[Ord. No. 4-97A, 4/8/1997, Art. I]
Unless the context specifically and clearly indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms and phrases used in this Part shall be as follows:
BUILDING SEWER
The extension from the sewage drainage system of any structure to the lateral of a sewer.
IMPROVED PROPERTY
Any property located within this Township upon which there is erected a 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.
INDUSTRIAL ESTABLISHMENT
Any improved property located in this Township used wholly or in part for the manufacturing, processing, cleaning, laundering or assembly of any product, commodity or article, or any other improved property located in this Township from which wastes, in addition to or other than sanitary sewage, are discharged.
INDUSTRIAL WASTES
Any and all wastes discharged from an industrial establishment, other than sanitary sewage.
LATERAL
Part of the sewer system extending from a sewer to the curbline or, if there shall be no curbline, extending 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.
OWNER
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole or partial, of any improved property.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, company, association, society, corporation or other group or entity.
SANITARY SEWAGE
Normal water-carried household and toilet wastes discharged from any improved property.
SEWER
Any pipe or conduit constituting a part of the sewer system used or usable for sewage collection purposes, including a building sewer and a lateral.
SEWER SYSTEM
All facilities, as of any particular time, for collecting, transporting and/or pumping, treating and/or disposing of sanitary sewage and/or industrial wastes, situate in this Township, to be constructed, acquired, owned, maintained and operated by the Township to serve the Village of Fernville.
TOWNSHIP
The Township of Hemlock, Columbia County, Pennsylvania, acting by and through its Board of Supervisors, or, in appropriate cases, by and through its authorized representatives.
[Ord. No. 4-97A, 4/8/1997, Art. II]
1. 
The owner of any improved property located in this Township adjoining or adjacent to or whose principal building is within 150 feet from the sewer system shall connect such improved property to the sewer system, in such manner as this Township may require, within 60 days after notice to such owner from this Township to make such connection, for the purpose of discharge of all sanitary sewage and industrial wastes from such improved property, subject to such limitations and restrictions as shall be established herein or otherwise shall be established by this Township from time to time.
2. 
All sanitary sewage and industrial wastes from any improved property, after connection of such improved property with a sewer shall be required under Subsection 1, shall be conducted into a sewer, subject to such limitations and restrictions as shall be established herein or otherwise shall be established by this Township from time to time.
3. 
No person shall place or deposit or permit to be placed or deposited upon public or private property within this Township any sanitary sewage or industrial wastes in violation of Subsection 1.
4. 
No privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle shall be used and maintained at any time upon any improved property which has been connected to a sewer or which shall be required under Subsection 1 to be connected to a sewer. Every such privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle in existence shall be abandoned and, at the discretion of this Township, shall be cleansed and filled at the expense of the owner of such improved property and under the direction and supervision of this Township; and any such privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle not so abandoned and, if required by this Township, cleansed and filled, shall constitute a nuisance and such nuisance may be abated as provided by law, at the expense of the owner of such improved property.
5. 
No privy vault, cesspool, sinkhole, septic tank or similar receptacle at any time shall be connected with a sewer.
6. 
The notice by this Township to make a connection to a sewer, referred to in Subsection 1, shall consist of a written or printed document requiring such connection in accordance with the provisions of this Part and specifying that such connection shall be made within 60 days from the date such notice is given. Such notice may be given at any time after a sewer is in place which can receive and convey sanitary sewage and industrial wastes for treatment and disposal from the particular improved property. Such notice shall be served upon the owner either by personal service or by certified mail or by such other method as at the time may be provided by law.
7. 
If the owner of any improved property located in this Township and adjoining or adjacent to or whose principal building is within 150 feet from the sewer system, after 60 days' notice from this Township, in accordance with Subsection 1, shall fail to connect such improved property, as required, this Township may make such connection and may collect from such owner the costs and expenses thereof. In such case, this Township shall forthwith, upon completion of the work, send an itemized bill of the cost of the construction of such connection to the owner of the improved property to which connection has been so made, which bill shall be payable immediately or if the owner of such improved property fails to pay said bill, this Township shall file a municipal lien for the cost of said construction within six months of the date of the completion of said connection. In the alternative, the Township may initiate an appropriate action in law or equity to compel any such connection to be made.
[Ord. No. 4-97A, 4/8/1997, Art. III]
1. 
No person shall uncover, connect with, make any opening into or use, alter or disturb, in any manner, any sewer or the sewer system without first satisfying all requirements of this Part.
2. 
No person shall make, or cause to be made, a connection of any improved property with the sewer system until such person shall have fulfilled each of the following requirements:
A. 
Such person shall have obtained a connection permit and paid the applicable connection fee established by resolution of the Township.
B. 
Such person shall have given the Township at least twenty-four hours' notice of the time when such connection will be made in order that the Township's inspection officer may supervise and inspect the work of connection and necessary testing.
C. 
All connections shall be made by contractors who have registered with the Township as provided hereafter.
3. 
