[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Health of the Borough of Wanaque 12-20-1990 as Ord. No. 5-90;[1] amended in its entirety 9-9-2024 by Ord. No. 14-0-2024. Subsequent amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This ordinance also repealed former Ch. 135, Sewage Disposal Systems, Individual, adopted 11-15-1960, as amended.
A. 
Establish a management program for individual and nonindividual subsurface sewage disposal systems within the Borough in order to ensure the proper operation and maintenance of such systems. This article requires existing, new and proposed individual and nonindividual subsurface sewage disposal systems to be inspected at least once every three years in order to minimize future malfunctions of such systems and pumped out if necessary.
B. 
Regulate individual and nonindividual subsurface sewage disposal systems in the program area in such a way as to protect public health and welfare and the environment, and to provide for a means of educating owners/operators, as defined herein, in the characteristics of such systems and the proper procedures for altering, operating and maintaining them.
C. 
Develop a management program to maintain records and manage systems in the program area.
D. 
Promote and assure the proper management and maintenance of individual and nonindividual sewage disposal systems through time.
No person or entity shall locate, construct, alter or repair any individual sewage disposal system or septic system nor shall such a completed system be backfilled without the approval of the Borough of Wanaque Board of Health or Construction Official or its designee.
A. 
Requirement for certificate to operate. On and after within two years of the effective date of this article, no owner or occupant of a property in the Borough, upon which an individual or nonindividual subsurface sewage disposal system is located, shall use or operate the system unless a currently valid certificate to operate the system has been issued by the Wanaque Borough Board of Health or its designee in accordance with the schedule herein to the owner of the property on which the system is located.
(1) 
The Borough or its designee may issue a certificate to operate under the following conditions:
(a) 
Issuance of a certificate of compliance for a new system;
(b) 
Issuance of a certificate of compliance for the alteration of a system; or
(c) 
Upon the sale or transfer of a premises.
(d) 
For all existing individual and nonindividual sewage disposal systems in accordance with the provisions herein.
B. 
Expiration/renewal. The certificate to operate shall expire three years after issuance. The Borough shall notify the licensee or its designee at least three months before the certificate expires, who shall be directed to apply for a renewal of the certificate.
(1) 
Requirements for renewal. The Borough or its designee shall not renew the license unless the licensee has submitted the following to the Department of Health or its designee:
(a) 
Evidence that the septic tank has been inspected or pumped by a licensed septic sludge removal operator as required.
(2) 
Renewal term. Certificates shall be renewed for a period of three years.
(3) 
Prior to receiving renewal certification, the owner/operator must pay the required fee.
C. 
Suspension of certificate to operate. The Borough or its designee may suspend or revoke the system's certificate to operate under the following conditions:
(1) 
It has been determined that the system is malfunctioning and the owner/operator has failed to take steps to correct the malfunction.
(2) 
The owner/operator of the premises serviced by the system denies the right of entry to the Borough or its designee, or other regulatory agencies, as required in a manner which interferes with the administration or enforcement of this chapter.
(3) 
The failure of the owner/operator to have the septic tank inspected by a licensed septic sludge removal operator every three years and pumped if necessary.
The Borough or its designee, upon presentation of identification, shall have the right to enter a property where an individual or nonindividual subsurface sewage disposal system is located for the purpose of observation, inspection, monitoring and/or sampling of the on-site sewage disposal system.
There shall be established the following fees:
A. 
The filing of an application and plans for a permit to locate, construct, alter or repair a sewage disposal system (septic system): $500.
B. 
To certify a new test hole or an alteration or repair to a test hole: $250.
C. 
To certify any alteration, repair, or construction: $250.
D. 
The issuance of a certificate for renewal: $100.
No newly constructed, altered or repaired individual disposal or septic system shall be placed in operation, nor shall new dwellings or buildings or additions thereto be sold or occupied which must rely on such a system for sewage disposal until a certificate shall have been issued indicating compliance with the provisions herein.
No person or entity shall own or operate such a system as herein set forth in such a manner that will permit or allow the discharge of effluent onto the surface of the ground or into a water course.