(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 Sewer Board.
(b) Sewer Taps Only by Authorized Persons. No person, except those persons duly employed or authorized by the City or by the Sewer Board for such purpose, shall tap the City's 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 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 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.
(3) Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, on examination and test by the Manager to meet all requirements of this article.
(4) 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. In the absence of Code provisions or in amplification thereof, the material and procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the ASTM and WPCF Manual of Practice No. 9 shall apply.
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.
(5) No person(s) shall make connection of roof downspouts, foundation drains, areaway drains 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 Manager for purposes of disposal of polluted surface drainage.
(6) 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 for the procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the
ASTM and the SPCF Manual of Practice No. 9. All such connections shall be made gastight and watertight and verified by proper testing. Any deviation from the prescribed procedures and materials must be approved by the Manager before installation.
(7) 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 Manager or his representative.
(8) 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 in a manner satisfactory to the City.
(d) Approval of Connections by City Inspector. No sewer service shall be connected until the plumbing and connections incident thereto shall have been inspected and approved by an inspector of the City or Sewer Board.
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 system.
(e) Unauthorized Connections Prohibited. 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's 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 Council with respect thereto.
Roof drains, yard and area drains, footer drains or any line carrying flow other than exclusively sanitary wastewater are prohibited from connection to the sanitary sewer system.
(f) User's Responsibility to Keep Sewer Clean. The owner, tenant or occupant of the property shall be continuously responsible for maintaining and keeping the sewer pipe leading to and between the plumbing system of his premises to the City's connecting sewer 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 City or Sewer 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 City or Sewer Board shall have the right to enter upon said premises and make necessary repairs, the cost and expenses of which shall be included as part of the charges against such premises.
(g) 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.
(h) City Not Liable for Damage. Neither the City nor the Sewer Board 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 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 City or Sewer 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 of its sewer system.
(i) 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 without a written permit from the City or Sewer Board or of any combined sewer or sanitary sewer without a written permit from the City or Sewer Board.
(j) Entering Sewer. No person, other than one employed by the City while on duty, shall enter any public sanitary and/or storm sewer or appurtenance thereof without a written permit from the City or Sewer Board or shall enter any public combined sewer or sanitary sewer without a written permit from the City or Sewer Board.
(k) Injury to Sewer. No person shall break or damage any public sewer or appurtenance or part thereof.
(1960 Code 6-300:3-1 to 3-5, 3-13 to 3-18)