The director of the Department of Public Works, until otherwise ordered, shall have full control over all sewer and sewer connections and shall have the proper authority to represent the city and perform all the duties and things required under this article, under the direction and control of the City Manager.
(1966 Code, sec. 32-56; 2001 Code, sec. 106-246)
Privies and cesspools are prohibited within the city. The use of approved septic tanks shall be allowed only when sanitary sewer service is not available as provided in section 106-248 and division 3 of article V of this chapter, and then only upon the special permission of the directors of the city/county public health district.
(1966 Code, sec. 32-6; 2001 Code, sec. 106-247)
(a) 
No utilities shall be connected with any new building or construction until a proper sewer connection has been made if the city sewer is available within 200 feet from such new building or construction. If such city sewer is not available within such distance, no utilities shall be connected until an approved septic tank and disposal field has been constructed for the use of such new building or construction. The septic tank shall be approved by the city/county public health district before such utility clearances shall be issued.
(b) 
All service pipes/lines from the sewer mains shall be in accordance with the city’s plumbing code.
(c) 
Service pipes/lines may not cross adjoining property lines. All service pipes/lines must be adjacent to the property. This subsection shall not apply to the downtown businesses within an area defined from the south right-of-way line of 5th Street, to the north right-of-way line of 14th Street, and from the east right-of way lines of Austin Street, to the west right-of-way line of the BNSF railroad. All private sewer service pipes/lines crossing property lines within the area described herein must be in a filed and recorded private sewer easement.
(1966 Code, sec. 32-4; 2001 Code, sec. 106-248; Ordinance 03-2019 adopted 3/5/19; Ordinance 83-2020, sec. 1, adopted 1/15/20)
The house connection from the city sewer lateral shall be installed at the expense of the connector in accordance with the city’s regulations and subject to inspection by the city.
(1966 Code, sec. 32-5; 2001 Code, sec. 106-249)
It shall be unlawful for any person to:
(1) 
Injure, break or remove any portion of a manhole, lamp hole, flush tank or any part of the sewer system; or
(2) 
Throw or deposit or cause to be thrown or deposited in any sewer opening or receptacle connecting with the sewer system any garbage, offal, dead animals, vegetable parings, ashes, cinders, rags or any other matter or thing whatsoever except feces, urine and the necessary toilet paper and liquid house wastes.
(1966 Code, sec. 32-8; 2001 Code, sec. 106-250)
(a) 
The charge for sanitary sewer service shall be determined by water consumption. For all retail users except residential users, the monthly sewer charge shall be based on the monthly water usage billed in the same month. For each retail residential user, the monthly sewer charge for each billing from April through the following March shall be the same, and, shall be based on the average monthly water usage billed in the preceding months of January, February and March.
(b) 
If a retail water user has a separate meter for water and such meter is classed as a water-only meter, the water metered by such separate meter shall not be included in calculating the monthly sewer charge.
(c) 
All retail users of the sewer system other than residential shall be charged for sewer service on the basis of the total water used; provided, however, that any commercial/industrial user who uses water as an ingredient in the manufacturing process of a product shall not be required to pay a sewer charge based on the water so incorporated into the product. Any such commercial/industrial user shall be required to show proof of the amount of water used as an ingredient in the manufacturing process. The city reserves the right to conduct such tests as it may deem necessary to determine the amount of wastewater placed into the sanitary sewer by such user.
(d) 
Every retail user (residential and commercial/industrial) of sewer service shall pay a monthly minimum sewer charge for each full billing cycle in which an account is active, as established by separate ordinance. In the first and last billing cycle in which the account is active, the minimum monthly bill shall be prorated for the number of days the account is active; the prorated daily charge shall be based on a 30-day month. In addition to the minimum charge, each retail user shall pay a monthly sewer charge established by separate ordinance to be billed for sewer charges.
(e) 
Sewer charges for retail residential customers with no established average for the month of December, January and February of the preceding year (winter-months-average) shall be based on the winter-months-average of all city retail residential customers.
(f) 
Customers who have a high winter-months-average due to water leaks within the averaging period may have their winter-months-average adjusted to their previous year’s average or if no previous year’s average was established, to the current year’s city’s average, by presenting proof of repair to the utility collection division by May 31 of the calendar year in which the high average is established.
(g) 
The schedule of rates contained in subsections (a) through (f) of this section for retail sewer charges shall apply to retail users located within the city limits; the rates for sanitary sewer service provided to individual retail users outside the city limits shall be twice the rates prescribed in this section.
(h) 
The rate for Sheppard Air Force Base sewer service shall be the same as prescribed for commercial/industrial customers. The minimum monthly bill is the factor “MB” in the contractually agreed formula for computation of the monthly SAFB sewer bill, and the charge per 100 cubic feet of water consumed is the factor “CW” in the same formula.
(1966 Code, sec. 32-57; 2001 Code, sec. 106-251; Ordinance 13-2001 adopted 2/6/01; Ordinance 82-2003, sec. 1, adopted 9/2/03; Ordinance 76-2004, sec. 1, adopted 9/21/04; Ordinance 78-2007, sec. 1, adopted 9/18/07; Ordinance 52-2008, sec. 2, adopted 9/16/08; Ordinance 53-2010, sec. 9, adopted 9/21/10; Ordinance 56-2012, sec. 3, adopted 9/18/12; Ordinance 44-2015, sec. 5, adopted 9/15/15)