Chapter 12.03 Sewage System
12.0301 Definitions
Sewers are classified as main, trunk, and service sewers and defined as follows:
Biochemical Oxygen Demand (“BOD”)
Shall mean the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five (5) days at 20 Degrees C, expressed in milligrams per liter.
Building Drain
Shall mean the 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 (1.5 meters) outside the inner face of the building wall
Building Sewer
Shall mean the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.
Combined Sewer
Shall mean a sewer receiving both surface runoff and sewage.
Garbage
Shall mean the solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food, and the handling, storage, and sale of produce.
Industrial Wastes
Shall mean the liquid wastes from industrial manufacturing processes, trade or business as distinct from sanitary sewage.
Natural Outlet
Shall mean any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or groundwater.
Person
Shall mean any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group.
Ph
Shall mean the logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.
Properly Shredded Garbage
Shall mean the wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food 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 particles greater than one-half (1/2) inch (1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.
Public Sewer
Shall mean a sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights, and is controlled by public authority.
Sanitary Sewer
Shall mean a sewer which carries sewage and to which storm, surface, and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.
Sewage
Shall mean a combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions, and industrial establishments, together with such ground, surface, and stormwaters as may be present.
Sewage Treatment Plant
Shall mean any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.
Sewage Works
Shall mean all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating, and disposing of sewage.
Sewer
Shall mean a pipe of conduit for carrying sewage.
Sewer User
Shall be construed to mean each lot, parcel of land, building, trailer or premises having any connection with the public sewer system of said city or otherwise discharging sewage, industrial wastes, water or other liquids directly or indirectly into the public sewer system of said city.
Where multiple residential and/or commercial units exist on the same premises, but are served by only one (1) water meter, the billing will be the same as provided for such water meter unless otherwise determined by the Water & Sewer Committee of the Scotland City Council.
“Shall” is mandatory, “May” is permissive.
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.
Storm Drain (sometime termed “storm sewer”)
Shall mean a sewer which carried storm and surface waters and surface waters and discharge, but excludes sewage and industrial wastes, other than unpolluted cooling water.
Superintendent
Shall mean the Superintendent of Sewage Works and/or of Water Pollution Control of the City of Scotland, or his/her authorized deputy, agent or representative.
Suspended Solids
Shall mean solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension in water, sewage or other liquids, and which are removable by laboratory filtering.
Watercourse
Shall mean a channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.
12.0302 Use of Public Sewers Required
1) It shall be unlawful for any person to place, deposit or permit to be deposited in any unsanitary manner on public or private property with the City of Scotland, or in any area under the jurisdiction of said City, any human or animal excrement, garbage or other objectionable waste.
2) It shall be unlawful to discharge to any natural outlet within the City of Scotland, 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 ordinance.
3) 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.
4) The owner of all houses, buildings, or properties used for human occupancy, 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/her 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 ordinance, within ninety (90) days after date of official notice to do so, provided that said public sewer is within one hundred (100) feet (30.5 meters) of the property line.
12.0303 Building Sewers and Connections
1) No authorized person shall uncover, make any connections with or opening into, use, alter or disturb any public sewer or appurtenance thereof without first obtaining a written permit from the Superintendent.
2) There shall be two (2) classes of building sewer permits:
a) for residential and commercial service, and
b) for service to establishments producing industrial wastes.
In either case, the owner or his/her agent shall make application on a special form furnished by the city. The permit application shall be supplemented by any plans, specifications, or other information considered pertinent in the judgement of the Superintendent. A permit and inspection fee of fifty dollars ($50) for a residential or commercial building sewer permit and fifty dollars ($50) for an industrial building sewer permit shall be paid to the city at the time the application is filed.
3) All costs and expense incident to the installation and connection of the building sewer shall be borne by the owner. The owner shall indemnify the city from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer.
4) A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building; except where one building stands at the rear of another on an interior lot and no private sewer is available or can be constructed to the rear building through an adjoining alley, court, yard, or driveway, the building sewer from the front building may be extended to the rear building and the whole considered as one building sewer.
5) Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, on examination and test by the Superintendent, to meet all requirements of this ordinance.
6) The size, slope, alignment, materials of construction of a building sewer, and the methods to be used in excavating, placing of the pipe, jointing, testing, and backfilling the trench, shall all conform to the requirements of the building and plumbing code or other applicable rules and regulations of the City. In the absence of code provisions or in amplification thereof, the materials and procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the A.S.T.M. and W.P.C.F. Manual of Practice #9 shall apply.
7) Whenever possible, the building sewer shall be brought to the building at an elevation below the basement floor. In all buildings in which any building drain is too low to permit gravity flow to the public sewer, sanitary sewage carried by such building drain shall be lifted by an approved means and discharged to the building sewer.
8) No person shall make connection of roof downspouts, exterior foundation drains, areaway drains, or other sources of surface runoff or groundwater to a building sewer or building drain which in turn is connected directly or indirectly to a public sanitary sewer.
