(A) Private sewage disposal.
(1) Where a public sanitary sewer is not available the sewer shall be connected to a private sewage disposal system complying with the provisions of this section. Public sanitary sewers are deemed to be available if the structure or the generating source is located in the city.
(2) (a) The type, capacities, location and layout of a private sewage disposal system shall comply with all regulations of the City of Simpsonville, the Shelby County Health Department, and state and federal agencies.
(b) Before commencement of construction of a private sewage disposal system the owner shall first obtain a written permit issued by the Sewer Board after approval of the system by the Shelby County Health Department, and the state if required. The application for such permit shall be made on a form furnished by the city which the applicant shall supplement by any plans, specifications and other information as are deemed necessary by the Sewer Board.
(3) A permit for a private sewage disposal system shall not become effective until the installation is completed to the satisfaction of the Sewer Board, the City of Simpsonville, the Shelby County Health Department, and the state, if required. They shall be allowed to inspect the work at any stage of construction, and, in any event, the applicant for the permit shall notify the Sewer Board when the work is ready for final inspection and before any underground portions are covered. The inspection shall be made within 48 hours of the receipt of notice by the Sewer Board, Saturdays, Sundays and holidays excepted.
(4) At such times as a public sewer becomes available to a property served by a private sewage disposal system, a direct connection shall be made to the public sewer at the property owner's expense in compliance with this chapter and any septic tanks, cesspools or other private sewage disposal facilities shall be abandoned and filled with suitable material, or salvaged and removed.
(5) The owner shall operate and maintain the private sewage disposal facilities in a sanitary manner at all times, at no expense to the City of Simpsonville.
(6) No requirement of this section shall be construed to interfere with any additional requirements that may be imposed by the City of Simpsonville, the Shelby County Health Department, or the state.
(B) Building sewers and connections.
(1) No person shall uncover, make any connection with or opening into, use, alter or disturb any public sewer or appurtenance thereof without first obtaining a written permit from the Sewer Board.
(2) (a) There shall be two classes of building sewer permits:
1. For residential and commercial service, and
2. For service to establishments producing industrial wastes.
(b) In either case, the owner or his agent, shall make application on a special form furnished by the City of Simpsonville. The permit application shall be supplemented by any plans, specifications or other information considered pertinent in the judgment of the Superintendent. Commercial shall be deemed industrial when the character and quantity of waste requires.
(3) All costs and expenses incident to the installation and connection of the building sewer shall be borne by the owner. The owner shall indemnity the City of Simpsonville from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation or operation of the building sewer. Fees for permit applications, inspections, and connection shall be as required elsewhere in this chapter, or as established by the City of Simpsonville in the future.
(4) A separate and independent sewer connection shall be provided for every building on any particular lot, except where the primary structure is residential and there are separate ancillary structures such as a workshop or garage, then no separate connection shall be required for that ancillary structure.
(5) Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, on examination and test by the Sewer Board, to meet all requirements of this chapter.
(6) In all buildings in which any sanitary facility drain is too low to permit gravity flow to the public sewer, sanitary sewage carried by such drain shall be lifted by an approved means and discharged to the building sewer. Any apparatus related thereto shall be operated and maintained by the property owner.
(7) No person shall make connection of roof downspouts, basement wall seepage or floor seepage, exterior 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.
(8) Floor, basement or crawl space drains which are lower than ground surfaces surrounding the building shall not be connected to the building sanitary sewer. No sanitary inlet which is lower than six inches above the top of the lowest of the two adjacent public sanitary sewer manholes shall be connected by direct drainage to the building sanitary sewer.
(9) The building sewer shall be connected into the public sewer, only upon authorization and inspection by authorized agents of the Sewer Board. The invert of the building sewer at such joint of connection with a wye saddle shall be in the upper quadrant of the main line of the public sewer. A neat workmanlike connection not extending past the inner surface of the public sewer shall be made and the saddle made secure and watertight by encasement in concrete, or with Epoxy cement specially prepared for this purpose. The first length of the building sewer after the connection to the public sewer shall be a wye-branch, with the branch laid on top pointing away from the public sewer, temporarily plugged for use in smoke testing of the building sewer and with clean outs at locations approved by the Superintendent.
(10) The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the Sewer Board when the building sewer is ready for inspection and connection to the public sewer. The connection shall be made under the supervision of the Superintendent or his or her representative.
(11) All excavations for building sewer installation shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights so as to protect the public from hazard on streets, sidewalks, parkways and other public property satisfactory to the City of Simpsonville. All OSHA requirements must be met. Wherever there is a road cut, then there shall be a bond provided by the person or entity making the road cut and in an amount established by the Sewer Board to secure the cost of restoration and repair of the road cut. Additionally, there shall be a minimum of a $2,000,000 liability insurance policy naming the City of Simpsonville as an additional insured and protecting against property damage and personal injury resulting from said road cut.
