Borough of Sellersville, PA Sewer Connections and Use

The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at 20° C., expressed in milligrams per liter.

BOROUGH

The Borough of Sellersville, Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

BUILDING DRAIN

That part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the building and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning five feet (1.5 meters) outside the inner face of the building wall.

BUILDING SEWER

The extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal; also called "house connection."

COMBINED SEWER

A sewer intended to receive both wastewater and stormwater or surface water.

EASEMENT

An acquired legal right for the specific use of land owned by others.

FLOATABLE OIL

Oil, fat or grease in a physical state such that it will separate by gravity from wastewater by treatment in an approved pretreatment facility. Wastewater shall be considered free of floatable oil if it is properly pretreated and the wastewater does not interfere with the collection system.

GARBAGE

The animal and vegetable waste resulting from the handling, preparation, cooking and serving of foods.

INDUSTRIAL WASTES

The wastewater from industrial processes, trade or business as distinct from domestic or sanitary wastes.

MG/L

Milligram per liter.

NATURAL OUTLET

Any outlet, including storm sewers and combined sewer overflows, into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface water or groundwater.

PERSON

Any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group.

The logarithm of the reciprocal of the hydrogen-ion concentration. The concentration is the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution. Neutral water, for example, has a pH of 7 and a hydrogen-ion concentration of 10-⁷.

PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE

The wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that 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 1/2 inch (1.27 centimeters) in any dimension.

PUBLIC SEWER

A common sewer controlled by a governmental agency or public utility.

PWTA

The Pennridge Wastewater Treatment Authority or its authorized agents or representatives.

SANITARY SEWER

A sewer that carries liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions, together with minor quantities of groundwater, stormwater, and surface waters that are not admitted intentionally.

SEWAGE

The spent water of a community. The preferred term is wastewater (see "wastewater").

SEWER

A pipe or conduit that carries wastewater or drainage water.

SLUG

Any discharge of water or wastewater which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds for any period of duration longer than 15 minutes more than five times the average twenty-four-hour concentration or flows during normal operation and shall adversely affect the collection system and/or performance of the wastewater treatment works.

STORM DRAIN or STORM SEWER

A drain or server for conveying water, groundwater, subsurface water or surface water from any source.

SUPERINTENDENT

The Borough Manager of the Borough of Sellersville or his authorized deputy, agent or representative.

SUSPENDED SOLIDS

Total suspended matter that either floats on the surface of or is in suspension in water, wastewater or other liquids and that is removable by laboratory filtering as prescribed in Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater and referred to as "nonfilterable residue."

UNPOLLUTED WATER

Water of quality equal to or better than the effluent criteria in effect or water that would not cause violation of receiving water quality standards and would not be benefited by discharge to the sanitary sewers and wastewater treatment facilities provided.

WASTEWATER

The spent water of a community. From the standpoint of source, it may be a combination of the liquid and water-carried wastes from residences, commercial buildings, industrial plants and institutions, together with any groundwater, surface water and stormwater that may be present.

WASTEWATER FACILITIES

The structures, equipment and processes required to collect, carry away and treat domestic and industrial wastes and dispose of the effluent.

WASTEWATER TREATMENT WORKS

An arrangement of devices and structures for treating wastewater, industrial wastes and sludge; sometimes used as synonymous with "waste treatment plant" or "wastewater treatment plant" or "water pollution control plant."

WATERCOURSE

A natural or artificial channel for the passage of water either continuously or intermittently.

The word "shall" is mandatory; the word "may" is permissive.

§ 121-13 Use of public sewers required.

It shall be unlawful for any person to place, deposit or permit to be deposited in any unsanitary manner, on public or private property within the Borough of Sellersville or in any area under the jurisdiction of said Borough, any human or animal excrement, garbage or objectionable waste.

It shall be unlawful to discharge to any natural outlet within the Borough of Sellersville or in any area under the jurisdiction of said Borough any wastewater or other polluted waters, except where suitable treatment has been provided in accordance with subsequent provisions of this article.

The owner(s) of all houses, buildings or properties used for human occupancy, employment, recreation or other purposes situated within the Borough and abutting on any street, alley or right-of-way in which there is now located or may in the future be located a public sanitary or combined sewer of the Borough, is hereby required at the owner's (owners') expense to install suitable toilet facilities therein and to connect such facilities directly with the proper public sewer in accordance with the provisions of this article within 90 days after the date of official notice to do so, provided that said public sewer is within 100 feet (30.5 meters) of the property line.

§ 121-14 Building sewers and connections.

No unauthorized person(s) shall uncover, make any connections with or opening into, use, alter or disturb any public sewer or appurtenance thereof without first obtaining a written permit from the Superintendent.

Permits.

(1)

There shall be two classes of building sewer permits:

(a)

For residential and commercial service.

(b)

For service to establishments producing industrial wastes.

(2)

In either case, the owner(s) or his agent shall make application on a special form furnished by the Borough. The permit application shall be supplemented by any plans, specifications or other information considered pertinent in the judgment of the Superintendent and/or PWTA. A permit and inspection fee of $25 for a residential or commercial building sewer permit and $500 for an industrial building sewer permit shall be paid to the Borough at the time the application is filed. All building sewer permit applications under Subsection B(1)(b) above shall be reviewed and approved, in writing, by the PWTA prior to permit issuance.

