[HISTORY: Adopted City of Norwalk Common Council: Art. I, 6-10-1980; Art. II, 5-10-1988. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 6-10-1980[1]]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch.
57, Health and Sanitation, adopted 5-14-1957, effective 5-25-1957.
There shall be a Department of Health, which shall exercise
such powers and duties as are conferred by statute, Charter or ordinance.
There shall be a Director of Health appointed in accordance
with the provisions of Section 19-75 of the General Statutes. Said
Director shall be in charge of and be responsible for the operation
of the Department in carrying out its functions and duties. He or
she shall be appointed by the Mayor, subject to confirmation by the
Common Council, for a term of four years and may at the beginning
of a term be made subject to a probationary period of service, after
which he or she may be removed for cause. The Director first so appointed
upon the adoption of this ordinance shall serve until July 1, 1983,
and successive terms shall expire every four years thereafter.
A.
The Director shall recommend such personnel as are required to carry
out the duties and responsibilities assigned to the Department pursuant
to this ordinance. The number, duties, responsibilities and salaries
of such personnel shall be set forth in a set of written job specifications,
prepared by said Director and approved by the Common Council, and
shall further be subject to such other approval of the Board of Estimate
as may be provided by law.
B.
The Director of Health shall administer the health laws and sanitary
codes of the city and state. He shall have authority over all health
officials. He may require the enforcement of any law, regulation or
ordinance relating to public health and secure information and data
concerning the prevention and control of epidemics and conditions
affecting or endangering the public health. He shall investigate or
cause to be investigated complaints of the nuisances and conditions
affecting the security of life and health in the city. He shall have
all the power given Directors of Health under the General Statutes
of the state.
C.
On or before the first day of October in each year, the Director
of Health shall report in writing to the Mayor and Common Council
upon the health and sanitary conditions of the city. Such report shall
contain a review of activities of the Department and shall contain
recommendations for such Council action as he may find advantageous
for the protection of public health.
A.
There shall be a department of health of said city, to be known as
the "Board of Health," consisting of six members, all of whom shall
be electors of said city and two of whom shall be practicing physicians
of said city, who shall be appointed as hereinafter provided. The
Director of Health of said city shall be an ex officio member of said
Board.
B.
The Mayor of said city shall appoint the members of said Board, subject
to confirmation by the Council, for terms of three years. Any vacancy
which may occur in the membership of said Board may be filled for
the unexpired portion of the term in the manner hereinbefore provided.
The members of said Board shall serve without compensation. The members
of the Board whose terms are unexpired as of the date hereof shall
continue as members of the Board for the balance of their terms. The
terms of members of the Board appointed after the date hereof shall
be as follows:
C.
Said Board of Health shall hold regular monthly meetings in the office
of the Director of Health of said city, provided that said office
and meetings shall be accessible to and usable by the handicapped.
The Director of Health shall preside at all meetings of said Board.
A majority of all members thereof shall constitute a quorum for the
transaction of business, but a smaller number may adjourn from day
to day. Special meetings of said Board may be called by the Director
of Health at any time upon six hours' notice in writing to the
members of said Board and shall be called at any time upon the written
request of a majority of the members of said Board.
[Amended 5-12-1987]
D.
Said Board of Health shall have all the powers necessary for the
prevention of disease of any kind and for the promotion and preservation
of the general health of the inhabitants of said city and for the
suppression and prevention of nuisances insofar as said Board may
deem the same detrimental to the general health; for the regulation
and control of the collection, transfer and deposit of garbage, filth,
rubbish, dead animals, decayed vegetable matter and the contents of
privy vaults and cesspools; to prescribe the manner in which foodstuffs
shall be protected from defilement by dogs or flies or exposure to
dust and germs of disease; to prevent the sale of decayed animal or
vegetable matter or immature flesh for food; and to provide for the
removal of all filth and putrid substances or matter of any kind which
it shall deem injurious to the health and cleanliness of said city,
at the expense of the land or building upon which said substances
or matter may be or upon or from which it may arise, and for that
purpose, said Board or any member thereof may enter upon or into any
lands or buildings in said city.
