[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Catskill 6-6-1967.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
No septic tank, tile field, seepage pit, chemical toilet, privy, pipe
or other means for the disposal or discharge of sewage or sink wastes shall
be installed anywhere in the Town of Catskill except as herein provided.
No installation of a septic tank, tile field, seepage pit, chemical
toilet, privy, pipe or other means for the disposal or discharge of sewage
or sink wastes shall be begun, nor shall the construction, location or alteration
of any structure intended for human occupancy be commenced, until an application
duly filled out on forms supplied by the Town Clerk, and a plot plan showing
the intended location of the disposal systems proposed to be used in connection
with such structure, shall have been filed in the Town Clerk's office and
approved in the manner hereinafter prescribed. In the case of subdivisions,
temporary residences or other premises requiring New York State Health Department
approval, such approval must be on file with the Town Clerk before an application
can be accepted.
A.
The Town Board of Health shall appoint a competent Sewerage
Inspector who shall be responsible to the Town Board of Health for the performance
of duties hereinafter mentioned and whose appointment shall be held at the
pleasure of the Town Board of Health.
B.
It shall be the duty of the Sewerage Inspector:
(1)
To receive applications filed with the Town Clerk.
(2)
To promptly investigate, when requested by the applicant
before installation, any proposed disposal devices indicated in said application.
(3)
When the proposed installation meets the requirements
of this chapter, to approve for issuance a permit to proceed with such installation.
(4)
To see that the provisions of this chapter are observed
and to inspect the installation after it is completed but before the system
is covered.
(5)
To approve for issuance a certificate of compliance permitting
the use of such installations that conform to the provisions of this chapter.
C.
One copy of the application shall be returned to the
Town Clerk after approval or disapproval of the completed project by the Sewerage
Inspector. When the project is approved, a certificate of compliance shall
be issued by the Town Clerk. Should a project be disapproved, the reason(s)
for declining a certificate of compliance shall be noted on two copies of
the application, one of which shall be given to the applicant.
If the Sewerage Inspector declines to approve any proposed installation,
the applicant may appeal to the Town Board of Health, whose approval or rejection
shall be final.
No septic tank, tile field, seepage pit, chemical toilet, privy or other
device for the storage or disposal of human excreta shall be installed unless
every part of such installation shall be more than 15 feet from the boundary
line of the property on which it is located and more than 50 feet from any
lake, reservoir, stream or watercourse not protected by rules enacted by the
State Commissioner of Health; nor shall the leaching parts of such installation
be located on the direct line of drainage to, nor less than 100 feet in a
horizontal direction from, any source of domestic water supply. Systems which
are located on watersheds of public water supplies must comply with the rules
and regulations enacted by the State Department of Health for the protection
of such supplies.
No person, firm or corporation, either as owner, lessee or tenant of
any property, dwelling, building or place, shall construct or maintain any
privy, cesspool, sewage disposal system, pipe or drain so as to expose or
discharge the contents or other liquid or matter therefrom to the atmosphere
or on the surface of the ground nor so as to endanger any source of drinking
water; nor shall any such person, firm or corporation discharge into any watercourse,
storm sewer, drain or body of water any sewage or sewage effluent from any
cesspool, sewage disposal system, pipe or drain, or any excreta from a privy
vault or other receptacle for the storage of excreta, unless a permit for
such discharge shall have been issued therefor by the State Commissioner of
Health, and such discharge shall be made in accordance with the requirements
thereof. Scavengers who clean septic tanks and cesspools must have a permit
from the Town Clerk, and the place of disposal used by them must be approved
by the Sewerage Inspector.
A.
Settling or septic tanks for single- or two-family dwellings
shall have capacities below the flow line of not less than one day's flow
of sewage based on the rate of 150 gallons per bedroom for dwellings, farmhouses
and summer cottages, and 75 gallons per person for large dwellings, boardinghouses
and hotels. The minimum size of approved septic tanks is to be 750 gallons'
working capacity. Septic tanks must be at least 10 feet outside the foundations
of buildings. Drains from buildings to septic tanks must be watertight and
equipped with a house trap and fresh air vent. They must have a diameter of
not less than four inches. No roof leaders or floor or cellar drains are to
drain into septic tanks.
B.
Septic tank effluents shall be disposed of by discharging
to subsurface tile systems, leaching cesspools or by such other means as may
be approved in writing by the Sewerage Inspector.
A.
A subsurface tile system is hereby defined as a field
of perforated pipe or open joint farm tile laid with proper slope and alignment
below the ground surface in such a fashion as to permit an even flow from
the septic tank into all parts of the tile field. Main distributors should
have diameters of not less than four inches and be laid with tight joints
on uniform slopes not greater than 1%, or approximately 1/8 of an inch per
foot. Lateral distributors comprising the tile field should be laid in trenches
24 inches wide when the soil test indicates a rate of one inch in seven minutes
or less, and in widths up to 36 inches when the rate is slower. Trench depth
should be between 18 inches and 30 inches; depths of less than 24 inches are
preferred. Individual laterals shall not be longer than 60 feet. The minimum
distance between walls of adjacent trenches should be five feet, although
greater separations are desirable. Laterals of the tile field should be kept
20 feet from cellar walls.
B.
Laterals should have diameters of not less than four
inches and be laid on uniform slopes not greater than 1/6 inch per foot. Farm
tile should be laid with open joints 1/4 inch wide, protected by strips of
tar paper laid over the top and 2/3 around the circumference of pipe. The
entire pipe should be surrounded by gravel or broken stone 3/4 to 1 1/2
inches in size, from a level of 6 inches below the bottom of the tile to a
level two inches above the top of the tile.
