(A) Permits.
(1) There shall be two classes of building sewer permits required; (a) for residential and (b) for service to commercial and industrial establishments. In either case, the owner(s) or his or her agent shall make application on a special form furnished by the city. 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 Superintendent. Details regarding commercial and industrial permits include but are not limited to those required by this chapter. A permit and inspection fee of $ 150.00 shall be paid to the city at the time the application is filed.
(2) Users shall notify the Superintendent of any proposed new introduction of wastewater constituents or any proposed substantial change in the volume or character of the wastewater constituents being introduced into the POTW a minimum of 30 days prior to the change. The Superintendent may deny or condition this new introduction or change based upon the information submitted in the notification.
(3) No unauthorized person(s) shall uncover, plug or make any connections with or opening into, use, alter or disturb any public sewer or appurtenance thereof without first obtaining written permission from the city.
(B) Prohibited connections.
(1) No person shall make connection of roof downspouts, basement wall seepage or floor seepage, exterior foundation drains, areaway 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 the POTW, Any such connections which already exist on the effective date of this chapter shall be completely and permanently disconnected within 60 days of the effective date of this chapter. The owners 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 the POTW. Removal of such sources of water without presence of separate facilities shall be evidence of drainage to POTW.
(2) Floor, basement or crawl space drains which are lower than ground surfaces surrounding the building shall not be connected to the building sanitary sewer. No sanitary inlet which is lower than six inches above the top of the lowest of the two adjacent public sanitary sewer manholes shall be connected by direct drainage to the building sanitary sewer.
(C) Design and installation.
(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 maybe used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, on examination and test by the Superintendent, to meet all requirements of this chapter. Permit and inspection fees and tap-on fees for new buildings using existing building sewers shall be the same as for new building sewers. If additional sewer consumers or additional facilities 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’s POTW.
(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, A WWA Specification C-151 cement lined, and shall meet requirements of 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. In the latter case, vitrified clay pipe may be used cast iron soil pipe or ductile iron pipe may be required by the city 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. In general, the building sewer shall not be less than four inches in diameter. The slope of the building sewer shall in no event be less than one-eighth inch per foot.
(6) In the absence of local code provisions or in amplification thereof, the materials and procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the ASTM and WPCF Manual of Practice No. 9 shall apply.
(7) No building sewer shall be laid parallel to within three feet of any bearing wall which might thereby be weakened. The depth shall be sufficient to afford 24 inches of cover over pipe except where exposed to vehicular traffic. Portions of the building sewer subject to vehicular traffic shall have a minimum cover of 36 inches or be encased in a six inch envelope of concrete. The building sewer shall be laid at uniform grade and in straight alignment insofar as possible.
(8) All costs and expenses incidental to the installation and connection of the building sewer shall be borne by the owner(s). The owner(s) shall indemnify the city for any loss or 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.
(9) 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.
(10) Streets, sidewalks, parkways and other public property disturbed in the course of the work shall be restored in a manner satisfactory to the city.
(11) 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. Drain pipe and sump for collection of such sanitary drainage shall be above basement floor or in a separate watertight or drained sun-Ip or channel.
(12) All excavations required for the installation of a building sewer shall be open trench work unless otherwise approved by the Superintendent and all such trenches shall be kept open until the pipe has been inspected, tested and approved by the Superintendent. Except where bends are supplied, trenches shall be straight in direction and grade to accommodate prefabricated joints. Trenches shall be at least 20 inches wide at right angles to the center line of the pipe. Building sanitary sewers laid in undisturbed ground must be laid on at least six inches of pea gravel, sand or other approved grillage to support the pipe. The trench shall be filled with the same approved grillage on each side of the pipe and six inches over same. Building sewers laid in mud or filled ground shall be embedded to lower quadrant with at least a four inch concrete pad below the invert or other support that may be considered necessary. Backfill shall be carefully tamped in and around pipe in not over four inch layers to top of pipe for proper support. Backfill shall be solidly tamped above the pipe and hand placed up to 18 inches above the 16 inch pipe. No backfill shall be placed over the pipe until the pipe laying has been inspected by the Superintendent or his or her duly authorized agent.
(13) All joints and connections shall be made gas tight and water tight. Joints for cast iron soil pipe and fittings with hubs and plain end spigots shall be made with caulked lead and oakum as specified in Chapter 4, ASA A40.8 or by using positive double-seal elastomeric compression-type gaskets conforming to ASTM C-564. Service pipe shall be joined with service gaskets and extra heavy pipe with extra heavy gaskets. All joints between vitrified clay pipe and other approved pipe shall be made with an approved prefabricated rubber or plastic material conforming to ASTM Specification C-425, latest revision, and installed clean and uninjured by handling or weather according to manufacturers’ direction, completely “homed” into place. The vitrified clay sewer pipe shall be jointed with compressed watertight rubber rings meeting ASTM Specification D-1869, latest revision, and installed clean, according to manufacturers’ directions. The ductile iron pipe shall be joined together with watertight rubber gaskets in accordance with the manufacturers’ directions. The PVC pipe joints shall conform to ASTM D-3212, latest revision, and elastomeric gaskets to ASTM F477.
(14) 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 of 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 H bend 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.
(15) All building sanitary sewer lines will be installed so as to meet or exceed the most current revision of the State Plumbing Code.
(16) All persons working on city sewers with a cleaning rod must use an approved type rod in cleaning sewer connections to City sewers.
(D) Inspection.
(1) The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the Superintendent when the building sewer is ready for inspection and connection to the public sewer. The connection and testing shall be made under the supervision of the Superintendent or his representative. All connections shall be made gastight and watertight and verified by proper testing. Any deviation from the prescribed procedures and materials must be approved by the Superintendent before installation.
(2) All building sewers shall be smoke tested through the wye branch at the public sewer connection or low pressure air tested per ASTM C-828-08, or latest revision, 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 water tight plug shall be placed in branch of test wyebranch and carefully backfilled by hand and tamped to at least six inches above the top of the branch. The Superintendent shall determine the method of testing to be performed.
(Ord. 2017-72.01d, passed 2-27-17)