[Adopted 10-14-1963 by Ord. No. 281]
A. 
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meanings of the terms used in this article shall be as follows:
BOD (biochemical oxygen demand)
The quantity of dissolved oxygen required for biochemical oxidation of decomposable organic matter under aerobic conditions in a period of five days at a temperature of 20° C. expressed in parts per million by weight. Such BOD shall be determined as described under the heading "Biochemical Oxygen Demand" in the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water, Sewage and Industrial Wastes (latest edition) as published jointly by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association and the Federation of Sewage and Industrial Wastes Association.
BOROUGH
The Borough of Palmerton, Carbon County, Pennsylvania.
BOROUGH ENGINEER
The engineer employed by the Borough or an authorized member of his staff.
BUSINESS UNIT
A structure or structures or portion thereof having one sewer connection or a sewer connection shared with one or more dwelling units intended for use by public, social, religious, educational, charitable, commercial or industrial entities.
CHLORINE DEMAND
The quantity of chlorine absorbed in water, sewage or other liquids, allowing a residual of 0.1 part per million after 15 minutes of contact.
DWELLING UNIT
A structure or structures or portion thereof intended for household use by a single family.
GARBAGE
Solid wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food and from the handling, storage and sale of produce.
INDUSTRIAL WASTE
Any solid, liquid or gaseous substance or waterborne wastes or form of energy ejected or escaping from any industrial, manufacturing, trade or business process or from the development, recovery or processing of natural resources, as distinct from sanitary sewage.
NATURAL OUTLET
Any watercourse, ditch, pond, lake or other body of surface water or groundwater.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group.
pH
The logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions expressed in grams per liter of solution.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE
Garbage which has 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 in any dimension.
SANITARY SEWAGE
The normal water-carried household and toilet wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions and commercial and industrial establishments.
SANITARY SEWER
A sewer which carries sanitary sewage and/or industrial wastes and to which stormwater, surface water and groundwater may or may not be admitted with the approval of the Borough.
SEWER
A pipe or conduit for carrying sanitary sewage and/or stormwater, surface drainage and industrial discharges.
SEWER SYSTEM
All facilities owned by or leased to the Borough for the collection and disposal of sanitary sewage and industrial waste.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS
The dry weight of the solids physically suspended in a flow of sewage, industrial waste or water as determined by the method of determining suspended matter described under the heading "Suspended Matter" in the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water, Sewage and Industrial Wastes (latest edition) as published jointly by the American Public Health Association, the American Water Works Association and the Federation of Sewage and Industrial Wastes Association and expressed in parts per million by weight.
WATER UTILITY
Palmerton Water Company or any other public water supply agency providing water service to premises connected with the sewer system.
B. 
"Shall" is mandatory; "may" is permissive.
[Amended 9-27-1972 by Ord. No. 334]
There is hereby imposed upon the owner of each property connected to the sewer system sewer rentals or charges, payable as hereinafter provided, for the use, whether direct or indirect, of the sewer system, during the periods set forth in § 105-3 hereof, based on the schedule of rentals or charges set forth in said § 105-3.
[Last amended 12-12-1985 by Ord. No. 445[1]]
The following rentals or charges shall be imposed:
A. 
Metered Rate Schedule.
[Last amended 12-14-2011 by Ord. No. 691]
Quantity Per Quarter
(cubic feet)
Charges Per Quarter
Up to 5,000
$147 (minimum)
Over 5,000
$147 plus $29.40 per 1,000 cubic feet over first 5,000
B. 
Unmetered Rate Schedule: $147 per quarter.
[Last amended 12-14-2011 by Ord. No. 691]
C. 
New construction or division of existing construction.
[Added 2-14-1990 by Ord. No. 488]
(1) 
New construction or division of existing construction, as of the date of this subsection, of multiple units of five units or more which are not owner-occupied and which are connected to the municipal sewer system via a common lateral shall be assessed a sewer rate charge as follows:
(a) 
A minimum of 25% of the rate that would be charged should all units be occupied or one charge for each occupied unit, whichever is more.
(b) 
At such time that the units reach 75% of full occupancy, the full charge will be assessed as if all units were occupied.
(2) 
It is the responsibility of the owner to inform the Borough of any changes in occupancy within five days of such changes.
(3) 
Notwithstanding anything set forth herein, one year from initial assessment, the Borough shall assess and collect the full sewer charge.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance was approved 12-13-1985.
[Amended 10-17-1990 by Ord. No. 496;[1] 12-18-1991 by Ord. No. 506]
Each dwelling unit or business unit shall be charged a separate quarterly rental or charge for the use of the sewer system, except that where a business unit and a dwelling unit are located in the same structure and the owner or operator of the business unit resides in the dwelling unit, no separate rental or charge shall be made for the business unit.
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance was approved 10-18-1990.
A. 
Where a water meter of a water utility serves only one billing unit, the volume of water consumed, as registered on such meter, shall be used in computing the sewer rental.