E.
Before said Board of Health shall cause any such filth or putrid
substance to be removed, as aforesaid, it shall give notice to the
owner of said land or buildings to remove the same, and said Board
may designate a time within which the same shall be removed, and,
if not so removed, said Board may cause the same to be removed, and
the Mayor of said city shall thereupon issue a warrant to the Tax
Collector to collect the expenses arising therefrom from such owner
or owners, and the Corporation Counsel of said city is hereby authorized
to sue for the same in the name of the city before any court of competent
jurisdiction.
F.
It shall be the duty of said Board of Health to cause proper complaint
to be made to the appropriate prosecuting officials for the violation
of any ordinance of said city regulating the preservation of public
health.
A.
The Department of Health shall be authorized to collect fees for
home care from persons for whom such fees will not impose a financial
hardship. The determination of financial hardship for nursing services
shall be made pursuant to such investigation, rules and regulations
as the Board of Health shall prescribe.
B.
The Director of Health shall, with the concurrence of the Board of
Health and after a public hearing held jointly with the Board of Health,
set fees as may be appropriate for services which are rendered by
the Department of Health in accordance with the statutes, rules and
regulations of the State of Connecticut and the ordinances of the
City of Norwalk. Said public hearing shall be held upon no less than
five nor more than 15 days' notice of the time and place of such
hearing, and said notice shall be published in the form of a legal
advertisement appearing in a newspaper having a substantial circulation
in the City of Norwalk. Within 30 days of receipt by the City Clerk
of notice of the establishment of such fees, the Council may approve
or disapprove them. If the Council takes no action within such 30
days, the fees shall be effective as set by the Director and agreed
to by the Board. If the Council votes to disapprove, it may itself
establish such fees or the Director and Board may submit additional
proposals to the Council. All fees shall be deposited with the general
fund of the City of Norwalk.
C.
If the Council shall approve fees as set forth in this section, or
shall not take action as therein set forth within 30 days, then the
Council shall be deemed by such action to have repealed any other
ordinance of the City of Norwalk specifying the amount of fees to
be charged.
D.
Subject to the requirements of federal or state laws, rules and regulations
and the provisions of this ordinance, the Board of Health shall establish
a schedule of fees for home nursing care. Such service shall be rendered
on a basis of full-fee, part-pay or free service; provided, however,
that the maximum fee shall not exceed the cost per visit.
All fees shall be paid over to the Comptroller for deposit in
the general fund of the City of Norwalk.
Receipts shall be given to the patient for all fees received.
A copy of each receipt shall be held in the Health Department for
at least one year.
[Adopted 5-10-1988]
No permit for the construction of any dwelling, apartment, boardinghouse,
hotel, factory or place of business shall hereafter be issued in the
city unless the plan for the sewage disposal facilities is approved
by the Director of Health, unless the building is connected to a city
sewer.
All buildings used for human occupancy in the city and situated
on property abutting on streets where city sewer lines are installed
and which are accessible to the sewers shall be connected to the city
sewer system, except by permission of the Director of Health.
A.
Permits for private sewage disposal shall be issued by the Department
of Health upon application of the owner or his agent, who shall furnish
the following information:
(1)
A sketch with dimensions of lot, building and disposal system, showing
presence of ledge, marsh, brooks, ditches or hillside in the area
to be used for sewage disposal.
(2)
The number of bedrooms in any dwelling, type of building and present
and proposed use and the number of men and women occupying any factory
or commercial building.
(3)
The number, type and location of existing and proposed plumbing fixtures.
(4)
The type of soil and seepage time, as required by the Department
of Health.
(5)
The elevation of grade above groundwater.
B.
