No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any stormwater,
surface waters, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, uncontaminated
cooling water, or unpolluted commercial or industrial process waters
to any public sanitary sewer.
Stormwater and all other unpolluted drainage shall be discharged
to such sewers as are specifically designated as stormwater sewers,
or to a natural outlet approved by the Maine DEP and the Director
of Public Works. Industrial cooling water or unpolluted process water
may be discharged, on approval of the Maine DEP and the Director of
Public Works, to a storm sewer or natural outlet.
No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the
following described waters or waste to any public sewers:
A. Any gasoline, benzene, naphtha, fuel oil, or other flammable or explosive
liquid, solid, or gas which will create a fire or explosive hazard
in the wastewater facilities.
B. Any waters or wastes containing toxic or poisonous solids, liquids,
or gases in sufficient quantity, either singly or in interaction with
other wastes, to injure or interfere with any sewer treatment process,
constitute a hazard to humans or animals, create a public nuisance,
or create any hazard in the receiving waters of the sewage treatment
plant.
C. Any water or waste having a pH lower than 6.5, or having any other
corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures,
equipment, and personnel of the sewage works.
D. Solids or viscous substances in quantities or of such size capable
of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers, or other interference
with the proper operation of the sewage works, such as, but not limited
to, ashes, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, bones,
feathers, tar, plastics, wood, unground garbage, fibers, whole blood,
paunch manure, hair and fleshings, entrails, paper, dishes, cups,
milk containers, or other substances which are whole or ground by
garbage grinders.
E. Any waste or pollutants, including oxygen-demanding pollutants (BOD, etc.) which released in quantities of flow or concentrations or both constitute a "slug" as defined in Article
II.
F. Any heated water or pollutants in amounts which will inhibit or interfere
with biological activity in the wastewater treatment works but in
no case heated water or pollutants in such quantities that the temperature
at the wastewater treatment works influent exceeds 104° F. (40°
C.), unless the wastewater treatment works is designed to accommodate
such heat.
No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged the following
described substances, materials, water, or waste if it appears likely,
in the opinion of the Director of Public Works, that such waste may
harm the sewers, sewage treatment process, or equipment, have an adverse
effect on the receiving streams, or may otherwise endanger life, limb,
or public property, or constitute a nuisance. In forming an opinion
as to the acceptability of these wastes, the Director of Public Works
shall consider such factors as the quantities of subject waste in
relation to flows and velocities in the sewers, materials of construction
of the sewers, nature of sewage treatment process, capacity of the
wastewater treatment plant, degree of treatability of waste in the
wastewater treatment plant, and other relevant factors. Substances
prohibited are:
A. Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than 104° F.
(40° C.).
B. Wastewater containing petroleum oil, nonbiodegradable cutting oils,
or products of mineral oil origin.
C. Any water or waste containing fats, wax, grease, or oils, whether
emulsified or not.
D. Garbage grinders are prohibited for the commercial users.
E. Any water or waste containing strong-acid iron-pickling waste, or
concentrated plating solutions, whether neutralized or not.
F. Any waste or water containing iron, chromium, copper, zinc, and similar
objectionable or toxic substances; or waste exerting an excessive
chlorine residual to such a degree that any such material in the composite
sewage at the wastewater treatment plant exceeds the limits established
by the Director of Public Works for such materials.
G. Any water or waste containing phenols or other taste- or odor-producing
substances in such concentrations exceeding limits which may be established
by the Director of Public Works as necessary, after treatment of the
composite sewage, to meet the requirement of the state, federal, or
other public agencies having jurisdiction over such discharge to any
receiving waters.
H. Any radioactive waste or isotopes of such half-life or concentration
as may exceed limits established by the Director of Public Works in
compliance with applicable state or federal regulations.
I. Any water or waste having a pH in excess of 8.0.
J. Materials which exert or cause:
(1) Unusual concentrations of inert suspended solids (such as, but not
limited to, fullers earth, lime slurries, and lime residues) or of
dissolved solids (such as, but not limited to, sodium chloride and
sodium sulfate).
(2) Excessive discoloration, such as, but not limited to, dye waste and
vegetable tanning solutions.
(3) Unusual BOD, chemical oxygen demand, or chlorine requirements in
such quantities as to constitute a significant load on the wastewater
treatment works.
(4) Unusual volume of flow or concentration of wastes constituting a "slug" as defined in Article
II.
K. Waters or waste containing substances which are not amenable to proper
treatment or reduction by the Town's wastewater treatment process,
or which would result in impermissible levels of phosphates and nitrates
being discharged in the wastewater treatment plant effluent.
L. Overflow by draining from cesspools or receptacles storing organic
waste (other than septic tank disposal at the Town's treatment plant
in accordance with Town procedures).
M. Steam exhausts, boiler blowoffs, sediment traps, or pipes carrying
hot circulating water.
Where preliminary treatment or flow-equalizing facilities are
provided for any water or wastes, they shall be maintained continuously
in satisfactory and effective operation by the owner at the owner's
expense.
When required by the Director of Public Works, the owner of
any property serviced by a building sewer carrying commercial, industrial
waste shall install a suitable manhole together with such necessary
meters and other appurtenances in the building sewer to facilitate
observation, sampling and measurement of the waste. Such manhole,
if required, shall be accessible and safely located, and shall be
constructed in accordance with plans approved by the Director of Public
Works. The manhole shall be installed by the owner at the owner's
expense and shall be maintained by the owner so as to be safe and
accessible at all times.
The Director of Public Works may require a user of the sewer
services to provide information needed to determine compliance with
this chapter. These requirements may include:
A. Description of wastewaters discharged, together with peak rate and
volume over a specified time period.
B. Chemical analyses of wastewaters.
C. Information on raw materials, processes, and products affecting wastewater
volume and quality.
D. Quantity and disposition of specific liquid, sludge, oil, solvents,
or other materials important to sewer use control.
E. A plot plan of sewers of the user's property showing sewer and pretreatment
facility location.
F. Details of wastewater pretreatment facilities.
G. Details of systems to prevent and control the losses of materials
though spills to the municipal sewer.
[Amended 11-3-2020]
The municipality shall develop, and the Director of Public Works shall enforce, pretreatment regulations for existing and new sources of pollution that are discharging or proposed to be discharged into the municipally owned wastewater treatment facilities as set forth in Title 40, Chapter
1, Part 125 and Part 403 of the Final Rules of the United States Environmental Protection Agency.
Nothing in this article shall be construed to prevent any agreement
between the Town and any industrial concern whereby industrial waste
of unusual strength or character may be accepted by the Town for treatment,
subject to payment therefor by the industrial concern, provided that
such agreements do not contravene any requirement of existing federal
or state laws and/or regulations and are compatible with any user
charge and industrial cost recovery system in effect.