[Adopted 12-28-1995 by Ord. No. 95-6; amended in its entirety 2-15-2010 by Ord. No. 2010-02]
This article sets forth and incorporates by reference uniform
requirements for direct and indirect contributors into wastewater
collection and treatment system for Union Township and enables the
Township to comply with all applicable state and federal laws required
under the Act and any regulations promulgated thereunder.
A.
The objectives of this article are:
(1)
To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the Township's wastewater
system which will interfere with the operation of the system or contaminate
the resulting sludge;
(2)
To prevent the introduction of pollutants into the Township's wastewater
system which will pass through the system inadequately treated, into
receiving waters or the atmosphere or otherwise be incompatible with
the system;
(3)
To improve the opportunity to recycle and reclaim wastewaters and
sludges from the system;
(4)
To provide for equitable distribution of the cost of the Township's
wastewater system.
B.
This article provides for the regulation of direct and indirect contributors
to the Township's wastewater system through the issuance of permits
to certain nondomestic users and through enforcement of general requirements
for the other users; authorizes monitoring and enforcement activities;
requires user reporting; assumes that existing customers' capacity
will not be preempted; and provides for the setting of fees for the
equitable distribution of costs resulting from the program established
herein.
C.
Except as otherwise provided herein, the Township empowers the Authority
to administer, implement and enforce all of the public sewer collection
provisions, permitting requirements, reporting and monitoring, charges
and enforcement provisions in accordance with the Authority's Rules
and Regulations. The Union Township Municipal Authority's Rules and
Regulations shall supplement this article and are incorporated herein
by reference. The Authority, in the conduct of its delegated powers,
shall act consistent with the relevant collection and treatment sections
of the POTW owner's Rules and Regulations, which are also incorporated
herein by reference, and shall be enforced within the Township.
Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the terms
and phrases as used herein shall be as follows and shall be supplemented
by the meanings, terms, abbreviations and phrases referenced in the
Union Township Municipal Authority's Rules and Regulations.
The Union Township Municipal Authority of Berks County, Pennsylvania,
a municipal authority incorporated pursuant to provisions of the Municipalities
Act of 1945, approved May 2, 1945, P.L. 392, as amended and supplemented,
of the commonwealth.
The sewage drainage system from a building constructed on
any improved property to the lateral serving such improved property,
including any grinder pump or pressure sewer or similar apparatus
or facilities installed by the owner and which are located on such
improved property. The Township is responsible for inspection through
a Plumbing Inspector for this part of the sewage drainage system.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Any property within this Township upon which there is erected
a building or structure intended for continuous or periodic habitation,
occupancy or use by human beings or animals and from which structure
sanitary sewage and/or industrial wastes shall be or may be discharged.
Any improved property used, in whole or in part, for the
manufacturing, processing, cleaning, laundering or assembling of any
product, commodity or article, or from which any process waste, as
distinct from domestic waste, shall be discharged.
Any liquid or gaseous substance, whether or not solids are
contained therein, discharged from any industrial establishment during
the course of any industrial, manufacturing, trade or business process
or in the course of the development, recovery or processing of natural
resources, as distinct from sanitary sewage.
That part of the sewer system extending from a sewer to the
curbline or, if there shall be no curbline, to the property line or,
if no such lateral shall be provided, then "lateral" shall mean that
portion of or place in a sewer which is provided for connection of
any building sewer.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any improved property.
Any individual, partnership, copartnership, firm, company,
corporation, association, joint stock company, trust, estate or governmental
entity, or any other legal entity, or their legal representatives,
agents or assigns.
A treatment works as defined by Section 212 of the Act (33
U.S.C. § 1292), which is owned by a municipality. Currently
there are two POTWs serving Union Township, namely the Birdsboro Municipal
Authority in the west and Amity Township in the east.
Normal, water-carried household and toilet wastes from any
improved property.
Any pipe or conduit constituting a part of the sewer system
used or usable for sewage collection purposes.
All facilities, as of any particular time, for collecting,
pumping, transmitting, treatment and disposing of sanitary sewage
and/or industrial wastes, situate in or adjacent to this Township
and owned by the Authority.
Includes any street, road, lane, court, cul-de-sac, alley,
public way or public square, including such streets as are dedicated
to public use and such streets as may be owned by private persons.
The Township of Union, Berks County, Pennsylvania, a municipal
subdivision of the commonwealth, acting by and through its Board of
Supervisors or, in appropriate cases, acting by and through its authorized
representatives.
A.
The Union Township Municipal Authority Rules and Regulations are
hereby incorporated by reference, including but not limited to those
established to govern the charging of fees, issuance and revocation
of discharge permits, reporting, compliance reports, compliance monitoring,
cease-and-desist orders, violation orders, administrative enforcement
remedies and hearings, legal prosecutions and penalties as they relate
to the sewer system. Full and complete copies of the Authority Rules
and Regulations, latest edition, shall be maintained on file at all
times and be available for public use and purchase at the Township
offices.
B.
The relevant sections of the POTW Rules and Regulations and/or Ordinances,
including but not limited to those governing prohibited discharge
standards, federal pretreatment standards, state pretreatment standards,
local limits, special discharge agreements, dilution, pretreatment
facilities, pretreatment measures, accidental discharge, and sledge
control, are hereby incorporated by reference as though more fully
set forth herein, including such other relevant sections as are necessary
to determine definitions, abbreviations and interpretations. Full
and complete copies of the POTW Rules and Regulations or Ordinances,
latest edition, shall be maintained on file at all times and be available
for public use and purchase at the Township offices.
If permission cannot be obtained by the Authority from the user
or the user's agent, for any purpose under this article, to access
any portion or any part of the user's property, the applicable procedure
for obtaining an administrative search warrant shall be undertaken
by the Township or Township agent, upon request by the Authority,
through any competent judicial authority.
It is contemplated that notification of violations to users,
the monitoring of satisfactory correction, the issuance of cease-and-desist
orders and the conduct of show-cause hearings, as well as the implementation
of any legal enforcement actions, shall preliminarily be undertaken
by the Authority, as more fully set forth in the Authority Rules and
Regulations. Additionally, the enforcement of violations and the imposition
of penalties under the Authority Rules and Regulations, or the relevant
sections of the POTW owner's Rules and Regulations, shall not preclude
the Township from pursuing such other actions at law or in equity
as are available to the Township to restrain, correct or abate violations
and to prosecute penalties.
In addition to being subject to the penalty provisions and the prosecutions thereunder by the Authority and/or the POTW owner, any user who is found to have violated an order of the Township or who willfully or negligently fails to comply with any provision of this article and the orders, rules, regulations and permits issued hereunder shall be subject to the penalties set forth in Chapter 1, Article III, General Penalty, of this Code. Each day that a violation shall continue shall be deemed and shall be taken to be a separate offense and shall be punishable as such.
Any person who knowingly makes any false statements, representation or certification in any application, record, report, plan or other document filed or required to be maintained pursuant to this article or wastewater contribution permit or who falsifies, tampers with or knowingly renders inaccurate any monitoring device or method required under this article shall be subject to the penalties set forth in Chapter 1, Article III, General Penalty, of this Code.