B. 
Where a water meter of a water utility serves more than one billing unit, the sewer rentals or charges for each billing unit shall be computed by dividing the total volume of water consumed, as registered on such meter, by the number of billing units served by such meter and applying the above schedule of rentals or charges to the quantity so determined for each unit.
C. 
Where a billing unit has an unmetered source of water supply discharging into the sewer system, the Borough may require that the owner of such billing unit provide a meter on such source of supply.
D. 
Any billing unit using water in such manner that it is not discharged into the sewer system may, at its own expense and utilizing plans approved by the Borough Engineer, install measuring devices and have its sewer rentals computed by one of the following methods:
(1) 
Method No. 1: by placing a meter or measuring device on the sewer connection. The readings from this meter or measuring device shall be used in computing the sewer rental.
(2) 
Method No. 2: by placing a meter or measuring device on the effluent not discharging into the sewer system. The readings from this meter or measuring device will then be deducted from the total water meter readings, and the remainder will be used in computing the sewer rental.
E. 
When, in the opinion of the Borough, it is not practical to install meters or measuring devices to determine the sewer rental under either Subsection C or D of this section, the Borough may determine, in such manner and by such method as it may prescribe, the total amount of sanitary sewage discharged into the sewer system, and the quantity so determined to be discharged shall be used to determine the sewer rental. Any dispute as to the estimated quantity shall be submitted to the Borough Council after notice of the estimate to the property owner. The decision of the Borough Council on the matter shall be final for the current year.
F. 
Measuring devices. All meters or other measuring devices not provided by a water utility but required to be used under the provisions of this article shall be furnished and installed by the billing unit and shall be under the control of the Borough Council and may be tested, inspected or repaired by the Borough employees whenever the Borough Council deems it necessary. The owner of the property upon which such measuring device is installed shall be responsible for its maintenance, annual calibration, and safekeeping, and all repairs thereto shall be made at the property owner's expense, whether such repairs are made necessary by ordinary wear and tear or other causes. Bills for such repairs, if made by the Borough, shall be due and payable at the same time and collected in the same manner as are the bills for sewer services. Such bills from and after their due date shall constitute a lien upon the property upon which such measuring device is installed.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
G. 
Meter reading. The Borough shall have the right to read all meters or measuring devices, and they shall be available to Borough employees for meter reading at any reasonable time.
A. 
Sewer rentals or charges shall be paid quarterly, and quarterly billings for sewer rentals and charges shall be made for the quarters ending the last day of December, March, June, and September of each year, beginning with the period ending December 31, 2001; except that if the sewer rentals and charges are computed upon the same meter reading data utilized by the water utility for its quarterly charges, the quarterly period covered by the sewer bill shall be identical to the quarterly period covered by the quarterly charges of the water utility.
[Amended 10-17-1990 by Ord. No. 496;[1] 12-18-1991 by Ord. No. 506; 12-18-1996 by Ord. No. 556; 12-17-1997 by Ord. No. 564; 12-12-2002 by Ord. No. 606]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance was approved 10-18-1990.
B. 
Whenever service to any billing unit shall begin after the first day or shall terminate before the last day of any quarterly billing period, sewer rentals or charges for such period shall be prorated equitably, if appropriate, for that portion of the quarterly billing period during which such billing unit was served by the sewer system.
C. 
All payments must be received in the Borough office before close of Borough business on the due date as indicated on the bill.
[Amended 9-28-2006 by Ord. No. 643]
D. 
All persons responsible for billing units must give the Borough their correct address. Failure to receive bills will not be considered an excuse for nonpayment or permit an extension of the period during which bills are payable at face.
A. 
Rentals and charges for service shall be subject to a penalty of 10% if not paid within 30 days after the date of the bill. The Borough shall have the right to cut off sewer service from the property where payment has not been made and not to restore the same until all unpaid bills against the property and costs of cutting off and restoring service shall have been paid.
[Amended 12-21-1987 by Ord. No. 464; 10-17-1990 by Ord. No. 496;[1] 1-26-2006 by Ord. No. 636]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance was approved 10-18-1990.
B. 
All sewer rentals, together with all penalties thereon, not paid on or before the end of 60 days from the date of each bill shall be deemed to be delinquent. All delinquent sewer rentals and all penalties thereon shall be a lien on the property served and may be entered as a lien against such property in the office of the Prothonotary of Carbon County and shall be collected in the manner provided by law for the filing and collection of such liens.
[Amended 12-14-1983 by Ord. No. 430[2]]
[2]
Editor's Note: This ordinance was approved 12-16-1983.
The funds received by or for the Borough from the collection of the connection charges and from sewer rentals and all penalties thereon as herein provided for and any fines collected by the Borough in connection with the sewer system shall be segregated and kept separate and apart from all other funds of the Borough and shall be used only for the purpose of defraying the expenses of the Borough in the operation, maintenance and repair, including renewals and replacements, of the sewer system and the payment of lease rentals and other costs and expenses in relation to such sewer system.
