[Adopted 10-20-1959 as Ord. No. 72]
A. 
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of the terms used in this article shall be as follows:
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD)
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.
CONSULTING ENGINEER
The registered professional engineer employed by the Township for the design and supervision of construction of sewers and appurtenances and a new sewage treatment plant within the Township, or any member of his staff.
GARBAGE
Solid wastes from the preparation or 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 rejected or escaping from any industrial, manufacturing, trade or business process or from the development, recovery or processing of natural resources, as distinct from sanitary sewerage.
NATURAL OUTLET
Any outlet into a watercourse, ditch, pond, lake or other body of surface or ground water.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group.
PH
The logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of the solution.
PRIVATE WELL
Any well owned by any person for his private use in providing water for any purpose whatever.
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 one-half (1/2) inch in any dimension.
RECORDS
Includes books, documents, papers, apparatus, data, readings, records of analysis, plans and graphs.
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 storm-, surface and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.
SEWAGE
Any combination of water-carried waste from residences, buildings, industrial establishments, institutions, manufacturing plants, processing plants, commercial establishments or other places in which such wastes are produced, together with such ground-, surface, storm- or other water as may be present.
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT
Any devices and/or structures and facilities used for treating of sanitary sewage and industrial wastes.
SEWAGE WORKS
All facilities for collecting, pumping, transporting, treating and disposal of sanitary sewage and industrial wastes.
SEWER
A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
STORM SEWER OR STORM DRAIN
A sewer which carries storm- and surface water, drainage and some industrial water discharges, such as cooling and air-conditioning waters, but excludes sanitary sewage and polluted industrial wastes.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS
The dry weight of the solids physically suspended in a flow of sewage, industrial waste or water, expressed in parts per million by weight, 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 Water Works Association, the American Public Health Association and the Federation of Sewage and Industrial Wastes Association.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Upper Merion, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania.
TOWNSHIP ENGINEER
The Engineer employed by the Township of Upper Merion or an authorized member of his staff.
B. 
"Shall" is mandatory; and "may" is permissive.
A. 
It shall be unlawful for any person to place, deposit or permit to be deposited in any unsanitary manner upon public or private property within the Township or in any area under the jurisdiction of the Township human or animal excrement, garbage or other objectionable waste.
B. 
It shall be unlawful to discharge sanitary sewage into any natural outlet within the Township or to discharge industrial waste or other polluted water into said outlets unless the person so doing is operating with the approval of or under a permit issued by the Department of Health of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
C. 
It shall be unlawful to construct or maintain any privy, privy vault or cesspool, other than a septic tank, intended or used for the disposal of sewage within the limits of the Township. No septic tank shall be constructed or used in said Township except in accordance with the provisions of Ordinance No. 31, known as the "Septic Tank Ordinance," enacted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township on the sixth day of February 1956.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Art. I, Septic Tanks and Cesspools, of this chapter.
D. 
Each owner of any house, building or property used for human occupancy, employment, recreation or other purposes, situated in the Township and abutting on any street, alley or right-of-way in which there has been constructed a public sanitary sewer and where the principal building is within 150 feet of said sewer, shall at his own expense install suitable sanitary facilities therein and connect such facilities and industrial waste outlets directly with the proper public sanitary sewer in accordance with the provisions of this article within 60 days after the date of official notice to do so, given in the manner provided by law. In the event that any owner of property shall refuse or neglect to connect with such sewer system within said sixty-day period, the Board of Supervisors of the Township or its agents may enter upon such property and construct such connection. In such case, the Board of Supervisors shall forthwith, upon completion of the work, send an itemized bill of the cost of the construction of such connection to the owner of the property to which connection has been so made, which bill shall be payable forthwith. In case of neglect or refusal by the owner of such property to pay said bill, it shall be the duty of the Board of Supervisors to file municipal liens for said construction of said connection, the same to be subject in all respects to the general law provided for the filing and recovery of municipal liens. The above regulations shall not apply to the owner of any property who is operating under a permit from or with the approval of the Department of Health of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
E. 
