A. 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 Superintendent unless such work is exempted by provisions of this Chapter.
B. There shall be two (2) classes of building sewer permits:
1. For residential and commercial, and
2. For service to establishments producing industrial wastes.
In either case, 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 judgment of the Superintendent for the work requiring a permit.
C. Sewer permits will not be required under the following conditions:
1. Where an existing service line into a lot which services an existing or demolished building is found, on examination of the Superintendent, to meet all requirements of this chapter. (Ord. 79-1, 10-2-1979; amd. 1984 Code)
2. Where a City and State approved set of plans and specifications for sewer collection systems are being built by an approved contractor, and certification that the system has been built according to the approved plans by a registered professional engineer in the State of Montana, who was in charge of inspection of the work. (Ord. 81-11, 12-2-1981)
3. Where a tap is made to an approved private system, so long as the work is done by a licensed plumber. (Ord. 92-2, 6-16-1992)
D. A sewer permit will be required for any tap made to a sanitary sewer main which is controlled and maintained by the City, unless said tap is exempted by provisions of this chapter. (Ord. 81-11, 12-2-1981)
E. The inspection and administrative fee for the sewer permit required under subsection D of this section is an amount adopted by resolution by the City Council and it shall be paid to the City before a permit is issued and before work has begun. (Ord. 92-2, 6-16-1992)
F. All costs and expense incidental to the installation and connection of the building sewer shall be borne by the owner. The owner shall indemnify the City from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer.
G. A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building; except where one building stands at the rear of another or in 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, 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.
H. The size, slope, alignment, materials of construction of all sanitary sewers including buildings, sewers, 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 Codes 1 and other applicable rules and regulations of the City. In the absence of suitable 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.
I. 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. (Ord. 79-1, 10-2-1979; amd. 1984 Code)
J. 1. No person shall make connection of foundation drains, areaway drains, sump pumps, or other sources of surface runoff or ground water to a building sewer or building drain which in turn is connected directly or indirectly to a public sanitary sewer unless such connection is approved by the Superintendent for purposes of disposal of polluted surface drainage between April 1 and September 30. A person may discharge water from foundation drains, areaway drains, sump pumps, or other sources of surface runoff or ground water to a building sewer or building drain which in turn is connected directly or indirectly to a public sanitary sewer between October 1 and March 31. A person is permitted to have a switch or lever to change the discharge from the public sanitary sewer to a storm drain or other outside discharge in compliance with the time periods set forth in this paragraph. It shall be the responsibility of each tenant and owner to ensure compliance with the time periods set forth in this paragraph. No person shall make any connection of any roof down spout to a building sewer or drain that is connected directly or indirectly to the public sanitary sewer system, whatsoever.
2. "Superintendent" as used in this subsection J shall mean the Director of Public Works or his duly designated and acting representative. (Ord. 2011-11, 9-20-2011; amd. Ord. 2019-03, 6-4-2019)
3. Owners shall have until April 1, 2019 to receive a certificate of sump pump inspection and compliance from the Superintendent. All property that does not have a certificate of compliance by April 1, 2019, shall be subject to a monthly fee set by resolution until such time as the owner receives a certificate of compliance from the Superintendent. The fee set by resolution shall be assessed for the months of April through September of each year that a residence is not in compliance with this subsection J. (Ord. 2019-03, 6-4-2019)
4. Any person who violates any provision of this subsection J may be subject to a fine in the amount of fifty dollars ($50.00) for each violation. Each day a violation is committed or permitted to continue may constitute a separate offense and may be punishable as such. The maximum fines imposed per calendar year shall be no more than five hundred dollars ($500.00). (Ord. 2011-11, 9-20-2011; amd. Ord. 2019-03, 6-4-2019)
5. If any new construction fails to follow the requirements of this section, then the City may withhold the Certificate of Occupancy until the new construction has come into compliance with this section. (Ord. 2019-03, 6-4-2019)
K. The connection of the building sewer into the public sewer shall conform to the requirements of the Building and Plumbing Codes or other applicable rules and regulations of the City, or the procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the ASTM and the WPCF Manual of Practice No. 9. All such connections shall be made gastight and watertight and verified by the proper testing. Any deviation from the prescribed procedures and materials must be approved by the Superintendent before installation.