9) The connection of the building sewer into the public sewer shall conform to the requirements of the building and plumbing code or other applicable rules and regulations of the city or the procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the A.S.T.M. and the W.P.C.F. Manual of Practice #9. All such connections shall be made gastight and watertight. Any deviation from the prescribed procedures and material must be approved by the Superintendent before installation.
10) The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the Superintendent when the building sewer is ready for inspection and connection to the public sewer. The connection shall be made under the supervision of the Superintendent or his/her representative.
11) All excavation for the building sewer installation shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights so as to protect the public from hazard. Streets, sidewalks, parkways and other public property disturbed in the course of the work shall be restored in a manner satisfactory to the city.
12.0304 Use of Public Sewers
1) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any storm water, surface water, ground water, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, uncontaminated cooling water or unpolluted industrial process waters to any sanitary sewer.
2) Storm water and all other unpolluted drainage shall be discharged to such sewers as are specifically designated as combined sewers or storm sewers, or to a natural outlet approved by the Superintendent. Industrial cooling water or unpolluted process waters may be discharged, on approval of the Superintendent, to a storm sewer, combined sewer, or natural outlet.
3) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the following described water or wastes to any public sewers:
a) Any gasoline, benzene, naphtha, fuel oil, or other flammable or explosive liquid, solid or gas;
b) Any water or wastes containing toxic or poisonous solids, liquids, or gases in sufficient quantities, either singly or by
interaction with other wastes, to injure or interfere with any sewage treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or
animals, create a public nuisance, or create any hazard in the receiving waters of the sewage treatment plant, including
but not limited to cyanides in excess of two (2) mg/l as CN in the wastes as discharged to the public sewer;
c) Any waters or wastes having a ph lower than 5.5 or having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or
hazard to structures, equipment, and personnel of the sewage works; and
d) Solids or viscous substances in quantities or of such size capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers, or other
interference with the proper operation of the sewage works such as, but not limited to, ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw,
shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plastics, wood, unground garbage, whole blood, paunch manure, hair and
fleshings, entrails and paper dishes, cups milk containers, etc. Either whole or ground by garbage grinders.
4) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged the following described substances, materials, waters or wastes, if it appears likely in the opinion of the Superintendent that such wastes can harm either the sewers, sewage treatment process, or equipment have an adverse effect on the receiving street, or can otherwise endanger life, limb, public property, or constitute a nuisance.
In forming his/her opinion as to the acceptability of these wastes, the Superintendent will give consideration to such factors as the quantities of subject wastes in relation to flows and velocities in the sewers, materials of construction of the sewers, nature of the sewage treatment process, capacity of the sewage treatment plant, degree of treatability of wastes in the sewage treatment plant, and other pertinent factors. The substances prohibited are:
a) Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than one hundred fifty (150) degrees F (65 degrees C).
b) Any water or waste containing fats, wax, grease, or oils, whether emulsified or not, in excess of one hundred (100) mg/l
or containing substances which may solidify or become viscous at temperatures between thirty-two (32) and one
hundred fifty (150) degrees F (0 and 65 degrees C).
c) Any garbage that has not been properly shredded. The installation and operation of any garbage grinder equipped with a
motor of three-fourths (3/4) horsepower (0.76 hp metric) or greater shall be subject to the review and approval of the
Superintendent.
d) Any waters or wastes containing strong acid iron pickling wastes, or concentrated plating solutions whether neutralized
or not.
e) Any waters or wastes containing iron, chromium, copper, zinc, and similar objectional or toxic substances; or wastes
exerting and excessive chlorine requirement, to such degree that any such material received in the composite sewage at
the sewage treatment works exceeds the limits established by the Superintendent for such materials.
f) Any waters or wastes containing phenols or other taste or odor-producing substances, in such concentrations exceeding
limits which may be established by the Superintendent as necessary, after treatment of the composite sewage, to meet
the requirements of the state, federal, or other public agencies or jurisdiction for such discharge to the receiving waters.
g) Any radioactive wastes or isotopes of such half-life or concentration as may exceed limits established by the
Superintendent in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations.
h) Any water or wastes having a ph in excess of 9.5.
i) Materials which exert or cause:
1) unusual concentrations of inert suspended solids (such as, but not limited to, Fullers earth, lime slurries, and
line residues) or of dissolved solids (such as, but not limited to, sodium chloride and sodium sulfate);
2) excessive discoloration (such as, but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions);
3) unusual BOD, chemical oxygen demand, or chlorine requirements in such quantities as to constitute a significant
load on the sewage treatment works; and
4) unusual volume of flow or concentration of wastes constituting “slugs” as defined herein.
j) Waters or wastes containing substances which are not amendable to treatment or reduction by the sewage treatment
processes employed, or are amendable to treatment only to such degree that the sewage treatment plant effluent
cannot meet the requirements of other agencies having jurisdiction over discharge to the receiving waters.
