Application for permits to connect to any sewer must be made in writing to the Director of Public Works by the owners of the property to be sewered, by their attorneys, by an underground utility contractor or a master plumber. Such applications must be accompanied by a clear description of the premises to be sewered and of the sewers required, and also by certain agreements, all as provided in the printed form of application issued by the Director. The fee for such a permit shall be in accordance with the fee schedule found in Chapter
93, Fees.
A. Underground utility contractors and master plumbers licensed by the
State of Rhode Island shall complete and file an application in the
name of the owner, obtain the owner's signature thereon as well
as signing on his or her own behalf, pay the application and inspection
fee, and submit a location plan. The location plan shall show the
lot lines and dimensions, location of water pipes, gas lines, buried
cable, location of permanent buildings and location of building sewers,
storm drains. The plans must be approved and stamped by a registered
professional engineer or registered land surveyor.
B. The permittee agrees to reimburse the Town for the cost of enforcing
the permit, including reasonable attorneys' fees, if violation
of the permit is found following enforcement proceedings brought in
the appropriate forum.
The Director of Public Works shall have the authority to make
agreements and execute contracts with residents of the municipality
of Warwick, North Kingstown, or persons residing outside the Town
relative to the connecting of private sewer lines belonging to such
residents and to the public sewer system of the Town. The agreements
and contracts shall be binding upon future Directors of Public Works
and upon the Town.
Only such underground utility contractors or master plumbers
licensed in the State of Rhode Island shall be allowed to make connection
with the sewers or lay any drains in connection therewith, and any
person so designated shall give personal attention to any work done
under his permit. He shall also employ only competent persons to do
such work. No person shall uncover, make any connection with or opening
into, use, alter or disturb any public sewer or appurtenances thereof
unless a proper permit therefor shall have been duly issued.
The following words, terms and phrases, when used in this article,
shall have the meanings ascribed to them in this section, except where
the context clearly indicates a different meaning:
BIOCHEMICAL OXYGEN DEMAND (BOD)
The quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation
of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure, five days at
20° C., expressed in terms of weight and concentration [milligrams
per liter (mg/l)].
BUILDING SEWER
The extension from the building drain to the public sewers.
COLLECTION SYSTEM
The equipment, structures, and processes used for the collection,
transportation, and pumping of sewage.
CONTROL AUTHORITY
The approval authority as defined in this section or the
Town, where the Town has an approved pretreatment program under the
provisions of the Act.
DIRECTOR
The Director of Public Works, Town of East Greenwich, or
his authorized representative, designated by the Town to supervise
the operation of the publicly owned treatment works.
DOMESTIC WASTES
Liquid wastes (i) from the noncommercial preparation, cooking,
and handling of food or (ii) containing human excrement and similar
matter from the sanitary conveniences of dwellings, commercial buildings,
industrial facilities, and institutions. It shall not contain groundwater,
stormwater, surface water, or cooling water or industrial wastewater.
EQUIVALENT DWELLING UNIT (EDU)
A.
For purposes of this chapter an EDU shall be defined as a unit
whose wastewater flows are equal to 345 gallons per day. The basis
by which projected daily wastewater flows will be determined are based
upon current RIDEM published Onsite Wastewater Treatment Systems (OWTS),
formerly ISDS.
B.
EDUs shall be subject to sewer assessments, permit fees, and
annual user fees, for residential, commercial, governmental and industrial
users as follows:
Residential
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Single-family
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1 EDU charge
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Two-family
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2 EDU charges
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Multifamily
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(Shall be based on the number of units; i.e., 10 units = 10
EDU charges)
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Condominiums
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1 EDU charge per condominium unit
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Commercial Buildings
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Up to 5,000 square feet
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1 EDU charge
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5,001 to 15,000 square feet
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2 EDU charges
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15,001 to 30,000 square feet
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3 EDU charges
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30,001 to 100,000 square feet
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4 EDU charges
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Greater than 100,000 square feet
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5 EDU charges
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Restaurants
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0 to 50 seats
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1 EDU charge
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50 to 100 seats
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2 EDU charges
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Greater than 100 seats
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3 EDU charges
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Industrial Users
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Based upon actual or projected flows converted to
equivalent dwelling units
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ONSITE WASTEWATER TREATMENT SYSTEM (OWTS)
Formerly Individual Sewage Disposal System (ISDS). Shall
mean a system approved by the Rhode Island Department of Environmental
Management which provides sanitary sewage disposal by means other
than discharge into a public sewer.
OWNER
Any person who, alone or jointly, has a legal title to any
premises or has control of any premises, executor, administrator,
trustee, lessee or guardian of the estate of a holder of a legal title.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, co-partnership, firm, company,
corporation, association, joint-stock company, trust, estate, governmental
entity or any other legal entity, or their legal representatives,
agents or assigns. The masculine gender shall include the feminine;
the singular shall include the plural where indicated by the context.
SANITARY SEWER
A sewer which carries sewage and to which storm, surface
and groundwater are not intentionally admitted.
SEWER
A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
SUPERINTENDENT
The Superintendent of wastewater treatment facility of the
Town or his duly appointed representative.
TOTAL SUSPENDED SOLIDS
The total suspended matter that floats on the surface of,
or is suspended in, water, wastewater or other liquids, and which
is removable by laboratory filtering.
TOWN
The Town of East Greenwich, Rhode Island, or duly appointed
representative thereof.
WASTEWATER
The liquid and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes
from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities and institutions,
together with any groundwater, surface water, and stormwater that
may be present, whether treated or untreated, which is contributed
into or permitted to enter the POTW.
