[Adopted 11-11-2002 by Ord. No. 2002-11]
[1]
Editor's Note: The Beishline Development Area Sewer District was merged with the Central (Original) Sewer District 3-2-2015 by Ord. No. 2015-1. See Art. XV of this chapter for an enumeration of the impacts of said merger on this article.
Unless the context specifically and clearly indicates otherwise, the meaning of the terms used in this article shall be as follows:
BOROUGH
The Borough of Riverside, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania.
BOROUGH ENGINEER
Any licensed professional engineer retained or employed by the Borough or any authorized member of the staff of such engineer.
BUILDING SEWER
That part of the main building or house drain or sewer line inside the walls of the building and extending through the walls and connecting to the service line.
CELLAR DRAIN
A protected and trapped drain for the purpose of carrying off spent waters from the basement of a dwelling, factory, laboratory, workshop or other building, but excluding any drainage resulting from rainwater, springs, wells or other groundwater or surface water.
CESSPOOL
Any on-lot sewage disposal system, excluding a septic tank.
COMMERCIAL AND INSTITUTIONAL ESTABLISHMENT
Any structure or store, office or other structural units thereof intended to be used wholly or in part for the purposes of carrying on a trade, business or profession or for social, amusement, educational, charitable or public use.
CONNECTION
The jointure, or the process of making the jointure, of the service line with the lateral sewer.
CONNECTION FEE
The cost of constructing the lateral.
CUSTOMER FACILITIES FEE
Fee based upon cost of construction of the service line from the building to the property line.
EQUIVALENT DWELLING UNIT(S)
Any room, group of rooms, house trailer or other enclosure occupied or intended for occupancy as separate living quarters by a family or other group of persons living together or by persons living alone. Also, any other dwelling or establishment as listed in the Schedule of Classifications Outline in the Resolution Approving Rules and Regulations and Imposing Sewer Rental Charges.[1]
IMPROVED PROPERTY
Any property within or about this Borough upon which there is erected any structure intended for continuous or periodic habitation, occupancy or use by human beings or animals and from which structure sanitary sewage and/or industrial wastes shall be or may be discharged.
INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENT
Any property situate in the Borough used wholly or in part for the manufacture, processing, cleaning, laundering, or assembling of any product, commodity or article, or any other property situate in this Borough from which wastes, in addition to or other than sanitary sewage, are discharged.
LATERAL SEWER
That part of the sewer system extending from the right-of-way line to the main.
NATURAL OUTLET
Any outlet into a watercourse, ditch, pond, lake or other body of surface water or groundwater.
OWNER
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole or partial, of any property situated in or about the Borough of Riverside.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, company, association, society, corporation or other group.
PLUMBING FIXTURE
Any receptacle intended to receive and discharge any liquid, water or water-carried waste into a service line.
PRIVATE DWELLING
Any structure intended to be occupied as a whole by one family.
SANITARY FACILITIES
Toilets, sinks and other plumbing fixtures and related piping intended to receive and discharge sanitary sewage into a service line.
SANITARY SEWAGE
Any substance that contains any of the waste products or excrement or other discharge from the bodies of human beings or animals and any noxious or deleterious substances being harmful or inimical to public health or to animal or aquatic life, or to the use of water for domestic water supply or for recreation, or which constitutes pollution under the Act of June 22, 1937 (P. L. 1987, No. 394), known as the "Clean Streams Law,"[2] as amended, excluding, however, the effluent from cesspools, rain, stormwater and groundwater, as well as roof or surface water, drainage of percolating or seeping waters, or accumulation thereof, whether underground or in cellars or basements.
SANITARY SEWERS
The system of pipes and facilities operated or caused to be operated by the Borough and for the collection of sanitary sewage in and for the Borough of Riverside sewer service area.
SEPTIC TANK
A watertight receptacle which receives sewage and is designed and constructed to provide for sludge storage, sludge decomposition and to separate solids from the liquid through a period of detention before allowing the liquid to be discharged into a drain field.