5) If any water or wastes are discharged, or are proposed to be discharged to the public sewers, which water contains the substances or possess the characteristics enumerated in #4 of this article, and which in the judgment of the Superintendent may have a deleterious effect upon the sewage works, processes, equipment or receiving waters, or which otherwise create a hazard to life or constitute a public nuisance, the Superintendent may:
a) reject the wastes,
b) require pretreatment to an acceptable condition for discharge to the public sewers,
c) require control over the quantities and rates of discharge, and/or
d) require payment to cover the added cost of handling and treating the wastes not covered by existing taxes or sewer
charges under the provisions of this ordinance
If the Superintendent permits the pretreatment or equalization of waste flows, the design installation of the plants and equipment shall be subject to the review and approval of the Superintendent and subject to the requirements of all applicable codes, ordinances, and laws.
6) Grease, oil, and sand interceptors shall be provided when, in the opinion of the Superintendent, they are necessary for the proper handling of liquid wastes containing grease in excessive amounts, or any flammable wastes, sand or other harmful ingredients; except that such interceptors shall not be required for private living quarters or dwelling units. All interceptors shall be of a type and capacity approved by the Superintendent and shall be located as to be readily and easily accessible for cleaning and inspection.
7) Where preliminary treatment or flow-equalizing facilities are provided for any water or wastes, they shall be maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective operation by the owner at his/her expense.
8) When required by the Superintendent, the owner of any property servied by a building sewer carrying industrial wastes shall install a suitable control manhole together with such necessary meters and other appurtenances in the building sewer to facilitate observation, sampling, and measurement of the wastes. Such manhole, when required, shall be accessibly and safely located, and shall be constructed in accordance with plans approved by the Superintendent. The manhole shall be installed by the owner at his/her expense and shall be maintained by him/her so as to be safe and accessible at all times.
9) All measurements, tests, and analyses of the characteristics of waters and wastes to which reference is made in this ordinance shall be determined in accordance with the latest edition of “Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater”, published by the American Public health Association, and shall be determined at the control manhole provided, or upon suitable samples taken at said control manhole.
In the event that no special manhole has been required, the control manhole shall be considered to be the nearest downstream manhole in the public sewer to the point at which the building sewer is connected. Sampling shall be carried out by customarily accepted
methods to reflect the effect of constituents upon the sewage works and to determine the existence of hazards to life, limb, and property. (The particular analyses involved will determine whether a twenty-four (24) hour composite of all outfalls of a premise is appropriate or whether a grab sample or samples should be taken. Normally, but not always, BOD and suspended solids analyses are obtained from 24 hour composites of all outfalls whereas ph’s are determined from periodic grab samples.)
10) No statement contained in this article shall be construed as preventing any special agreement or arrangement between the city and industrial concern whereby an industrial waste of unusual strength of character may be accepted by the city for treatment, subject to payment therefore, by the industrial concern.
12.0305 Powers and Authority of Inspectors
1) The Superintendent and other duly authorized employees of the city bearing proper credentials and identification shall be permitted to enter all properties for the purposes of inspection, observation, measurement, sampling and testing in accordance with the provisions of this ordinance. The Superintendent or his/her representatives shall have no authority to inquire into any processes including metallurgical, chemical, oil, refining, ceramic, paper or other industries beyond the point having a direct bearing on the kind and source of discharge to the sewers or waterways or facilities for waste treatment.
2) While performing the necessary work on private properties referred to in #1 above, the Superintendent or duly authorized employees of the city shall observe all safety rules applicable to the premises established by the company and the company shall be held harmless for injury or death to the city employees and the city shall indemnify the company against loss or damage to its property by city employees and against liability claims and demands for personal injury or property damage asserted against the company and growing out of the gauging and sampling operation, except as such may be caused by negligence or failure of the company to maintain safe conditions as required in Section 12.0304.
3) The Superintendent and other duly authorized employees of the city bearing proper credentials and identification shall be permitted to enter all private properties through which the city holds a duly negotiated easement for the purposes of, but not limited to, inspection, observation, measurement, sampling, repair and maintenance of any portion of the sewage works lying within said easement. All entry and subsequent work, if any, on said easement, shall be done in full accordance with the terms of the duly negotiated easement pertaining to the private property involved.
12.0506 Penalties
1) Any person found to be violating any provision of this ordinance, shall be served by the City with written notice stating the nature of the violation and providing a reasonable time limit for the satisfactory correction thereof. The offender shall, within the period of time stated in such notice, permanently cease all violations.
2) Any person who shall continue any violation beyond the time limit provided for in Section 12.0505, #1 shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and on conviction thereof shall be fined in the amount not exceeding one hundred dollars ($100) for each violation. Each day in which any such violation shall continue shall be deemed a separate offense.
3) Any person violating any of the provisions of this ordinance shall become liable to the City for any expense, loss or damage occasioned the City by reason of such violation.
TITLE XII
PUBLIC UTILITIES