[Adopted 12-10-2002 Ord. No. 2002-21[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed
former Art. IV, Service Charges; Sewer Uses adopted 6-11-1997 by Ord.
No. 97-10.
This article sets forth the following uniform
requirements for users of the sewer system:
A.
All buildings within the Borough must be connected
to the sewer system.
B.
Fees for the acceptance, treatment and disposal of
domestic waste sanitary sewage.
C.
Fees for the acceptance, treatment and disposal of
industrial wastes and industrial wastes mixed with sanitary sewage.
D.
Provisions for the collection of the authorized fees
and charges.
A.
BILLING PERIOD
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD)
BOROUGH
BUILDING SEWER
COMMERCIAL or INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENT
COMPOSITE SAMPLE
COOLING WATER
DISCHARGE
DOMESTIC WASTE
DWELLING UNIT
EPA
INDUSTRIAL USER
INDUSTRIAL WASTE
MANHOLE
Mg/l
OWNER
PERSON
pH
SANITARY SEWAGE
SANITARY SEWER
SEWAGE COLLECTION SYSTEM
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT
SEWER
SEWER SERVICE
SEWER SERVICE CHARGE
SEWER SYSTEM
STANDARD METHODS
STATE
SUSPENDED SOLIDS
UNIT
USER
WASTEWATER
The following words, terms and phrases will hereinafter
have the meanings set forth in this section, unless the context clearly
requires a different meaning:
The interval of time between two successive bills; under
normal conditions it will be approximately 30 days.
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation
of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure, five days at
20° C. (68° F.) expressed in terms of weight and concentration
[milligrams per liter (mg/L)].
The Mayor and Town Council of the Borough of Chambersburg,
commonly known as "The Borough of Chambersburg," and/or its duly authorized
representatives acting on its behalf.
A sanitary sewer conveying wastewater from the premises of
a user to the sewer system.
A separate building, group of buildings, or room or group
of rooms on a parcel of land held in separate ownership wherein a
commercial or industrial activity is carried on by any person. It
shall not necessarily include an office room, or suite of rooms in
a building, accommodating a number of separate offices, except that
to the extent that such offices are set apart from each other and
provided with separate toilet facilities for employees, each shall
constitute a separate establishment. The determination of the Borough
as to what constitutes a separate establishment shall be final.
A sample composed of individual subsamples taken at regular
intervals over a specified period of time. Subsamples may be proportioned
by time interval or size according to flow (flow-proportioned composite
sample) or be of equal size and taken at equal time intervals (equal-time
composite sample).
The water from any use such as air conditioning, cooling
or refrigeration, which does not come into contact with any product,
by-product or waste and to which the only pollutant added is heat.
The conveyance of any water or wastewater into the sewer
system.
Normal household wastes from kitchen, water closets, lavatories
and laundries, or any waste from a similar source and possessing the
same characteristics.
A separate dwelling, apartment, room or group of rooms used
for separate dwelling purposes and equipped for the preparation of
food. In all cases the determination of the Borough as to what constitutes
a separate dwelling unit shall be final.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency, or, where
appropriate, the term may also be used as a designation for the Administrator
or other duly authorized official of said agency.
Any person who discharges industrial waste into the sewer
system.
Any solid, liquid or gaseous substance, or form of energy,
which is produced as a result, whether directly or indirectly, of
any industrial, manufacturing, trade or business process or activity,
or in the course of developing, recovering or processing of natural
resources and which is discharged into the sewer system; but not cooling
water of sanitary sewage. Any wastewater which contains industrial
waste and which is discharged from an industrial, manufacturing, trade
or business premise is considered industrial waste for the purposes
of this article.
A structure allowing access from the surface of the ground
to a sewer.
Milligrams per liter; a measure of concentration of waterborne
substances.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any improved property.
Any individual, partnership, copartnership, firm, company,
corporation, association, joint-stock company, trust, estate, governmental
entity or any other legal entity, or their legal representatives,
agents or assigns. The masculine gender shall include the feminine,
the singular shall include the plural where indicated by the context.
The logarithm (base 10) of the reciprocal of the concentration
of hydrogen ions expressed in moles per liter of solution.
The normal water-carried domestic wastes from any improved
property, but excluding effluent from septic tanks or cesspools; rain,
snow or stormwater; groundwater; or other collected water from roofs,
drains or basements.
A sewer carrying only sanitary sewage or industrial wastes,
and to which storm-, surface or ground waters are not intentionally
admitted.
