This article shall be known and may be cited as the sanitary code of the city.
(Ordinance 42, sec. I, adopted 4/3/56)
Any violation of this article shall be punished by fine of not exceeding $2,000.00, and each day any violation of this article shall continue shall constitute a separate offense.
(Ordinance 42, sec. VIII, adopted 4/3/56; Ordinance 246 adopted 1/28/88)
Septic tanks may be installed in the city only when such septic tanks conform to the following specifications: minimum width 3 feet, minimum length 5 feet, minimum depth 5 feet. Any round factory concrete tank, minimum 300 gallon capacity, accepted. All tanks shall be constructed of concrete, metal properly treated with some noncorrosive substance, vitrified clay or other impervious noncorrosive material, and shall be watertight at all times. Each tank shall be divided into two sections by a partition wall, which shall have an opening of at least 96 square inches, not less than one foot below the flow line. Affluent and effluent pipes shall be so constructed that the sewage and effluent is introduced into and withdrawn from the tank below the surface to a distance of 6 inches. A suitable manhole shall be provided for cleaning. Distribution systems consisting of vitrified clay pipes or field tile laid with open joints striped with not less than 3 inches or more than 4 inches in width of 15 lb. felt paper or its equal in strength at least 2 feet in depth and filled to a depth of 4 inches below the pipe and 3 inches above the pipe with nothing smaller than pea gravel shall be provided for every tank. The minimum length of such tile distribution system shall be at least 100 feet for service to less than 5 people served and in case 5 people or more are served or a new house for sale to the public shall be 150 feet. In case any septic tank is to used by a family of more than 5 persons or in any public or commercial building, the director of public health and welfare may require the construction of a tank or distribution system of larger dimensions then that prescribed above.
(Ordinance 46 adopted 6/7/56)
Where a sanitary sewer is not available and in cases where a septic tank cannot be installed, due to the absence of water under pressure, a dry toilet may be maintained. No dry toilet shall be maintained within the corporate limits of the city except those which conform to the following requirements: A pit three feet wide, four feet long and five feet deep, minimum inside dimensions, covered by a slab of concrete or suitable metal extending for at least six inches beyond the edge of the pit in all directions. Curbing shall extend downward around the inside of the pit to a distance of two feet. Curbing shall consist of wood not less than one inch in thickness or of metal of suitable length, braced at the corners to the full depth of the pit by boards two inches by four inches cross-section, in case wood curbing is used. A riser with a tightfitting self-closing seat and a vent pipe of at least three inches cross-section shall be the only opening to the pit. The vent pipe shall be screened with no. 16 wire mesh screen. Earth or other material shall be banked around the outside of the pit in such a way that drainage will be away from the pit.
(Ordinance 42, sec. III, adopted 4/3/56)
No permit shall be issued for the erection of any buildings until an approval in writing shall have first been secured from the director of the department of public health and welfare showing the manner of excreta disposal to be employed.
(Ordinance 42, sec. IV, adopted 4/3/56)
No septic tank or dry toilet shall be constructed until a permit shall have been issued by the director of the department of public health and welfare for the building of such septic tank or dry toilet. The owner or builder of such septic tank or dry toilet shall notify the director of the department of public health and welfare when such pit toilet or septic tank is ready for inspection. No septic tank or toilet shall be covered or used until it has been inspected and approved by the director of the department of public health and welfare.
(Ordinance 42, sec. V, adopted 4/3/56)
If, at the discretion of the director of the department of public health and welfare, the installation of any toilet or septic tank would become detrimental to the public or injurious or offensive to the public, the permit for the installation of such septic tank or dry toilet may be withheld.
(Ordinance 42, sec. VI, adopted 4/3/56)
A fee of $5.00 shall be paid by the applicant for a permit under this article to the director of the department of public health and welfare at the time said permit is applied for.
(Ordinance 42, sec. IX, adopted 4/3/56)
No person shall clean or allow to be cleaned any septic tank, dry toilet, chemical toilet or any other type of excreta disposal which is approved for use in the city except by a person licensed by the city to perform such service.
(Ordinance 42, sec. VII, adopted 4/3/56)
(a) 
A “nuisance” shall mean whatever is dangerous to human life or health, whatever renders the ground, water or air a hazard and injurious to human life or health, or that which is offensive to the senses, or that which threatens to become detrimental to the public health, is hereby declared to be a nuisance, and the following specific acts, conditions and things are hereby declared to be a nuisance and prohibited and made unlawful.
(b) 
Any person or owner, agent, lessee or occupant of any building, house, yard, or lot of ground who shall allow to accumulate or to remain in or on said yard or lot of ground any manure or filth or human excrement of any kind which by its decay or putrification could or would become offensive to human beings or detrimental to health, or create a nuisance by allowing said manure, filth or excrement to overflow from septic tanks located on said yard or lot of ground, or any filthy water or excrement emanating therefrom to flow upon said yard or lot of ground or upon any streets or alleys, public or private, in the city, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor by reason thereof.
(c) 
It shall be the duty of all police officers of the city to watch for any violations as provided in this section and to report at once said conditions complained of to said owner, agent, lessee or occupant of said property. Any of said persons set out in this section, after not [sic] failing or refusing to comply with correcting said existing nuisance immediately, shall each be subject to prosecution for violation of the provisions of this section.
(d) 
Any person found guilty under the provisions of this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and upon conviction shall be fined not less than twenty-five dollars ($25.00) nor more than two thousand dollars ($2,000.00).
(Ordinance 62 adopted 2/17/58; Ordinance 246 adopted 1/28/88)