(A) It is unlawful to discharge to any natural outlet within the city or in any area under the jurisdiction of the city any sewage or other polluted waters, except where suitable treatment has been provided in accordance with subsequent provisions of this section and the city’s NPDES permit.
(B) Except as hereinafter provided, it is unlawful to construct or maintain any privy, privy vault, septic tank, cesspool, or other facility intended or used for the disposal of sewage.
(C) The owner of any building or property within the city from which wastewater is discharged, shall be required to connect to a public sewer at his or her expense, when the public sewer becomes available. the city shall determine if public utility lines are available by considering various factors including the lines’ distance from the property, type of soil, land use, water demand and environmental concerns. All future buildings constructed on property adjacent to the public sewer shall be required to immediately connect to the public sewer. If a sewer connection is not made pursuant to this section, the city shall send the affected property owner a written notice via certified mail providing the owner 30 days from the date of the notice to correct the connection.
(D) Should the owner fail to make connection to the public sewer in compliance with the 30-day notice, the city may make the connection and shall assess the connection cost as a lien against the benefitted property. This assessment shall bear interest at the rate identified by the City Council for improvements, shall be certified to the Scott County Auditor and shall be collected and remitted to the city in the same manner as assessments for local improvements. The rights of the city under this section shall be in addition to any other remedial or enforcement actions available to the city, including obtaining an injunction ordering the connection.
(E) It is unlawful for any person to discharge or cause to be discharged into a sanitary sewer, directly or indirectly any storm water, surface water, ground water, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, waste from on-site disposal systems, unpolluted cooling or process water.
(F) Storm water and all other unpolluted water shall be discharged to a storm sewer, except that unpolluted cooling or process water shall only be so discharged upon approval by the city or other local unit of government.
(G) It is unlawful for any person to discharge or cause to be discharged, directly or indirectly, any of the following described substances to any public sewer:
(1) Any gasoline, benzene, naphtha, fuel oil, or other flammable or explosive liquid, solid or gas;
(2) Any water or wastes containing toxic or poisonous solids, liquids or gases in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with other wastes, to injure or interfere with any sewage treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals, create a public nuisance, or create any hazard in the wastewater treatment works;
(3) Any water or wastes having a pH lower than 5.5 or having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment and personnel of the wastewater treatment works;
(4) Solid or viscous substances, either whole or ground, in quantities or of such size capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers, or other interference with the proper continuation of the wastewater facilities, including, but not limited to ashes, cinders, disposable diapers, glass grinding or polishing wastes, stone cuttings or polishing wastes, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plastics, wood, unground garbage, whole blood, paunch manure, hair and fleshings, entrails and sanitary napkins, paper dishes, cups, milk containers, and other paper products;
(5) Noxious or malodorous liquids, gases or substances which either singly or by interaction with other wastes are sufficient to create a public nuisance or hazard to life or are sufficient to prevent entry into the sewers for their maintenance and repair; and
(6) Prohibited wastes shall be regulated in accordance with the city’s NPDES permit, §§ 307(a) and 307(b) of the Clean Water Act and all other applicable state and federal regulations.
(H) It is unlawful for any person to discharge or cause to be discharged, directly or indirectly, the following described substances to any public sewer unless in the opinion of the city such discharge will not harm the wastewater facilities, nor cause obstruction to the flow in sewers, nor otherwise endanger life, limb or public property, nor constitute a nuisance. In forming its opinion as to the acceptability of these wastes, the city may give consideration to such factors as the quantities of the subject wastes in relation to flows and velocities in the sewers, materials or construction of the sewers, nature of the sewage treatment process, capacity of the sewage treatment plant, degree of treatability of wastes in the sewage treatment plant, the city’s NPDES permit, and other pertinent factors. The city may make such determinations either on a general basis or as to discharges from individual users or specific discharges, and may prohibit certain discharges from individual users because of unusual concentrations or combinations which may occur. The substances prohibited are:
(1) Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than 150°F (65°C);
(2) Any water or waste containing fats, wax, grease, or oils, whether emulsified or not, in excess of 100 mg/l or containing substances which may solidify or become viscous at temperatures between 32° and 150°F (0° and 65°C);
(3) Any garbage that has not been ground or comminuted to such a degree that all particles will be carried freely in suspension under flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particles greater than ½ inch in any dimension;
(4) Any water or wastes containing strong acid, iron pickling wastes, or concentrated plating solutions, whether neutralized or not;
(5) Any water or wastes containing phenols or other taste or odor producing substances which constitute a nuisance or hazard to the structures, equipment or personnel of the sewage works, or which interfere with the treatment required to meet the requirements of the state and federal government and any other public agency with proper authority to regulate the discharge from the sewage treatment plan;
(6) Radioactive wastes or isotopes of such half-life or concentration that they are in non-compliance with regulations issued by the appropriate authority having control over their use or which have caused or may cause damage or hazards to the treatment works or personnel operating it;
(7) Any water or wastes having a pH in excess of 9.5;
(8) Materials which exert or cause:
(a) Unusual concentration of suspended solids (such as, but not limited to, Fullers earth, lime slurries and lime residues) or of dissolved solids (such as, but not limited to, sodium chloride and sodium sulfate);
(b) Excessive discoloration (such as, but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions);
(c) Unusual BOD, chemical oxygen demand, or chlorine requirements in such quantities as to constitute a significant load on the wastewater treatment works;
(d) Unusual volume of flow or concentration of wastes constituting a slug; and
(e) Water or water containing substances which are not amenable to treatment or reduction by the sewage treatment processes employed, or are amenable to treatment only to such degree that the sewage treatment plant effluent cannot meet the requirements of the NPDES permit or requirements of other governmental agencies having jurisdiction over discharge from the sewage treatment plant.