All facilities of the Borough or any municipality party to
a service agreement with the Borough, as of any particular time, used
or usable for collecting, transporting, pumping and disposing of Wastewater,
which facilities are connected to and served by the sewage treatment
plant.
That portion of the sewer system owned and operated by the
Borough which is designed to provide treatment of wastewater and discharge
of treated effluent to the environment.
A pipe or conduit for conveying wastewater or stormwater.
The use of the sewer system to collect, transport and treat
the discharge from any improved property.
The sewage collection system, sewage treatment plant and
any sewers that convey wastewater to the sewage treatment plant. For
the purposes of this article, "sewer system" shall also include any
sewers that convey wastewater to the sewage treatment plant from persons
who are, by contract or agreement with the Borough, users of the sewer
system.
The latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination
of Water and Wastewater, published by the Water Environmental Federation,
the American Public Health Association and the American Waterworks
Association.
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
The total suspended matter that floats on the surface of,
or is suspended in, water, Wastewater or other liquids, and which
is removable by laboratory filtering.
Shall mean 10 cubic feet of water.
Any person, as defined above, owning any property served
with sewer from the sewer system of the Borough. The user may designate
that any person occupying his property receive the bills for sewer
service to that property.
Industrial wastes or domestic wastes from dwellings, commercial
buildings, industrial facilities and institutions, together with any
groundwater, surface water and stormwater that may be present, whether
treated or untreated, which enters the sewer system.
B.
Shall is mandatory; may is permissive.
A.
The owner of any property in the Borough of Chambersburg
benefited, improved or accommodated by a sanitary sewer shall connect
such property with such sewer in such manner as may now or hereafter
be proved by law, ordinance or regulations, and within such time as
the Borough may order, for the purpose of discharge of such drainage
or waste matter into such sanitary sewer as the Borough may now or
hereafter specify. The repair and/or replacement of the building sewer
from the sewer main in the street to the building shall be the responsibility
of the owner of the property.
B.
In addition to the penalties hereinafter provided,
if the owner of any such property, after 45 days' notice from the
Borough to make connection of such property with a Borough sanitary
sewer, shall fail to make such connection, the Borough may make such
connection and collect the cost thereof from such owner by a municipal
claim or an action of assumpsit, as is provided by law.
C.
The Borough Manager or the Superintendent of the Sewer
Department of the Borough of Chambersburg are hereby authorized to
carry out the provisions of this article and to issue notices in behalf
of the Borough.
D.
Any person who shall violate any provision of this
article shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine
of not more than $300 and costs of prosecution, and, in default of
payment of such fine and costs, to imprisonment for not more than
30 days, provided each day's continuance of violation, after notice
thereof by or on behalf of the Borough Council of the Borough of Chambersburg,
shall constitute a separate offense.
E.
Where such sewer service is temporarily not available,
the Sewer Department, in conjunction with the Plumbing Inspector and
the Borough's appointed sewage enforcement officers, shall enforce
regulations consistent with the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Program
for on-site sewage disposal systems.
A sewer service charge determined as hereinafter
provided is hereby levied against the owner of each property connected
to and served by the sewer system of the Borough for the acceptance,
treatment and disposal of sanitary sewage and/or industrial wastes.
For the acceptance, treatment and disposal of
sanitary sewage only, the sewer service charges to properties within
the Borough boundaries shall be determined as follows:
A.
B.
Minimum charge. The minimum charge per month shall
be as set forth below based upon the nominal size of the water meter
serving the property. Where more than one separate dwelling unit or
commercial or industrial establishment is served by a single meter,
a separate minimum charge at the rate established for a five-eighths-inch
meter shall be charged for each such dwelling unit or establishment,
but the minimum charge for the property shall not be less than that
determined by the size of the water meter serving the property.
[Amended 12-9-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-13; 6-8-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-12; 8-23-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-16; 1-24-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-01; 11-5-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-11]
|
Size of Meter
(inches)
|
Minimum Charge
Per Month
|
Volume of Wastewater Accepted per Minimum
Charge
(units)
| |
|---|---|---|---|
|
5/8
|
$17.40
|
50
| |
|
3/4
|
$17.40
|
50
| |
|
1
|
$34.80
|
100
| |
|
1 1/2
|
$69.60
|
200
| |
|
2
|
$104.40
|
300
| |
|
3
|
$139.20
|
400
| |
|
4 or larger
|
$208.80
|
600
|
C.
