(A) Right of access; use inspection. The city and its employees and the State Environmental Protection Agency shall have ready access, at all reasonable times, to the premises, places, or buildings where water service is supplied for the purpose of inspecting, examining, and testing the consumption, use, and flow of water, and it shall be unlawful for any person to interfere with, prevent, or obstruct the city, the Public Works Director, or a duly authorized agent or the State Environmental Protection Agency in his or her duties in division (B) below. Every user of the system shall take the same upon the conditions prescribed in this chapter.
(B) Powers and authority of inspectors.
(1) The Public Works Director and other duly authorized employees of the Public Works Director and the State Environmental Protection Agency, bearing proper credentials and identification, shall be permitted to enter all properties for the purposes of inspection, observation, measurement, sampling, and testing in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The Public Works Director or his or her representative shall have no authority to inquire into any processes, including metallurgical, chemical, oil refining, ceramic, paper, or other industries beyond that point having a direct bearing on the kind and source of discharge to the sewers or waterway or facilities for waste treatment.
(2) While performing the necessary work on private properties referred to in division (B)(1) above, the Public Works Director or duly authorized employees of the city and the State Environmental Protection Agency shall observe all safety rules applicable to the premises established by the company, and the company shall be held harmless for injury or death to the employees, and the city shall indemnify the company against liability claims and demands for personal injury or property damage asserted against the company and growing out of the gauging and sampling operating, except as such may be caused by negligence or failure of the company to maintain conditions as required in Article IV, § 9.
(3) The Public Works Director and other duly authorized employees of the city bearing proper credentials and identification shall be permitted to enter all private properties through which the city holds a duly negotiated easement for the purposes of, but not limited to, inspection, observation, measurement, sampling, repair, and maintenance of any portion of the water works lying within said easement. All entry and subsequent work, if any, on said easement shall be done in full accordance with the terms of the duly negotiated easement pertaining to the private property involved.
(Ord. 4 (Series 2004-2005), passed 3-21-2005) Penalty, see § 51.99