[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, § 1; as amended by Ord. 423,
9/9/1987, § 18-101]
BOROUGH
The Borough of Liberty, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
BUILDING DRAIN or HOUSE DRAIN
The part of the lowest horizontal piping of the drainage
system which receives the sewage or discharge from soil, waste and
other drainage pipes inside the walls of a building and conveys it
to the building sewer, beginning five feet outside the inner face
of the building wall.
GARBAGE
Solid wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing
of food, and from the handling, storage and sale of produce.
INSPECTOR
The person appointed by the Borough of Liberty to inspect
sewage works, including both public and semi-public sewers, and including
also inspection of building sewers and all other connections between
occupied homes and other buildings and the public sewers.
OCCUPIED BUILDING
Any structure erected and intended for continuous or periodic
habitation, occupancy or use by human beings or animals, and from
which structure sanitary sewage and industrial wastes, or either thereof,
is or may be discharged.
PERSON
Any individual, firm, company, association, corporation,
or other legal entity.
PREMISES ACCESSIBLE TO THE SANITARY SEWERAGE SYSTEM
Any real estate which adjoins, abuts or is adjacent to the
public sanitary sewerage system, or any real estate which might be
connected to that system by construction of a building sewer of not
more than 200 feet in length.
PUBLIC SANITARY SEWER
A sanitary sewer which has been constructed or is owned by
the Borough of Liberty, or has been constructed by private parties
and has been accepted by the Borough of Liberty as a sanitary sewer.
PUBLIC SEWER
A sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal
rights, and is controlled by public authority.
SANITARY SEWER
A sewer which carries sewage and to which storm, surface
and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.
SEWAGE
A combination of water-created wastes from the residences,
business and commercial buildings, apartments, institutions and industrial
establishments together with such ground, surface, or stormwater as
may be present.
SEWER
A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage or other public waste
liquids.
SEWER SYSTEM
All separate sanitary sewers, all combined sewers, all sewage
pumping stations, and all other facilities provided and owned by the
Borough of Liberty, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, for the collection,
transportation and treatment of sanitary sewage and industrial wastes
with their appurtenances, and any additions, extensions, improvements
thereto that may be made by the Borough. It shall also include sewers
within or outside the Borough limits, which serve two or more occupied
buildings and discharge into the Borough sanitary sewerage system,
even though those sewers may not have been constructed by Borough
funds. It does not include separate storm sewers or culverts which
have been constructed for the sole purpose of carrying storm and surface
runoff, the discharge from which is not and does not become tributary
to the Borough's sewage treatment facilities.
SHALL
Is mandatory; May is permissive.
[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, § 2]
1. Within 90 days after the passage of this Part, the owner or owners
of all occupied buildings located on premises now accessible to a
public sanitary sewer shall connect, or cause to be connected, the
said building or buildings with the sanitary sewer to which the property
is accessible, in the manner hereinafter provided.
2. Further, that hereinafter as public sanitary sewers are provided
in areas of the Borough of Liberty, the owners of all occupied buildings
accessible to such public sanitary sewers so laid and provided shall,
within 90 days after notice given, connect, or cause to be connected,
the said occupied buildings with the sanitary sewer to which the property
is accessible, in the manner hereinafter provided.
[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, §§ 3 to 5]
1. When connection has been made with the public sanitary sewer, the
owner or owners of such property shall forthwith abandon any and all
privies, privy vaults, cesspools and septic tanks then existing on
said premises and shall use them no longer. Any and all connections
or connection between a cesspool or septic tank and the occupied building
which has been served, shall be broken or destroyed in such a manner
that sanitary sewage can no longer enter therein.
2. From and after the passage of this Part it shall be unlawful for
any person, firm or corporation to connect any privy, privy vault,
cesspool, septic tank or any other type of disposal receptacle or
structure to any public sanitary sewer in the Borough of Liberty.
3. From and after the passage of this Part it shall be unlawful, in
areas where public sanitary sewers have been provided and where the
owner or owners of premises have been directed to make connection
with a public sanitary sewer, or are by this Part duty-bound so to
do, to connect the occupied buildings with a privy, privy vault, cesspool,
septic tank or any other type of disposal receptacle or structure.
[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, § 6]
In all cases where a sanitary sewer connection is made from
an occupied building to the sanitary sewer system, either vitrified
clay, asbestos cement or cast iron pipe of the kind and quality hereinafter
specified and of at least six inches inside diameter shall be used.
