[Ord. No. 45-1999, 2-1-2000]
The purpose of this article is to promote the health and general
welfare of the citizens of the City by regulating and restricting
the construction and use of sewer systems and the accumulation, transportation,
treatment and disposal of sewage in such a manner that the creation
of any sewer system, whether public, private, or industrial, shall
not result in pollution, health hazard, or other nuisance. Any person
owning any building or structure within the City which is the source
of sewage and/or industrial wastes, or who proposes to erect such
building or structure, shall conform to the requirements of this article.
[Ord. No. 45-1999, § 100.0, 2-1-2000]
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation
of organic matter in five days at 20° C., expressed in milligrams
per liter, as determined by test methods defined in Standard Methods.
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 eight feet outside the inner face of the building
wall.
The extension from the building drain to the public sewer
or other place of disposal.
Any user of the City's wastewater treatment system whose
discharges are regulated under 40 CFR part 403 and 40 CFR parts 405
through 471, or who is otherwise subject to United States Environmental
Protection Agency pretreatment requirements as a categorical user.
The amount of chlorine required to destroy all pathogenic
organisms present and oxidize all organic, inorganic, and ammonia-based
compounds in a sewage stream.
The City of Belfast acting through its council, manager,
superintendent, plant operator, employees, code enforcement officer,
plumbing inspector, or other duly authorized agent.
A sewer receiving both surface runoff and sewage.
Any person who undertakes to construct simultaneously, or
in planned sequence, more than one housing unit on a given tract or
land subdivision, or other land development, which is to be connected
to the municipal sewer system.
A professional engineer retained as City engineer or consulting
engineer and retained or appointed by the City manager.
Masses or concentrations of a constituent in sanitary or
industrial wastewater which, in the judgment of the City:
Will cause damage to any facility;
Will be harmful to any wastewater treatment process;
Cannot be properly removed in the City's treatment facilities;
May inhibit the final disposal or reuse of the treatment plant's
sludge residuals;
Can otherwise endanger life or property; or
Can constitute a nuisance.
Solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation,
cooking, and dispensing of food, and from the handling, storage, and
sale of produce.
The liquid or solid wastes from industrial manufacturing
processes, trade, or business, as distinct from sanitary wastewater.
Industrial wastes may or may not be discharged separately from sanitary
wastewater. For a combined discharge, the City shall determine if
the discharge meets the definition of industrial waste.
Any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake, or other
body of surface water or groundwater.
Waste that has the demonstrated potential to adversely affect
public health or pollute groundwater and/or surface water.
Both the person who is the vested holder of title for any
real estate and all tenants, lessees, or others in control or use
of the property in question. Excluded from this definition is a mortgagee
of the property in question unless the mortgagee exercises his mortgage
rights and becomes an owner.
Any individual, firm, company, association, partnership,
society, corporation, or group.
The logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen
ions in grams per liter of solution.
The superintendent or operator of the City facilities, or
his authorized deputy, agent, or representative, all acting for the
City council.
Any sewer that collects wastewater from two or more building
sewers, owned separately, and discharges it to a public sanitary sewer.
Private sewer systems are not permitted except by specific agreement
with the City.
Wastes from the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food
that have 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 in any dimension.
A sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal
rights, and which is owned by the City.
A sewer which carries sewage and to which stormwater, surface
water and groundwater are not intentionally admitted.
The liquid waste discharged from a building's or structure's
sanitary fixtures, such as toilets, washrooms, urinals, sinks, showers,
and small laundries, and from kitchens and cafeterias, essentially
free of industrial wastes or toxic materials. Sanitary wastewater
may or may not be discharged separately from industrial wastewater.
For a combined discharge, the City shall determine if a wastewater
discharge meets the definition of sanitary wastewater.
The mixture of liquids and solid matters removed from septic
tanks during normal cleaning.
Sometimes termed "wastewater" or "waste," means a combination
of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions
and industrial establishments, together with such groundwater, surface
water, and stormwater as may be present.
Any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating
sewage.
All facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing
of sewage.
A pipe or conduct for carrying sewage.
A user subject to categorical pretreatment standards, or
a user that:
Discharges an average of 10,000 gpd or more of process wastewater
to the sewage works, excluding sanitary, noncontact cooling, and boiler
blowdown wastewater;
Contributes a process waste stream which makes up 2% or more
of the average dry weather hydraulic or organic capacity of the sewage
works; or
Is designated as such by the City on the basis that it has a
reasonable potential for adversely affecting the sewage.
Any discharge of water or wastewater in which the rate of
discharge, or the mass or concentration of any given constituent,
exceeds, in the opinion of the City, the ability of the sewage works
to function efficiently or properly.
Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater,
latest edition.
Sometimes termed "storm sewer," means a sewer which carries
stormwater and surface water and drainage, and/or noncontaminated
cooling water, but excludes sewage and industrial wastes.
The superintendent of public works and/or superintendent
of the sewage works of the City, or their authorized representative.
Solids that either float on the surface of, or are in suspension
in, water, sewage, or other liquids, and which are determined in accordance
with Standard Methods.
A channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously
or intermittently.
[Ord. No. 45-1999, § 1100.0, 2-1-2000]
(a)
Violations generally. Nuisances and violations of this article shall
be deemed to be a nuisance and a land use violation under Rule 80K
of the Maine Rules of Civil Procedure and 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4452.
