No unauthorized person shall uncover, make any connections with
or opening into, use, alter, or disturb any City-owned public sewer
or appurtenance thereof, located within or outside the boundaries
of the City of Las Vegas without first obtaining a written permit
from the Director. The Director shall set forth procedures for evaluating
the ability of the City's wastewater treatment facilities to accept
and treat any wastewater.
There shall be two classes of building sewer permits: for residential
and commercial service; and for service to establishments producing
industrial wastes. In either case, the owner or his agent shall make
application on a special form furnished by the Director. The permit
application shall be supplemented by any plans, specifications, or
other information considered pertinent in the judgment of the Director.
A permit and inspection fee for a residential or commercial building
sewer permit shall be paid to the City at the time the application
is filed.
All costs and expenses incident to the installation and connection
of the building sewer shall be borne by the owner. The owner shall
indemnify the City from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly
be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer.
A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided
by every building except where one building stands at the rear of
another on an interior lot and no private sewer is available or can
be constructed to the rear building through an adjoining alley, court,
yard or driveway. In this case the building sewer from the front building
may be extended to the rear building, and each will be considered
as a separate building sewer for building purposes.
Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings
only when they are found, on examination and test by the Director,
to meet all requirements of this chapter.
The size, slope, alignment, materials of construction of a building
sewer, and the methods to be used in excavating, placing of the pipe,
jointing, testing, and backfilling the trench, shall all conform to
the requirements of the building and plumbing codes or other applicable
rules and regulations of the City's adopted New Mexico standard specifications
for public works contracts. Any person requesting the extension of a City sewer main
shall be required to receive approval in advance of any such extension
from the Director and enter into a sewer line extension agreement
with the City.
Whenever possible, the building sewer shall be brought to the
building at an elevation below the basement floor. In all buildings
in which any building drain is too low to permit gravity flow to the
public sewer, sanitary sewage carried by such building drain shall
be lifted by an approved means and discharged to the building sewer.
If a building sewer is installed at a level below the sewer main line,
the owner shall, at their own expense, install a check valve approved
by the Director.
No person shall make connection of roof down spouts, exterior
foundation drains, areaway drains, or other sources of surface runoff
or groundwater to a building sewer or building drain which in turn
is connected directly or indirectly to a sanitary sewer.
The connection of the building sewer into the public sewer shall
conform to the requirements of the building and plumbing codes or
other applicable rules and regulations of the City's adopted New Mexico
Standard Specification for Public Works Contracts or the procedures
set forth in appropriate specifications of the ASTM and the WPCF Manual
of Practice No. 9. All such connections shall be made gastight and
watertight. Any deviation from the prescribed procedures and materials
must be approved by the Director before installation.
Any customer requesting to connect a swimming pool to the City's
wastewater collection system shall:
A. Notify the Director of the customer's intention of installing a swimming
pool and provide dimensions, volumes, etc., of the proposed swimming
pool.
B. Pay the established sewer tapping fee and obtain a sewer tapping
permit prior to connecting to the main.
C. Enter into a swimming pool connection agreement provided by the Director.
The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the
Director when the building sewer is ready for inspection and connection
to the public sewer. The connection shall be made under the supervision
of the Director or his representative.
All excavation for building sewer installation shall be adequately
guarded with barricades and lights so as to protect the public from
hazard. Streets, sidewalks, parkways, and other public property disturbed
in the course of the work shall be restored in a manner satisfactory
to the City.