The Town of Lancaster Board of Health adopts the following floor
drain regulation pursuant to authorization granted by MGL c. 111,
§§ 31 and 122. The regulation shall apply, as specified
herein, to all applicable facilities, existing and new, within the
Town of Lancaster.
For the purposes of this regulation, the following words and
phrases shall have the following meanings:
COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL FACILITY
A public or private establishment where the principal use
is the supply, storage, sale, and/or manufacture of services, equipment,
products, or information, including, but not limited to: manufacturing,
processing, or other industrial operations; service or retail establishments;
printing or publishing establishments; research and development facilities;
small- or large-quantity generators of hazardous waste; laboratories;
hospitals. For the purposes of this regulation, privately owned structures
with over 2,000 square feet of gross floor area designated to an accessory
use as described above shall be considered a commercial and industrial
facility.
DEPARTMENT
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
DISCHARGE
The accidental or intentional disposal, deposit, injection,
dumping, spilling, leaking, incineration, or placing of toxic or hazardous
material or waste upon or into any land or water so that such hazardous
waste or any constituent thereof may enter the land or waters of the
commonwealth. Discharge includes, without limitation, leakage of such
materials from failed or discarded containers or storage systems and
disposal of such materials into any on-site leaching structure or
sewage disposal system.
FLOOR DRAIN
An intended drainage point on a floor constructed to be otherwise
impervious which serves as the point of entry into any subsurface
drainage, treatment, disposal, containment, or other plumbing system.
LEACHING STRUCTURE
Any subsurface structure through which a fluid that is introduced
will pass and enter the environment, including, but not limited to,
dry wells, leaching catch basins, cesspools, leach fields, and oil/water
separators that are not water-tight.
OIL/WATER SEPARATOR
A device designed and installed so as to separate and retain
petroleum-based oil or grease, flammable wastes as well as sand and
particles from normal wastes while permitting normal sewage or liquid
wastes to discharge into the drainage system by gravity. Other common
names for such systems include MDC traps, gasoline and sand traps,
grit and oil separators, grease traps, and interceptors.
TOXIC OR HAZARDOUS MATERIAL
Any substance or mixture of physical, chemical, or infectious
characteristics posing a significant, actual, or potential hazard
to water supplies or other hazards to human health if such substance
or mixture was discharged to land or water of the Town of Lancaster.
Toxic or hazardous materials include, without limitation, synthetic
organic chemicals, petroleum products, heavy metals, radioactive or
infectious wastes, acids and alkalis, and all substances defined as
toxic or hazardous under MGL c. 21C and 21E or Massachusetts hazardous
waste regulations (310 CMR 30.000), and also include such products
as solvents, thinners, and pesticides in quantities greater than normal
household use.
With the exception of discharges that have received (or have
applied and will receive) a Department-issued permit prior to the
effective date of this regulation, no floor drain(s) shall be allowed
to discharge, with or without pretreatment (such as an oil/water separator),
to the ground, a leaching structure, or septic system in any industrial
or commercial facility if such floor drain is located in either:
A. An industrial or commercial process area;
B. A petroleum, toxic, or hazardous materials and/or waste storage area.
The effective date of this regulation is the date posted on
the front page of the regulation, which shall be identical to the
date of adoption of the regulation.
A. Existing facilities:
(1) Owners/Operators of a facility affected by this regulation shall
comply with all of its provisions within 120 days of the effective
date;
(2) All applicable discharges to the leaching structures and septic systems
shall be discontinued immediately through temporary isolation or sealing
of the floor drain.
B. New facilities:
(1) As of the effective date of the regulation, all new construction
and/or applicable change of use within the Town of Lancaster shall
comply with the provisions of this regulation.
(2) Certification of conformance with the provisions of this regulation
by the Board of Health shall be required prior to issuance of construction
and occupancy permits.
(3) The use of any new oil/water separator shall comply with the same requirements as for existing systems, as specified above in §
303-75B.
Failure to comply with provisions of this regulation will result
in the levy of fines of more than $1,000. Each day's failure to comply
with the provisions of this regulation shall constitute a separate
violation.