[Adopted 3-15-2004 by Ord. No. 36-13]
The purpose of this Part 5 is to establish procedures
for the installation, use and maintenance of sewage grinder pumps
and any associated force mains or low pressure laterals. It is hereby
declared that the enactment of this Part 5 is necessary for the protection,
benefit and preservation of the health, safety and welfare of the
inhabitants of Whitpain Township.
Unless the context specifically and clearly
indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this Part 5 shall
be as follows:
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Any electric motor-driven, submersible, centrifugal pump
capable of macerating all material found in normal domestic sanitary
sewage, including reasonable amounts of objects such as plastics,
sanitary napkins, disposable diapers, rubber and the like, to a fine
slurry and pumping this material through a small diameter discharge.
Grinder pumps can be used as one component of an area-wide low pressure
sewer system or to deliver wastewater from a single building to a
gravity collector sewer system. In either case, the property owner's
system will include the low pressure lateral from the pump to the
Township's limit of responsibility for the publicly owned sewer system.
Any property within the Township upon which there is erected
a structure intended for continuous or periodic habitation, occupancy
or use by human beings or animals and from which structure sewage
shall or may be discharged.
An alternative to a conventional gravity collector sewer
system that relies on individual grinder pumps to deliver wastewater
from buildings to a system of pressurized small diameter pipes that
serve an area of the municipality. The system is typically used where
gravity sewers are not cost effective and/or not feasible due to topography,
excessive rock or other reason.
Whitpain Township and the Board of Supervisors of Whitpain
Township of Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any property located in the Township.
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 substance being harmful or inimical
to the public health or to animal or aquatic life or to the use of
water for domestic water supply or for recreation or any substance
which constitutes pollution under the Clean Stream Law (35 P.S. §§ 691.1
through 691.1001).
The connection of existing properties or proposed
land development to an existing or proposed sewerage system through
the use of sewage grinder pumps, their associated low pressure laterals
and/or force mains shall only occur after approval by the municipality
and compliance with the then-current Act 537 planning requirements
of the Department.
A.
All grinder pumps and low pressure sewer systems (and
the installation, operation, service and replacement thereof) shall
comply with the rules and regulations of the municipality in effect
from time to time.
B.
All grinder pumps and low pressure sewer systems shall
be connected to the sewage collection and conveyance system in full
compliance with the rules and regulations of the municipality in effect
from time to time.
C.
The municipality shall specify the type of pumps and
force main components to be used so that full service capability is
available locally and on short notice.
D.
Property owner shall be responsible for entering into
a service contract with a private contractor for twenty-four-hour
emergency repair or replacement service for grinder pump and low pressure
sewer system at property owner's sole expense. In the event that the
private contractor does not respond in a reasonable time period, the
municipality, or its designated representative, shall have the right
to make any necessary repairs at property owner's sole expense.
E.
Each property owner served by a grinder pump shall
have full responsibility for providing, maintaining, operating, repairing
and replacing his grinder pump and/or its low pressure force main
or lateral.
F.
Each property owner served by a grinder pump shall
have full responsibility for using the pump consistent with the manufacturer's
instructions and shall avoid introducing into the sewerage system
bulky paper or plastic materials that may damage the impellers on
the pump, including items designated as biodegradable in septic tanks.
G.
Each nonresidential property owner served by a grinder
pump shall either provide other means of wastewater disposal or close
the structure and cease operations during any period when the grinder
pump and low pressure system serving that structure is inoperable.
H.
The municipality shall have no responsibility for the purchase, operation, repair, maintenance or replacement of the grinder pump or its low pressure force main or lateral, except as required by Subsection D above regarding the provision of twenty-four hour emergency replacement service at the property owner's expense.
I.
Where the low pressure force main or lateral is shared
between property owners, they shall submit to the municipality a declaration
of easements, covenants and restrictions in recordable form setting
forth the agreement of each benefited property owner with respect
to the installation, use and maintenance of the low pressure sewer
system, which agreement shall bind all future property owners. Following
the approval of the low pressure system by all applicable agencies,
the municipality will not issue a permit for its installation until
evidence is presented that the agreement has been recorded in the
Office for the Recording of Deeds, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
From and after the enactment of this Part 5,
it shall be the responsibility of any property owner whose property
is served in whole or in part by a grinder pump who shall convey his,
her or its property to another to disclose to the new owner, prior
to the sale of the property, that the property is served by such grinder
pump equipment and that the said grinder pump is in good operating
condition.
Any owner or owners who shall fail to disclose
to a new purchaser of any property which is served in whole or in
part by a grinder pump of the existence of the grinder pump and low
pressure installation equipment and the condition thereof and who
shall also fail to certify to the Township that proper notification
of the grinder pump service to the property in violation of this Part
5 shall be subject to a penalty of up to $500 for each such violation.
All such rules and regulations adopted by the
Township shall be in conformity with the provisions herein, all other
ordinances of the Township and all applicable laws and applicable
rules and regulations of administrative agencies of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
