(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 city.
(B) There shall be two classes of building sewer permits. One shall be for residential and commercial service, and one shall be for service to establishments producing industrial wastes. In either case, the owner or his or her agent shall make an application on a form furnished by the city. The permit application shall be supplemented by any plans, specifications, or other information considered pertinent in the judgement of the city. Connection fees shall be collected as determined by the city's annual fee schedule.
(C) All costs and expenses incident 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.
(D) A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building, except where one building stands at the rear of another on an interior lot and no private sewer is available or can be constructed to the rear building through an adjoining alley, courtyard, or driveway. In this case, the building sewer from the front building may be extended to the rear building and the whole considered as one building sewer. Additional sewer service availability, tap fee, and a hold harmless clause is necessary for separate ownership.
(E) Existing building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, on examination and test by the Public Works Department, to meet all the requirements of this chapter.
(F) The size, slope, alignment, and materials of construction of a building sewer and the methods to be used in excavating, placing of the pipe, testing, and backfilling the trench shall all conform to the requirements of the State Plumbing Code or other applicable rules and regulations of the city.
(G) Whenever economically possible, the building sewer shall be brought to the building at an elevation below the basement floor. In all buildings in which the building drain is too low to permit gravity flow to the public sewer, sanitary sewage carried by the building drain shall be lifted by an approved means and discharged to the building sewer.
(H) No person shall make or have any connection of roof down spouts, exterior foundation drains, areaway drains, or other sources of surface runoff or groundwater, either directly or indirectly, to a building sewer or building drain which in turn is connected directly or indirectly to a public sanitary sewer. Foundation drain groundwater discharge shall be connected directly to street under drains where available.
(I) The connection of the building sewer into the public sewer shall conform to the requirements of the Plumbing Code or other applicable rules and regulations of the city. All building to sewer connections shall be made gas-tight and watertight. Any deviation from these prescribed procedures and materials must be approved by the city before installation.
(J) The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the Building Inspection Department when the building sewer is ready for final inspection for work completed inside the structure and connection to the public sewer shall be inspected by the appropriate Public Works Department representative. The connection shall be made under the general supervision of the City Engineer or his or her representative.
(K) All excavations for building sewer installation 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 to as good or better condition than before work commenced.
(L) Future connections to the sewer system shall be limited in accordance to the availability of sufficient treatment capacity in the publicly owned treatment works. The city will determine if the wastewater treatment facility has sufficient capacity for additional capacity.
(M) All sewer connections and lines from the city's sewer mains are considered private, belonging to the property owner, and it shall be the property owner's responsibility to maintain the connections and lines.
(Ord. 138, passed 10-10-90; Am. Ord. 199, passed 7-5-05; Am. Ord. 274, passed 7-21-14; Am. Ord. 329, passed 9-19-22) Penalty, see § 10.99