(A) (1) No person(s) shall make any alterations to the public sewer or any appurtenances thereof without first obtaining a written permit from the city. No private building drain shall extend beyond the limits of the building or property for which the permit has been given.
(2) Any new connection to the sanitary sewer system shall be prohibited unless sufficient capacity is available in all downstream facilities including, but not limited to, capacity for flow, BOD5 and TSS as determined by the authorized representative.
(B) All costs and expenses incident to the installation and connection of the building sewer shall be borne by the owner. The owners or the person installing the building sewer for the owner shall indemnify the city from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation.
(C) (1) A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for each building. Old building sewers may be used to service new buildings only when they are found to meet all requirements of this chapter.
(2) 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, wastewater shall be lifted by an approved means and discharged to the building sewer.
(D) The construction and connection of the building sewer to the public sewer shall conform to the
requirements of the state’s Building and Plumbing Code, applicable rules and regulations of the city and the materials and procedural specifications set for the in the American Society of Testing Materials (ASTM) and the Water Environment Federation (WEF) Manual of Practice No. 9. All such connections shall be made gas- and water-tight and verified by proper testing to prevent I/I.
(E) The connection of the building sewer into the public sewer shall be made at the “Y” branch designated for that property, if the branch is available at a suitable location. Any connection not made at the designated “Y” branch in the main sewer shall be made with a saddle connection as directed by the Superintendent.
(F) The part of any structure below the elevation 681.00 mean sea level shall not be connected to a public sewer if the Superintendent determines it is possible for extraneous water to enter the structure below the elevation.
(G) No unpolluted water sources shall be connected to the sanitary sewer.
(H) The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the Utilities Commission when the building sewer is ready for connection to the public sewer. The connection shall be made under the supervision of a designated representative.
(I) An appropriate construction license is required to install a service connection. Any person desiring a license shall apply in writing to the Superintendent of Utilities, providing satisfactory evidence of the applicant’s qualifications. If approved by the Superintendent of Utilities, the license shall be issued by a designated representative upon the filing of a bond, as hereinafter provided.
(J) A license for sewer service connection installation shall not be issued until a $2,000 bond to the
community is filed and approved by the Utilities Commission. The licensee will indemnify the city from all suits, accidents and damage that may arise by reason of any opening in any street, alley or public ground, made by the licensee or by those in the licensee’s employment.
(K) The cost of a license for making service connections is $150. All licenses shall expire on December 31 of the license year unless the license is suspended or revoked by the Utilities Commission for any reasonable cause.
(L) The Utilities Commission may suspend or revoke any license issued under this section for any of the following causes:
(1) Giving false information in connection with the application for a license;
(2) Incompetence of the license;
(3) Willful violation of any provisions of this section or any rule or regulation pertaining to the making of service connections; and/or
(4) Failure to adequately protect and indemnify the city and the user.
(M) It shall be the responsibility of the service line contractor to investigate the location of all existing public utility lines including telephone conduits, gas, water and sewer mains, and power conduits which may be placed at the site of his or her operations. He or she shall serve written notice on all owners of the utilities three days before work is begun at those locations. In case any of the aforementioned public utilities are broken or damaged in any way by the contractor’s operations, the utility shall be notified immediately and the damage repaired without delay at no charge to the city.
(N) All excavations required for the installation of a building sewer shall be open trench work unless otherwise approved by the Superintendent. All excavations for building sewer installation shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights as to protect the public from hazard.
(O) The trench shall be opened along the lines laid out by the Superintendent. The width of the trench shall be such as to permit proper placing and joining of the pipe. Construction operations shall be conducted in a manner consistent with all applicable state and federal safety regulations.
(P) The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the Superintendent 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.
(Q) All trenches shall be backfilled as soon as practicable by the contractor, without risk of injury to the pipe and structures. Selected material free from rocks or lumps shall be placed by hand methods and tamped carefully around and over the pipe to a depth of one foot above the top of the pipe. The remainder of the backfill under the streets and alleys shall be placed in six-inch layers. Each layer of backfill shall be compacted to a density not less than 95% of maximum density as determined by the methods prescribed in the current edition of the state’s Department of Transportation’s Grading and Base Manual, which is hereby adopted by reference and made a part of this section as if fully set forth herein.
(R) At the time of compaction, the moisture content of the backfill material shall be suitable for obtaining the specified density.
(Prior Code, § 505.09) (Ord. passed 11-3-2004; Ord. passed 5-15-2007; Ord. passed 9-4-2012; Ord. passed 1-7-2014; Ord. passed 8-5-2014; Ord. passed 3-3-2015) Penalty, see § 53.99