All costs and expenses of construction of a building sewer and all costs and expenses of connection of a building sewer to a lateral shall be borne by the owner of the improved property to be connected; and such owner shall indemnify and save harmless this Township from all loss or damage that may be occasioned, directly or indirectly, as a result of construction of a building sewer or of connection of a building sewer to a sewer.
[Ord. No. 4-97A, 4/8/1997, § IV; as amended by Ord. No. 11-11-2014, 11/11/2014]
1. 
Except as otherwise provided in this subsection, each improved property shall be connected separately and independently with a sewer through a building sewer. Grouping of more than one improved property on one building sewer shall not be permitted, except under special circumstances and for good sanitary reasons or other good cause shown, and then only after special permission of this Township, in writing, shall have been secured.
2. 
A building sewer shall be connected to a sewer at the place designated by Township and where the lateral is provided.
3. 
An existing building sewer may be used in making the connection with the sewer system, provided that it meets the requirements of this Part and any supplemental rules and regulations adopted pursuant hereto, and it is approved by the Township's inspection officer.
4. 
The materials and specifications for building sewers shall be as follows:
A. 
The building sewer shall be ABS plastic or PVC plastic pipe, ASTM specifications or equal; ductile iron soil pipe, ASTM specifications or equal; vitrified clay sewer pipe, ASTM specifications or equal; or other suitable material approved by the Township's inspection officer and laid on a suitable base in a suitable manner. Ductile iron pipe may be required by the inspection officer where the building sewer is exposed to damage by tree roots or is installed in filled or unstable ground.
B. 
The size and slope of the building sewer shall be subject to the approval of the inspection officer; provided, however, that no building sewer shall be less than four inches in diameter.
C. 
The building sewer shall be laid at sufficient depth to afford protection from frost and shall be laid at uniform grade of not less than 0.02 ft/ft for four-inch pipe and 0.01 ft/ft for six-inch pipe or larger, and in straight alignment insofar as possible with necessary changes in direction being made only with properly curved pipe and fittings.
D. 
All joints and connections shall be made smooth, gastight and watertight. All joints and plastic pipes shall be made in strict accordance with the installation standards of the respective material manufacturer. Joints may be made by solvent welding or elastomeric process only. All solvent cements shall conform to the respective ASTM standards for the material being used. Proper adapters shall be used when joining plastics to dissimilar materials. Ductile iron pipe joints shall be made in accordance with ASTM standards. No paint, varnish, or other coatings shall be permitted on the jointing material until after the joint has been tested and approved. All joints in vitrified clay pipe or between such pipe and metals shall be made with approved hot-poured joining materials or cement mortar.
E. 
The invert of a building sewer at the point of connection to a lateral shall be at the same or higher elevation than the invert of the lateral. In any case where the exit point of building sewer from the structure is too low to permit gravity flow to the sewer system, sewage shall be lifted by approved artificial means and discharged to the sewer system at the expense of the owner.
5. 
No building sewer shall be covered until it has been inspected and approved by this Township. If any part of a building sewer is covered before so being inspected and approved, it shall be uncovered for inspection at the cost and expense of the owner of the improved property to be connected to a sewer.
6. 
Every building sewer of any improved property shall be maintained in a sanitary and safe operating condition by the owner of such improved property.
7. 
Every excavation for a building sewer shall be guarded adequately with barricades and lights to protect all persons from damage and injury. Streets, sidewalks and other public property disturbed in the course of installation of a building sewer shall be restored, at the cost and expense of the owner of the improved property being connected, in a manner satisfactory to this Township.
8. 
If any person shall fail or refuse, upon receipt of a notice of this Township, in writing, to remedy any unsatisfactory condition with respect to a building sewer, within 60 days of receipt of such notice, this Township may refuse to permit such person to discharge sanitary sewage and industrial wastes into the sewer system until such unsatisfactory condition shall have been remedied to the satisfaction of this Township.
9. 
Any contractor intending to install building sewers and make connections to the sewer system shall apply to the Township and present his or her qualifications, experience, business address, and such other information as shall be required by the Township. Upon acceptance, names of approved contractors shall be inscribed on a Township registry list. A registration fee in an amount as established from time to time by resolution of the Board of Supervisors will be charged by the Township. Evidence of failure to comply with these rules and regulations by a contractor will subject that contractor to removal from the registry list and exclusion from performing any work on the sewer system.
10. 
This Township reserves the right to adopt, from time to time, additional rules and regulations as it shall deem necessary and proper relating to connections with a sewer and the sewer system, which additional rules and regulations, to the extent appropriate, shall be and shall be construed as part of this Part.
[Ord. No. 4-97A, 4/8/1997, § V; as amended by Ord. No. 11-11-2014, 11/11/2014]
1. 
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 less than $15 nor 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.
2. 
Fines and costs imposed under provisions of this Part shall be enforceable and recoverable in the manner at the time provided by applicable law.
[Ord. No. 4-97A, 4/8/1997, Art. VII]
It is declared that enactment of this Part is necessary for the protection, benefit, and preservation of the health, safety and welfare of inhabitants of this Township.