A. 
Except upon prior approval by the Borough, which may condition its approval upon the payment of special charges for use of the sewer system and/or preliminary treatment of the discharge, no person shall discharge into the sewer system any of the following discharges:
(1) 
A waste having BOD greater than 300 parts per million.
(2) 
A waste having a suspended solids content greater than 300 parts per million.
(3) 
A waste having a chlorine demand greater than five parts per million.
(4) 
Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than 150° F.
(5) 
Any water or waste which may contain more than 100 parts per million, by weight, of fat, oil or grease.
(6) 
Any gasoline, benzene, naphtha, fuel oil or other flammable or explosive liquid, solid or gas.
(7) 
Any garbage that has not been properly shredded.
(8) 
Any ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plastics, wood, paunch manure or any other solid or viscous substance capable of obstruction to the flow in sewers or other interference with the proper operation of the sewage works.
(9) 
Any waters or wastes having a pH lower than 6.0 or higher than 9.0 or having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structure, equipment, processes, bacterial action or personnel of the sewage works.
(10) 
Any waters or wastes containing a toxic or poisonous substance in sufficient quantity to injure or interfere with any sewage treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals or create any hazard in the receiving waters of the sewage treatment plant.
(11) 
Any waters or wastes containing total solids of such character and quantity that unusual attention or expense is required to handle such materials at the sewage treatment plant.
(12) 
Any noxious or malodorous gas or substance capable of creating a public nuisance.
B. 
Stormwater and all other unpolluted drainage shall be discharged into such sewers as are specifically designated as storm sewers, if available, or into such sanitary sewers as are designated and approved for such discharge by the Borough Engineer or into a natural outlet approved by the Borough Engineer.
A. 
Required survey data. Any person discharging or proposing to discharge industrial wastes directly or indirectly into the sewer system shall file with the Borough Engineer a report, on a form to be furnished by the Borough, which shall supply pertinent data, including estimated quantity of flow, to the Borough, with respect to such industrial wastes.
B. 
Control manholes. Any person who shall discharge industrial wastes into the sewer system, when required by the Borough, shall construct and thereafter shall properly maintain, at his own expense, a suitable control manhole to facilitate observation, measurement and sampling by the Borough. Any such control manhole, when required by the Borough, shall be constructed at an accessible, safe, suitable and satisfactory location in accordance with plans approved by the Borough prior to commencement of construction.
C. 
Sewage sampling. Industrial wastes being discharged into the sewer system shall be subject to periodic sampling, inspection and determination of character and concentration. Such sampling, inspection and determination shall be made by the Borough as frequently as may be deemed necessary. Representative samples for a full working day shall be obtained by taking twenty-four-hour composite samples and compositing them in accordance with the flow at the time of sampling. Sewage sampling facilities shall be accessible to the Borough at all times. Due care shall be exercised in the collection and preservation of all samples to ensure preservation thereof in as nearly the natural state as possible, including refrigeration of all samples which are intended for analysis by biochemical methods.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
D. 
Analysis. The Borough shall be responsible for analysis of samples of industrial wastes. Laboratory methods used in the analysis of samples of industrial wastes shall be those set forth in the latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Sewage as published by the American Public Health Association; provided, however, that alternate methods for the analysis of industrial wastes may be used, subject to mutual agreement between the Borough and the person discharging such industrial wastes into the sewer system.
E. 
Changes in type of wastes. Any person who is discharging or permitting to be discharged industrial wastes into the sewer system and who contemplates a change in the method of operation which will alter the type of industrial wastes at the time they are discharged into the sewer system shall notify the Borough Engineer, in writing, at least 10 days prior to consummation of such change.
The Borough Engineer and other duly authorized employees of the Borough bearing proper credentials and identification shall be permitted to enter upon all properties for the purpose of inspection, observation, measurement, sampling and testing, in accordance with the provisions of this article.
No person shall maliciously, willfully or negligently break, damage, destroy, uncover, deface or tamper with any structure, appurtenance or equipment which is part of the sewer system.
[Amended 2-19-1980 by Ord. No. 404]
A. 
Any person who shall violate any provision of this article other than § 105-12 shall be served by the Borough 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. Any person who shall continue any violation beyond such time limit shall be punishable as provided in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article II, § 1-17A, of the Code of the Borough of Palmerton.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
B. 
Any person violating § 105-12 of this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be punishable as provided in Chapter 1, General Provisions, Article II, § 1-17A, of the Code of the Borough of Palmerton.
[Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
C. 
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article, in addition to becoming liable for a fine and penalty, shall become liable to the Borough for any expense, loss or damage occasioned the Borough by reason of such violation.
The Borough reserves the right to and may, from time to time, adopt, revise, amend and readopt such rules and regulations as it deems necessary and proper for the use and operation of the sewer system, and all such rules and regulations shall be and become a part of this article.