(A) If at any time it is found that any sewer lateral connection has been installed contrary to or in violation of the city code or rules or regulations governing such installation, the City Manager shall issue an order requiring compliance within 30 days after notification. If compliance has not been obtained, including payment of all fees and charges, within 30 days of the notice, the City Manager may authorize termination of city water/sewer service until the corrections are made. The owner or user will not have redress for any such charges occurring because of shut-off or termination. In addition, the violator may be subject to a municipal civil infraction action.
(B) Each new sewer lateral installation, or repair of an existing sewer lateral, shall be inspected and approved by the city prior to backfilling.
(C) If a piece of property that has an existing sewer lateral serving more than one building is subdivided into separate lots or parcels, then the owner of the building that does not have direct sewer service must install his or her own sewer service across his or her property or on an easement and the original sewer lateral to the adjoining subdivided property must be disconnected. Any required easements shall be recorded by the County Clerk.
(D) Whenever a new sewer lateral is installed or repaired by a contractor or plumber, it shall be guaranteed to be free from any defective material or poor workmanship, in the public right-of-way, for a period of one year from the date of installation.
(E) The owner of all houses, buildings or properties used for human occupancy, employment, recreation or other purposes situated within the city shall install suitable toilet facilities therein and connect such facilities directly with the public sanitary sewer in accordance with the provisions of this chapter and regulations supplementary hereto. Notwithstanding the above, a property owner that was using a private septic system on June 1, 1999, may continue to use that system until such time as a public sanitary sewer is located within 100 feet of the property owner’s property line and that owner’s private septic system fails. The property owner shall then connect to the public sanitary sewer upon failure of the private system. At such time as a public sewer becomes available to a property served by a private sewage disposal system, a direct connection shall be made to the public sewer in compliance with this chapter, and any septic tanks, cesspools and similar private sewage disposal shall be abandoned and filled with suitable material.
(F) Wastewater metering facilities may be installed by a user or as required by the City Manager to measure sewage discharge from the user’s premises to the sanitary sewer. All such arrangements shall be made subject to acceptance by the City Manager and the expense thereof, including the installation, maintenance and operation, shall be borne by the user. Plans and specifications for the installation of any wastewater meter must be sealed by a state licensed professional engineer and submitted to the city before actual installation begins. Such metering facilities shall meet the following criteria.
(1) A state licensed professional engineer must develop installation plans. Drawings of the location of the primary measuring device and the meter, the location of the meter’s data output(s) and specifications for the meter, including its manufacturer, model and logging frequency, must be included with the plans.
(2) A plan location map, which accurately shows where the primary measuring device, flow meter and flow meter totalizer are located in relation to the facility building, shall be submitted as part of the drawings.
(3) Meter reading provisions shall be convenient to meter installation sites or any existing water meter reading location.
(4) Underground structure and all associated piping, which contain the primary measuring device and the meter, shall be installed in accordance with the Plumbing Code.
(5) If possible, the primary measuring device must be located in an open or non-permitted confined space. The recording device may not be located in a confined space.
(6) The meter must include a data logger capable of recording and displaying continuous flow data. The data must be inspected each business day, by the user, with documentation of the inspection in the form of the inspector’s initials, date and time. All data records must be maintained for a minimum of three years and be available for inspection by the city.
(7) The meter installation must be inspected and found to be acceptable by the City Manager before any data from the meter will be used for billing purposes.
(8) The user must maintain a meter service contract provided by the manufacturer or the manufacturer’s approved representative. The meter shall be checked and calibrated quarterly, or as per manufacturer’s recommendation, by the service provider. All calibration records must be maintained for a minimum of three years and be available for inspection by the city.
(9) If failure of the meter occurs, the user must notify the City Manager within three business days. Repairs to the meter, which are the responsibility of the owner, must be completed within five business days. If repairs cannot be completed within five business days, a timetable for completion of repairs must be submitted to the City Manager. If, as a result of failure, or suspected failure, the sewer meter readings are in dispute, the volume of water indicated by the city’s water meter during the disputed time will be used as the wastewater volume.
(10) The city, at its discretion, must be allowed to inspect the meter and all records pertaining to the meter. At the City Manager’s discretion, the acceptance of any wastewater metering device and/or data may be revoked.
(Ord. effective 11-15-2013)