Determination of volume. For the purpose of determining
the volume of sanitary sewage only, discharged into the sewer system
from any property, the volume of water furnished to the property from
the Borough's water system, as measured by the water meter at the
property, shall be deemed to be the measure of the sanitary sewage
discharged therefrom, unless a flow meter shall have been installed
in the building sewer, or unless the property owner can establish
to the satisfaction of the Borough that a substantial measured proportion
of the water served to the property is not discharged into the sewer
system. No claim for adjustment shall be considered on account of
unmeasured water used for sprinkling with an approved measuring device.
D.
If a flow meter is installed in the building sewer,
the volume of flow indicated thereby shall be deemed to be the measure
of the volume of wastewater discharged. If a substantial portion of
the water measured by the water meter is not discharged into the sewer
system, the Borough Manager or the Superintendent of the Sewer Department
of the Borough of Chambersburg is hereby authorized to establish an
equitable basis for the determination of the sewer service charges.
In general, any person wishing any such determination may be required
to install a separate water meter or meters or a wastewater meter,
at his own expense, to serve as a basis for making such a determination.
In no case shall the sewer service charge for any property connected
to the sewer system be less than the minimum charge herein set forth
unless extraordinary circumstances exist, which can be demonstrated
to the satisfaction of the Borough, which prevent the full flow capacity
of the waterline, as represented by the size of the water meter, from
being discharged into the sewer under any circumstances.
E.
The 531 class of service provides for the acceptance,
treatment and disposal of sanitary sewage only to properties that
flow through the Greene Township Municipal Authority sewer lines into
the Borough of Chambersburg sewer system.
[Added 5-23-2005 by Ord. No. 2005-6]
For the acceptance, treatment and disposal of
industrial wastes, or mixtures of sanitary sewage and industrial wastes,
the service charges shall be determined as follows:
A.
Volume charge:
(1)
Per unit (10 cubic feet):
[Amended 12-9-2003 by Ord. No. 2003-13; 8-23-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-16; 1-24-2011 by Ord. No. 2011-01; 11-5-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-11]
B.
Waste strength adjustment:
(1)
To recognize the character of industrial wastes, the volume charge established in Subsection A of this section shall be multiplied by an adjustment factor determined as follows:
 |
(2)
In the event that any term of the above formula results
in a negative number, such term shall be disregarded. The values of
BOD (biochemical oxygen demand) and suspended solids shall be expressed
in milligrams per liter (parts per million); both values to be determined
by the Borough in accordance with the methods prescribed or recommended
in the latest edition of Standard Methods.
C.
Minimum charge: The minimum charge per month for any single commercial or industrial establishment shall not be less than that established in § 242-18B hereof.
D.
Determination of volume. For the purpose of determining the volume of industrial wastes or of a mixture of sanitary sewage and industrial wastes discharged by any user, the volume of water furnished to the user's property from the Borough's water system as measured by a water meter at the property shall be deemed to be the measure of the volume of wastewater discharged, unless a flow meter shall have been installed in the building sewer. The volume of wastewater so determined shall be subject to equitable adjustment as provided in § 242-18C hereof. If a wastewater flow is in use, the volume of flow indicated thereby shall be deemed to be the measure of the volume of wastewater discharged.
E.
Sampling wastes. For the determination of wastewater
strength, samples of the wastewater discharged into the sewer system
by the user shall be obtained by the Borough at the property of such
user in such manner as to obtain a representative specimen of the
wastewater so discharged, which samples may be composite samples or
otherwise in proportion to the variations in the rate of flow of the
wastewater. Samples may be obtained as frequently and for such periods
as the Borough may deem appropriate.
F.
Determination of strength. Wastewater samples shall
be analyzed by the Borough at its laboratory, or at any other Borough-approved
laboratory in accordance with the above-mentioned procedures in Standard
Methods, and the strength of the wastewater so determined shall be
used in establishing the wastewater strength adjustment applied to
each user's volume charge. Any user may, upon prior request, witness
the analysis conducted by the Borough or by the approved laboratory.
In the event of a difference of opinion between the Borough and the
user relative to the results of an analysis of a particular wastewater
sample, the determination by the Borough shall be final.
For the acceptance, treatment and disposal of
sanitary sewage only, the sewer service charges to dwellings outside
the Borough limits shall be equal to the Borough sewer service charges
for dwellings plus 25%. All connections to the sewer system from dwellings
outside the Borough limits shall in all other respects be subject
to the provisions of an ordinance entitled "an ordinance permitting
connections to be made to the sanitary sewerage system of the Borough
of Chambersburg from dwellings outside the Borough limits under certain
specific conditions and fixing charges for the user thereof," adopted
by the Town Council of Chambersburg on June 7, 1948, as amended.[1]
B.
