Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this article shall be as follows:

(a)   “BOD” (denoting Biochemical Oxygen Demand) shall mean the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five (5) days at twenty degrees (20°) C, expressed in milligrams per liter,

(b)   “Building Drain” shall mean that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning five (5) feet (l.5 meters) outside the inner face of the building wall.

(c)   “Building Sewer” shall mean the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.

(d)   “Combined Sewer” shall mean a sewer receiving both surface runoff and sewage.

(e)   “Garbage” shall mean solid waste from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking and dispensing of food, from the handling, storage and sale of produce.

(f)   “Industrial Wastes” shall mean the liquid wastes from industrial manufacturing processes, trade, or business as distinct from sanitary sewage.

(g)   “Natural Outlet” shall mean any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or ground water.

(h)   “Person” shall mean any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation, or group.

(i)    “PH” shall mean the logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.

(j)    “Properly Shredded Garbage” shall mean the wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of foods that have been shredded to such a degree that all particles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than one-half (½) inch (l.27 centimeters) in any dimension,

(k)   “Public Sewer” shall mean a sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights, and is controlled by public authority.

(l)    “Sanitary Sewer” shall mean a sewer which carries sewage and to which storm, surface, and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.

(m)  “Sewage” shall mean a combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions, and industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface and storm waters a may be present.

(n)   “Sewage Treatment Plant” shall mean any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.

(o)   “Sewage Works” shall mean all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage.

(p)   “Sewer” shall mean a pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.

(q)   “shall” is mandatory; “May” is permissive.

(r)    “Slug” shall mean any discharge of water, sewage, or industrial waste which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds for any period of duration longer than fifteen (15) minutes more than five (5) times the average twenty-four (24) hour concentration or flows during normal operation.

(s)   “Storm Drain” (sometimes termed “storm sewer”) shall mean a sewer which carries storm and surface waters and drainage, but excludes sewage and industrial wastes, other than unpolluted cooling water.

(t)    “Superintendent” shall mean the superintendent of public works

(u)   “Suspended Solids” shall mean solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in water, sewage, or other liquid, and which are removable by laboratory filtering.

(v)   “Watercourse” shall mean a channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.

(w)  “Hearing Board” shall mean the city council.

It shall be unlawful for any person to place, deposit, or permit to be deposited in any unsanitary manner on public or private property within the City of Minneapolis, or in any area under the jurisdiction of said city, any human or animal excrement, garbage, or other objectionable waste.

It shall be unlawful to discharge to any natural outlet within the City of Minneapolis, or in any area under the jurisdiction of said city, any sewage or other polluted waters, except where suitable treatment has been provided in accordance with subsequent provisions of this article.

Except as hereinafter provided, it shall be unlawful to construct or maintain any privy, privy vault, septic tank, cesspool, or other facility intended or used for the disposal of sewage.

The owner of all houses, buildings, or properties used for human employment, recreation or other purposes, situated within the city and abutting on any street, alley, or right-of-way in which there is now located or may in the future be located a public sanitary or combined sewer of the city, is hereby required at his expense to install suitable toilet facilities therein, and to connect such facilities directly with the proper public sewer in accordance with the provisions of this article within thirty (30) days after date of official notice to do so, provided that said public sewer is within one hundred (100) feet of the property line.