[Adopted 9-28-1961 by Ord. No. 14]
A.
AUTHORITY
BUILDING
BUILDING DRAIN or HOUSE DRAIN
GARBAGE
INSPECTOR
PERSONS
PREMISES ACCESSIBLE TO THE SEWER SYSTEM
PUBLIC SANITARY SEWER
REGULATIONS OF THE AUTHORITY
SERVICE AGREEMENT
SEWAGE
SEWER
SEWER SERVICE AGREEMENT
SEWER SYSTEM
STORM SEWER or STORM DRAIN
TOWNSHIP
As used in this article, the following terms shall
have the meanings indicated:
Highland Sewer and Water Authority, as presently or hereafter
constituted.
Any structure, occupied or vacant, erected and maintained
for continuous or periodic occupation, occupancy or use by a human
being or animals, or from which structure sanitary sewage or industrial
wastes, or both thereof, is or may be discharged; but the term "building"
shall not include such a structure which is abandoned for use or occupancy.
The part of the lowest lateral piping of the building drainage
system which receives the sewage or discharge of solid wastes, or
other drainage pipes inside the walls of a building, and conveys it
to the sewer system.
Solid wastes from the preparation and disposing of food,
and from the handling and storage or sale of produce.
The person appointed by the Authority to inspect sewage works,
including public and semiprivate sewers, and including also the inspection
of building sewers and other connections between occupied homes and
other buildings and the public sewers.
Includes natural persons, partnerships, organizations, corporations
and associations.
Any real estate which adjoins, abuts or is adjacent to the
sewer system upon which is erected a building which might be connected
to that system by construction of a building sewer of not more than
150 feet in length, or any real estate upon which is erected a building
which might be connected to that system by construction of a building
sewer of not more than 150 feet in length.
A sanitary sewer which has been constructed or is owned by
the Authority, or has been constructed by private parties and has
been accepted by the Authority as a sanitary sewer.
Such rules and regulations as the Authority may from time
to time adopt or promulgate with respect to any matter affecting the
maintenance and operation of the sewer system and the Johnstown Municipal
Authority's sewage disposal system.
The service agreement, dated as of September 1, 1961, between
the Township of Richland and Highland Sewer and Water Authority.
A combination of water-carried wastes from all residences,
public and commercial buildings, apartments, institutions and industrial
establishments.
All sanitary sewers, all lateral sewer service connections,
connecting sewers and trunk lines included in the sewer system or
sewage disposal system.
The sewer service agreement, dated December 31, 1960, between
the Township of Richland and the Johnstown Municipal Authority.
The existing sanitary sewer facilities within the service
area of the Authority with all renewals, replacements, additions,
extensions and enlargements from time to time made with respect thereto;
but does not include storm sewers.
A sewer which carries storm- or surface water and drainage;
but excludes sewage and polluted industrial wastes.
The Township of Richland, of the County of Cambria, Pennsylvania.
B.
The term "shall" is mandatory; and the term "may"
is permissive.
All persons owning improved property within
the Township of Richland, which abuts on or adjoins any street or
right-of-way in which there is now or shall hereafter be a public
sewer, shall, at their own expense, within 90 days after the effective
date of this article or within 90 days after the construction of a
new public sewer, make connection with said sewer in the manner prescribed
by this article or in accordance with the regulations of the Authority
for the purpose of discharging into such sewer such drainage or waste
as is specified in this article, or may from time to time be specified
by the rules and regulations of the Johnstown Municipal Authority
or the Authority.
From and after the effective date of this article,
it shall be unlawful for any person to discharge or to permit to be
discharged into any sewer any roof or surface water or the flow from
any groundwater collection system, or any matter determined by the
regulations of the Authority to be dangerous or harmful to, or the
discharge of which, into a sewer, would adversely affect, the sewer
system or the functioning thereof or the process of sewage treatment
and disposal; or to discharge or permit the discharge into any sewer
any industrial or process wastes which are not preliminarily treated
in the manner from time to time prescribed by the regulations of the
Authority, in order to make them reasonably harmless to the sewer
system and to the process of sewage treatment and disposal.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm, association
or corporation to discharge or to permit the discharge or infiltration
into any sewer which is connected directly or indirectly with the
Authority's sewer system of any of the following substances:
A.
Mineral acids; waste acid; pickling or plating liquors
from the pickling of or plating of iron, steel, brass, copper or chromium;
or any other dissolved or solid substances which will endanger health
or safety, interfere with the flow in sewers, attack or corrode sewers
or sewage structures or equipment or otherwise interfere with the
operation of the sewers or other facilities of the Johnstown Municipal
Authority and/or the Authority.
B.
Cyanides or cyanogen compounds capable of liberating
hydrocyanic gas on acidification.
C.
Fats, entrails, hair, blood, paunch manure and the
like from meat processing plants, rendering plants and similar industries
and establishments.
D.
Gas tar; phenols; residues from petroleum storage,
refining or processing; fuel or lubricating oil; gasoline; naphtha;
benzene; or explosive or inflammable liquids, solids or gases.
E.
Ashes, cinders, sand, mud, lime or acetylene sludges,
straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, wood, plastics,
sawdust, paunch manure, hair, hides, dead animals, spent mash and
grain, pulp wood from food processing, water or wastes containing
grease in excess of 100 parts per million or any other solids or viscous
substances capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers or
other interference with the proper operation of the Johnstown Municipal
Authority's or the Authority's facilities.
F.
Sludges or other materials from septic tanks or similar
facilities or from sewage or industrial waste treatment plants; provided,
however, that until September 1, 1962, but not thereafter, the discharge
of such sludges and other materials may be permitted subject to existing
legal restrictions and subject also to regulations and orders of the
Johnstown Municipal Authority, the Cambria County Health Department
and the Authority.
