[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Health of the Town of Easton 7-15-1996. Amendments noted where applicable.]
GENERAL REFERENCES
Hazardous materials — See Ch. 150.
A. 
Findings.
(1) 
Floor drains in industrial and commercial facilities are often tied to a system leading to a leaching structure (e.g., dry well, cesspool or leach field) or a septic system.
(2) 
Poor management practices and accidental and/or intentional discharges may lead petroleum and other toxic or hazardous materials into these drainage systems in facilities managing these products.
(3) 
Improper maintenance or inappropriate use of these systems may allow the passage of contaminants or pollutants entering the drain to discharge from the leaching structure or septic system to the ground.
(4) 
Discharges of hazardous wastes and other pollutants to floor drains leading to leaching structures and septic systems have repeatedly threatened surface and groundwater quality throughout Massachusetts.
(5) 
Surface water and groundwater resources in the Town of Easton contribute to the town's drinking water supplies.
B. 
The Town of Easton adopts the following regulation, under its authority as specified in § 316-2, as a preventative measure for the purposes of:
(1) 
Preserving and protecting the Town of Easton's drinking water resources from discharges of pollutants to the ground via floor drains.
(2) 
Minimizing the threat of economic losses to the town due to such discharges.
The Town of Easton Board of Health adopts the following regulations pursuant to authorization granted by MGL c. 111, §§ 31 and 112. The regulation shall apply, as specified herein, to all applicable facilities, existing and new, within the Town of Easton.
For the purposes of this regulation, the following words and phrases shall have the following meanings:
COMMERCIAL AND INDUSTRIAL FACILITY
A public or private establishment where the principal use is the supply, sale and/or manufacture of services, products or information, including but not limited to manufacturing, processing or other industrial operations; service or retail establishments; printing or publishing establishments; research and development facilities; small- or large-quantity generators of hazardous waste; laboratories; hospitals.
DEPARTMENT
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
DISCHARGE
The accidental or intentional disposal, deposit, injection, dumping, spilling, leaking, incineration or placing of toxic or hazardous waste upon or onto any land or water so that such hazardous waste or any constituent thereof may enter the land or waters of the Commonwealth. Discharge includes, without limitation, leakage of such materials from failed or discarded containers or storage systems and disposal of such materials into any on-site leaching structure or sewage disposal system.
FLOOR DRAIN
An intended drainage point on a floor constructed to be otherwise impervious which serves as the point of entry into any subsurface drainage, treatment, disposal, containment or other plumbing system.
LEACHING STRUCTURE
Any subsurface structure through which a fluid that is introduced will pass and enter the environment, including but not limited to drywells, leaching catch basins, cesspools, leach fields and oil/water separators that are not watertight.
OIL/WATER SEPARATOR
A device designed and installed so as to separate and retain petroleum-based oil or grease, flammable wastes as well as sand and particles from normal wastes while permitting normal sewage or liquid wastes to discharge into the drainage system by gravity. Other common names for such systems include MDC traps, gasoline and sand traps, grit and oil separators, grease traps and interceptors.
TOXIC OR HAZARDOUS MATERIAL
Any substance or mixture of physical, chemical or infectious characteristics posing a significant, actual or potential hazard to water supplies or other hazards to human health if such substance or mixture were discharged to land or water of the Town of Easton. Toxic or hazardous materials include, without limitation, synthetic organic chemicals, petroleum products, heavy metals, radioactive or infectious wastes, acids and alkalis and all substances defined as toxic or hazardous under MGL c. 21C and 21E or Massachusetts Hazardous Waste regulations (310 CMR 30.000), and also include such products as solvents, thinners and pesticides in quantities greater than normal household use.
USE OF TOXIC OR HAZARDOUS MATERIAL
The handling, generation, treatment, storage or management of toxic or hazardous materials.
With the exception of discharges that have received (or have applied for and will receive) a Department issued permit prior to the effective date of this regulation, no floor drain(s) shall be allowed to discharge, with or without pretreatment (such as an oil/water separator), to the ground, a leaching structure or septic system in any industrial or commercial facility if such floor drain is located in either:
A. 
An industrial or commercial process area;
B. 
A petroleum, toxic or hazardous materials and/or waste storage area; or
C. 
A leased facility without either Subsection A or B of this section, but in which the potential for a change of use of the property to a use which does have either Subsection A or B is, in the opinion of the Board of Health or its agent, sufficient to warrant the elimination of the ground discharge at the present.
A. 
The owner of a facility in operation prior to the effective date of this regulation with a prohibited (as defined under § 316-4) floor drain system shall:
(1) 
Disconnect and plug all applicable inlets to and outlets from (where possible) applicable leaching structures, oil/water separators and/or septic systems.
(2) 
Remove all existing sludge in oil/water separators, septic systems and, where accessible, leaching structures. Any sludge determined to be a hazardous waste shall be disposed of in accordance with the state hazardous waste regulations (310 CMR 30.000). Remedial activity involving any excavation and/or soil or groundwater sampling must be performed in accordance with appropriate Department policies.
(3) 
Alter the floor drain system so that the floor drain shall be either:
(a) 
Connected to a holding tank that meets all applicable requirements of Department policies and regulations, with hauling records submitted to the Easton Board of Health at the time of hauling;
(b) 
Connected to a municipal sanitary sewer line, if available, with all applicable Department and local permits; or;
(c) 
Permanently sealed. (Any facility sealing a drain shall be required to submit for approval to the Board of Health a hazardous waste management plan detailing the means of collecting, storing and disposing any hazardous waste generated by the facility, including any spill or other discharge of hazardous materials or wastes.)
B. 
Any oil/water separator remaining in use shall be monitored weekly, cleaned not less than every 90 days and restored to proper conditions after cleaning so as to ensure proper functioning. Records of the hauling of the removed contents of the separator shall be submitted to the Board of Health at the time of hauling.
C. 
Compliance with all revisions of this regulation must be accomplished in a manner consistent with Massachusetts Plumbing, Building and Fire Code requirements.
D. 
Upon complying with one of the options listed under Subsection A(3), the owner/operator of the facility shall notify the Department of closure of said system by filing the Department's UIC Notification Form (which may be obtained by calling 617-292-5770) with the Department and sending a copy to the Town of Easton Board of Health.
The effective date of this regulation is August 8, 1996, which shall be identical to the date of adoption of the regulation.
A. 
Existing facilities.
(1) 
Owner/operators of a facility affected by this regulation shall comply with all of its provisions within 120 days of the effective date.
(2) 
All applicable discharges to the leaching structures and septic system shall be discontinued immediately through temporary isolation or sealing of the floor drain.
B. 
New facilities.
(1) 
As of the effective date of the regulation, all new construction and/or applicable change of use within the Town of Easton shall comply with the provisions of this regulation.
(2) 
Certification of conformance with the provisions of this regulation by the Board of Health shall be required prior to issuance of construction and occupancy permits.
(3) 
The use of any new oil/water separators shall comply with the same requirements as for existing systems, as specified above in § 316-5B.
Failure to comply with provisions of this regulation will result in the levy of fines of not less than $200 but no more than $1,000. Each day's failure to comply with the provisions of this regulation shall constitute a separate violation.
Each provision of this regulation shall be construed as separate to the end that if any provision, or sentence, clause or phrase thereof, shall be held invalid for any reason, the remainder of that section and all other sections shall continue in full force and effect.