(I) If any water or wastes are discharged, or are proposed to be discharged directly or indirectly to the public sewers, which water or wastes do not meet the standards set out in or promulgated under this section which in the judgment of the city may have a deleterious effect upon the treatment works, processes, equipment or receiving waters, or which otherwise create a hazard to life or constitute a public nuisance, the city may take any or all of the following steps:
(1) Refuse to accept the discharges;
(2) Require control over the quantities and rates of discharge;
(3) Require pretreatment to an acceptable condition for the discharge to the public sewers; or
(4) Require payment to cover the added cost of handling and treating the wastes. The design and installation of the plant and equipment for pre-treatment or equalization of waste flows shall be subject to the review and approval of the city and subject to the requirements of § 307(b) of the Clean Water Act and all applicable codes, City Code provisions, and laws. No user shall increase the use of process water or, in any manner attempt to dilute a discharge as a partial or complete substitute for adequate treatment to achieve compliance with the limitations contained in the National Categorical Pretreatment Standards or any state requirement.
(J) Grease, oil and sand interceptors shall be provided when they are necessary for the proper handling of liquid wastes containing grease, or any flammable wastes, sand or other harmful ingredients. All interceptors require the city’s approval as to type and capacity and shall be located as to be readily and easily accessible for cleaning and inspection. The interceptors shall not be required for private living quarters or dwelling units.
(K) Preliminary treatment and flow equalizing facilities or interceptors shall be effectively operated and maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective condition by the owner at his or her expense, and shall be available for inspection by the city at all reasonable times.
(L) When required by the city, the owner of any property serviced by a building sewer carrying industrial wastes shall install a suitable control structure, together with such necessary meters and other appurtenances in the building sewer to facilitate observation, sampling, and measurement of the wastes. Required structure and equipment shall be constructed at the owner’s expense in accordance with plans approved by the city and shall be maintained by the owner so as to be safe and accessible at all times.
(M) All measurements, tests, and analyses of the characteristics of water and wastes to which reference is made in this section shall be determined in accordance with the latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, and shall be determined at the control structure provided, or upon suitable samples taken at the control structure. In the event that no special structure has been required, the control structure shall be considered to be the nearest downstream manhole in the public sewer from the point at which the building sewer is connected. Sampling shall be carried out by customarily accepted methods to reflect the effect of constituents upon the sewerage works and to determine the existence of hazards to life, limb, and property. (The particular analyses involved will determine whether a 24-hour composite of all outfalls of a premises is appropriate or whether a grab sample or samples should be taken. Normally, but not always, BOD and suspended solids analyses will be obtained from 24-hour composite of all outfalls whereas pHs and DO’s will be determined from periodic grab samples).
(N) (1) The city may conduct such tests as are necessary to enforce this section, and employees of the city may enter upon any property for the purpose of taking samples, obtaining information or conducting surveys or investigations relating to such enforcement. Entry shall be made during operating hours unless circumstances require otherwise. In all cases where tests are conducted by the city for the purpose of checking to determine if a previously found violation of this section has been corrected, the cost of the tests shall be charged to the user and added to the user’s sewer charge. In those cases where the city determines that the nature of volume of a particular user's sewage requires more frequent than normal testing, the city may charge the user for the test, after giving the user 10 days’ written notice of its intention to do so, mailed via certified mail, and the cost thereof shall be added to the user's sewer charge.
(2) In any case where industrial wastes are discharged to a public sewer, the city may require the user to test the discharge on a regular basis at the user’s expense and to report the test results to the city within a reasonable time. All such tests shall be as ordered by the city and shall be conducted by qualified personnel and in accordance with the standards set forth herein.
(O) Accidental discharges of prohibited waste into the sewage works, directly or through another disposal system, or to any place from which such waste may enter the treatment works, shall be reported to the city by the persons responsible for the discharge, or by the owner or occupant of the premises where the discharge occurred, immediately upon learning of the discharge.
(P) New connections to the sanitary sewer system shall be prohibited unless sufficient capacity is available in all downstream facilities, including capacity for flow, BOD, and suspended solids.
(Q) No statement contained in this section shall be construed as preventing any special agreement or arrangement between the city and any industrial concern whereby an industrial waste of unusual strength or character may be accepted by the city for treatment, subject to payment therefor, by the industrial concern, in accordance with applicable City Code provisions and any supplemental agreement with the city, and providing that National Categorical Pretreatment Standards and the city’s NPDES permit limitations are not violated.
(Prior Code, § 3.30) Penalty, see § 50.99