SERVICE AREA
Defined in Act 537,[3] approved by the Department of Environmental Protection, for the Borough of Riverside sewerage collection and treatment system, a copy of which can be found in the Borough office.
SERVICE LINE
That part of the building main drain or sewer line extending from outside the outer building wall or foundation wall to its connection with the inlet end of the lateral.
SEWER
Any pipe of four inches in diameter or larger carrying sanitary sewage and located in public streets or the rights-of way of the Borough.
SEWER MANAGER
Any person who may, from time to time, be placed in general charge of the sewer system.
SEWER SYSTEM
All pipes, sewage ejector and/or pumping stations, sewer force mains, and all appurtenant facilities operated by the Borough in furnishing sewage service in a portion of the Borough of Riverside, but excluding service lines and interior plumbing.
SHALL
Is mandatory; "may" is permissive.
SOIL PIPE or WASTE PIPE
Any pipe receiving the discharge of one or more plumbing fixtures.
STORM SEWER or STORM DRAIN
A pipe or conduit which carries stormwater, surface water, drainage and certain industrial water discharges, such as cooling and air-conditioning waters.
STREET
A public way, including any highway, street, road, lane, court, public square, alley or other passageway.
VENT PIPE
Any pipe extended vertically from a sewer soil pipe or waste pipe to provide ventilation for the system of piping and to prevent siphoning and back pressure.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Schedule of Classifications Outline is on file in the Borough offices.
[2]
Editor's Note: See 35 P.S. § 691.1 et seq.
[3]
Editor's Note: See 35 P.S. § 750.1.
A. 
Connection required.
(1) 
The owner of any improved property situate in the Borough of Riverside and abutting on, adjoining or adjacent to any street, easement or right-of-way in which there shall have been constructed said sewer system, where said property is accessible thereto and any part of the principal building constructed on such improved property is within 150 feet of such sewer system, shall, at the owner's own expense, install suitable sanitary facilities therein and connect such facilities directly with such sewer system in accordance with the provisions of this article within 60 days after date of official notice from this Borough to do so, which notice shall have been given by personal service or certified mail.
(2) 
In the event any owner of any improved property shall refuse or neglect to connect such property with such sewer system within the sixty-day period, the Borough, or the agents of the Borough, may, at its option, enter upon such property and construct such connection. In such case, the proper officials of this Borough shall forthwith, upon completion of the work, send an itemized bill of the cost of construction of such connection to the owner, which bill shall be payable forthwith. In case of neglect or refusal by the owner of such property to pay the bill within six months after completion of construction of the connection, it shall be the duty of the officials of this Borough to cause a municipal lien for the construction to be filed, the same to be subject in all respects to the general law provided for the filing and recovery of municipal liens.
B. 
All sanitary sewage from any improved property, after connection of such improved property with the sewer system as required under Subsection A, shall be discharged into the sewer system, subject to such limitations and restrictions as shall be established herein or otherwise shall be established from time to time by this Borough.
C. 
It shall be unlawful to discharge or permit the discharge of sanitary or industrial waste or other polluted water into any natural outlet within this Borough, unless such discharge is pursuant to a permit issued by, or with the approval of, the Department of Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
D. 
It shall be unlawful to construct or maintain any privy, privy vault, cesspool, septic tank, sinkhole or similar receptacle or any absorption area intended for the disposal of sanitary sewage within this Borough where such sewage emanates from any improved property which the owner thereof is required to connect to the sewer system, except in the Beishline Development where sewerage is discharged into a four-inch- or six-inch-diameter main sewer. In that instance, existing septic tanks shall be retained, and effluent from these tanks shall be conveyed to the main sewer after treatment in the septic tanks.
E. 
No privy, privy vault, cesspool, septic tank, sinkhole or similar receptacle or any absorption area shall be connected with the sewer system at any time, except in the Beishline Development where sewerage is discharged into a four-inch- or six-inch-diameter main sewer. In that instance, existing septic tanks shall be retained, and effluent from these tanks shall be conveyed to the main sewer after treatment in the septic tanks.
F. 