(b)
Notice of violation. If the City shall find that any provision of
this article is being violated, notification in writing will be sent
to the person responsible for such violation, indicating the nature
of the violation and ordering the action necessary to correct it,
including discontinuance of illegal use of the municipal sewer system,
and abatement of nuisance condition. A copy of such notice shall be
maintained as a permanent record.
(c)
Legal action. When the action described in subsection (b) of this section does not result in the correction or abatement of the violation or nuisance condition, the City council, after notice from the appropriate City official, is hereby authorized to direct the City attorney to institute any and all actions and proceedings, either legal or equitable, including actions seeking injunctions of violations and the imposing of fines, that may be available or necessary to enforce the provisions of this article in the name of the City.
(d)
Penalty; additional remedies.
(1)
Any person, including but not limited to a landowner, a landowner's
agent or a contractor, who violates any provision of this article
shall be penalized in accordance with 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4452.
(2)
In addition, the City shall be entitled to all of the relief,
including its costs and legal fees, as allowed by 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4452.
Notwithstanding any provision to the contrary, including the provisions
of 30-A M.R.S.A. § 4452, the City shall be entitled to judgment
against any violator for its costs, expert witness fees, code enforcement
expenses and attorneys' fees incurred in enforcing this article.
(3)
The City shall also have the right to enforce this article through
civil action, either at law or equity. The enforcement provisions
contained in this section shall exist in addition to those which may
exist under state statutory law or Rule 80K of the Maine Rules of
Civil Procedure, or any other court rule or statutory provision.
(4)
Each and every day of violation shall constitute a new and separate
offense for which a minimum penalty of $100 shall be assessed.
[Ord. No. 45-1999, § 1200.00, 2-1-2000]
Unless specified in this article, this article does not repeal
any other law, ordinance, regulation, rule, code or otherwise lawful
deed restriction or covenant. Whenever the requirements of this article
are at variance with the regulations or restrictions of any other
lawfully adopted law, ordinance, rule or regulation imposed by any
governmental authority or any deed restriction or covenant, that which
is more restrictive or imposes the higher standards or requirements
shall govern. Notwithstanding any other provisions of this article,
no premises shall be used or maintained in violation of any state
or federal pollution control or environmental protection law or regulation.
[Ord. No. 45-1999, § 1000.0, 2-1-2000]
(a)
Generally. The City council shall establish sewage charges for the
connection to and use of public sewer facilities to be paid by every
owner of an establishment whose building sewer connects directly or
indirectly into public sewers. Such sewage charges shall be in proportion
to the quantity of water supplied to every such premises, subject
to just and equitable discounts and abatements in exceptional cases.
(b)
Interest on unpaid charges. An interest charge at the same rate as
established by the City council for uncollected taxes will be made
on all bills not paid prior to the due date of the invoice.
(c)
Industrial users. A special sewage service charge shall be established
by the City for any industrial firm or organization which, by virtue
of the volume, strength or unusual characteristics of its waste alone,
would overload or upset the capacity or efficiency of the sewage works
or any part thereof if such waste entered the public sewer, or whose
waste disposal situation is such that it would be in the public interest
to waive the basic requirements. The City council, after appropriate
study, may from time to time establish a special sewer service charge
to such industrial firm by separate agreement with such firm. The
applicable portions of this article, as well as the equitable rights
of the public, shall be the basis for such an arrangement. No such
special sewer charge shall extend for more than two years and such
charges may be modified due to material charges of law, changes of
operating costs, or other reasonable circumstances which make the
initial sewer charge unfair or inequitable in the view of the City
council.
[Ord. No. 45-1999, § 200.0, 2-1-2000]
(a)
Unsanitary deposits. 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 City, or in any area under jurisdiction
of the City, any human or animal excrement, gray water, garbage, sewage
or other objectionable waste. For purposes of this section, the term
"unsanitary manner" shall not include reasonable spreading of animal
excrement or other fertilizer in farming or animal husbandry operations
or septage disposed of at a septage site licensed by the state department
of environmental protection and operated in compliance with all state
department of environmental protection site regulations.
(b)
Discharge of sewage to natural outlet. It shall be unlawful to discharge
to any natural outlet within the City, or in any area under the jurisdiction
of the City, any sewage or other polluted water, except where suitable
treatment has been provided in accordance with the provisions of this
article and the requirements of the state.
(c)
Privies, septic tanks and cesspools. It shall be unlawful to construct
or maintain any privy, privy vault, septic tank, cesspool, or other
facility intended or used for the disposal of sewage, except where
no public sewage facilities are available. Such systems shall be in
compliance with the state subsurface wastewater disposal rules.
(d)
Connection to public sewer. Except as provided in this article, the
owners of all houses, buildings, or properties used for human occupancy,
employment, recreation, or other purposes requiring the disposal of
sewage situated within the City and abutting on any street, alley,
or right-of-way in which there is located a public sanitary sewer
of the City are hereby required at their 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, provided that the public sewer is within 200 feet of
the structure containing internal plumbing.
[Ord. No. 45-1999, § 900.1, 2-1-2000]
No person shall maliciously, willfully, or negligently break,
damage, destroy, uncover, deface or tamper with any structure, appurtenance
or equipment which is a part of the sewage works. Any person violating
this section shall be subject to prosecution criminally or civilly
or both.
[Ord. No. 45-1999, § 900.2, 2-1-2000]
Before a permit will be issued for construction of building
sewers, or sewers, or sewer extensions, pump stations and/or treatment
structures, except on private property, the construction contractor
must present a certificate of insurance showing minimum liability
coverage of $1,000,000/$2,000,000 for bodily injury and a $100,000
limit for property damage including collapse and underground coverage.