(12) 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 of Simpsonville, the Shelby County Health Department, or the State. In the absence of code provisions or in amplification thereof, the materials and procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the ASTM and WPCF (American Society for Testing and Materials and Water Pollution Control Federation) Manual of Practice No. 9 shall apply.
(C) Use of the public sewers.
(1) No persons shall discharge or cause to be discharged any storm water, surface water, ground water, roof runoff, sub-surface drainage or cellar drainage of ground water origin, cooling water or unpolluted industrial process water to any sanitary sewer. The Superintendent or his or her representative shall have the right, at any time, to inspect the inside or outside of buildings or smoke test for connections to building sewers and require disconnection of any pipes carrying such water to the building sewer. No sanitary drain sump, sump pump discharge by manual switchover of discharge connection shall have a dual use for removal of such water. Facilities shall be entirely separate.
(2) Except as permitted in § 50.06, no person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the following described waters or wastes to any public sewer:
(a) Any gasoline, benzene, naptha, fuel oil, or other flammable, combustible or explosive liquid, solid or gas.
(b) Any waters or wastes containing toxic or poisonous liquids, solids, or gases in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with other wastes, to injure or interfere with any sewage treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals, create a public nuisance, or create any hazard in the receiving waters of the sewage treatment plant.
(c) Any waters or wastes having a pH lower than (6.0) or greater than (9.0), or having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment, and personnel of the sewage works.
(d) Solid or viscous substances in quantities or of such size capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers, or other interference with the proper operation of the sewage works such as, but not limited to, ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plastics, wood, unground garbage, whole blood, paunch manure, hair and fleshings, entrails and paper dishes, cups, milk containers, etc. either whole or ground by garbage grinders.
(e) Any water or waste that contains cyanide or cyanate.
(3) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged the following described substances, materials, waters, or wastes if it appears likely in the opinion of the Superintendent that such wastes can harm either the sewers, sewage treatment process, or equipment, have an adverse effect on the receiving stream, or can otherwise endanger life, limb, public property, or constitute a nuisance. In forming his or her opinion as to the acceptability of these wastes, the Superintendent will give consideration to such factors as the quantities of subject wastes in relation to flows and velocities in the sewers, materials of construction of the sewers, nature of the sewage treatment process, capacity of the sewage treatment plant, degree of treatability of wastes in the sewage treatment plant, and other pertinent factors. The substances prohibited are:
(a) Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than 150 degrees F (65 degrees C).
(b) Any water or waste containing fats, wax, grease, or oils, whether emulsified or not, in excess of 100 ppm or containing substances which may solidify or become viscous at temperatures between 32 and 150 degrees F (0 and 65 degrees C).
(c) Any garbage that has not been properly shredded to seven ml per liter of solids capable of settling. The installation and operation of any garbage grinder equipped with a motor of three-fourths horsepower (0.76 hp metric) or greater shall be subject to the review and approval of the Superintendent.
(d) Any waters or wastes containing strong acid iron pickling wastes, or concentrated plating solutions whether neutralized or not.
(e) Any waters or wastes containing iron, chromium, copper, zinc, and similar objectionable or toxic substances, to such degree that exceeds the limits which may be established by the Superintendent for such materials.
(f) Any waters or wastes containing phenols or other taste or odor producing substances, in such concentrations that will impair the quality of the body of water receiving the treatment plant effluent.
(g) Any radioactive wastes or isotopes of such half-life or concentrations as may exceed limits established by the Superintendent in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations.
(h) Any waters or wastes having a pH in excess of (9.0).
(i) Materials which exert or cause:
1. Unusual concentrations of inert suspended solids (350 ppm), such as, but not limited to Fullers earth, lime slurries, and lime residues; or of dissolved solids, such as, but not limited to, sodium chloride and sodium sulfate.
2. Excessive discoloration, such as, but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions.
3. Unusual BOD (300 ppm), chemical oxygen demand, or chlorine requirements (50 ppm) exceeding the above guide lines or, when in the opinion of the Superintendent, in such quantities that it interferes with the operation of the sewer system or the sewer treatment plant.
4. Unusual volume of flow or concentration of wastes constituting slugs as defined herein.
(j) Waters or wastes containing substances which are not amenable to treatment or reduction by the sewage treatment processes employed, or are amenable to treatment only to such degree that the sewage treatment plant effluent cannot meet the requirements of other agencies having jurisdiction over discharge to the receiving waters.
(4) If any waters or wastes are discharged, or are proposed to be discharged to public sewers, which waters contain the substances or possess the characteristic enumerated in § 50.04 or which violate any provisions of this chapter, and which in the judgment of the Superintendent, may have a deleterious effect upon the sewage works, processes, equipment, or receiving waters, or which otherwise create a hazard to life or constitute a public nuisance, the Superintendent may:
(a) Reject the wastes.
(b) Require pretreatment to an acceptable condition for discharge to the public sewers.