Except for septic tanks retained pursuant to Subsection E above, each such privy, privy vault, cesspool, septic tank, sinkhole or similar receptacle or absorption area shall be abandoned upon the making of such connection to the sewer system, and the same shall be pumped and filled with suitable earth or stone under the direction and supervision of the Borough.
G. 
Any such privy, privy vault, cesspool, septic tank, sinkhole or similar receptacle or absorption area not so abandoned, cleansed and filled shall constitute a nuisance, and such nuisance shall be abated as provided by law at the expense of the owner of such improved property; however, this provision shall not apply to retained septic tanks pursuant to Subsection E above.
H. 
There is hereby reserved to the Borough the right to refuse to any person the privilege of connecting any improved property to the sewer system or to compel discontinuance of the use of the sewer system by any person or to prohibit the discharge of industrial wastes in order to prevent discharge into the sewer system of wastes which may be deemed by the Borough or the Borough Engineer to be harmful to the sewer system or to have a deleterious effect on sewage treatment processes or to be injurious to personnel operating the sewer system.
I. 
During the initial sewer system construction period, the Borough shall furnish a simplex pumping station for pickup and installation by the property owner if the following conditions are satisfied:
(1) 
The first floor cannot be served by gravity flow, even if plumbing is reversed inside the dwelling and if the basement is unfinished.
(2) 
Existing basement is already served by gravity flow through either the front or rear of the property, and gravity flow to the main sewer is not possible.
J. 
Except as provided above, any property that can receive gravity flow service to the main sewer but desires basement service, and all properties requiring connection after the initial sewer system construction period, shall furnish and install a simplex pumping station pursuant to Borough construction standards, a copy of which is available at the Borough Office.
A. 
No person shall uncover, connect with, make any opening into or use, alter or disturb in any manner any sewer or the sewer system without first making application for and obtaining a permit, in writing, from the Borough, or its authorized agent.
B. 
Application to the Borough for a permit required under this article shall be made by the owner of the improved property to be served, in such form as may be prescribed by the Borough. The application shall be accompanied by any applicable connection fee and the tapping fee required by the Borough.
C. 
No person other than the Borough, or its agents, shall make or cause to be made the connection of any improved property with the sewer system until such person shall have fulfilled each of the following conditions:
(1) 
Such person shall have notified the Borough or its authorized agent of the desire and intention to connect to the sewer system;
(2) 
Such person shall apply for and obtain a permit as required by this article;
(3) 
Such person shall have given the Borough or its authorized agent reasonable notice of at least 24 hours' notice of the time when such service line is to be connected, and such connection made so that the Borough, or its agents, may inspect the service line before covering the area in which the service, lateral and all connections were constructed.
D. 
All costs and expenses of construction of a service line and lateral and all costs and expenses in connection of such service line to the sewer system shall be borne by the owner of the improved property to be connected, and such owner shall indemnify and save harmless the Borough and its agents from all loss or damage that may be occasioned, directly or indirectly, as a result of the construction of a service line or the connection of a service line to the sewer system.
E. 
Whenever the surface of any public street, private property, sidewalk or cartway is disturbed by the construction of a service line and/or lateral, it shall be the responsibility of the applicant for a connection to obtain street opening permits from this Borough or highway occupancy permits from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation. Unless otherwise required, all surfacing materials must be restored in like kind, thickness and construction to the satisfaction of the Borough or the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation.
F. 
After the initial sewer system construction is completed, it shall also be the responsibility for any property owner to furnish and install a lateral and connect to the main sewer, if there is no lateral service to the property.
A. 
Service lines, laterals and connections to the sewer system shall be constructed in accordance with the Standard Specifications and Requirements for Installation of Service Lines and Laterals found at Exhibit A.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Exhibit A is on file in the Borough offices.
B. 
No service line, lateral or connection to the sewer system shall be covered until the same has been inspected and approved by the Borough. If any part of the service line, lateral or connection to the sewer system is covered before being so inspected and approved, such service line, lateral or such connection shall be uncovered for inspection, at the request of the Borough, at the cost and expense of the owner of the improved property to be served through the aforesaid facilities.
