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Town of Salina, NY
Onondaga County
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Table of Contents
Table of Contents
Code
New Laws (17) Index Notes (1)
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Salina at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I). Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Solid waste — See Ch. 200.
Subdivision of land — See Ch. 210.
This chapter shall be known as the "Sewer Use Ordinance of the Town of Salina, New York."
A. 
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meanings of the words, terms and phrases used in this chapter shall be as follows:
ASTM
American Society for Testing and Materials.
BOD (denoting "biochemical oxygen demand")
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20º C., expressed in milligrams per liter.
BUILDING DRAIN
That part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning three feet (0.92 meters) outside the inner face of the building wall.
BUILDING SEWER
The extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal and shall be the responsibility of the building owner.
COMBINED SEWER
A sewer intended to receive both surface runoff and sewage.
ENGINEER
The professional engineer retained as engineer for the Town of Salina.
GARBAGE
Solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking and dispensing of food and from the handling, storage and sale of produce.
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
The liquid wastes from industrial manufacturing processes, as distinct from sanitary sewage.
INSPECTOR
The town's Code Enforcement Officer or his authorized deputy, agent or representative.
NATURAL OUTLET
Any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface water or groundwater.
OWNER
Any individual, firm, company, association, corporation, society, person or group having title to real property.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, company, association, corporation or group.
pH
The logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.
PLUMBING CONTROL
The Onondaga County Health Department's Plumbing Control Section Inspector or his authorized deputy, agent or representative.
PRIVATE SEWAGE DISPOSAL SYSTEM
A privately owned system for the treatment and ultimate disposal of wastewater, such as a septic tank, holding tank or other system.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE
The wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that have been shredded to such a degree that all particles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than 1/2 inch (1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.
PUBLIC SEWER
A sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights and which is controlled by public authority.
SANITARY SEWER
A sewer which carries sewage from residences, commercial buildings and industries and to which stormwater , surface water and groundwater are not intentionally admitted.
SEWAGE
A combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions and industrial establishments, together with such groundwater , surface water and stormwater as may be present.
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT
Any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.
SEWER
A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
SEWERAGE WORKS
All facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage, with the exception of private sewage disposal systems.
SLUG
Any discharge of water, sewage or industrial waste which, in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow, exceeds for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes more than five times the average twenty-four-hour concentration or flows during normal operation.
STORM SEWER or STORM DRAIN
A pipe or conduit which carries stormwater and surface water and drainage, but excludes sewage and industrial wastes.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS
Solids that either float on the surface of or are in suspension in water, sewage or other liquids and which are removed by laboratory filtering.
TOWN
The Town of Salina, New York.
UNPOLLUTED WATER OR WASTE
Any water or waste containing none of the following: free or emulsified grease or oil; acid or alkali; phenols or other substances imparting taste or odor in receiving waters; toxic or poisonous substances in suspension, colloidal state or solution; and noxious or odorous gases. It shall contain not more than 10,000 milligrams per liter of dissolved solids, of which not more than 2,500 milligrams per liter shall be as chloride, with permissible volumes subject to review by the inspector, and not more than 10 milligrams per liter each of suspended solids and BOD. The color shall not exceed 50 milligrams per liter.
WATERCOURSE
Any natural or man-made channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.
B. 
"Shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissive.
It shall be unlawful for any person to place, deposit or permit to be deposited in any unsanitary manner on public or private property within the town or in any area under the jurisdiction of the town any human or animal excrement, garbage or other objectionable waste. This section shall not include the land application of animal excrement in the normal course of garden operations or farming.
It shall be unlawful to discharge to any natural outlet within the town or in any area under the jurisdiction of the town any sewage or other polluted wastes, except where suitable treatment has been provided in accordance with subsequent provisions of this chapter.
Except as hereinafter provided, it shall be unlawful to construct or maintain any privy, privy vault, septic tank, cesspool or other facility intended or used for the disposal of sewage in the town.
The owner of all houses, buildings or properties used for human occupancy, employment, recreation or other purposes, situated within a sewer district of the town and abutting on any street, alley or right-of-way in which there is located a public sanitary sewer system of the town, is hereby required, at his or her expense, to install suitable toilet facilities therein and to connect such facilities directly with the proper public sewer, in accordance with the provisions of this chapter, within one year after the date of official notice to do so, provided that said public sewer is within 150 feet (45.7 meters) of the structure to be served, unless otherwise granted an exemption by resolution of the Town Board. New houses or buildings falling within the conditions listed in this section shall be required to connect such facilities directly with the proper public sewer in accordance with the provisions of this chapter prior to occupancy.
