(a) Tapping or Opening Sewer Without Permit. No person shall cut, break, pierce or tap any public sewer or appurtenances thereof, or introduce any tube, pipe, trough or conduit into any public sewer or appurtenance thereof without a written permit from the Utility Board.
(b) Sewer Taps Only by Authorized Persons. No person, except those persons duly employed or authorized by the Utility Board or its representatives for such purpose, shall tap the City sewer mains.
(c) Sewer Tap Construction.
(1) 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 of Keyser from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer.
(2) A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building; except where one building stands at the rear of another or 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 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 liability for any damages arising from nor assume any obligation or responsibility for damage caused by or resulting from such single connection aforementioned.
(d) Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, on examination and test by the Manager, or other agent of the Utility Board to meet all requirements of this article.
(e) (1) 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 building and plumbing code or other applicable rules and regulations of the City and the State of West Virginia. In the absence of code provisions or in clarification thereof, the material and procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the ASTM and WPCF Manual of Practice No.9 shall apply.
(2) 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.
(f) No person(s) shall make connection of roof downspouts, 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 a public sanitary sewer, unless such connection is approved by the Utility Board for purposes of disposal of polluted surface drainage.
(g) The connection of the building sewer into the public sewer shall conform to the requirements of the building and plumbing code or other applicable rules and regulations of the City, State of West Virginia, 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 gas-tight and watertight and verified by proper testing. Any deviation from the prescribed procedures and materials must be approved by the Utility Board before installation.
(h) The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the Manager 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 Utility Board or its representative.
(i) All excavations for building sewer installation shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights so as to protect the public from such hazard. Streets, sidewalks, parkways, and other public property disturbed in the course of the work shall be restored to a reasonably comparable condition of that existing immediately prior to the commencement of the excavation.
(j) Approval of Connections by Utility Board Inspector.
(1) No sewer service shall be connected until the plumbing and connections incident thereto shall have been inspected and approved by an inspector of the Utility Board or its representatives.
(2) No sewer service line shall be connected to the sanitary sewer system if that service line will contain flows other than sanitary wastewater. Roof drains, yard and area drains, footer drains, or any line other than that which serves a sanitary plumbing system are prohibited from connection to the City Sewer system.
(k) Unauthorized Connections Prohibited.
(1) No person shall connect to or turn on any sewer service, or cut-in, interconnect, tap or make any alterations to any main or distribution or collection pipe of the City sewer system or permit any connection or tapping to be made to the sewer system on his premises or the premises occupied by him, or knowingly use the sewer service from connections in violation of any of the provisions of this article or any rules or regulations adopted by the Utility Board or the State of West Virginia, with respect thereto.
(2) Roof drains, yard and area drains, footer drains, or any line carrying flow other than exclusively sanitary wastewater is prohibited from connection to the sanitary sewer system.
(l) Establishment of Schedule of Rates: Use of Water Meters.
(1) For the payment of the proper and reasonable expense of operation, repair, replacement, improvements, additions, betterment, extensions and maintenance of the sewer system and for the payment of the sums required to pay the principal and interest of all sewer revenue bonds as they become due, the Utility Board shall enact and may from time to time amend a schedule of just and equitable rates or charges for the use of and service rendered by the municipal sewer system, which schedule of rates or charges shall be based upon the metered amount of water supplied to the premises; and each schedule shall be maintained on file in the office of the City Administrator while it is in effect.
(2) Until such time as the Utility Board adopts a schedule of rates or charges pursuant to the foregoing provisions of this section, the rates and changes in effect immediately prior to the effective date of this article shall continue in full force and effect.
(m) Established Rates Applicable to Premises Subsequently Served. The rates or charges so established for any class of users or property served shall be extended to cover any additional premises hereafter served which fall within the same class, without the necessity of any hearing or notice.
