(1) Building sewers. No unauthorized 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 Control Authority.
The owner or his 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 Control Authority.
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.
Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, on examination and/or test by the Control Authority, to meet all requirements of this chapter.
The customer shall be responsible for installation and maintenance of all sewer facilities installed on private property. A clean-out shall be installed at the property line at the point of connection to the sewer lateral, per the Control Authority's sewer clean-out detail available through the Control Authority's office. Maintenance of private sewer lines with no clean-out at the point the sewer line leaves private property and is laid on a public right-of-way, shall be the responsibility of the customer.
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.
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 or shall be disposed of in a private disposal system in accordance with local, county, or state law.
No person shall make connection of roof downspouts, exterior foundation drains, area way 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.
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. All such connections shall be made gastight and watertight. Any deviation from the prescribed procedures and materials must be approved by the Control Authority before installation.
The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the building inspector when the building sewer is ready for inspection and connection to the public sewer. The connection shall be made under the supervision of the building inspector or his representative.
The city shall not be responsible for damage due to sewer back-up such as main line broken, surcharge, etc., unless damage is caused by negligence on the part of the Department.
(2) Public sewer specifications. The Control Authority shall establish the city's specifications for construction of public sewers in conformance with the rules and regulations for construction of public sewers as may be imposed by the State and/or the United States Environmental Protection Agency. These specifications may be modified by the Control Authority as the need arises.
Developers desiring to make extensions or additions to the Cookeville Sewer System shall obtain approval of plans and specifications from the Cookeville Department of Water Quality Control and the State. All public sewers connected to the Cookeville Sewer System shall be constructed in accordance with the City's specifications. The Department shall have the right to specify the size and type of pipe to be installed and to inspect the laying of said pipe and to refuse service if the installation is not made in accordance with acceptable construction practices.
(3) Safety. All excavations for sewer installation shall comply with all applicable OSHA standards 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.
(Ord. #O17-09-17, October 2017)