(A) No owner or occupant of any real property shall tap or drain either directly or indirectly into any public sewer until a sewer tap permit has been obtained from the city and until the owner has satisfied the obligation to pay all assessments, reimbursements and pro rata shares of sewers extension costs laid against that property for public sewers which serve it. A sewer tap permit given in error shall not operate to nullify any such obligation that has been duly recorded nor stop the city from charging and collecting such costs at any subsequent time.
(B) Notwithstanding the foregoing, the utility may, in accordance with policies and procedures adopted by the Board of Public Works from time to time, permit an owner or occupant to tap or drain into a public sewer and to defer, in whole or in part, payment of the obligation, upon the execution and delivery to the utility of a note, mortgage, lien document or other evidence or obligation acceptable to the utility.
(C) All such deferred obligations shall be considered for the purposes of I.C. 36-9-23-31 through 36-9-23-34 to be fees assessed against real property.
(D) Installments of deferred obligations, including any finance charges or interest chargeable thereon, shall be deemed to be charges for sewerage service for the purposes of this chapter.
(E) Sewer tap permits shall be obtained from the city’s utility office and shall be issued only to licensed sewer tap contractors, who shall pay to the city a fee as determined, from time to time, by the Board of Works. Not later than 48 hours after making each sewer tap and building of the sewer installation, the tap contractor or property owner shall notify the utility office of such connections so that an inspection may be made by the utility prior to backfilling the said sewer installation.
(F) No person or user, shall construct or maintain a sewer connection, lateral, cleanout, or cleanout cap that allows the introduction of surface or ground water into the public sewerage system. Any sewer connection, lateral, cleanout, or cap which allows the introduction of surface or ground water into the public sewerage system shall be repaired or replaced. All sewer connection and lateral repair and replacement work shall comply with local plumbing codes and conform to the city’s standards and specifications as adopted by the Board of Public Works and Safety unless otherwise expressly regulated by this chapter.
(G) (1) No person or user shall connect or allow any source of surface runoff, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, condensation or other clear water to flow directly or indirectly to a sanitary sewer of the city. Typical prohibited connections include but are not limited to the following:
(a) Gutters or downspouts;
(b) Sump pumps drains;
(c) Storm inlets or drains;
(d) Footing or perimeter drains;
(e) Trench drains;
(f) Field tile drains;
(g) Air conditioning condensate drains; and
(h) Swimming pool drains.
(2) For customers with connections from gutters, downspouts, or sump pumps to the sanitary sewer, those connections shall be allowed only for connections existing at the time of this chapter and only so long as the customer has no means to discharge to the surface, as determined by the Engineering Department.
(H) All such discharges shall be directed to either a storm water retention pond, storm water swale or ditch, storm sewer inlet or pipe that will convey the flows to a waterway. The city shall approve the discharge location and inspect all connections to storm inlets and pipes. When the aforementioned outlets are not available for discharge, the discharge may be to the ground surface only if the following conditions are met:
(1) The point of discharge shall be a minimum of three feet from the foundation wall and five feet from the property line. The pipe must terminate no less than ten feet from an impervious surface to promote infiltration into the ground.
(2) The discharge must flow parallel to or away from the nearest property line and must not flow onto an adjacent property.
(3) The discharge water shall not create an icy or wet condition on any pedestrian walkway, sidewalk, street or alley.
(I) The discharge of greywater or wastewater must be made to the sanitary sewer. Customers having sump pumps that discharge combined greywater and wastewater with clear water to the sanitary sewer shall be subject to a minimum monthly fee to cover the additional cost for treating the clear water flows that are being introduced to the sanitary sewer system by the sump pump connection. The amount of the fee shall be $52.65.
(J) Sump pumps and sump pump drains are to be installed in accordance with local plumbing codes. Sump pumps must have rigid discharge piping that discharge outside of the building above the finished grade and shall have an air gap before discharging into a buried storm drain pipe. Sump pump discharge piping systems shall not have any piping, valves or quick connections that can be used to reconnect or redirect the discharge to the sanitary sewer system.
(K) (1) Existing prohibited connections which discharge clear water to the sanitary sewer shall be redirected to discharge to an acceptable storm water collection or conveyance system or to the surface as provided in this chapter.
(2) Property owners may be required to provide adequate proof that their connections comply with the requirements of this chapter either by certification of a licensed plumber or engineer as provided in this chapter or by allowing the city to conduct inspection or re-inspection of storm and wastewater drainage systems. Such certification and/or inspections shall be required when and as needed for the city to comply with the state and federal CSO Long Term Control Regulations. Such inspections will also be required on all properties when there is a change of ownership prior to the activation or transfer of a water service account.
(L) The Board of Public Works shall have authority to require an owner of any property to repair or replace a faulty connection or damaged or deteriorating sewer lateral, cleanout, or cap, and to redirect or disconnect any prohibited connection to the city’s sanitary sewer system.
(M) A new connection may be made to a city sewer or sewers only if adequate capacity exists to transmit and treat the new waste.
(N) At such time as the city installs a sanitary sewer or separates existing combination sewers into a sanitary sewer and a storm sewer, the property owner shall be required to make separate connections to the sanitary sewer for sanitary flows and to the storm sewer for inflow-clear water flows. Property owners shall have a period of 90 days to comply with this requirement. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the Director of Engineering’s office may, in accordance with policies and procedures adopted by the Board of Works, extend the time for compliance with this division for a period of up to 180 days upon written application from a property owner filed prior to the expiration of the 90-day period.
(O) (1) All work of any nature (including, without limitation, connections, extensions, alterations or replacements) performed on any sanitary or storm sewer shall conform to the city’s standards and specifications as adopted by the Board of Public Works and Safety unless otherwise expressly regulated by this chapter.
(2) The requirement for a separate storm sewer connection will be waived where the property owner can establish to the satisfaction of the Director of Engineering’s office that there is no contribution of storm, surface or groundwater to the sanitary sewer system by the property or any activity thereon. The decision of the Director of Engineering may be appealed by petition to the Board of works submitted within 30 days.
(P) No person shall make use of a sewer tap or backfill or otherwise conceal a connection to a sewer installation unless and until the same has been inspected and approved by the utility. In addition to all other remedies, the utility may cause the said installation of sewer tap to be excavated and exposed, may terminate the connection, and may require the owner or occupant to pay or reimburse the utility for its costs and expenses in such excavation, exposure, termination, reconnection and restoration. Such costs and expenses shall be considered as charges for sewerage treatment services and may be collected in accordance with the provisions of I.C. 36-9-23-31 through 36-9-23-34 and this chapter.
(Q) No person or user shall dump or dispose of junk, rubbish, trash, garbage, yard waste, household waste, industrial waste, non-biodegradable wipes, underwear, diapers, sanitary napkins, tampons, or debris in a storm inlet, storm sewer, sanitary sewer, ditch, retention pond, or receiving system.
(Prior Code, § 51.03) (Ord. G-93-5, passed 6-8-1993; Ord. passed 5-3-2004;Ord. G-01-8, passed 7-10-2001; Ord. G-17-4, passed 9-12-2017; Ord. passed 3-20-2018) Penalty, see § 51.999