit the escape of exhaust gases are open. Burning in a barrel, drum or similar container shall be considered open burning.

Particulate matter means any material, except uncombined water, which exists in a finely divided form as a liquid or solid at standard conditions.

Potential contaminant emission factor means an average value of the amount of contaminants that have been found to be associated with a specific type of processing or burning operation as compared to a given quantity of material processed or some other meaningful parameter. Such factors shall be those that have been recognized by the director on the basis of information published by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency or otherwise recognized by official air pollution control agencies.

Potential contaminant emission rate means the total weight of a contaminant that is or, in the absence of control equipment, would be emitted from an air contaminant source when that source is operating at its maximum capacity. The potential contaminant emission rate shall be determined by:

(1)

Sampling in a flue or duct prior to the inlet of any control device serving the flue or duct;

(2)

Estimating such emissions by performing a "material balance" calculation that indicates the difference between processing input weight and output weight of materials;

(3)

Using potential contaminant emission factors as recognized by the department; or

(4)

Using any other estimating technique mutually agreeable to the department and the person responsible for operation of the source.

Premises means any parcel of land under one ownership including any structures or equipment thereon.

Process weight means the total weight of all materials introduced into a source operation, including solid fuels but excluding liquids and gases used solely as fuels, and excluding air introduced for purposes of combustion.

Processing means any operation related to the handling, storage, treatment and/or conversion of input materials to produce a salable or usable end product.

Refuse means any combustible solid or liquid waste material resulting from industrial, residential, commercial and/or agricultural operations or processes.

Residential waste or refuse means household waste generated and disposed of at the residential site during the normal habitation of residential premises containing five or fewer dwelling units and including wastes generated from the land surrounding such units.

Salvage operation means any business, trade, industry or other activity conducted in whole or in part for the purpose of salvaging or reclaiming any product or material such as metals or chemicals.

Smoke means small gas-borne particles resulting from combustion, consisting of carbon, ash, and other material.

Source operation means the last operation preceding the emission of an air contaminant which:

(1)

Results in the separation of the air contaminant from the process materials or in the conversion of the process materials into air contaminants, as in the case of combustion fuel; and

(2)

Is not an air pollution abatement operation.

Standard conditions means a gas temperature of 25 degrees centigrade and a gas pressure of 760 millimeters of mercury absolute.

Vehicle means any self-propelled, nonstationary device moving over public or private property on wheels, tracks, rollers, rails or air, whether or not licensed as a motor vehicle. Motorized construction equipment and railroad engines are specifically included within this definition.

(Code 1964, § 2A-3; Code 1988, § 3-3; Ord. No. 52677, § 1, 2-28-1974; Ord. No. 61096, § 1, 3-6-1980)

Cross reference

Definitions generally, § 1-2.