L. 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.
M. All excavations for building sewer installations shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights 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. 79-1, 10-2-1979; amd. 1984 Code)
N. Only authorized City personnel or contractors who are licensed by the State of Montana shall be authorized to install sewer mains, manholes, sewer services and other appurtenances which connect to the sanitary sewer collection system. The contractor shall have the appropriate class of license for the total contracted amount of the job. (Ord. 81-11, 12-2-1981)
O. All sewer systems which are approved for construction and connection to the sewer collection system for the City and which lie inside private property shall be considered as private sewer systems and therefore all maintenance of the mains, manholes, service lines, and other appurtenances shall be the responsibility of the property owner. Failure to maintain the system in accordance with section 803 of the 1979 edition of the Uniform Plumbing Code will result in the Utilities Superintendent being authorized to turn off water service to said system until all maintenance has been performed to the satisfaction of the Utilities Superintendent. (Ord. 84-3, 10-16-1984)
P. No connection may be made by anyone to the sanitary sewer system unless said connection and proposed collection system and property being served are totally within the latest adopted sanitary sewer service area of the City. (Ord. 79-1, 10-2-1979; amd. 1984 Code)
Q. The City may accept maintenance and title to sanitary sewer mains and manholes which lie on private property if a proper easement has been platted or recorded. (Ord. 81-11, 12-2-1981)
R. Maintenance of sanitary sewer services from the tap on the sanitary sewer main to the house or from the sewer treatment plant to and through the property to be served shall be the responsibility of the property owner whose property is being serviced by the service line. (Ord. 88-3, 5-3-1988)
S. Any subdivision lot which is split by the sanitary sewer service area boundary shall not receive any sanitary sewer service until the entire lot is within the sanitary sewer service area boundary for the City.
T. All persons desiring to extend any sewer main to provide sanitary sewer service to a property within the sanitary sewer service area shall execute in triplicate the approved form for application for extension of sewer lines and upon approval of said application by the City Council, the applicant shall engage a professional engineer to prepare plans and specifications for said sewer main extension. The plans and specifications shall be drawn to be in conformance with all the City standards and specifications and shall also be approved by the City and the Montana State Department of Health and Environmental Sciences before construction can commence.
The following items must be satisfactorily completed before the City will recommend to the City Council acceptance of any sewer main extension project:
1. If the utilities are built by private contract, the person paying for sewer line extensions shall execute a bill of sale to the City which transfers to the City all rights, interests and title in the sewer mains, manholes and appurtenances, free of any encumbrances.
2. A fully legible as-built reproducible mylar must be submitted to the City Clerk of the plans for the sewer lines which show dimensions from property corners, the location, grades, and size of all sewer services, mains and manholes. Two (2) sets of paper prints will also be required in addition to the reproducible set.
3. All excavation permits for said extension project must be released by the City.
4. For private contracts, the engineer for the project must have submitted written inspection reports to the City Engineer or Utilities Superintendent as well as compaction test reports which substantiate that proper bedding, compaction, etc., have been performed by the contractor. Tests shall be performed by a licensed materials testing laboratory.
5. The engineer for private contracts shall submit a certification to the City that the utility improvements meet or exceed the requirements of the approved plans and specifications for the project and that the as-built plans submitted accurately represent the location of said utilities as constructed.
6. The engineer for the project, the contractor, City Engineer and the City Sewer Department personnel must make a final inspection of the project together. Any items which do not meet the specifications must be corrected to conform to the approved plans and specifications.
7. Upon submittal of the above, the City will make a final review of the completed work. If all the work is found to be satisfactory by the City Engineer or other authorized representative, a recommendation will be made to the City Council at the earliest regular Council meeting to accept the completed utilities into the sanitary sewer collection system. If problems are found, they will have to be corrected before any recommendation for acceptance will be considered.
8. After acceptance of the utilities by the City Council, the City will service and maintain the newly accepted sewer mains. (Ord. 81-11, 12-2-81)
9. City sewer projects which are approved by the City Council may be exempted from certain provisions of this Chapter as determined by the City Council, but shall meet all the requirements of the State of Montana.
10. No sewer service shall be used by anyone until the title and interest in the sewer mains, services, manholes and any other appurtenances have been transferred to the City by a bill of sale and said sewer mains have been accepted for service and maintenance by the City Council. Any sewer mains that are presently within the public right of way, as of the adoption of this Chapter and which are now receiving service and maintenance by the City Sewer Department, shall be considered as accepted into the sanitary sewer collection system of the City and shall be subject to the requirements of this Chapter.
Notes
| 1 | 1. See title 4, chapter 1 of this Code. |