C. 
Every service line or connection to the sewer system shall be maintained in a sanitary and safe operating condition by the owner of the improved property served. Whenever the Borough has reason to believe any service line or connection to the sewer system has become defective, such service line or connection shall be subject to test and inspection at the expense of the owner. Defects found upon such inspection shall be corrected as required by the Borough, at the cost and expense of such owner.
D. 
In the event that the owner is unavailable, or refuses or neglects to cooperate with the Borough with respect to suspected defects as described herein, the Borough may, at its option, enter upon such property and make the necessary repairs to such service line or connection. In such case, the proper officials of this Borough shall forthwith, upon completion of the work, send an itemized bill of the cost of the necessary repairs to the owner, which bill shall be payable forthwith. In case of neglect or refusal by the owner of such property to pay the bill within six months after completion of the necessary repairs to the service line or connection, it shall be the duty of the officials of this Borough to cause a municipal lien, or other legal remedy, for the repairs to be filed, the same to be subject in all respects to the general law provided for the filing and recovery of municipal liens.
Any individual, builder or developer desiring or required by law to construct or install sewers, lateral sewers, service lines, and appurtenances to serve a house or any housing unit within a real estate development prior to their use or sale shall make proper written application to the Borough for a special permit, pursuant to rules and regulations of the Borough applicable thereto. This action shall be taken concurrently with the applicant filing an application for subdivision approval and land development approval, pursuant to Chapter 250, Subdivision and Land Development, of the Code of the Borough of Riverside. All costs shall be paid by said individual, builder, or developer.
No person shall maliciously, willfully or negligently damage, destroy, deface, block or otherwise tamper with any sewer or any other facility, structure or equipment which is part of the sewer system or discharge any substance into the sewer system contrary to or in violation of any present or future resolutions or rules and regulations of the Borough which, among others, prohibit discharge of wastes into the sewer system.
The Borough Engineer, and/or other duly authorized representatives or employees of the Borough bearing proper credentials and identification, shall be permitted, at all reasonable times, to enter upon any premises connected or about to be connected or required to be connected to the sewer system for the purpose of inspections, observation, measurement, sampling and testing in accordance with the provisions of this article.
A. 
Any person who shall violate any provision of this article, other than § 225-81, or any rules or regulations of the Borough adopted hereunder, shall be served with a written notice stating the nature of the violation and requiring the satisfactory correction thereof within 30 days from the date of the notice. The offender, within the period of time stated in such notice, shall permanently cease all violations.
B. 
Except as set forth in Subsection C of this section, any person who shall continue any such violation beyond such time limit, or otherwise violate this article or any rules or regulations adopted hereunder, shall be punishable by a maximum fine of $1,000, plus costs of prosecution, and, in default of payment of such fine and costs, imprisonment for a term not exceeding 30 days. Each day a violation shall continue shall be deemed and shall be taken to be a separate offense and shall be punishable as such.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code (see Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I).
C. 
Any person who shall violate any provision of § 225-81 shall be subject to a civil penalty summary conviction and be subject to a fine not to exceed $1,000 for each violation, together with costs in each case.
D. 
Penalties and costs imposed under the provisions of this article shall be enforceable and recoverable in the manner and the time provided by applicable law, and any such penalties received shall be used solely for the operation, maintenance and/or replacement of said sewer system.
E. 
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article or any rules or regulations adopted hereunder, in addition to becoming liable for penalties and costs, shall also be liable to the Borough for any professional fees, expenses, costs, losses or damages occasioned the Borough by reason of such violation or by reason of enforcing the provisions of this article.
It is hereby declared that the enactment of this article is necessary for the protection, benefit and preservation of the health, safety and welfare of the inhabitants of the Borough.
The Borough Council is authorized by proper resolution to adopt any necessary rules and regulations necessary to carry out the provisions of this article and/or its declaration of purposes.
The remedies contained herein are cumulative and in addition to all others, civil or criminal, available to the Borough of Riverside.