[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Commissioners
of the Township of Swatara as indicated in article histories. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 4-14-1976 by Ord. No. 1976-28 (Ch. 10, Part 4, of
the 1990 Code)]
[Amended 12-11-1985 by Ord. No. 1985-6]
It shall be the duty of the Health Officer of
the Township of Swatara to enforce the provisions of this article.
Said duty shall be in addition to the duties of the Health Officer
that are prescribed by other ordinances, or by laws of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, or by rules and regulations of the various agencies
and departments of the commonwealth.
A.
ORGANIC WASTE
PERSON
SEWAGE RECEPTACLE
VECTOR
WATERS OF THE COMMONWEALTH
When used in this article, the following terms shall
have the meanings assigned to them in this section, unless the context
clearly indicates a different meaning:
Garbage, offal, pomace, dead animals, or any waste substance
subject to the process of putrefaction.
Any natural person, partnership, association, firm or corporation.
Any privy, urinal, cesspool, septic tank or other receptacle
for human excrement.
Any insect or rodent capable of carrying disease.
All streams and springs and all bodies of surface and of
ground water, whether natural or artificial, within the boundaries
of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
B.
In this article, the singular shall include the plural,
and the plural shall include the singular, and the masculine shall
include the feminine and the neuter.
No sewage receptacle shall be constructed, maintained
or used which directly or indirectly drains or discharges over or
upon the surface of the ground or into any waters of the commonwealth.
Nor shall any such receptacle be constructed, maintained or used so
that vectors may have access to the excrementitious matter contained
therein.
All sewage receptacles shall be emptied or cleansed
at sufficiently frequent intervals to prevent the contents from overflowing.
The transportation of human excrement shall
be accomplished in watertight containers with tight-fitting lids.
Such containers shall be thoroughly cleansed after each use.
No human excrement or material containing human
excrement shall be placed on the surface of the ground, buried, or
otherwise disposed of where it is likely to gain access to any waters
of the commonwealth. Its use as fertilizer shall be permitted, however,
if it is not allowed to become a health hazard or nuisance and is
not used to fertilize crops eaten without cooking. The contents of
sewage receptacles shall not be used on any ground on which vegetables
which are eaten uncooked by humans are being grown.
No kitchen or laundry water shall be allowed
to discharge or flow into any gutter, street, roadway or public place.
No organic waste shall be thrown or deposited
in any ravine, ditch or gutter, on any street or highway, into any
waters of the commonwealth, or be permitted to remain exposed upon
the surface of the ground. The transportation of organic waste shall
be effected in watertight vehicles or containers, properly covered
to avoid spillage, and shall be cleansed at sufficient intervals to
prevent obnoxious odors.
Manure shall not be allowed to accumulate in
any place where it may contaminate any source of drinking water or
where it may contribute to the breeding of vectors.
The carcass of any dead animal not killed for
food shall be removed and disposed of by burial or incineration or
some other sanitary method within 24 hours after death. If the carcass
is buried it shall be placed so that every part shall be covered by
at least two feet of earth and at a location not less than 1,000 feet
from any waters of the commonwealth, and not subject to overflow by
such waters. In all cases of death from communicable disease the carcass
shall be thoroughly enveloped in unslaked lime.
No person shall maintain, or permit to be maintained,
any pond, privy vault, cesspool, well, cistern, rain barrel or other
receptacle containing water unless such receptacle is constructed
or maintained in a manner to prevent the breeding of mosquitoes.
A.
No person maintaining a slaughterhouse, rendering
works, depository of dead animals, glue works, tannery, wool-washing
establishment, paper mill, by-product coke oven, dye works, oil refinery,
dairy, creamery, cheese factory, milk station or similar establishment;
or engaged in the manufacture of gas chemicals, explosives, fertilizers
or similar products; or in the business of soapmaking, fish oil extraction,
bone boiling or any similar occupation, shall allow any of the following:
(1)
Any noxious gases which are deleterious or detrimental
to public health to escape into the air.
B.
All slaughterhouses, rendering works, bone boiling
establishments, depositories for dead animals, garbage disposal works,
piggeries, and similar establishments handling organic matters shall
have an adequate water supply for the purpose of keeping the place
clean and sanitary. All floors shall be constructed of concrete or
other impervious material, and shall have adequate provision for drainage
to a cesspool, to a sewer, or to a treatment works approved by the
Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
C.
No blood pit, dung pit, offal pit or privy well shall
remain or be constructed within any slaughterhouse.
D.
No pigsty or piggery shall be built or maintained
on marshy ground or on land subject to overflow, nor where it may
prejudicially affect any water supply, nor where, as a source of vector
breeding, it may become a menace to the public health, particularly
in the following circumstances:
(1)
If garbage is fed to pigs, provisions shall be made
so that all unconsumed garbage shall be removed daily and disposed
of by burial or incineration.
(2)
All garbage shall be handled and fed upon platforms
of concrete or other impervious material.
(3)
Unslaked lime, hypochlorite of lime, borax or mineral
oil shall be used daily in sufficient quantities to prevent the breeding
of vectors.
No owner or occupant of any premises shall maintain
any well, spring, cistern or other source of water supply used for
drinking or household purposes to which the public has or may have
access and which is polluted or which is so situated or constructed
that it may become polluted in any manner which may render such water
supply injurious to health.
[Amended 4-11-1990 by Ord. No. 1990-1]
Any person who shall violate any provision of
this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a
fine of not less than $30 nor more than $600 and costs of prosecution,
or, in default of payment of such fine and costs, to imprisonment
for not more than 30 days. Every day that a violation of this article
continues shall constitute a separate offense.
[Amended 12-11-1985 by Ord. No. 1985-6]
The Health Officer of the Township of Swatara
may require the abatement and removal of any condition in the Township
when, in the opinion of the Health Officer, such condition is prejudicial
to the public health. Notwithstanding any provision of this article,
the Township may require the removal of any nuisance on public or
private grounds; in default of which the Township may cause the same
to be done and collect the costs thereof, together with a penalty
of 10%, in the manner provided by law for the collection of municipal
claims, or by any other appropriate means.
[Adopted 1-11-1989 by Ord. No. 1989-2 (Ch. 6, Part 8, of
the 1990 Code)]
The voiding of human urine or excrement on any
street, avenue, alley, sidewalk, thoroughfare, public property, or
private property of the Township, except in the appropriate toilet,
lavatory, urinal, or other receptacle or implement designed for the
voiding of human urine or excrement, is prohibited.
Any person violating the provisions of this
article shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a fine
of not more than $600 and, upon failure to pay said fine, imprisonment
for a period not to exceed 30 days.
