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§ 51.062 SURFACE RUNOFF OR GROUNDWATER CONNECTIONS PROHIBITED.
   (A)   No person shall discharge water or cause to be discharged any unpolluted waters such as storm water, ground water, roof run off, subsurface drainage such as that from floor drains, sump pumps, cisterns, field tile or any other recognizable source or any type of private, commercial or industrial cooling water to any sanitary sewer.
   (B)   Any person, firm or corporation having a roof drain system, surface drain system, footing tile, swimming pool, ground water drain system or sump pump now connected and/or discharging into the sanitary sewer system shall disconnect and/or remove the same. Any disconnects or opening into the sanitary sewer shall be closed or repaired in an effective, workmanlike manner, as approved by the public works supervisor.
   (C)   Dwellings and other buildings and structures which require because of the infiltration of water into basements, crawl spaces and the like, a sump pump system to discharge excess water shall have a permanently installed discharge line which shall not at any time discharge water into the sanitary sewer system. A permanent installation shall be one which provides for year around discharge capability to either the outside of the dwelling, building or structure, or is connected to the city storm sewer. It shall consist of a rigid discharge line, without valves or quick connections for altering the path of discharge, and if connected to the city storm sewer shall include a check valve.
   (D)   Powers and authority of inspectors. Duly authorized employees or representatives of the city, bearing proper credentials and identification, shall be permitted to enter all properties for the purpose of inspection, observation, measurement, sampling, and testing pertinent to determine the nature of discharge into any public sewer or natural outlet in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. In lieu of having the city inspect their property, any person or entity may furnish a certificate from a licensed plumber certifying that their property is in compliance with this chapter.
   (E)   Any person refusing to allow their property to be inspected or refusing to furnish a plumbers certificate within 14 days of the date the duly authorized city employees or representatives are denied admittance to their property shall be subject to the surcharge hereafter provided for.
   (F)   At any future time, if the city has reason to suspect that an illegal connection may exist in a premises, the owner, by written notice shall comply with the provisions of (C) above.
   (G)   A surcharge of $100 per month may be imposed and added to every sewer billing mailed to property owners who are not in compliance with this chapter. The surcharge shall be added every month until the property is in compliance. The City Council may grant waivers from the surcharges where strict enforcement may cause undue hardship unique to the property or where the property owner was scheduled for disconnection but cannot do so due to circumstances, such as availability of the plumber or inclement weather.
§ 51.063 EXCAVATIONS.
   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.
Penalty, see § 51.999
§ 51.064 LICENSES.
   (A)   Required. No person shall make a service connection with any public sewer unless regularly licensed under this chapter to perform the work, and no permit shall be granted to any person except a regularly licensed person. A person licensed as a plumber by the State of Minnesota, or a person in the ditch installing the pipe who has a card showing that they have completed a program of training that incorporates the Plumbing Code installation requirements, issued by either the Associated Builders and Contractors, Laborers-Employers Cooperation Educational Trust, or Minnesota Utility Contractors Association, is not subject to the licensing requirements of this section.
   (B)   Application. Any person desiring a license to make a service connection with public sewers shall apply in writing to the City Council with satisfactory evidence that the applicant or employer is trained or skilled in the business and qualified to receive a license. All applications shall be referred to the Utilities Superintendent for recommendations to the Council. If approved by the Council, the license shall be issued by the City Clerk upon the filing of a bond as hereinafter provided.
   (C)   Issuance. No license shall be issued to any person until a policy of insurance to the city, approved by the Council, is filed with the City Clerk conditioned that the licensee will indemnify and save harmless the city from all suits, accidents and damage that may arise by reason of any opening in any street, alley or public ground made by the licensee or by those in the licensee's employment for any purpose whatever, and that the licensee will replace and restore the street and alley over that opening to the condition existing prior to installation, adequately guard with barricades and lights, and will keep and maintain the same to the satisfaction of the Utilities Superintendent, and shall conform in all respects to any rules and regulations of the Council relative thereto, and pay all fines that may be imposed on the licensee by law.