Where the ground is firm and provides a good foundation, vitrified
clay pipe or asbestos-cement pipe may be used. On filled ground or
on ground which is not firm, cast iron pipe shall be used. The house
sewer shall be laid to an even grade and straight alignment to the
public sanitary sewer. The grade for six-inch pipe shall not be less
than 1/8 inch per foot. Pipe shall be laid with full and even bearing
and no block supports will be allowed. Bell holes shall be dug to
allow sufficient space to properly make each joint. Backfill shall
be tamped uniformly around the pipe. All work shall be done in a workmanlike
manner and shall provide a durable installation. Vitrified clay pipe
shall be of the bell and spigot salt-glazed type. The pipe shall meet
the requirements of "A.S.T.M. Designation C-13 Standard Strength Clay
Sewer Pipe," with latest revisions, for laying depths not to exceed
eight feet, and "A.S.T.M. Designation C200, Extra Strength Clay Pipe,"
with latest revisions for laying depths greater than eight feet. Joints
for vitrified clay pipe shall be the preformed type of neoprene, plastisol
or rubber, in accordance with "A.S.T.M. Designation C-425, Vitrified
Clay Pipe Joints Using Materials Having Resilient Properties," with
latest revisions. Asbestos-Cement pipe shall conform with "A.S.T.M.
Designation C-428, Asbestos-Cement Non-Pressure Sewer Pipe," with
latest revisions. Class 1500 pipe may be used for laying depths not
to exceed eight feet. Class 2400 pipe shall be used for laying depths
greater than eight feet. Couplings shall conform to the standards
of the manufacturer of the pipe with which the couplings will be used.
Cast iron pipe shall conform with "A.S.A. Specifications A 40.1, Cast
Iron Soil Pipe and Fittings," with latest revisions. Only "extra heavy"
pipe shall be used and all pipe and fittings shall be plainly marked
with the letter "XH" to denote class. The lead in the bell shall have
a minimum depth of one inch and shall be adequately caulked.
[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, § 7; as amended by Ord. 355,
4/3/1979, § 1; and by Ord. 423, 9/9/1987, § 18-105]
1. All connections to sewer lines that are a part of the sewerage system
will be made by the Borough. Upon application for a service connection
by a property owner or the developer of a subdivision, or the Borough
will insert a connection with a six-inch branch for each house and
provide an adequate bend to bring the service connection at right
angles to the sewer main and extend a six-inch vitrified clay service
connection to the curbline adjoining the connecting property. The
property owner or developer shall be financially responsible to the
Borough of Liberty for the cost of providing any and all service connections
from the public sewer to the curbline. Beyond this point, the property
owner shall install the building sewer at his own expense, making
the proper connection to his house sewer. Curblines are hereby defined
as being 15 feet from the center of the improved surface of the street
or at least to the edge of the paved roadway, whichever distance is
the greater. Where sewers are laid in rights-of-way, the service connection
will be laid by the Borough to the edge of the permanent right-of-way
in existence but in no event more than 15 feet from the center line
of the sewer.
2. Maintenance and repair of the building sewer is the responsibility
of the property owner from the occupied building to the public sewer.
Connections to public sewers in rights-of-way shall, in all respects,
meet the same specifications as when the sewer is in a public street.
The property owner shall make application to the Borough for permission
to connect to the public sewer on forms supplied by the Borough.
3. Unless written permission is obtained from an authorized Borough
representative, separate connections will be required for each individual
occupied building whether constructed as a detached unit or as one
of a pair or row but a single connection will be permitted to serve
a school, factory, apartment house or other permanent multiple unit
structure whose individual apartments or units may not be subject
to separate ownership.
4. A single connection will be permitted to serve a double house in
which the internal plumbing waste system is common to both units or
is not readily separable. In such case, a tap-in application shall
state and show by an eight and one half-inch by eleven-inch sketch
the specific conditions of the houses to be tapped in. The Borough
assumes no obligation or responsibility caused by or resulting from
such a single connection.
[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, § 8]
No basement seepage or ground water drainage or any other uncontaminated
source of water shall be discharged to the sanitary sewerage system
and all applicants desiring connection to the sewerage system shall
by the submission of their application certify that no ground water
or seepage drains are or shall be connected to their system. After
connection to the sewer is made, the applicant shall maintain his
house system in such a manner that no such seepage or drainage enters
the sanitary sewage system.
[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, § 9]
1. No downspouts, roof drainage or surface or areaway drainage shall
be connected into the public sanitary sewerage system, and before
attachment to the sewer system, the property owner or applicant for
service shall remove such connections and adequately and properly
plug his house sewer system to prevent the entrance of any downspout,
roof, surface or areaway drainage.
