(A) Permits.
(1) (a) There shall be two classes of building sewer permits required: (a) for residential and commercial service, and (b) for service to industrial establishments producing industrial wastes.
(b) In either case, the owner(s) or his or her agent shall make application on a special form furnished by the Department. Applicants for service to commercial and industrial establishments shall be required to furnish information about all waste producing activities, wastewater characteristics and constituents. The permit application shall be supplemented by any plans, specifications, or other information considered pertinent in the judgment of the Director of Engineering and Utilities. Detail regarding commercial and industrial permits include, but are not limited to those required by this chapter. All permit, tap fees, connection charges and inspection fees shall be paid to the city at the time the application is filed.
(2) No owner or occupant of any real property shall tap or drain either directly or indirectly into any public sewer until a sewer tap permit has been obtained and until he has satisfied his or her obligation to pay all assessments, reimbursement, or prorated shares of sewer extension costs laid against that property for public sewers installed to serve it. A tap permit given in error or sewerage service charges billed to a property in error shall not operate to nullify any such obligation that has been duly recorded.
(3) Users shall promptly notify the Director of Engineering and Utilities in advance of any introduction of wastewater constituents or any substantial change in the volume or character of the wastewater constituents being introduced into the POTW. The Director may deny or condition the new introduction or change in discharge based on the information submitted in the notification or additional information as may be requested.
(4) Major contributors shall fall into two flow classifications. They are Class A (greater than 0.1 MGD), and Class B (flow from 0.025 MGD to 0.1 MGD). These classifications may be used at the discretion of the Director to determine minimum sampling requirements, rates, and charges.
(5) No person(s) shall uncover, plug or make any connection with or opening into, use, alter, or disturb any public sewer or appurtenance thereof without first obtaining a written permit from the Director of Engineering and Utilities.
(B) Prohibited connections.
(1) No sanitary sewer tap shall be made by any person, firm, or corporation except the city. The city will, upon application to the Department and payment of the tapping or connection fee as hereinafter prescribed, tap the public sewer and run a lateral to the property line of any applicant where public sewers are available. Any and all installations or attachments thereto shall be made by the applicant according to standards set forth in this chapter. Nothing herein shall be construed as requiring the city to furnish a sanitary sewer connection or sanitary sewer service to any premises where public sewer is not available at the time the application is made, nor to provide sanitary sewer service outside the corporate boundaries.
(2) No person shall make connection of roof downspouts, basement wall seepage or floor seepage, exterior foundation drains, areaway drains, or other surface runoff or groundwater to a building sewer or building drain which in turn is connected directly or indirectly to a public sanitary sewer. Any such connections which already exist on the effective date of this chapter shall be completely and permanently disconnected within 30 days of the effective date of this chapter. The owner(s) of any building sewers having such connections, leaks or defects shall bear all costs incidental to removal of such sources. Pipes, sumps, and pumps for such sources of ground and surface water shall be separate from wastewater facilities. Removal of such sources of water without presence of separate facilities shall be evidence of drainage to public sanitary sewer.
(3) The Director shall have the authority to require an owner of real property to disconnect from a building sewer which drains into a sanitary sewer any downspouts, basement sub surface drains, cistern over-flows, yard drains, or other drains which carry the runoff of natural precipitation. Property owners shall have 30 days after receipt of written notice to comply with any such requirements.
(C) Design and installations.
(1) 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, courtyard, or driveway. The sewer from the front building may be extended to the rear building and the whole considered as one building sewer, but the City does not and will not assume any obligation or responsibility for damage caused by or resulting from any such single connection aforementioned.
(2) Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, on examination and test by the Director of Utilities, to meet all requirements of this chapter. Permit and inspection fees for new buildings using existing building sewers shall be the same as for new building sewers. If additional sewer customers are added to the old building sewers, additional sewer tap fees shall be charged accordingly even though no new sewer tap is actually made into the city system.
(3) Extension of customer service lines from any point on the customer's side of the tap for delivery of waste from any location other than that of the customer in whose name the tap is registered shall not be permitted.
(4) The building sewer shall be cast iron soil pipe, ASTM A-74, latest revision, PVC (polyvinyl-chloride) sewer pipe, ASTM D-3034, latest revision, or ductile iron pipe, AWWA specification C-151 cement lined, and shall meet requirements of the state plumbing code. Joints shall be as set out hereinafter. Any part of the building sewer that is located within five feet of a water service pipe shall be constructed with cast iron soil pipe or ductile iron pipe, unless the building sewer is at least one foot deeper in the ground than the water service line. Cast iron soil pipe or ductile iron pipe may be required by the Director where the building sewer is exposed to damage or stoppage by tree roots. Cast iron soil pipe or ductile iron pipe shall be used in filled or unstable ground, in areas where the cover over the building sewer is less than three feet, or in areas where the sewer is subject to vehicular or other external loads.
(5) 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 local and state building and plumbing codes and other applicable rules and regulations of the city.
(6) All costs and expenses incidental to the installation and connection to the building sewer shall be borne by the owner(s). The owner(s) shall indemnify the city for any loss of damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer. Fees for connection shall be as established by the city.
(7) The owner shall ensure that all excavations for 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.
(8) Whenever feasible, the sanitary sewer line should be brought to the property or easement line at an elevation below the basement floor to permit gravity flow. In all buildings in which any sanitary facility drain is too low to permit gravity flow to the public sewer, sanitary sewage carried by such drain shall be lifted by an approved means and discharged to the building sewer at the owner’s expense. Drain pipe and sump for collection of such sanitary drainage shall be above basement floor or in separately watertight or drained sump or channel.
(9) The building sewer shall be connected into the public sewer at the easement or property line. Where no properly located service branch is available, an authorized agent of the city shall cut a neat hole into the main line of the public sewer and a suitable wye or tee saddle installed to receive the building sewer. The invert of the building sewer at such point of connection with a saddle shall be in the upper quadrant to the main line of the public sewer. A neat workmanlike connection, not extending past the inner surface of the public sewer, shall be made and the saddle made secure and watertight by encasement in epoxy cement specially prepared for this purpose. A wye and tee fitting shall be installed at the property line between the public sewer and the building sewer. This fitting shall serve the purpose of a cleanout and for applying the smoke test during inspection of the line. After testing, a cast iron or ductile iron riser will be inserted in this fitting and brought flush with the ground surface. A stopper or plug, outfitted with a type joint applicable to the pipe used, shall seal this riser against the intrusion of ground or surface water.
(10) All “building sewers” shall be installed so as to meet or exceed the most current revision of the state plumbing code.
(11) Unless noted above, please refer to the current version of the Sanitary Sewer Design, Construction & Maintenance Manual regarding design and installation.
(C) Inspection.
(1) The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the Director when the building sewer is ready for connection to the public sewer. The connection shall be made under the supervision of the Director of Engineering and Utilities or his or her representative. The connections shall be made gastight and/or watertight and verified by proper testing.
(2) All building sewers shall be smoke tested through the wye branch at the public sewer connection, with public sewer tightly plugged off, after connections at both ends are made and after all pipe is properly bedded and backfilled at least to top of pipe and if backfill is completed, within two weeks after completion of backfill. At time of test, any openings into the building drain inside the building shall be water trapped or plugged. Any leakage of smoke from building sewer or building drain and plumbing shall be located at test and repaired to stand repetition of smoke test without leakage. When smoke testing is completed, the temporary flow line plug shall be removed and a permanent watertight plug shall be placed in branch of test wye-branch and carefully backfilled by hand and tamped to at least six inches above the top of the branch.
(Ord. 62-12, passed 8-16-12)