[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Health of the Town of Easton 5-1-1979; amended in its entirety 5-2-2017. Subsequent amendments noted
where applicable.]
The Board of Health in the Town of Easton, Bristol County, Massachusetts,
in accordance with and under the authority of Section 31 of Chapter
111 of the General Laws of the Commonwealth, hereby adopts the following
regulations at a meeting of the Board of Health, on Monday, May 1,
2017.
Purpose of these regulations:
A.
To protect the public by enhancing environmental investigation, documentation,
design, construction and final approval for an on-site system for
disposal of sewage.
B.
To protect all parties involved in a real estate transfer when a
subsurface sewage disposal system inspection is performed for a dwelling
or dwelling unit that has been unoccupied for a length of time, and/or
has had a decrease in water consumption, and/or individual component(s)
that has been replaced or altered due to a Title 5 inspection report.
C.
To protect groundwater from uses and waste streams that may be deemed
hazardous.
For disposal works installer's Permits, such permits shall
expire at the end of the calendar year in which they are issued unless
earlier revoked for cause by the Board of Health.
Disposal system construction permit applications which are not
complete will not be accepted. In addition to the application form
and fee, the required copies of the septic design plans bearing the
original stamps and signatures of the design professional and Professional
Land Surveyor are required.
In the absence of mottling, groundwater must be determined during
the period from December 1 through April 30.
A minimum of two percolation tests will be required per septic
system. Percolation tests performed prior to January 1, 1996 will
not be recognized for design purposes.
All sieve/hydrometer analysis samples shall be taken in the
presence of the Board of Health agent.
A.
The plans submitted as part of a DWCP application must contain the
following information: The plan must list correct pertinent elevations;
a revision block shall be included of each revision with a brief description
of the changes made. Spot elevations and one-foot contours shall be
used to indicate the ground elevations over the leaching area, and
if necessary, the slope at the breakout elevation. All grading shall
direct the surface water away from the foundation and garage floor
elevation. The drainage shall be designed to drain the property satisfactorily
and to prevent adverse storm water drainage conditions on adjoining
property. The proposed final grading shall be shown in the septic
system profile. Sufficient additional elevations must be shown, including
final grades at each of the four corners of the building to indicate
clearly how the surface drainage on the property is to be handled.
B.
No changes shall be made to approved plans without obtaining prior
Board of Health approval.
C.
An approved plan must be on site during the construction of the septic
system.
Upon completion of the excavation for the leaching facility,
the Board of Health must be notified and the soil at the bottom of
the leaching facility inspected by a representative of the Board and
approved before construction is continued. Inspection requests must
be received by the office at least 24 hours in advance.
A.
The Certificate of Compliance will not be granted until the designing
professional has provided the office with the required paper copies
of the As-Built Plan.
B.
An As-Built plan meeting the specifications in § 350-10C shall be required prior to the issuance of the Certificate of Compliance, in all cases, except for the repair, replacement in same location of a tank, pipe or distribution box. In these instances, the Approving Authority or its designee may allow a drawing showing the distances from a known structure to the system component.
C.
Specifications. The As-Built plan shall bear the following information:
the stamp of the design professional with signature, date, location
of the existing structure with the layout of the sewage disposal system,
existing elevations, schedules for the sewage disposal system(s) including
invert elevations at the building foundation, entrance and exit to
the septic tank, entrance and exit to the distribution box, the beginning
and end of the leaching facility, elevation of top of foundation,
location of private wells within 100 feet of the leaching facility,
water service, impervious barrier, and finished grading shown in one-foot
contours over all the septic system components and where breakout
elevations are required. The As-Built is a recognized alternative
method to locate the system's components once buried.
For all variance and Local upgrade approval request(s) that
are required to go before the Board of Health, the applicant's
design professional must attend a Board of Health meeting for review
of the requests. The design professional may submit a request in writing,
prior to meeting, asking that a designee from the same company, holding
the title of PLS, SIT, EIT, PE or RS be allowed to attend the meeting
and present the variance request or Local upgrade approval request(s).
All variance and Local upgrade approval request(s) must be received
by the Board of Health office at least 10 calendar days prior to the
meeting date.
A.
Title 5 System inspector. All Title 5 State inspectors must also
be permitted by the Easton Board of Health. Each State licensed Title
5 inspector shall fill out the proper permit application and submit
a copy of their current Title V inspection license from the State
along with the applicable fee. Such permits shall expire at the end
of the calendar year in which they are issued unless earlier revoked
for cause by the Board of Health.
B.
Inspection Reports must be submitted to Town of Easton Board of Health
using the most updated State form and must be accompanied by the appropriate
fee. All Title 5 reports submitted must be accompanied by the preceding
24 months of water usage records (from the inspection date). Any reports
submitted by an unlicensed or unpermitted inspector and/or without
the required water usage records or payment of fee will be returned.
C.
During the inspection, if any of the following conditions are noted,
they must be corrected:
(1)
If plastic covers are used at grade, they must be sand or concrete
filled and screwed down with at least four 2 1/2 inch plus screws.
(2)
All potable wells within 100 feet of a leaching area must be tested
as part of the inspection for bacteria and nitrogen. A copy of well
results must accompany the completed inspection report.
All properties inspected within the Town of Easton which reveal
a reduction in water consumption, and/or have been vacant for a period
of time exceeding one month, resulting in a reduction of water consumption
and/or an individual component(s) that has been replaced or altered
due to a Title 5 inspection report will be required to be inspected
three to six months after normal consumption has been resumed. Normal
water consumption shall be determined by reviewing two years water
consumption history prior to reduction. Water records shall be used
to determine that normal use of the building has resumed.
A.
Until the follow-up inspection has been completed, the septic system's
certification statement will be classified "Needs further evaluation
by the local approving authority."
B.
The follow-up inspection shall be conducted by the same inspector
who performed the initial inspection, unless prior approval is granted
by the Board of Health for a different inspector.
C.
Normal consumption is defined as a family's average daily flow
as long as it does not exceed the daily design flow for that property's
septic system.
D.
In the case where a system component is in need of repair or replacement
and permitted as a minor repair, all certificates of compliance issued
shall be marked "not for use in real estate transfer/Re-inspection
required."
A.
Any person who shall violate any provision of these regulations for
which a penalty is not otherwise provided for in any of the General
Laws or in any other provisions of Title 5 or Title 1 of the Environmental
Code (310 CMR 11.00) shall, upon conviction, be fined not less than
$10 nor more than $500.
B.
Any person who shall fail to comply with any Order issued pursuant
to the provisions of these regulations shall, upon conviction, be
fined not less than $10 nor more than $500. Each day's failure
to comply with an Order shall constitute a separate violation.