   (D)   Fee. The license fee for making service connections shall be as established by the Ordinance Establishing Fees and Charges adopted pursuant to § 30.11 of this code, as that ordinance may be amended from time to time. All licenses shall expire on December 31 of the license year unless the license is suspended or revoked by the Council for cause.
   (E)   Suspension or revocation. The Council may suspend or revoke any license issued under this subchapter for any of the following causes:
      (1)   Giving false information in connection with the application for a license.
      (2)   Incompetence of the licensee.
      (3)   Willful violation of any provisions of this chapter or any rule or regulation pertaining to the making of service connections.
Penalty, see § 51.999
USE OF PUBLIC SERVICES
§ 51.080 DISCHARGES OF UNPOLLUTED WATER.
   (A)   No person shall discharge or caused to be discharged any water such as stormwater, ground water, roof runoff, surface drainage or non-contact cooling water to any sanitary sewer.
   (B)   Stormwater and all other unpolluted drainage shall be discharged to those sewers as are specifically designed as storm sewers or to a natural outlet approved by the city and other regulatory agencies. Industrial cooling water or unpolluted process waters may be discharged to a storm sewer or natural outlet on approval of the city and upon approval and the issuance of a discharge permit by the MPCA.
Penalty, see § 51.999
§ 51.081 DISCHARGES OF WATERS OR WASTES.
   No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the following described waters or wastes to any public sewers:
   (A)   Any liquids, solids or gases which by reason of their nature or quantity are, or may be, sufficient either alone or by interaction with other substances to cause fire or explosion or be injurious in any other way to the wastewater disposal system or to the operation of the system. Prohibited materials include but are not limited to gasoline, kerosene, naphtha, benzene, toluene, xylene, ethers, alcohols, ketones, aldehydes, peroxides, chlorates, perchlorates, bromates, carbides, hydrides and sulfides.
   (B)   Solid or viscous substances which will cause obstruction to the flow in a sewer or other interference with the operation of the wastewater treatment facilities such as but not limited to grease, garbage with particles greater than ½-inch in any dimension, animal guts or tissues, paunch manure, bones, hair, hides or fleshings, entrails, whole blood, feathers, ashes, cinders, sand, spent lime, stone or marble dust, metal, glass, straw, shavings, grass clippings, rags, spent grains, spent hops, waste paper, wood, plastic, asphalt residues, residues from refining or processing of fuel or lubricating oil, mud or glass grinding or polishing wastes.
   (C)   Any wastewater having a pH of less than 5.0 or greater than 9.5 or having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment and personnel of the wastewater disposal system.
   (D)   Any wastewater containing toxic pollutants in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with other pollutants, to inhibit or disrupt any wastewater treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals, or create a toxic effect in the receiving waters of the wastewater disposal system. A toxic pollutant shall include but not be limited to any pollutant identified pursuant to Section 307(a) of the Act (33 USC 1317(a)).
Penalty, see § 51.999
§ 51.082 LIMITED DISCHARGES.
   (A)   The following described substances, materials, water or wastes shall be limited in discharges to municipal systems to concentrations or quantities which will not harm either sewers, the wastewater treatment works, treatment process or equipment, will not have an adverse effect on the receiving stream and soil, vegetation and ground water, or will not otherwise endanger lives, limb, public property, or constitute a nuisance. The Utilities Superintendent may set limitations lower than limitations established in the regulations below if, in his or her opinion, the more severe limitations are necessary to meet the above objectives. In forming his or her opinion as to the acceptability of wastes, the Utilities Superintendent will give consideration to factors as the quantity of subject waste in reaction to flows and velocities in the sewers, materials of construction of the sewers, nature of the sewage treatment process, the city's NPDES/SDS permit, capacity of the sewage treatment plant, degree of treatability of wastes in the sewage treatment plant, and other pertinent factors.
