Town of Tonawanda, NY Article VII Building and Plumbing Standards for Sewers

§ 54-14 Standards.

A. Workmanship to conform to good practice. Workmanship in the fabrication, preparation and installation of materials shall conform to generally accepted good practice.

B. Bracing of excavations; fencing around work site.

(1) Until provisions for permanent support have been made, the owner of the premises, and the permit applicant, if the applicant is not the owner of the premises, shall, where necessary, cause an excavation to be sheetpiled and braced to prevent the adjoining earth from caving in.

(2) Until such time as the work authorized by the permit is completed, the owner, and the permit applicant if the applicant is not the owner, shall cause the premises to be made safe and secure by erecting and maintaining a fence of a height of five feet, which fence must entirely surround the construction site when there are no construction personnel on the site. Such owner and applicant shall also cause the work site to be kept free from the accumulation of any debris, water or deleterious substances or materials.

C. Sanitary building sewers.

(1) A sanitary building sewer is required. The sanitary building sewer for every building other than a building complex must be separately and independently connected with the street sewer, and the sanitary building sewer must be wholly upon the same premises to the street line.

(2) A house or building trap is required. There must be a house or building trap located outside of the house or building of the same size as the sewer line placed in all sanitary building sewers. The trap must have a fresh-air inlet to ventilate the system, and such inlet must be brought to finish grade level with an approved vent cap located not less than 10 feet from any window, door or ventilated shaft.

(3) Sanitary building sewer: Y- or saddle connection. In all street sewer installations where a Y-connection has been installed as part of the street sewer, it shall be used for the building sewer connection. Where a Y-connection is not usable due to location or has not been installed in the street sewer, a saddle connection shall be installed by the Sewer and Water Department. All sanitary sewer connections shall be approved by the Superintendent of the Sewer and Water Department. The owner or contractor shall pay all necessary fees for the Y-connection or saddle connection.

(4) Building drain below street sewer level. In all buildings in which the whole or any part of the building drain is below the crown level of the street sewer, sewage shall be lifted by an approved ejector and discharged into the street sewer by an approved means. In all such cases, there shall be an approved system to prevent trapping of gases within the building and an approved means of preventing reverse flow of sewage into such buildings.

D. Building storm sewers.

(1) Stormwater drainage. All roofs, paved areas, yards, courts and courtyards shall be drained into a storm sewer system. The building storm sewer shall be so constructed that no stormwater shall run over sidewalks and driveways, into streets or onto other properties.

(2) Where there is no street stormwater sewer accessible and there is a curb along the street line with drain tile underneath same, said drainage system must be terminated just in back of said curb with a four-inch tee, and a four-inch riser pipe of approved material brought up to grade and capped with an overflow vent cap.

(3) Where there is no street stormwater sewer or curb with drain tile underneath same, said conductor pipes may be terminated with an elbow to a splash block, designed and graded so as to distribute the water away from the foundation wall and so that the water remains on the premises where the building is located.

(4) When the above systems set forth in Subsection D(2) or (3) above are not used, the stormwater shall be conveyed through a proper size sewer to the street gutter.

(5) All gutters, conductor pipes and drainage systems shall be kept free of obstruction and in good repair at all times.

(6) The Code Enforcement Officer will determine where the discharge of gutters, conductors and sump pumps is to be terminated in conformance with Subsection D(1) above.

(7) Garage intercepting traps. When required by the Code Enforcement Officer, his deputy or assistants, in the case of garage and filling stations, a separate sewer shall be connected, separately from other drainage connections, through an appropriate garage intercepting trap located outside of the building and shall discharge into a building sanitary sewer. Such trap shall intercept all oils, gasoline, flammable fluids, silt and other soils and thereby exclude such materials from the street sanitary sewer. Garage intercepting traps must be maintained in good condition and all oils, gasoline, flammable fluids, silt and other soils removed so that no fire hazard will be created.

(8) Catch basins; trench drains. Catch basins or trench drains shall be used in paved areas, parking lots, yards, courts or courtyards to properly drain these areas to the building storm sewer or street stormwater sewers. These areas shall be pitched to the drains so that water will not overflow beyond property lines.

(a) Sizing catch basin or trench drain outlet pipe. The size of the outlet pipe shall be determined by the area drained by the catch basin table or trench drain, in accordance with the following table:

		Slope of Outlet Pipe and Area Drained (square feet)
	Diameter of Outlet Pipe (inches)	1/8 Inch per Foot	1/4 Inch per Foot
	4	3,384	4,770
	5	6,012	8,496
	6	9,630	13,590

(b) Designs of catch basins. Catch basins shall be constructed of precast concrete, formed and poured concrete, steel or cast iron or solid masonry units of full mortared joints. All catch basins shall have a suitable bottom so as to prevent leakage.

[1] Catch basins shall be a minimum of three feet deep and shall have no horizontal dimension less than 18 inches.

[2] A cleanout brought to grade shall be installed in the outlet pipe from the catch basin as close to basin as practicable.

[3] Cover(s) for the catch basin(s), when in vehicle traffic areas, shall be extra-heavy cast-iron bar type. In other areas they may be standard weight cast-iron bar type.

(9) Subsoil drain. Where subsoil drains are installed, they shall discharge into the stormwater system. Where there is no stormwater system available, the discharge shall be handled in the manner described in § 54-14D(1) and (2). When subsoil drains are installed below the level of the stormwater system, they shall run into a sump pit and shall be lifted to the stormwater system by means of an electric sump pump with a built-in check valve or check valve in the discharge line. A suitable means shall be provided for removing the sump pump for repairs.

E. Water service pipes shall be constructed and installed accordance with Chapter 212, Water, of the Code of the Town of Tonawanda, New York.