The permit shall be valid for one year from the date of issue, provided
that:
(1)
Permits shall not be issued unless and until the condition of the
soil in the area for sewage disposal meets the specifications of this
Code and of the State Sanitary Code.
(2)
Disposal permits shall not be issued for new buildings unless the
property is buildable under planning and zoning regulations.
(3)
Permits shall show the specifications of the sewage disposal system
to be installed and shall constitute authority for construction only
as specified.
(4)
Filled land for disposal areas shall be filled with earth to final
grade for topsoil before permits are issued, except temporary permits
for foundations only, and shall not be filled with debris such as
stumps, tree trunks, brush and boulders.
The fee for each permit required by § 57-10 shall be paid to the Department of Health and turned over to the City Treasurer.
No permits required by § 57-10 shall be issued for a privy, except as a temporary expedient. Privies shall have flytight underground pits of adequate size for the storage of excreta and have self-closing covers.
No dwelling, apartment or boardinghouse, hotel, factory or place
of business in the city shall hereafter be altered or enlarged in
such a way as to increase the occupancy or the plumbing facilities
unless the plans for the sewage disposal facilities are approved by
the Director of Health or unless the building is connected to a city
sewer.
No alteration, enlargement or replacement of any private sewage
disposal system shall be made in the city unless the plan is approved
by the Director of Health.
No private sewage disposal system shall be covered or used until
a final inspection is made and approval is given by the Director of
Health. Request for inspection must be made at least one working day
before the date on which the inspection is requested to be made.
No building not on city sewer shall be occupied unless the sewage
disposal system has had the final inspection and is approved by the
Director of Health.
A.
House sewers generally. House sewers shall not be less than four
inches in diameter, and preferably five or six inches, to avoid stoppages.
The grade shall be at least 1/4 inch per foot for four-inch sewers
and shall not be less than 1/8 inch per foot for larger sizes. House
sewers shall be laid with tight joints to a septic tank or to a city
sewer in a straight line and on a uniform grade, except where accessible
manholes are provided at changes of direction or grade.
(1)
Pipe for such house sewers shall be of cast iron, with leaded joints,
to a point at least eight feet beyond the foundation wall of any cellar
or basement. Portions of house sewers within 75 feet of a well shall
be of cast iron, with leaded joints, but no portions of such sewer,
however constructed, shall be within 25 feet of a well. No sewer shall
be located within 25 feet of a cellar drain or groundwater drain,
unless the pipe is of cast iron with lead joints.
(2)
The sewer pipe from a house to a main in the street shall of four-inch
extra-heavy cast-iron pipe, five-inch asbestos cement or six-inch
vitreous tile. The joints of cast iron shall be poured lead joints.
(3)
The specifications for asbestos-cement pipe shall be as follows:
(a)
For asbestos-cement pipe, all joints shall be made with an asbestos-cement
coupling. The coupling shall contain a centering ring and two sealing
rings. The couplings will be assembled on the pipe by means of a soap
lubricant, as furnished by the manufacturer. Tie-in connections between
asbestos-cement pipe and cast-iron pipe shall be made with hot poured
lead. In making rigid connections to fittings or structures, asbestos-cement
pipe lengths shall not exceed five feet.
(b)
All five-inch asbestos-cement pipe shall be made and tested
in the United States. Each standard length of pipe shall be flexurally
tested by the manufacturer before shipment, with a clear span of nine
feet between supports with the total load divided equally and applied
at the third points of the nine-foot span for nine-hundred-pound total
applied.
(c)
All asbestos-cement pipe shall be high-pressure steam-cured.
The maximum alkalinity of the pipe shall be 60 milligrams of K.O.H.
per gram of sample of material, as tested in accordance with the Western
Electric Method.
B.
Water-supply pipes. Water-supply pipes may not be laid within 10
feet of any part of a sewage disposal system.