Where a public sanitary sewer is not available under the provisions of § 190-6, the building shall be connected to a private sewage disposal system complying with the requirements of the Onondaga County Department of Health, Onondaga County Department of Drainage and Sanitation and/or those of the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
At such time as a public sewer becomes available to a property served by a private sewage disposal system, as provided in § 190-6, a direct connection shall be made to the public sewer in compliance with this chapter, and any septic tanks, cesspools and similar sewage disposal facilities shall be abandoned and filled with suitable backfill material.
No statement contained in §§ 190-7 through 190-9 shall be construed to interfere with any additional requirements that may be imposed by the authorized representatives of the Onondaga County Department of Health, Onondaga County Department of Drainage and Sanitation and/or the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.
No unauthorized person shall uncover, make any connections with or opening into, use, alter or disturb any public sewer or appurtenance thereof without first obtaining a written permit from Plumbing Control.
All costs and expenses incident to the installation and connection of the building sewer to the public sewer system shall be borne by the owner. The owner shall indemnify the town from any loss or damage that may, directly or indirectly, be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer.
A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building; except that, where one building stands at the rear of another on an interior lot and no private sewer is available or can be constructed to the rear building through an adjoining alley, court, yard or driveway, the building sewer from the front building may be extended to the rear building and the whole considered as one building sewer.
Existing building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found on examination and test by the inspector to meet all requirements of this chapter.
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 town, county and state, but in no event shall the diameter be less than four inches, nor shall the slope of the pipe be less than 1/4 inch per foot.
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, sanitary sewage carried by such building drain shall be lifted by an approved mechanical means at the owner's cost and discharged to the building sewer.
No person shall make a connection of roof downspouts, 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.
The connection of the building sewer into the public sewer shall conform to the requirements of the building and plumbing code or other applicable rules and regulations of the town and the County of Onondaga. All such connections shall be made gastight and watertight. Any deviation from prescribed procedures and materials must be approved by Plumbing Control before installation.
The applicant for a building sewer shall notify Plumbing Control and the Town Engineer when the building sewer is ready for inspection and connection to the public sewer. The connection shall be made under the supervision of both Plumbing Control and the Engineer.
All excavations for building sewer installation shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights so as to protect the public from hazard. Streets, sidewalks, parkways and other public property disturbed in the course of connecting a building sewer to the public sewer shall be restored in a manner satisfactory to the town. The town assumes no responsibility or liability for the construction of the same.
The connection from a gas station or car wash shall provide for a settlement pit so that sand and grit that may develop from the washing of motor vehicles or thawing of ice and snow will not be allowed to enter into the sewage disposal system. Discharge of said waters into the sanitary sewer will be made only upon approval of Plumbing Control.
A. 
Building sewers shall be of an approved material as listed in Article VI, § 6, of the Administrative Rules and Regulations Governing Plumbing Installations, County of Onondaga, as amended. Joints shall be tight and waterproof.
B. 
Building sewers can be laid in the same trench as a water service pipe only if the water service is laid on a firm shelf of undisturbed earth where the bottom of the water service is at least 18 inches above the top of the building sewer and there is at least an eighteen-inch horizontal separation between the water service pipe and the building sewer. In all other cases, a ten-foot separation between the water service pipe and building sewer trench is required.
All extensions to the sanitary sewer system owned and maintained by the town shall be properly designed in accordance with and in strict conformance with all requirements of the Onondaga County Department of Health and the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. Plans and specifications for sewer extensions shall be submitted to and approval obtained from the Engineer before construction may proceed. The design of sewers must anticipate and allow for flows from all possible future extensions or developments within the immediate drainage area. Nothing herein shall supersede the requirements of Chapter 210, Subdivision of Land, and/or Chapter 235, Zoning.
Sewer extensions, including individual building sewers from the public sewer to the property line, may be constructed by the town under public contract if, in the opinion of the Town Board, the number of properties to be served by such extension warrants its cost. Under this arrangement, the property owner shall pay for and install the building sewer from the property line to his residence or place of business in accordance with the requirements of §§ 190-10 through 190-21. Property owners may propose sewer extensions within the town in accordance with the Town Law, as it may be amended. The cost of such extensions may be assessed to the benefited property owners in any manner determined by the Town Board in accordance with the Town Law.
A. 
If the town does not elect to construct a sewer extension under public contract, the property owner, builder or developer (hereinafter called the "applicant") may construct the necessary sewer extension, upon application and approval by the engineer, in accordance with the requirements of § 190-22. All expenses related to the cost of design and construction shall be borne by the applicant. Each building sewer must be installed and inspected as previously required. Design of sewers shall be as specified in § 190-25. The installation of the sewer extension is subject to inspection and approval by the engineer.
