Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of the terms used in the subchapter shall be as follows.
ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY. This subchapter shall be administered by the Ripley County Board of Health through its Health Officer and his or her authorized representatives.
DISTRIBUTION BOX. A structure designed to distribute the effluent from a septic tank by gravity equally into the pipes of an absorption field.
DWELLING. Any house or place used or intended to be used as a place of seasonal or human habitation or for sleeping for one or two families.
FRAGIPAN. A loamy, brittle, subsurface horizon that is seemingly cemented. FRAGIPANS are a few inches to several feet thick and are very slowly permeable to water.
HEALTH OFFICER. That person elected by the County Board of Health as their Health Officer.
IDOH. Indiana Department of Health.
LIMITING LAYER. Any soil horizons which exhibit one or more of the following:
(1) A loading rate greater than 0.75 gallons per day per square foot.
(2) A gravel content of 35% or greater.
(3) A loading rate less than 0.25 gallons per day per square foot.
(4) Seasonal high water table indicated by soil wetness characteristics.
(5) Bedrock.
(6) Fragipan.
LOADING RATE. The allowable rate of application of septic tank effluent to the soil. It is expressed in gallons per day per square foot.
OWNER. That person or his or her agent reported as the legal possessor of a dwelling or property.
PERSON. Any individual, partnership, co-partnership, firm, company, corporation, association, trust, estate or any other legal entity, its or their successors or assigns or agents of the aforesaid.
PRIVATE SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM. All equipment and devices necessary for proper conduction, collection, storage, treatment and on-site disposal of sewage from any building.
PRIVATE SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM FAILURE. One which exhibits one or more of the following:
(1) The system refuses to accept sewage at the rate of design application thereby interfering with the normal use of residential plumbing fixtures.
(2) The effluent discharge exceeds the absorptive capacity of the soil, resulting in ponding, seepage or other discharge of the effluent to the ground surface or to surface water.
(3) The effluent is discharged from the system causing contamination of a potable water supply, ground water or surface waters.
RISER. A vertical port of cylindrical concrete 20 to 24 inches in diameter extending to the ground surface with a gas tight seal.
SANITARY SEWAGE SYSTEM. A sewer or a system of sewers which convey sewage away from the lot on which it originates to a wastewater treatment facility owned and operated by an incorporated city or town, conservancy district, regional sewer district or private utility.
SEPTIC TANK. A watertight structure into which sewage is discharged for settling and solids digestion.
SEWAGE. All water-carried waste derived from ordinary living processes.
SLUDGE. The digested or partly digested solid material accumulated in a septic tank.
SOIL ABSORPTION. A process which utilizes the soil to treat and dispose of effluent from a septic tank.
SOIL ABSORPTION SYSTEM. Pipes laid in a system of trenches or elevated beds into which the effluent from the septic tank is discharged for soil absorption.
SOIL HORIZON. A layer of soil or soil material approximately parallel to the land surface and differing from an adjacent genetically related layer in physical, chemical, and biological properties or characteristics such as color, structure, texture, consistency, kinds and numbers of organisms present and degree of acidity or alkalinity.
SOIL PROFILE ANALYSIS. The observation and evaluation of the physical characteristics of the soil horizons or layers to a depth of at least five feet or, if shallower, to a layer which cannot be readily penetrated.
SOIL SCIENTIST. An individual with a baccalaureate degree with a major in agronomy, soils, or a closely allied field of science who is proficient in the application of the principles of pedology to soil classification, investigation, education and consultation and on the effect of measured, observed and inferred soil properties and their use, whose name is included on the IDOH list of soil scientists.
RCHD. Ripley County Health Department.
(Ord. 2022-3, passed 3-1-2022)