All costs and expenses incidental to the installation and connection of the building sewer shall be borne by the owner(s). The owner(s) shall indemnify the Borough and PWTA 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 for every building.

Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, upon examination and test by the Superintendent, to meet all requirements of this article.

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 code or other applicable rules and regulations of the Borough. In the absence of code provisions or in amplification thereof, the materials and procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the ASTM and WPCF Manual of Practice No. 9 shall apply.

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 plow to the public sewer, sanitary sewage carried by such building drain shall be lifted by an approved means and discharged to the building sewer.

No person(s) shall make connection of roof downspouts, 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 public sanitary sewer unless such connection is approved by the Superintendent for purposes of disposal of polluted surface drainage.

The connection of the building sewer into the public sewer shall conform to the requirements of the building and plumbing code or other applicable rules and regulations of the Borough 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 and verified by proper testing. Any deviation from the prescribed procedures and materials must be approved by the Superintendent before installation.

The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the Superintendent when the building sewer is ready for inspection and connection to the public sewer. The connection and testing shall be made under the supervision of the Superintendent or his representative.

All excavations 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 Borough.

No excavation, construction or connection work shall be commenced within a PWTA right-of-way until the owner, his agents and/or independent contractor shall have first filed a bond in double the amount of the cost of the work to be performed, to be determined by the PWTA, agreeing to indemnify and save harmless the PWTA against any and all loss, damages, costs and expenses which the PWTA may thereafter suffer, incur, be put to or pay by reason of the failure to complete properly any of the aforesaid excavation, construction or connection work. The term "owner," as used herein, shall be deemed to include the owner or owners in fee simple, lessees of the premises, occupiers of the premises and all other parties having a beneficial use or interest in the premises and occupying the same with the consent and permission of the owner of the fee title.

§ 121-15 Protection from damage.

No person(s) shall maliciously, willfully or negligently break, damage, destroy, uncover, deface or tamper with any structure, appurtenance or equipment which is a part of the wastewater facilities. Any person(s) violating this provision shall be subject to prosecution under the laws of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.

§ 121-16 Powers and authority of inspectors.

The Superintendent and other duly authorized employees of the Borough and/or PWTA, bearing proper credentials and identification, shall be permitted to enter all properties for the purposes of inspection, observation, measurement, sampling and testing pertinent to discharge to the community system in accordance with the provisions of this article.

The Superintendent or other duly authorized employee of the Borough and/or PWTA are authorized to obtain information concerning industrial processes which have a direct bearing on the kind and source of discharge to the wastewater collection system. The industry may withhold information considered confidential. The industry must establish that the revelation to the public of the information in question might result in an advantage to competitors.

While performing the necessary work on private properties referred to in Subsection A above, the Superintendent or duly authorized employees of the Borough and/or PWTA shall observe all safety rules applicable to the premises established by the owner, and the owner shall be held harmless for injury or death to Borough or PWTA employees, and the Borough and PWTA shall indemnify the owner against loss or damage to its property by Borough or PWTA employees and against liability claims and demands for personal injury or property damage asserted against the owner and growing out of the gauging and sampling operation, except as such may be caused by negligence or failure of the owner to maintain safe conditions as required in Article IV of this chapter. For the purpose of this subsection, the term "owner" is defined to mean and include the lawful owner of the premises, the operator of any lawful business on the premises, the tenant, lessee and any other person lawfully occupying the premises by and with the consent and permission of the owner.

The Superintendent and other duly authorized employees of the Borough and/or PWTA, bearing proper credentials and identification, shall be permitted to enter all private properties through which the Borough holds a duly negotiated easement for the purposes of, but not limited to, inspection, observation, measurement, sampling, repair and maintenance of any portion of the wastewater facilities lying within said easement. All entry and subsequent work, if any, on said easement shall be done in full accordance with the terms of the duly negotiated easement pertaining to the private property involved.

§ 121-17 Violations and penalties.

[Amended 7-7-1997 by Ord. No. 604]

Any person found to be violating any provision of this article shall be served by the Borough with written notice stating the nature of the violation and providing a reasonable time limit, as determined by the Superintendent and PWTA, for the satisfactory correction thereof. The offender shall, within the period of time stated in such notice, permanently cease all violations.

Any person who shall continue any violation beyond the time limit provided for in Subsection A shall be prosecuted in the same manner provided for the enforcement of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure. A person convicted of violating this section shall be sentenced to pay a fine not to exceed $1,000 per violation, plus court costs and reasonable attorneys' fees incurred by the Borough of Sellersville, or to imprisonment for not more than 90 days, or both. Violations of more than one provision of this section shall constitute separate violations. Each day that a violation of any provision of this section continues or occurs shall constitute a separate violation.

[Amended 10-12-2015 by Ord. No. 703]

Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall become liable to the Borough for any expense, loss or damage occasioned the Borough by reason of such violation and shall become liable to the PWTA for any expense, loss or damage occasioned the PWTA by reason of such violation.