B. 
The engineer's decisions shall be final in matters of quality and methods of construction. The sewer, as constructed, must pass the exfiltration test required in § 190-27 before it is to be used.
C. 
The cost of the sewer extension thus made shall be absorbed by the developers or the property owners, including all building sewers.
Sewer design shall be in accordance with the following provisions:
A. 
Pipe material shall be either polyvinyl chloride (PVC) conforming to ASTM D3034, Class SDR35, or conforming to ASTM F789; extra-strength vitrified clay conforming to ASTM Specification C-200; or reinforced concrete conforming to ASTM Specification C-76. No standard-strength clay pipe or nonreinforced concrete pipe shall be used. Minimum internal pipe diameter shall be eight inches.
B. 
Joints for each kind of pipe shall be designed and manufactured such that O-ring gaskets of the snap-in type are employed. Gaskets shall be continuous, solid natural or synthetic rubber and shall provide a positive compression seal in the assembled joint such that the requirements of § 190-26 are met. Joint preparation and assembly shall be in accordance with the manufacturer's recommendations. Wye-branch fittings shall be installed for connection to building sewers in accordance with § 190-12.
C. 
Trench widths.
(1) 
Trench widths as measured just above the crown of the pipe shall not exceed the following:
Pipe Diameter
(inches)
Trench Width
8
3 feet 3 inches
10
3 feet 6 inches
12
3 feet 9 inches
15
4 feet 0 inches
(2) 
If the trench widths are found during field inspection to exceed the limits in the above table, the sewer pipe shall be encased with a minimum of six inches of concrete. The pipe shall be firmly and evenly bedded on a minimum of six inches of No. 1A or No. 1 or No. 2 crushed stone (New York State Department of Transportation specifications). Pipe thickness and field strength shall be calculated on the following criteria:
(a) 
Safety factor: 1.5.
(b) 
Load factor: 1.5.
(c) 
Weight of soil: 120 pounds per cubic foot.
(d) 
Wheel loading: 16,000 pounds.
(3) 
Utilizing the above information, a design shall then be made as outlined in Chapter IX of the Water Pollution Control Federation Manual of Practice No. 9, Design and Construction of Sanitary and Storm Sewers, or any revision thereof.
D. 
Manholes shall be constructed at all changes in slope or alignment or at intervals not exceeding 400 linear feet. The manholes shall be constructed with a poured three-thousand-pound-per-square-inch concrete base six inches thick, steel-troweled concrete or mortar bench walls and inverts and precast four-foot diameter concrete manhole barrel sections with a concentric tapered top section, as specified by ASTM C-478. The manhole frame and cover shall be the standard design of the town and shall be set with no less than two courses of brick underneath to allow for later adjustment in elevation. All joints shall be sealed against infiltration. Manholes shall be constructed with manhole steps.
A. 
In addition to the requirements of § 190-22, the applicant shall receive written permission from the Onondaga County Department of Health and the Onondaga County Department of Drainage and Sanitation prior to uncovering or tying into an existing public sewer. The applicant shall be responsible for securing any rights-of-way over private property and shall provide evidence of such prior to starting construction. Should the construction require placement of the sewer within an existing town highway boundary, the applicant shall apply for and receive a permit from the Town Highway Superintendent.
B. 
All work shall be performed under the supervision of a licensed engineer, who shall submit certification to the town, upon completion, that the sewers were installed in accordance with the plans and specifications and that the sewers have passed the required exfiltration test.
A. 
All sewers shall satisfy requirements of a final exfiltration test before they will be approved and sewage flow accepted from them by the town. This test consists of filling the pipe with water to provide a head of at least five feet above the top of the pipe in the upstream manhole or five feet above groundwater, whichever is higher, at the highest point of the pipeline under test and then measuring the loss of water from the line by the amount which must be added to maintain the original level. In this test, the line must remain filled with water for at least 24 hours prior to the taking of measurements. Exfiltration shall be measured by the drop of the water level in a standpipe with a closed bottom end or in one of the sewer manholes available for convenient measuring.
B. 
When a standpipe and plug arrangement is used in the upper manhole of a line under test, there must be some positive method of releasing entrapped air in the sewer prior to taking measurements. The test-length intervals for either type of test shall be as ordered or approved, but in no event shall they exceed 1,000 feet. In the case of sewers laid on steep grades, the length of line to be tested by exfiltration at any one time shall be limited by the maximum allowable internal pressure on the pipe and joints at the lower end of the line. The test period wherein the measurements are taken shall not be less than two hours in either type of test.
C. 