(c) Require equalization or other control over the quantities and rates of discharge; and/or
(d) Require payment to cover the added cost of handling and treating the wastes not covered by existing taxes or sewer charges.
(e) Terminate authorization to discharge to the city's sewerage works.
(f) If the Superintendent permits the pretreatment or equalization of waste flows, the plans, specifications and any other pertinent information relating to the proposed preliminary treatment facilities shall be submitted for the approval of the Simpsonville Sewer Board. No construction of such facilities shall be commenced until said approvals are obtained in writing.
(5) Where preliminary treatment facilities are provided for any water or waste, they shall be maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective operation by the owner at his or her expense.
(6) (a) Grease, oil, and sand interceptors shall be provided when, in the opinion of the Superintendent, they are necessary for the proper handling of liquid wastes containing grease in excessive amounts, or any flammable wastes, sand and other harmful ingredients, except that such interceptors shall not be required for private living quarters or dwelling units. All interceptors shall be of a type and capacity approved by the Superintendent, and shall be located so as to be readily and easily accessible for cleaning and inspection.
(b) Grease and oil interceptors shall be constructed of impervious materials capable of withstanding abrupt and extreme changes in temperatures. They shall be of substantial construction, watertight and equipped with easily removable covers, which, when bolted in place shall be gastight and watertight.
(7) Where installed, all grease, oil and sand interceptors shall be maintained by the owner at his expense, in continuously efficient operation at all times.
(8) Within three months from the effective date of this chapter, and on a quarterly basis thereafter, all users of the sewerage system who discharge industrial wastes to the public sewers, shall file with the Superintendent an industrial waste characterization, based on a 24-hour survey sampling which shall furnish pertinent data inclusive of quantity and rate of flow and an analysis of the waste discharge to the sewage works. Similarly, any person desiring to make a new connection to the sewage works for the purpose of discharging industrial wastes to the public sewers, shall file with the Superintendent an industrial waste characterization which shall furnish pertinent or predicted data inclusive of flow rate and an analysis of the industrial waste to be discharged into the sewerage system. Thereafter, such waste characterizations based on 24-hour survey samples shall be filled quarterly with the Superintendent.
(9) (a) The owner of any property served by a building sewer carrying industrial wastes shall install a suitable control manhole in the building sewer to facilitate observation, sampling and measurement of the wastes. Such manhole shall be accessibly and safely located, and shall be constructed in accordance with plans approved by the Superintendent. The manhole shall be installed by the owner at his expense and shall be maintained by him so as to be safe and accessible at all times.
(b) When in the opinion of the Superintendent, based upon his review of the wastewater questionnaire or upon requirements of a state or federal regulation, an automatic sampling device is needed for taking continuous samples of the discharge water, such a device shall be furnished and installed at the owner's expense in the control manhole or other location suitable to the Superintendent. Samples from such device shall be tested for pollutants as determined by the Superintendent in accordance with division (C)(10) below at the owner's expense by either an independent laboratory or the City of Simpsonville at the city's treatment facility.
(10) All measurements, tests, and analysis of the characteristics of waters and wastes to which reference is made in this chapter shall be determined in accordance with the latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, published by the American Public Health Association and shall be determined at the control manhole provided, or upon suitable samples taken at said control manhole. In the event that no special manhole has been required, the control manhole shall be considered to be the nearest downstream manhole in the public sewer to the point at which the building sewer in connected. Sampling shall be carried out by customarily accepted methods to reflect the effect of constituents upon the sewage works and to determine the existence of hazards to life, limb and property. (The particular analysis involved will determine whether a 24-hour composite of all outfalls of a premise is appropriate or whether a grab sample or samples should be taken. Normally, but not always, BOD and suspended solids analysis are obtained from 24-hour composites of all outfalls whereas pH's are determined from periodic grab samples.)
(11) No statement contained in this section shall be construed as preventing any special agreement or arrangement between the City of Simpsonville and any industrial concern whereby an industrial waste of unusual strength or character may be accepted by the City of Simpsonville for treatment, subject to the payment therefore by the industrial concern.
(D) Abutting owners must connect to sewer lines. Sewer connection is mandatory for all structures and uses generating waste water unless sewer connection is not available. Sewer services are deemed to be available if the structure or use generating waste water is within the city.
(E) Sewer connections required for new buildings. Except as provided elsewhere in this chapter, all architects, contractors, builders, or other persons, before commencing the erection of any building or other improvement capable of emitting liquid wastes or sewage, on any lot or parcel of land shall before erecting or installing such building or improvement, exhibit to the governing body of the city, or to such official as the governing body may designate, satisfactory evidence that a means has been provided or will be provided for connecting the sanitary sewage drain pipes from such building or other improvement with such sewer collection line. No storm water or other surface or sub-surface water shall be otherwise introduced into the sewer system.
(Ord. 2009-006, passed 6-17-2009)