(1)
Water-supply pipes and house-sewer pipes may be laid in the same
trench only if the sewer pipe is made of four-inch cast iron with
poured lead joints and only if the water pipes shall be laid on a
bench 12 inches above the top of the sewer pipe and at least 18 inches
to the side of the sewer pipe.
C.
Location of system. No septic tank, cesspool, tile field, seepage
bed or privy vault shall, without the approval of the Health Officer,
be constructed within 75 feet of a well or spring or within 50 feet
of a human habitation other than the building served, nor shall the
same be constructed within 50 feet of a tributary of a water-supply
reservoir or any ground- or surface water drain tributary to such
reservoir. No part of the system shall be located within 10 feet of
a lot line or within 25 feet of any stream, pond, lake or tidal water
without approval by the Health Officer. No system shall be laid out
in areas where high groundwater, surface flooding or ledge rock will
interfere with its effective operation. The bottom of any leaching
area or cesspool shall be at least 18 inches above maximum groundwater
level.
Cesspools shall not be constructed for the disposal of sewage
unless preceded by septic tank treatment or unless used for sink drainage
or laundry water only. In the latter case, grease traps of adequate
size shall be installed.
Septic tanks shall be provided where no public sewers are available.
No tank shall be located within 10 feet of a house. These tanks may
be of concrete, tile or masonry units and shall be approximately twice
as long as they are wide. They shall be constructed with watertight
walls and bottoms, with inlets baffled or submerged for a depth of
at least 12 inches below the surface of liquid in the tank and outlets
baffled for at least 18 inches below the surface, but not more than
1/2 of the depth of the tank. They shall be made with removable covers
so as to provide access to the tank for purposes of cleaning. No septic
tank shall have a liquid capacity of less than 500 gallons, nor be
less than 36 inches in depth from the outlet invert to the bottom.
Tanks may be divided into compartments if desired, but 2/3 of the
required capacity must be in the first compartment. Not more than
two tanks may be installed in series where additional capacity is
needed.
In all of the following specifications, one family is considered
as five persons. Where it is known that a larger number of persons
is to be provided for in one family, proportionate increases in the
sizes of the system shall be made for houses of more than two bedrooms.
The system shall be based on an estimate of two persons per bedroom.
Similar considerations apply to houses for more than one family.
The minimum size of septic tanks shall be as follows:
A.
Disposal of septic tank effluent may be by means of leaching cesspools
or leaching trenches installed with tile. The minimum required sizes
of such systems for various types of soil are listed below:
(1)
None of these systems shall be laid out in groundwater.
(2)
Class A soil is considered as rapid-seepage soil (course sand or
gravel).
(3)
Class B soil is considered as medium-seepage soil (fine sand or light
sandy loam).
(4)
Class C soil is considered as slow-seepage soil (clay with some sand
or gravel, not for very tight clay soils). In case of doubt as to
proper classification of soil, final decision shall be based on the
results of soil tests, as described later.
|
Leaching Cesspools
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Type of Soil
|
Number of Families
|
Number of Cesspools
|
Diameter
(feet)
|
Depth Below Inlet
(feet)
|
|
Class A Soil
|
1
|
1
|
5
|
5
|
|
2
|
1
|
8
|
6
| |
|
3
|
2
|
6
|
6
| |
|
Class B Soil
|
1
|
6
|
7
| |
|
2
|
6
|
7
| ||
|
2
|
8
|
8
| ||
|
Class C Soil
|
2
|
6
|
7
| |
|
2
|
9
|
8
| ||
|
3
|
9
|
8
| ||
B.