   (B)   The limitations or restrictions on materials or characteristics of waste or wastewaters discharged to the sanitary sewer which shall not be violated without approval of the Utilities Superintendent are as follows:
      (1)   Any wastewater having a temperature greater than 150°F (65.6°C), or causing, individually or in combination with other wastewater, the influent at the wastewater treatment plant to have a temperature exceeding 104°F (40°C), or having heat in amounts which will inhibit biological activity in the wastewater treatment works resulting in interference therein.
      (2)   Any wastewater containing fats, wax, grease or oils, whether emulsified or not, in excess of 100 mg/l or containing substances which may solidify or become viscous at temperatures between 32°F and 150°F (0°C and 65.6°C); and any wastewater containing oil and grease concentrations of mineral origin of greater than 100 mg/l, whether emulsified or not.
      (3)   Any quantities of flow, concentrations, or both which constitute a “slug” as defined in § 51.001.
      (4)   Any garbage not properly shredded, as defined in § 51.001 of this chapter. Garbage grinders may be connected to sanitary sewers from homes, hotels, institutions, restaurants, hospitals, catering establishments or similar places where garbage originates from the preparation of food on the premises or when served by caterers.
      (5)   Any noxious or malodorous liquids, gases or solids which either singly or by interaction with other wastes are capable of creating a public nuisance or hazard to life, or are sufficient to prevent entry into the sewers for their maintenance and repair.
      (6)   Any wastewater with objectionable color not removed in the treatment process such as but not limited to dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions.
      (7)   Non-contact cooling water or unpolluted storm, drainage or ground water.
      (8)   Wastewater containing inert suspended-solids such as but not limited to fullers earth, lime slurries, and lime residues, or of dissolved solids such as but not limited to sodium chloride and sodium sulfate, in quantities that would cause disruption with the wastewater disposal system.
      (9)   Any radioactive wastes or isotopes of half-life or concentration as may exceed limits established by the Utilities Superintendent in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations.
      (10)   Any waters or wastes containing the following substances to the degree that any material received in the composite wastewater at the wastewater treatment works is detrimental to treatment process, adversely impacts land application, adversely effects receiving waters, or is in violation of standards pursuant to Section 307(b) of the Act (33 USC 1317(b)): Arsenic, Cadmium, Copper, Cyanide, Lead, Mercury, Nickel, Silver, total Chromium, Zinc and Phenolic compounds which cannot be removed by the city's wastewater treatment system.
      (11)   Any wastewater which creates conditions at or near the wastewater disposal system which violates any statute, rule, regulation or ordinance of any regulatory agency, or state or federal regulatory body.
      (12)   Any waters or wastes containing BOD5 or suspended solids of character and quantity that unusual attention or expense is required to handle the materials at the wastewater treatment works, except as may be permitted by specific written agreement subject to the provisions of § 51.094.
§ 51.083 DISCHARGES HAZARDOUS TO LIFE OR CONSTITUTE PUBLIC NUISANCES.
   (A)   If any waters or wastes are discharged or are proposed to be discharged to the public sewers which contain substances or possess the characteristics enumerated in § 51.082, or which in the judgement of the Utilities Superintendent may have a deleterious effect upon the wastewater treatment facilities, processes, or equipment, receiving waters or soil, vegetation, and ground water, or which otherwise create a hazard to life or constitute a public nuisance, the city may:
      (1)   Reject the wastes;
      (2)   Require pretreatment to an acceptable condition for discharge to the public sewers, pursuant to Section 307(b) of the Act (33 USC 1317(b)) and all amendments thereof;
      (3)   Require control over the quantities and rates of discharge; and
      (4)   Require payment to cover the added costs of handling, treating and disposing of wastes not covered by existing taxes or sewer service charges.
   (B)   If the city permits the pretreatment or equalization of waste flows, the design, installation and maintenance of the facilities and equipment shall be made at the owner's expense and shall be subject to the review and approval of the city pursuant to the requirements of the MPCA.
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