(a) No person, firm, or corporation shall lay, alter, repair or do any kind of work connected with any building sewer, connection or sewer work or make any connections whatever with any sewer, house or building which is to be connected to the sanitary sewer system, unless the requirements as stated in subsection (b) hereof are met in full.
(b) Any person desiring to do business as a sewer builder in connection with the sanitary sewer system shall file a bond with sufficient surety or sureties to be approved by the Village or the POTW in the sum of ten thousand dollars ($10,000), conditioned that he or she will indemnify and save harmless the POTW from all accidents and damages caused by any negligence in protecting his or her work or employees, and that he or she will also promptly and in a proper time replace and restore any sidewalk, pavement or other street surface over any opening he or she may have made to as good a state as existed previous to opening the same, and to keep and maintain said surface in good order to the satisfaction of the Village or the Township for the period of one year next thereafter, and that he or she will pay all fines imposed upon him or her for a violation of any of the rules and regulations prescribed by this chapter. In addition, he or she will indemnify and save harmless the POTW from any imperfect, careless or improper work done by him, her or them as such sewer builder for a period of one year from the completion of such work.
Any person, firm or corporation doing business as a sewer builder shall file a certificate of carriage of workers' compensation insurance, and public liability and property damage insurance in a minimum amount of five hundred thousand dollars ($500,000)/three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) with a company authorized to do business in the State of Michigan.
(c) An application for a permit to connect to the sewer system must be made in writing by the owner of the property to be sewered or his or her authorized agent. Such application shall give the exact location of the property, the lot number, the name of the owner and the name of the sewer builder employed to do the work, and shall be made on forms furnished for this purpose by the Village Clerk or the Township Supervisor, provided, however, that the permit shall be granted with the express condition that the owner, for whose benefit the connection is made, shall, on behalf of himself or herself, or his or her heirs or assigns, hold the Board, its constituent municipalities and the POTW harmless from any loss or damage that may in any way result or be caused by the making of any such connection.
(d) Within five days after completion of the work, the sewer builder shall file with the Superintendent a record showing the number of feet of pipe laid, its location with respect to the property and building or buildings connected, together with such other information as may be required by the Superintendent or his or her authorized representative to make a complete record of the work.
(e) Y-branches and stubs have been placed at frequent intervals along the main or lateral sewer. A record of such Y's or stubs is kept in the office of the Superintendent (the "as built" plans) and will be furnished to the sewer builder for his or her information, but the POTW does not guarantee the accuracy or actual existence of the location. All connections with the sewers of the sanitary sewer system must be made at such Y-branches or stubs except as approved by the Superintendent. The breaking of any pipe or any main or lateral sewer to connect a house connection shall be deemed a misdemeanor and shall subject the sewer builder to a fine as hereinafter provided, and, in addition thereto, he or she shall pay all expenses of taking up such sewer and rebuilding it to the satisfaction of the Board or its authorized representative. Upon his or her failure to do so, the charges shall be collected from his or her sureties.
In the event that the Y-branch or stub cannot be found with a reasonable effort, the Superintendent may permit the connection to be made by tapping the main or lateral sewer with a hole of sufficient size to receive the pipe used in the house connection and connecting the building sewer to the POTW sewer with a sewer saddle or Y-connection which has been approved by the Village.
(f) The Superintendent must be given notice when any work is ready for inspection and all work must be left uncovered and convenient for examination until inspected and approved. Such inspection shall be made within twenty-four hours after such notification. If the inspector determines that any work does not conform with this chapter, the sewer builder shall remove and replace any such rejected work and shall make all work meet the requirements of this chapter to the full satisfaction of the inspector.
(g) No downspouts from roofs, water from air conditioning units, refrigeration units and cooling units, sump pumps or building footing drains shall be connected to the sanitary sewer system.
(h) No surface water from a paved area, yard, court or courtyard shall be connected to the sanitary sewer system.