Minimum charge. The minimum charge per month shall
be as set forth below based upon the nominal size of the water meter
serving the property. Where more than one separate dwelling unit or
commercial or industrial establishment is served by a single meter,
a separate minimum charge at the rate established for a five-eighths-inch
meter shall be charged for each such dwelling unit or establishment,
but the minimum charge for the property shall not be less than that
determined by the size of the water meter serving the property.
[Amended 8-23-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-16; 1-24-2011 by Ord. No.
2011-01; 11-5-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-11]
|
Size of Meter
(inches)
|
Minimum Charge
Per Month
|
Volume of Wastewater Accepted per Minimum
Charge
| |
|---|---|---|---|
|
5/8
|
$21.38
|
50 units
| |
|
3/4
|
$21.38
|
50 units
| |
|
1
|
$42.75
|
100 units
| |
|
1 1/2
|
$85.50
|
200 units
| |
|
2
|
$128.25
|
300 units
| |
|
3
|
$171
|
400 units
| |
|
4 or larger
|
$256.50
|
600 units
|
[Amended 2-26-2018 by Ord. No. 2018-04]
Terms and conditions of service, including, but not limited
to: establishing service, billing for service, interest and penalties,
payment requirements, and termination of service shall be in accordance
with the Utility Service Manual, as may be revised from time to time
by the Mayor and Town Council, and shall be available for public inspection
at the Utility Offices at Borough Hall, the Utilities Service Center
at 80 South Franklin Street, and online at www.chambersburgpa.gov.
[Amended 2-26-2018 by Ord. No. 2018-04]
A.
Where, as a result of equipment malfunction, estimated billing, billing
error, or other circumstances, sewer service is rendered, but not
billed, the unbilled sewer service may be retroactively charged to
the customer, provided that the services at issue were rendered within
the last three years. The charges for service shall be determined
in accordance with the Utility Service Manual adopted by Town Council
from time to time.
B.
Town Council shall have the right to establish, from time to time,
by resolution, rules, regulations, provisions, terms or standards
under which sewer service shall be rendered, which shall be supplemental
to the standards set forth in the Utility Service Manual.
The Borough agrees to make the ICR System approved
by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) a part
of this article and will enforce the ICR System as mandated by EPA.
A.
The use of garbage or food waste grinders discharging
into the sanitary sewer system of the Borough may be permitted in
the kitchens of dwelling units and food preparation areas of commercial
or industrial establishments upon the registration of each such device
with the Borough. All such grinders shall be installed in full compliance
with the terms of the Borough Plumbing Code and the Borough ordinance
regulating electrical work.[1] Any plumber or electrician installing any such grinder
shall first secure the permit required by the said code or ordinance
in each case.
B.
Charges for commercial or industrial establishments
with food waste grinders. Commercial or industrial establishments
with food waste grinders installed in the food preparation areas will
be charged two times their regular monthly sewer bill for the use
of the food waste grinder, except for the industrial establishments
that are paying a waste strength adjustment on their monthly sewer
bill.
No person shall, at any time, discharge any
sanitary sewage or industrial waste into any storm sewer of the Borough
of Chambersburg; nor shall any person construct or utilize existing
private stormwater sewers for such purposes.
No person shall discharge any rainwater, roof
water, surface water, stormwater or groundwater from springs or underground
seepage into the sanitary sewer system of the Borough of Chambersburg.
This prohibition shall apply to the discharge of cellar drainers or
other pumps used to remove surface water or seepage water from cellars
or other low-lying areas. This section shall not be construed to prohibit
the use of a sump pump or sewage ejector for discharging laundry water,
sanitary sewage or other similar wastes from low-lying areas, but
the sumps or other containers from which such pumps or ejectors are
supplied must be construed so that no rainwater or groundwater is
admitted thereto.
The Borough will review the sewer service charges
as to their adequacy to fund operation, maintenance and replacement
costs and make any adjustments that may be necessary not less frequently
than every two years.
The penalty added after the due date will be
2.5%.
[Amended 8-23-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-16; 1-24-2011 by Ord. No.
2011-01; 11-5-2012 by Ord. No. 2012-11]
The rates established by this article shall
become effective immediately, dependent upon implementation by staff,
but no later than the first full billing following January 1, 2013.