2. No downspout, roof, surface or areaway drainage shall be permitted
to remain connected into the public sanitary sewerage system after
the effective date of this Part. Each property owner whose property
is presently connected to the public sanitary sewerage system shall
immediately remove any connections of the aforesaid type and adequately
and properly plug his house sewer system to prevent any further entrance
of any downspout, roof, surface or areaway drainage.
[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, § 10]
Each user of the system, before connections are made thereto,
shall provide in his house sewer system, just outside the building
wall, a trap with a fresh air vent on the house side, in accordance
with standards approved by the Borough of Liberty.
[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, § 11]
No cross-connections shall be made between the sanitary sewerage
system and the potable water system whereby vacuums or back siphonage
could permit sanitary wastes to enter the potable water system. No
cross-connections shall be made between the sanitary sewerage system
and storm drainage or storm sewers.
[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, § 13; as amended by Ord.
423, 9/9/1987, § 18-110]
The inspector and other duly authorized employees of the Borough,
bearing proper credentials and identification, shall be permitted
to enter upon all properties for the purpose of inspection, observation,
sampling, testing and re-testing in order to insure compliance with
all provisions of this Part.
[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, § 14; as amended by Ord.
379, 2/3/1981, § 1; by Ord. 461, 2/4/1998, § 1;
and by Ord. 475, 11/3/1999, § 1]
1. No person, firm or corporation shall make or cause to be made any
connection of his property with any public sanitary sewer until he
has fulfilled all of the following conditions:
A. He shall apply to the Borough of Liberty for permission to connect
to the public sewer system.
B. He shall pay a tap or connection charge of $1,000 to the Borough
of Liberty. Said tap or connection charge shall consist of a charge
of $975 for the privilege of making the connection plus a $25 inspection
fee.
C. No work shall commence before the issuance of a connection permit.
D. He shall have given the Sewer Inspector at least 24 hours' notice
of the time when such connection shall be made, in order that the
sewer inspector can be present to supervise and the work of connection.
E. At the time of inspection, the owner or owners of properties shall
allow and permit the full and complete inspection of all sanitary
and drainage arrangements and facilities in his building and in and
about all parts of his property.
2. All work contemplated by this Part shall be under the direct supervision
and inspection of the Sewer Inspector or other duly authorized representation
appointed by the Borough of Liberty and no building sewer line shall
be covered over or in any manner concealed until after it is inspected,
tested and approved by said Sewer Inspector or other representative.
[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, §§ 15, 16]
1. Hereafter, when sanitary sewers have become available to any property
and the property owner or owners have failed to connect or cause to
be connected his, her or their property to the sanitary sewer, the
Borough of Liberty may give or cause to be given written notice to
the said owner or owners to connect or cause to be connected his,
her, or their property to the sanitary sewer within 90 days from the
date thereof, and failure to comply with the said notice shall subject
the property owner or owners to the penalties of this Part.
2. If the owner or owners of any occupied building or buildings shall
neglect or refuse to comply with the provisions of this Part, the
Borough of Liberty may serve a written notice upon said owner or owners,
upon the tenants or party in possession of the premises if said owner
or owners cannot be found on the said premises, requiring said owner
or owners to comply with the provisions of this Part, in every respect,
within 90 days after the service of such notice, and if said owner
or owners shall neglect or refuse to comply with said notice, the
Borough of Liberty may perform or cause to be performed such work
and labor, and furnish or cause to be furnished such material as may
be necessary to comply with the provisions of this Part at the cost
and expense of such owner or owners together with 10% additional thereof,
and all charges and expenses incident thereto, which sum shall be
collected from said owner or owners for the use of the Borough of
Liberty as debts are by law collectible or the said Borough of Liberty
may, by its proper officer, file a municipal claim a lien therefor
against said premises as provided by the Act or Acts of Assembly in
such cases made and provided.
[Ord. 250, 6/22/1961, § 17; as amended by Ord.
423, 9/9/1987, § 18-113; and by A.O.]
Any person, firm or corporation who shall violate any provision
of this Part, upon conviction thereof in an action brought before
a magisterial district judge in the manner provided for the enforcement
of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure,
shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000 plus costs
and, in default of payment of said fine and costs, to a term of imprisonment
not to exceed 90 days. Each day that a violation of this Part continues
or each section of this Part which shall be found to have been violated
shall constitute a separate offense.