Each owner of any premises as set forth in Subsection D above shall make application in writing to the Township for a permit to make the required connection to the public sanitary sewer. Such application shall set forth the name of the owner or owners, the location of the lot, including the street and number and a description thereof, together with a plan of said premises showing the proposed connection and the sanitary facilities. Each applicant shall execute a bond in favor of the Township and pay the requisite fee as hereinafter set forth. The bond shall be in the amount of $500 and shall be conditioned upon the following: "That the applicant shall well and faithfully observe and comply with all the rules and regulations of said Township of Upper Merion printed on the reverse side of this bond (an exact copy of which is hereby acknowledged as having been received with said permit), and also with all ordinances of said Township relating thereto, and will indemnify and save harmless the said Township of Upper Merion of and from all suits or actions of any name or description brought against the said Township of Upper Merion for or on account of any damages or injuries received or sustained by any party or parties in the construction of said connection or the maintenance thereof, or by or in consequence of any negligence in guarding the same, or by or on account of any act or omission of the said party or his agents or employees, and shall also well and faithfully comply with all the conditions of said permit in every particular, and shall pay or cause to be paid, when due and payable, each and every assessment that shall hereafter be made upon his real estate abutting the line of said Township sewer system for the construction of the same, then this obligation to be void and of no effect, otherwise to be and remain in full force and virtue." Upon the execution of the said bond, the applicant shall be entitled to a permit to make such connection, and the applicant, at his own expense, shall construct a connecting sewer line from the sewer main in the street to the curbline of the applicant's property.
[Amended 3-8-1971 by Ord. No. 71-271]
F. 
All connections made to any public sanitary sewer of the Township shall be constructed in compliance with standard rules and regulations heretofore adopted by the Township governing the making of connections, which rules and regulations shall be printed on the reverse side of each bond and each permit.
A. 
No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any stormwater, surface drainage, ground drainage, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, cooling water or unpolluted industrial process waters into any public sanitary sewer.
B. 
Stormwater and all other unpolluted drainage shall be discharged into such sewers as are specifically designated as storm sewers, if available, or to a natural outlet approved by the Township Engineer. Industrial cooling water or unpolluted process waters shall be discharged into a storm sewer approved by the Township Engineer or into a natural outlet if such storm sewer or outlet is not available.
C. 
No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the following-described waters or wastes into any public sanitary sewer:
(1) 
Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than 150° F.
(2) 
Any water or waste which may contain more than 100 parts per million, by weight, of fat, oil or grease.
(3) 
Any gasoline, benzene, naphtha, fuel oil or other flammable or explosive liquid, solid or gas.
(4) 
Any garbage that has not been properly shredded.
(5) 
Any ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feather, 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.
(6) 
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.
(7) 
Any waters or wastes containing suspended solids of such character and quantity that unusual attention or expense is required to handle such materials at the sewage treatment plant.
(8) 
Any noxious or malodorous gas or substance capable of creating a public nuisance.
D. 
Grease, oil and sand interceptors shall be provided for outlets connected with the public sanitary sewers when, in the opinion of the Township Engineer, they are necessary for the proper handling of liquid wastes containing grease in excessive amounts or any flammable wastes, sand or other harmful ingredients, except that such interceptors shall not be required for private living quarters or dwelling units. All interceptors shall be of a type and capacity approved by the Township Engineer and shall be located so as to be readily and easily accessible for cleaning and inspection. Grease and oil interceptors shall be constructed of impervious materials capable of withstanding abrupt and extreme changes in temperature. They shall be of substantial construction, watertight and equipped with easily removable covers which, when bolted in place, shall be gastight and watertight.
E. 
Where installed, all grease, oil and sand interceptors shall be maintained by the owner, at his expense, in continuously efficient operation at all times.
F. 
The admission into the public sewers of any polluted waters or industrial wastes containing any quantity of substances having the characteristics described in Subsection C of this section shall be subject to the review and approval of the Township Engineer. Where necessary, the owner of the property or premises producing such waste shall provide, at his expense, such preliminary treatment as may be necessary to reduce objectionable characteristics or constituents to within the maximum limits provided for in Subsection C above or to control the quantities or rates of discharge of such waters or wastes. Construction drawings, specifications and other pertinent information relating to the proposed preliminary treatment facilities shall be prepared by the owner at his expense and shall be submitted for the approval of the Township Engineer, and no construction of such facilities shall be commenced until said approvals are obtained in writing.
G. 
Where preliminary treatment facilities are provided for any waters or wastes, they shall be maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective operation by the owner at his expense.
H. 
