Section 1176. Definitions

As used or referred to in this title, unless a
  different meaning clearly appears from the context,
    1. The term "authority" shall mean the corporation created by  section
  eleven hundred seventy-seven of this title;
    2. The term "city" shall mean the city of Buffalo;
    3.  The term "bonds" shall mean the bonds, notes, interim certificates
  and other obligations issued by the authority pursuant to this title;
    4. The term "board" shall mean the members of the authority;
    5. The term "comptroller" shall mean the comptroller of the city;
    6. The term "treasurer" shall mean the treasurer of the city;
    7. The term "charter" shall mean the charter of the  city  enacted  by
  the  electors of the city at a special election held on the twenty-ninth
  day of August, nineteen hundred twenty-seven, as amended;
    8. The term "project" shall mean a system of trunk,  intercepting  and
  connecting,  lateral  and outlet sewers, storm water drains, pumping and
  ventilating stations, disposal or treatment plants or works,  and  other
  appliances  and  structures, which in the judgment of the authority will
  provide an effectual and advantageous means for  relieving  the  Niagara
  river,  Buffalo  river  and  Lake  Erie from pollution by the sewage and
  waste of the city and relieving the city from  inadequate  sanitary  and
  storm  water  drainage and for the sanitary disposal or treatment of the
  sewage thereof, or  such  sections  or  parts  of  such  system  as  the
  authority  may  from  time  to  time  deem  it  proper  or convenient to
  construct, consistent with the plan or purpose of this title;
    9. The term "existing sewer system" shall mean all sewers,  including,
  without  limitation,  trunk, intercepting, connecting, lateral and other
  sewers, storm water drains,  pumping  stations,  disposal  or  treatment
  plants  or  works,  structures, appliances, equipment and other adjuncts
  thereto, comprising the entire system of sewerage owned by the  city  at
  the  time of the filing with the common council of the city and with the
  secretary of the state of New York of a certificate of completion of the
  project as provided in  section  eleven  hundred  seventy-nine  of  this
  title;
    10.  The  term  "facilities"  shall  include the project and, from and
  after the filing with the common council of the city and  the  secretary
  of  state  of  the state of New York of the certificate of completion of
  the project, as provided in section eleven hundred seventy-nine of  this
  title, the existing sewer system.
    11. The term "attorney general" shall mean the attorney general of the
  state of New York.
    12.  The  term "general manager" shall mean the general manager of the
  Buffalo sewer authority.
    13. The term "hazardous substance" shall mean any substance which:
    a. is identified or listed as a hazardous  waste  or  acute  hazardous
  waste  in  regulation  promulgated  pursuant  to  section 27-0903 of the
  environmental conservation law and all amendments thereto, regardless of
  whether at the time of release the substance was actually a waste; or
    b. appears on the list of substances hazardous or acutely hazardous to
  public health, safety  or  the  environment  in  regulation  promulgated
  pursuant to paragraphs (a) and (b) of subdivision one of section 37-0103
  of the environmental conservation law and all amendments thereto.
    14.  The  term  "person"  shall mean any individual, public or private
  corporation, political subdivision,  government  agency,  department  or
  bureau of the state or federal government, municipality, co-partnership,
  association,  firm,  trust,  estate or any other legal entity whatsoever
  (including directors, officers or agents  thereof),  or  combination  of
  persons.  The  masculine gender shall include the feminine, the singular
  shall include the plural where indicated by the context.

    15. The term "pollutant" shall  mean  any  liquid,  solid  or  gaseous
  substance,  or  combination  thereof,  which  may  cause  an  impairment
  (reduction) of water quality to a degree that has an adverse  effect  on
  any  beneficial use of the water, including but not limited to hazardous
  substances.
    16.  The term "effluent source" shall mean a source of introduction of
  any waste into the facilities or  any  sewer  system  connected  to  the
  facilities.
    17. The term "discharge" shall mean any introduction of waste into the
  facilities from any effluent source.
    18.  The term "sewer system" shall mean pipelines or conduits, pumping
  stations, and force mains and  all  other  constructions,  devices,  and
  appliances  appurtenant  thereto,  wherever located, used for conducting
  sewage, industrial waste or other waste into or through  the  facilities
  of the authority to a point of ultimate disposal.
    19. The term "domestic sewage" shall mean a combination of wastes from
  the  non-commercial  preparation,  cooking,  and handling of food; human
  bodily  wastes  and  similar  matter  from  sanitary   conveniences   in
  dwellings,  commercial buildings, industrial buildings and institutions;
  or   any   other   wastes   from   non-commercial,   non-industrial   or
  non-institutional activities.
    20. The term "domestic user" shall mean any user not covered under the
  definition of "industrial user".
    21.  The  term  "industrial  user"  shall mean a person who discharges
  industrial waste.
    22. The term "industrial waste"  shall  mean  any  liquid,  solid,  or
  gaseous substance, or combination thereof, resulting from any process of
  industrial,   commercial,   governmental   and  institutional  concerns,
  manufacturing, business, trade, or research, including the  development,
  recovery, or processing of natural resources, or from sources other than
  those  described  as domestic sewage. Groundwater and surface runoff may
  be considered to be industrial waste  if  contaminated  with  industrial
  process chemical constituents.
    23.  The  term  "sewage"  shall  mean  any  combination of wastes from
  residences,   business   buildings,    institutions    and    industrial
  establishment, together with such ground, surface and stormwaters as may
  be present.
    24.  The  term  "waste"  shall  mean  any  liquid,  solid  or  gaseous
  substance, or combination thereof, that may be introduced into  a  sewer
  system.
    25.  The  term "user" shall mean any person who directly or indirectly
  contributes, causes or permits the contribution of waste into the  sewer
  system and into or through the authority's facilities.