G.
Garbage, whether ground or not, except properly shredded
garbage in a private dwelling, apartment, building, hotel, commercial
restaurant or retail food store, resulting from the proper use of
a garbage grinder or disposer of a type approved by the Johnstown
Municipal Authority, the Cambria County Health Department and the
Authority, and maintained in good operating condition; provided, however,
that no retail food store shall operate more than one grinder or disposer
and said grinder or disposer shall not be greater than three horsepower
in size and, when so required by the Johnstown Municipal Authority,
shall be equipped with an approved water meter and limited in use
to the consumption of an average of not more than 1,500 gallons of
water per day; and provided, further, that the foregoing restrictions
shall not apply to any existing installation in a retail food store
of a garbage grinder or disposer larger than three horsepower in size,
until such time as the equipment now in use can no longer be kept
in good operating condition by ordinary maintenance and repair, at
which time such larger than three horsepower grinder or disposer shall
be abandoned and shall not be renewed or replaced.
H.
Water or wastes having a pH lower than 5.0 or higher
than 9.0 or having any other corrosive property capable of causing
damage or hazard to structures, equipment or personnel of the Johnstown
Municipal Authority and/or the Authority.
When connection has been made with the public
sanitary sewer, the owner of such property shall forthwith abandon
all privy vaults, cesspools and septic tanks existing on said premises
and shall use them no longer. Any and all connections between the
cesspool or septic tank and the building which has been served shall
be destroyed in such manner that sanitary sewage would not enter therein;
and it shall be unlawful to connect any privy vault, cesspool, septic
tank or any other type of disposal receptacle or structure to any
public sanitary sewer of the Authority.
A.
Prohibited materials and actions.
(2)
Each property owner whose property is presently connected
to the sewer system shall immediately remove any connection of the
aforesaid type of basement seepage, ground water drainage, downspout,
roof drainage, and drainage from surface or areaway, and shall adequately
and properly plug his house sewer system to prevent any further entrance
of such drainage.
(3)
Each user of the sewer system, before connections
are made thereto, shall provide in his house sewer system, outside
the building walls, a trap with a fresh air vent on the house side,
in accordance with the standards approved by Highland Sewer and Water
Authority.
(4)
No cross connection shall be made between the sewer
system and the potable water system, whereby vacuums or backsiphonage
could permit sanitary wastes to enter the potable water system. No
cross connection shall be made between the sewer system and storm
drains or storm sewers.
(5)
In general, industrial wastes will be considered harmful
to the sewer system which may cause any of the following damaging
effects:
(a)
Chemical reaction, either directly or indirectly,
with the materials of construction of the sewer system or Johnstown
Municipal Authority's sewage disposal system in such a manner as to
impair the strength or durability of said sewage structure.
(b)
Mechanical action that will destroy said sewage
structures.
(c)
Destruction of the hydraulic capacity of said
sewage structures.
(d)
Impairment of the normal methods of inspection
of said sewage structures.
(e)
Damage to public health and safety.
(f)
Obnoxious conditions inimical to the public
interest.
B.
No statement contained in this section shall be construed
as prohibiting any special agreement or arrangement between the Johnstown
Municipal Authority and/or the Authority and any person, whereby any
industrial wastes or garbage may be admitted to the sewer system either
before or after pretreatment by the producer of such industrial wastes.
No person, firm, association or corporation
shall make or cause to be made any connection of his property with
any public sanitary sewer until he has fulfilled all requirements
of the Highland Sewer and Water Authority for securing a permit, and
the payment of the necessary tappage or connection fees prescribed
by the rules and regulations of the Highland Sewer and Water Authority.
In all work contemplated, he shall be under the direct supervision
and inspection of the inspector for the Highland Sewer and Water Authority.
If the owner or owners of any building or buildings
shall neglect or refuse to comply with the provisions of this article,
the Township of Richland and/or the Authority shall serve a written
notice upon the owner or owners, or upon the tenants of the property
in possession of the premises if said owner or owners cannot be found
on said premises, requiring the owners to comply with the provisions
of this article in every respect within 90 days after the service
of such notice; and if said owner or owners shall neglect or refuse
to comply with said notice, the Township of Richland and/or the Authority
may perform or cause to be performed such work and labor and furnish
or cause to be furnished such materials as may be necessary to comply
with the provisions of this article, at the cost or expense of such
owner or owners, together with 10% additional thereof, and all service
and expense incidental thereto, which sum shall be collected from
said owner or owners for the use of the Township of Richland and/or
the Authority, as the case may be, as debts are, by law, collectible;
or, in their discretion, the Township of Richland and/or the Authority
may have its proper officers file a municipal lien or claim against
said premises as provided by the act of the Assembly in such cases
made and provided.
[Amended 1-4-2000 by Ord. No. 272]
Any person who violates or permits a violation
of this article shall, upon being found liable therefor in a civil
enforcement proceeding commenced by the Township before a District
Justice, pay a fine of not more than $600, plus all court costs, including
reasonable attorney's fees, incurred by the Township in the enforcement
of this article. No judgment shall be imposed until the date of the
determination of the violation by the District Justice. If the defendant
neither pays nor timely appeals the judgment, the Township may enforce
the judgment pursuant to the applicable Rules of Civil Procedure.
Each day a violation exists shall constitute a separate offense. Further,
the appropriate officers or agents of the Township are hereby authorized
to seek equitable relief, including injunction, to enforce compliance
herewith. In the case of firms or associations, the penalties may
be imposed upon the partners or members thereof, and in the case of
corporations, upon the officers thereof.