(i) No open gutter, street drain, catch basin or other surface water source shall be connected with any sewer or house drain. Any licensed sewer builder making any such connection shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and shall be subject to the penalty hereinafter provided.
(j) Persons, firms or corporations making any kind of improvement to the public streets and alleys, upon which sewers and house connections have been laid, shall so plan and execute their work that damage will not occur to any public sewer or house connection connected therewith.
(k) If a water, gas or other conduit or obstruction shall come in the way of a drain or sewer, the question of passing over or under the same shall be determined by the Superintendent upon consultation with the Engineer. In no case shall a sewer builder be allowed to decide the question. All expenses connected with passing both over and under such pipes, conduits or obstructions shall be borne by the owner of the property for whose benefit the connection is being made.
(l) Openings on any street or alley for sewer connections shall be made by a sewer builder and asphalt repairs shall be made by, or under the direction of, entities having jurisdiction over the roadway involved. All costs shall be borne by said licensed sewer builder.
(m) All openings and obstructions in any street, land or alley must be guarded at all times with sufficient State-approved barriers and such other precautions as shall be necessary to guard the public against accidents, and at all times the work shall be so done as to cause the least inconvenience to property owners and the general public.
(n) No house drain, surface drain or main sewer shall be laid in the same trench with water pipes, and in no case closer together than ten feet without special permission from the Superintendent.
(o) Before any old private sewer or any house sewer built before the effective date of this chapter shall be connected with the sewer system, the owner of the private sewer or house sewer shall prove to the full satisfaction of the Superintendent that it is entirely clean and that it conforms, in every respect, with the rules and regulations prescribed by this chapter. Cellar or basement sewers may be connected with any sewer or house connection only when they are trapped in such a manner that the water seal cannot be broken, provided, however, that all such connections shall be above the elevation established for the 100-year flood plain for said property.
(p) A house connection from a point three feet outside of the house to the sewer shall be at least six inches in diameter and constructed of materials approved by the Superintendent or authorized by the State Construction Code. If laid at less than three feet of depth, said connection shall be constructed of cast-iron pipe. All pipe shall be of the best quality, conforming with the latest specifications for this product approved by the American Society for Testing Materials. All joints shall be permanently watertight.
(q) The cover of the Y-branch or stub on the sewer shall be carefully removed to avoid damage to the socket or bell. The first length of pipe attached to the Y-branch or stub shall be laid so as to give a good fall into the sewer. The entire length of pipe on any house connection shall be laid in a straight line and on a uniform grade from a point three feet outside the wall of the building to be served, to the Y-branch or stub. Such grade shall be a fall of not less than one foot in 100 feet from the house to the sewer, unless by special permission of the Superintendent, in which case provision must be made for regular and efficient flushing. Curved pipe shall be used for every deflection from a straight line of more than three inches in two feet. Unless otherwise specified in writing by the Superintendent, the manner of laying the pipe and making the joints shall be as follows:
(1) The sanitary sewer service from the street to the building shall be composed of such approved materials as shall be specified by the Superintendent in specifications published from time to time and filed with the Village and Township Clerks, entitled Standards for Sanitary Sewer Construction.
(2) The sanitary service installed for a new building, or when replacing an old or damaged sanitary service, shall be made to a wye or tee. If there is no existing wye or tee, a new wye or tee may be installed or it shall be connected to a saddle, properly connected, in the presence of the inspector.
(3) Separate sanitary sewer and water services shall be required for each dwelling unit in duplex housing.
(r) All backfilling over part of any house drain, within the boundaries of any street, alley or public grounds, must be tamped in layers not exceeding six inches in thickness. The replacing of any gravel and/or sand shall be done within forty-eight hours after laying the house drain or sewer and must be done so as to make the surface at least as good as it was before it was disturbed, and to the full satisfaction of the municipality where it is located, and the sewer builder will be held responsible for any subsequent settling in the ground and/or pavement. All water pipes must be protected to the satisfaction of the sewer inspector and all gas pipes shall be protected to the satisfaction of the company owning the same, and any subsequent damage to either water or gas pipes, by reason of the construction of the house drain, or subsequent settling of the earth, shall be paid for by the sewer builder.