Y CONNECTION
The point at which the individual sewer lateral connects
into the main sewer line (sometimes referred to as the "chimney connection").
Notice must be given to the Director of Public Works 48 hours
before any street or public way can be opened for the purpose of laying
a private drain or before any drainpipe can be extended from work
previously done and accepted, or new connections of any kind be made.
In opening any street or public way, all materials for paving
or ballasting must be removed with the least possible injury or loss
of such materials and, together with the excavated materials from
the trenches, must be placed where they will cause the least practical
inconvenience to the public. As little as possible of the trench must
be dug until the junction piece into the sewer is found, unless it
is first determined to make a new opening into the sewer.
All construction procedures, materials and specifications shall
conform to the Standard Sanitary Sewer Requirements of the Town of
East Greenwich and all applicable federal, state and Town building
and plumbing codes. Any deviations from these prescribed procedures
and materials must be approved by the Director of Public Works before
installation.
Accompanying each application for permit shall be a location
plan showing the lot lines and dimensions, location of water pipes,
gas lines, buried cable, location of permanent buildings and building
sewers, storm drains, and the Water Authority meter number and initial
reading. The plans must be approved and stamped by a Rhode Island
registered professional engineer or land surveyor.
All costs and expenses incidental to the installation and connection
of the building sewer shall be borne by the owner, including costs
of extending the public sewer system to the nearest Town main to service
private facilities. The owner shall indemnify the Town from any loss
or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation
of the building sewers.
A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided
for every building. The only exception from this requirement is where
one building stands at the rear of another and no private sewer is
available or can be constructed to the rear building through an adjoining
alley, courtyard, or driveway. In such cases, the building sewer from
the front building may be extended to the rear building. In this event,
the lot owner of a rear lot shall obtain and file in the Town records
a sewer easement from the front lot owner for the use of the sewer.
Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings
only when they are found, on examination and test by the Director,
to meet all requirements of this article.
The size, slope, alignment, materials of construction of a building
sewer, and the methods to be used in excavating, placing the pipe,
jointing, testing and backfilling the trench, shall all conform to
the requirements of the building and plumbing codes or other applicable
rules and regulations of the Town, including the Sanitary Sewer Standards.
All connections shall be made gastight and watertight.
In all buildings in which any building drain is too low to permit
gravity flow to the public sewer, sanitary sewage carried by such
building drain shall be lifted by an approved means and discharged
to the building sewer at the owner's expense.
No person shall make connections of roof downspouts, exterior
foundation drains, areaway drains, or other surfaces runoff or groundwater
to a building sewer or building drain which is connected directly
or indirectly to a public sanitary sewer.
All lateral sewer pipes shall have a minimum diameter of six
inches.
A. Sewer pipes for house connections from the sewer main to the property
line shall have a minimum diameter of six inches.
B. Sewer pipes for a single-family dwelling house from the property
line to the building shall have a minimum diameter of six inches.
Commercial laundries shall be equipped with an interceptor having
a wire basket or similar device, removable for cleaning, that will
prevent passage into the drainage system of solids 1/2 inch or 13
millimeters or larger in size, including string, rags, buttons, or
other materials detrimental to the public sewage system.
Clean-outs shall be installed at the property line, at every
fitting over 22 1/2° and at seventy-five-foot intervals up
to 225 feet. Service connections which are longer than 225 feet shall
have sanitary manholes installed at a location(s) as directed by the
Superintendent.
One backflow valve per unit shall be installed prior to connection
to the Town's sewer system for all residential and multiunit
dwellings. The quantity of backflow valves necessary for commercial
and industrial establishments must be submitted and approved by the
Director of Public Works prior to installation.
The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the
Director 24 hours prior to the applicant requiring inspection and
connection to the public sewer. The connection shall be made under
the supervision of the Superintendent.
The Superintendent shall apply appropriate tests to the pipes,
and the underground utility contractor or Master Plumber shall, at
their own expense, furnish all necessary tools, labor, materials,
and assistance for such tests and shall remove or repair any defective
materials when so ordered by the Superintendent.
All sewer work shall be done in such a manner and at such times
as to interfere as little as possible with the public travel and convenience.
To this end, the underground utility contractor or master shall conduct
his work as the Director of Public Works may from time to time direct.
Every underground utility contractor or master plumber must
enclose any opening which he may make in the public streets or ways
with sufficient barriers, must maintain red lights at the opening
by night, and must take all other necessary precautions to adequately
guard the public against all accidents from the beginning to the end
of the work. The underground utility contractor or master plumber
can only lay drains on condition that he shall use every precaution
against accidents to persons, vehicles or property of any kind.
Backfilling over drains after they are laid must be puddled
or solidly rammed and, together with the replacing of ballast and
paving, must be done within 48 hours after the completion of that
part of the drain lying within the public way; done so as to make
the sidewalk, gutter, and roadway at least as good as they were before
they were disturbed; and done to the satisfaction of the Director
of Public Works. The owner will be held responsible for any settlement
of ground which occurs within one year on account of laying such drain.
All water pipes must be protected from injury or settling.
The underground utility contractor or master plumber who obtains
the permit shall carefully fill out the blank return provided for
new work, alterations or additions, and return the same to the Director
of Public Works within 48 hours after the completion of the work.
Any person violating any of the provisions of this article shall, upon conviction, be punished in accordance with Chapter
1, Article
III, and shall be subject to a forfeiture of his permit.