The total leakage of any section shall not exceed the rate of 100 gallons per mile of pipe per 24 hours per inch of nominal pipe diameter. For purposes of determining the maximum allowable leakage, manholes shall be considered as sections of forty-eight-inch diameter pipe, five feet long. The equivalent leakage allowance shall be 4.5 gallons per manhole per 24 hours for forty-eight-inch diameter manholes. If leakage exceeds the specified amount, the necessary repairs or replacements required shall be made to permanently reduce the leakage to within the specified limit, and the tests shall be repeated until the leakage requirement is met. Low-pressure air tests may be used, upon the engineer's approval, in lieu of exfiltration tests.
In addition to the requirements as set forth in the Chapter 210, Subdivision of Land, for the acceptance of subdivision improvements, the following conditions shall also apply for the acceptance of sanitary sewers:
A. 
Upon completion of the work, the applicant shall prepare and submit to the engineer one reproducible copy of as-built drawings showing final rim and invert elevations, final station of all manholes, physical ties to manholes, location and length to the property line of all wyes and any other necessary information for the proper maintenance and operation of the system.
B. 
The applicant shall tender to the Town Attorney the originals of all deeds and easements, along with any necessary subordination or other agreements so as to convey an unencumbered interest in the proposed sewer right-of-way areas, if any, to the Town of Salina, properly signed and acknowledged in recordable form, and a signed real property transfer gains tax affidavit (Form TP-584 or acceptable substitute). The dedicator shall also provide, at the dedicator's expense, either a policy of title insurance naming the Town of Salina or an attorney's certificate of title, certified to the Town of Salina, covering the property interests conveyed, current to the date of recording of the deed and/or easement. The dedicator shall pay all recording fees. The prospective dedicator shall provide a maintenance bond for the value of the completed sewer construction in the amount fixed by resolution of the Town Board. This bond shall be conditioned for the faithful performance by the dedicator of any repairs needed to correct or replace any and all damage to said sewer for a period of one year from the date of acceptance.
No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any unpolluted waters, such as stormwater, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage or cooling water, to any sanitary sewer.
Stormwater and all other unpolluted drainage shall be discharged to such sewers as are specifically designated as storm sewers or to a natural outlet approved by the inspector and other regulatory agencies. The discharge of unpolluted industrial cooling water or process waters requires a New York State Department of Environmental Conservation State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit and is subject to federal and state regulations.
Prohibited uses and discharge limitations shall comply with those requirements as listed in the County of Onondaga Rules and Regulations Relating to the Use of Public Sewer System, as may be amended.
No person(s) shall maliciously, willfully or negligently break, damage, destroy, uncover, deface or tamper with any structure, appurtenance or equipment which is a part of the town sewerage works. Any person violating this section shall be subject to immediate arrest under charge of disorderly conduct.
A. 
The inspector and other duly authorized employees of the town, the Onondaga County Department of Health, the Onondaga County Department of Drainage and Sanitation or the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, bearing proper credentials and identification, shall be permitted to enter all properties for the purposes of inspection, observation, measurement, sampling and testing in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The inspector or his representatives shall have no authority to inquire into any processes, including metallurgical, chemical, oil, refining, ceramic, paper or other industries, beyond that point having a direct bearing on the kind and source of discharge to the sewers or waterways or facilities for waste treatment.
B. 
The inspector and other duly authorized employees of the town, bearing proper credentials and identification, shall be permitted to enter all private properties through which the town holds a duly negotiated easement for the purposes of, but not limited to, inspection, observation, measurement, sampling, repair and maintenance of any portion of the sewage works lying within said easement. All entry and subsequent work, if any, on said easement shall be done in full accordance with the terms of the duly negotiated easement pertaining to the private property involved.
Any person found to be violating any provisions of this chapter, except §§ 190-29 through 190-31, shall be served by the town with written notice stating the nature of the violation and providing a reasonable time limit for the satisfactory correction thereof. The offender shall, within the period of time stated in such notice, permanently cease all violations.
A violation of this chapter is an offense punishable as provided for in Chapter 1, Article II, General Penalty. Each continued violation shall constitute a separate, additional violation.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this chapter shall become liable to the town for any expense, loss or damage occasioned to the town by reason of such violation.
A. 
The source of the revenues for retiring debt services, capital expenditures, operation and maintenance of the public sewerage works shall be a sewer benefit charge assigned to the owners of benefited property located within each applicable sewer district established by the town according to a formula as set forth by resolution of the Town Board for each sewer district.
B. 
Sewer benefit charges shall be determined by the Town Board for each sewer district established by said town on a year-to-year basis. The Town Board reserves the right from time to time to change sewer benefit charges originally or previously assigned to any property owner.