(Ord. 97-4. Passed 9-8-97.)
(s) House drains and sewers laid within the Village and Township in and for houses on streets where no public sewers are yet laid, shall be done according to the regulations of this chapter in every particular. The owner and/or agent of such property, within three months after a public sewer is built past the property and is available, must secure a permit to connect the same with a public sewer.
(Ord. 97-6. Passed 12-8-97.)
(t) All costs, expenses and liabilities incident to the installation and connection of the building sewer shall be borne by the property owner. The property owner shall indemnify and save harmless the Village from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer.
(1) It shall be the duty of each property owner to maintain, clean and repair the private sewer lines on his or her property at his or her own expense as necessary to keep such lines free and clear of obstructions and in good working order and to maintain and keep clear of obstructions the lateral lines servicing his or her property.
(2) It shall be the duty of the Village to maintain, clean and repair as necessary and at its expense the sewer trunk lines and to repair or replace any broken or crushed lateral lines. The Village shall not be responsible for cleaning or maintenance of lateral lines.
(3) In the case of a bona fide dispute as to whether needed maintenance, cleaning or repair of a portion of sewer line is the responsibility of the property owner or the Village under the provisions of this section, it shall be the duty of the property owner to establish that the obstruction, disrepair or defect has occurred in that portion of the line for which the Village is responsible.
If the property owner fails to establish the Village's responsibility, it shall be the property owner's responsibility to perform the necessary maintenance as provided in this section.
If the Village's responsibility is established, the Village shall perform the necessary maintenance and shall reimburse the property owner for reasonable expenses incurred in locating the defect in the line or in otherwise establishing the Village's responsibility.
The property owner would be responsible under this section for the total maintenance and repair of the private sewer lines on his or her property and for the maintenance and cleaning, although not including major repair, of the entire sewer line out to the trunk line. The Village, on the other hand, is responsible for major repair of the trunk line and lateral lines only and has no responsibility of any sort for the private lines. The Village has no responsibility to clean lateral lines.
(4) Any property owner who shall violate the provisions of this chapter shall be liable to the Village for civil damages incurred in correcting the defect, in addition to the penalty provided in Section 1040.99.
If any property owner fails to maintain a private sewer line as required by this section, in addition to the other penalties prescribed, the sewer may be declared a public nuisance by the Barry-Eaton District Health Officer and the defect may be corrected by the Village. Any costs so incurred shall be assessed against the property and become a lien on the property if not timely paid.
(u) A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building, except that where one building stands at the rear of another building or on an interior lot and no private sewer is available or can be constructed to the rear building through an adjoining alley, yard or driveway, the building sewer from the front building may be extended to the rear building.
(v) Whenever possible, the building sewer shall be brought to the building at an elevation below the basement floor. No building sewer shall be laid parallel to or within three feet of any bearing wall, which might thereby be weakened. The depth shall be sufficient to afford protection from frost. The building sewer shall be laid at a uniform grade. The line shall be straight or laid with properly curved pipe and fittings. Changes in direction greater than forty-five degrees shall be provided with cleanouts accessible for cleaning.
(w) In all buildings in which any building drain is too low to permit gravity flow to the public sewer, sanitary sewage carried by such drain shall be lifted by artificial means approved by the Superintendent and discharged to the building sewer. In no case shall fasting or eavestrough drains be allowed to drain into the sanitary sewer.
(x) No sewer connection will be permitted unless there is capacity available in all downstream sewers, lift stations, force mains and the sewage treatment plant, including capacity for treatment of BOD and suspended solids.
(Ord. 97-4. Passed 9-8-97.)