In lieu of introducing untreated or partially treated industrial wastes and polluted waters into the public sanitary sewers of the Township, the owner of premises producing such wastes may construct and operate at his expense private waste treatment facilities, with the effluent discharged to a natural outlet, provided that such facilities are constructed and operated in compliance with the statutes of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
I. 
Where such private waste treatment facilities are provided, they shall be maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective operation by the owner at his expense.
J. 
When required by the Township Engineer, the owner of any property served by a building sewer carrying industrial wastes discharging into the public sanitary sewers shall install a suitable control manhole in the building sewer to facilitate observation, sampling and measurement of the wastes. Such manhole, when required, shall be accessible and safely located and shall be constructed in accordance with plans approved by the Township Engineer. The manhole shall be installed by the owner at his expense and shall be maintained by him so as to be safe and accessible at all times.
K. 
Information to be filed; calculation of charges.
(1) 
Every person and establishment, other than residences, discharging industrial and sanitary wastes into the public sewers of the Township or into any sewer connected therewith, shall forthwith file a report with the Township Engineer on forms supplying the following:
(a) 
Name and address.
(b) 
Title of official making report.
(c) 
Location of establishment.
(d) 
The nature of the business conducted in such establishment.
(e) 
The volume of industrial waste mixture and sewage discharged by each establishment to:
[1] 
Sanitary sewers.
[2] 
Storm sewers.
(f) 
The average daily number of employees employed in each establishment by shifts.
(g) 
The source of water supply of each establishment and the volume of water used by each establishment daily, specified separately as to each source.
(h) 
Such additional information as is deemed applicable to ascertain the volume, nature and composition of the waste so discharged.
(2) 
A calculation shall be made by the Township Engineer or his representative to determine the charges for volume and strength of such wastes being contributed to the sewers of the Township in accordance with the rate schedule set forth in the Sewer Rate Ordinance of the Township.[1]
[1]
Editor's Note: See Art. IV, Sewer Rents, of this chapter.
L. 
Every person discharging any industrial waste mixture into the public sanitary sewer or sewers connected thereto shall keep and maintain records of the data required to be furnished in the questionnaire as defined above, and such records shall be available for inspection during regular business hours by authorized representatives or employees of the Township upon presenting written credentials of their authority, and such representatives or employees shall be permitted to make and retain copies of such records.
M. 
Garbage-grinding devices.
[Added 10-12-1964 by Ord. No. 64-150]
(1) 
No person shall operate, use or maintain a garbage-grinding device unless he shall have first obtained a permit from the Township Engineer upon application. The specifications and operating conditions described by the equipment manufacturer shall be a part of the application.
(2) 
All discharge from any garbage grinder must pass through a one-half-inch screen.
(3) 
A permit fee shall accompany the application as provided for in Chapter A173, Fees.[2]
[2]
Editor's Note: Amended at time of adoption of Code; see Chapter 1, General Provisions, Art. I.
(4) 
The fee stated aforesaid shall not be due and payable as to any garbage-grinding device presently installed that is operated, used or maintained on the date this subsection is adopted, provided that the required applications as set forth below are duly made.
(5) 
All persons operating, using or maintaining a garbage-grinding device prior to the adoption of this amendment shall have 60 days from the date of its adoption in which to secure a permit from the Township Engineer.
(6) 
Anyone failing to comply with the provisions of this subsection shall be deemed in violation of this article.
The Township Engineer and other duly authorized employees of the Township bearing proper credentials and bearing proper identification shall be permitted to enter upon all properties for the purposes of inspection, 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 § 133-14, shall be served by the Township 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 violating § 133-14 of this article shall be guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to a fine as set forth in Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III, General Penalty Provisions.
[Amended 12-31-1991 by Ord. No. 91-593]
B. 
Any person who shall continue any violation beyond the time limit fixed as provided for in Subsection A shall be subject to a fine as set forth in Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. III, General Penalty Provisions, for each violation.
[Amended 12-31-1991 by Ord. No. 91-593]
C. 
All fines and penalties imposed for violation of any provision of this article shall be paid to the Treasurer of the Township for the use of the Township. Default in payment of the fine and costs shall make the defendant liable to imprisonment for a term not to exceed 30 days.
D. 
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 Township for any expense, loss or damage occasioned the Township by reason of such violation.