(n) Subject to Established Rates or Charges. The City of Keyser shall be subject to the established charges and rates, or to charges and rates established in harmony therewith, for services rendered to the City and shall pay such rates or charges, when due, from corporate funds which shall be deemed to be a part of the revenues of the sewage system and works and be applied as provided for the application of such revenues.
(o) Authority Vested in Keyser Utility Board for Billing and Collecting. All rates or charges provided for by this article shall be billed and collected monthly by the Utility Board or by persons or agencies authorized by the Utility Board. All bills shall be considered due and payable on or before the tenth day following the date rendered.
(p) Lien for Enforcement of Collection of Billed Rates or Charges. All such rates or charges, if not paid when due, shall be a lien upon the premises served by such system or works, and if such rates or charges are not paid within thirty (30) days after due, then the amount thereof, together with a penalty of ten percent (10%) and a reasonable attorney's fee, may be recovered by the City in a civil action in the name of the Utility Board. In connection with such action, such lien may be foreclosed against such lot, parcel of land or building, in accordance with the laws relating thereto.
(q) Industrial Use of Sewers. Where the character of sewage from any manufacturing or industrial plant, building or premises is such that it imposes a burden upon the sewer system in addition to the burden imposed by the average sewage entering the sewer system, such additional charge shall be made therefore as the Utility Board shall deem to be fair and equitable to meet the additional cost of collection, treatment and disposal of such sewage; and the Utility Board may, if it deems advisable to do so, compel the owner, tenant or occupant of such manufacturing or industrial plant, building or premises to treat such sewage in such manner as shall be specified by the Utility Board or other applicable State law before discharging into the sewer system.
(r) Duration of Liability for Sewer Service. Liability for service shall begin for a user on the date of connection to the sewer system, and such liability shall continue thereafter unless such premises are disconnected from the sewer system with the approval of the Utility Board. After such liability begins, no allowance shall be made for vacant houses unless user requests in writing that the Utility Board have the same system shut off, nor will any allowance be made for any shut off period that is less than thirty (30) days.
(s) User’s Responsibility to Keep Sewer Clean. The owner, tenant or occupant of the property shall be continuously and solely responsible for maintaining and keeping the sewer pipe leading to and between the plumbing system of his premises to the connecting sewer line clean and free from obstruction, and shall not cause, suffer or permit any article or thing, liquid as well as solid, to be introduced into the pipe which causes a stoppage thereof. In the event of any such obstructions or stoppage, the Utility Board shall have the right to cut off the water connection, which shall not be reconnected until such sewer pipe is cleaned and maintained properly, and in the further event of the failure of such user to remedy such obstruction or stoppage, the Utility Board or its representatives shall have the right to enter upon said premises and make necessary repairs, the costs and expenses of which shall be included as part of the charges against such premises.
(t) Leaks. No allowance or adjustment of any sewer bill shall be made for water leaks of any nature occurring on the user’s side of the meter if the water so leaked enters the sewer.
(u) Not Liable for Damage. Neither the Utility Board or the City shall be liable for any damage resulting from bursting of any sewer main, service pipe or valve, or from discontinuing the operation of its sewer collection, treatment and disposal facilities, for repairs, extensions or connections, or from the accidental failure of the sewage collection, treatment and disposal facilities from any cause whatsoever. In cases of emergency, the Utility Board shall have the right to restrict the use of its sewage collection, treatment and disposal facilities in any reasonable manner for the protection of the City and its sewer system.
(v) Tampering with Sewer Appurtenances. No person shall turn, lift, remove, raise or tamper with any cover or any manhole, basin, inlet or other appurtenance of any public sanitary and/or storm sewer or of any combined sewer or sanitary sewer of the City without a written permit from the Utility Board.
(w) Entering Sewer. No person, other than one employed by the Utility Board, or its representatives, shall enter any public sanitary and/or storm sewer or appurtenance thereof or enter any public combined sewer or sanitary sewer without a written permit from the Utility Board.
(x) Injury to Sewer. No person shall break or damage any public sewer or appurtenance of part thereof. (Ord. 252. Passed 9-9-99.)