Cesspools shall be at least 15 feet apart. They shall not be built
below groundwater.
|
Leaching Trenches
Linear feet of leaching trenches 2 feet wide
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Number of Families
|
Number of Bedrooms
|
Class A Soil
|
Class B Soil
|
Class C Soil
|
|
1
|
2
|
100
|
120
|
150
|
|
1
|
3 to 4
|
120
|
150 to 175
|
200
|
|
2
|
4 to 5
|
120
|
175 to 200
|
300
|
|
3
|
150
|
225
|
350
| |
(1)
Tile shall be either unglazed drain tile, at least four inches in
diameter, laid with open joints, of four-inch perforated pipe, in
trenches about 24 inches wide. Tile shall be laid in the upper one-third
(1/3) of a layer of screened gravel or crushed stone about 18 inches
deep and shall be covered with a protective layer of thirty-pound
asphalt paper or of salt hay.
(2)
Tile lines shall ordinarily be laid on a grade not exceeding two
to four inches per 100 feet. Spacing between trenches for tile lines
shall be at least three times the width of the trench. Better distribution
is secured in tile fields by using siphondosing apparatus to apply
the septic tank effluent.
(3)
The minimum number of square feet of absorptive area for leaching
trenches filled with gravel or broken stone shall be as follows, the
absorptive area being calculated as the bottom area of the trench:
|
Square Feet of Bottom Area
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Number of Families
|
Number of Bedrooms
|
Class A Soil
|
Class B Soil
|
Class C Soil
|
|
1
|
2
|
200
|
240
|
300
|
|
1
|
3 to 4
|
240
|
300 to 350
|
350
|
|
2
|
4 to 5
|
240
|
350 to 400
|
600
|
|
3
|
300
|
450
|
900
| |
Where a doubt exists as to the classification of soil at any
location, soil tests shall be made as follows:
A.
For cesspools, a pit about one foot square shall be dug; preferably
this should extend to the depth of the proposed cesspool. For tile
fields, the pit may be about one foot square and dug to a depth of
the proposed trenches, usually at 18 inches to 30 inches. Before observations
are made, the pit shall be thoroughly wet down by filling it to a
depth of at least 12 inches or more. The pit shall then be refilled
with water to a depth of 12 inches or more at the rate of drop of
water measured for a period of 30 to 60 minutes under normal conditions.
The minimum uniform rate of drop should be used in calculating seepage
areas. When tests are made, consideration should be given to the finished
grade of building sites so that results will correspond to the absorptive
value of the soil in which leaching systems will be constructed. In
investigating soil conditions for a large area, test pits may have
to be dug at a rate of one per acre or even one per lot. Also, in
investigating soil conditions for a large area, more than one deep
test pit is frequently desirable in that this may disclose available
good seepage soil below normal depths. Where the observed drop is
at a rate faster then one inch in three minutes, coarse sand or gravel,
the soil shall be considered as Class A; where the rate is slower
than one inch in three minutes and faster than one inch in 10 minutes,
fine sand or light sandy loam, the soil shall be considered as Class
B; where the rate is slower than one inch in 10 minutes and faster
than one inch in 30 minutes, clay with some sand, gravel or silt,
not for very tight soils, the soil shall be considered Class C; where
the rate is slower than one inch in 30 minutes, the soil shall be
considered as Class D, and special consideration is needed to avoid
nuisance conditions. In some Class D soils, it may be impossible or
impracticable to construct a subsurface method for the disposal of
sewage.
Special plans for disposal of sewage and treated effluent shall
be submitted where practically impervious, Class D or wet soil exist,
and these plans must be approved by the Director of Health.
Nothing in this ordinance shall be construed as permission to
create or maintain any sewage nuisance or to authorize any violation
of the Sanitary Code of the State of Connecticut.
No disposal system shall hereafter be constructed or rebuilt
for any commercial buildings or residences without compliance with
the foregoing regulations; except that, upon a showing of undue hardship
or practical difficulty in compliance in full with the foregoing regulations,
the Director of Health shall have authority to grant a variance of
any portion of such regulations and grant a permit when, in his discretion,
such variance will not affect the proper working of the sewage disposal
system.
The penalty for violation of any part of this ordinance shall
be a fine of $100 or less. Every violation and nonconformance of this
ordinance shall be construed as a separate and distinct violation
thereof.