C.
Perforated pipe with split couplings or vitrified clay
pipe with open joints may be substituted for farm tile laterals, but when
perforated pipes are used, care must be taken to place the holes so the liquid
will escape at an equal rate along the entire lateral. The top layer of stone
should be covered with hay, straw or untreated building paper before placing
the earth backfill. The placing of laterals over water service lines is prohibited.
Certain drains of suitable depth and location shall be provided to intercept
surface and ground water where necessary. Laterals must not be nearer than
25 feet to any lake, stream or other watercourse or body of water and must
not be laid in swampy soil or in soil that cannot take care of drainage. The
length of four-inch tile required should be determined by results of soil
percolation tests and in accordance with the table given below, except that
the minimum amount of tile which will be approved will be 100 feet.
D.
Percolation tests.
(1)
Acceptable results.
|
Result of Percolation Test
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Time for Water to Fall One Inch
| ||||
|
Time
(minutes)
|
2 B.R. Trench
|
3 B.R. Trench
|
Additional B.R. Trench
| |
|
5
|
100 ft. 24 in.
|
100 ft. 23 in.
|
32 ft. 24 in.
| |
|
10
|
100 ft 36 in.
|
100 ft. 36 in.
|
30 ft. 36 in.
| |
|
30
|
100 ft. 36 in.
|
150 ft. 36 in.
|
50 ft. 36 in.
| |
(2)
More than 60 minutes' soil is unsuitable.
(3)
To make a percolation test, dig a pit or sink a test
hole to 1/2 the depth at which it is proposed to lay the tile drain. Fill
with water to ensure thorough moistening of the soil and allow the water to
seep away. Then, while the bottom of the hole is still moist, fill to a depth
of six inches and observe the time for the water level to fall one inch.
A.
Seepage pits or cesspools may be permitted where the
topsoil is underlain with sand or gravel. They should be preceded by a septic
tank. Such pits should be made of durable material and construction and of
such proportions that the side area is approximately three times the bottom
area. The bottom of a seepage pit shall be at least two feet above the groundwater
table. The seepage area of a pit or cesspool shall be calculated as the area
of the walls below the flow line plus the area of the bottom The effective
seepage area of the walls in square feet is three times the diameter of the
pit multiplied by its depth below the flow line. The seepage area required
for such installations shall be determined by the results of percolation tests
in accordance with the table given below, but no permit will be issued for
a seepage pit or cesspool unless the character of the soil in which it is
to be located is such that groundwater flow appears to be away from any adjoining
property within 50 feet and at least 50 feet from any lake, stream or other
watercourse or body of water. Such installation shall not be located closer
than 100 feet to any source of water supply. No permit shall be issued for
a seepage pit or cesspool where, in the judgment of the Sewerage Inspector,
such installation would be dangerous to the adjoining property. A minimum
of 80 square feet of seepage area must be provided for any such system.
B.
Percolation tests.
(1)
Acceptable results.
|
Results of Percolation Test
| ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Time for Water to Fall One Inch
| ||||
|
Time in minutes
|
1 B.R.(sq. ft.)
|
2 B.R. (sq. ft.)
|
3 B.R. (sq. ft.)
| |
|
5
|
80
|
100
|
150
| |
|
10
|
80
|
140
|
210
| |
|
30
|
135
|
270
|
405
| |
|
60
|
300
|
600
|
900
| |
(2)
More than 60 minutes' soil is unsuitable.
(3)
To make a percolation test, dig a pit or sink a test
hole to 1/2 the depth of the proposed seepage pit. The bottom of the test
hole should be one foot square. Fill the test hole with water to thoroughly
moisten the soil and allow to drain. While the bottom of the test hole is
still moist, fill with water to a depth of six inches and observe the time
required for the water level to lower one inch.
C.
If more than one seepage pit or cesspool is required
in order to obtain adequate seepage area, a distribution box must be used
to equalize the flow to them. The minimum distances between centers of pits
must be a least three times the diameter of the larger pit.
Outdoor pit privies are permissible only in porous, sandy soils where
the groundwater level is at least two feet below the bottom of the pit. They
shall be flytight, properly ventilated and otherwise constructed so as to
facilitate maintenance in a sanitary condition.
When the nearby groundwater must be protected, or seepage systems cannot
be utilized, a watertight vault privy, a removable receptacle privy or a chemical
toilet can be used if approved by the Sewerage Inspector and if adequate facilities
are available for proper sanitary maintenance and disposal of wastes.
Nothing contained in this chapter shall be construed to permit the installation
or maintenance of disposal facilities which are or may become a nuisance.
The town health officer may at any time, by personal inspection, determine
that existing sewage disposal facilities on a property are inadequate or do
not function properly or that an adequate supply of water for use in connection
therewith is not available. In such cases, he shall notify the owner of the
premises, in writing, of such fact, and a copy of such notice shall be sent
to the Town Clerk. Upon receipt of such notice, it shall be the duty of the
owner, within 10 days, to make application to the Town Clerk for a permit
to reconstruct or alter such disposal system and to complete such reconstruction
or alteration within 30 days after receipt of said notice. Unless such reconstruction
or alteration as is required shall have been completed within the said 30
days, it shall be unlawful and improper to use said premises for human occupancy
until such reconstruction or alteration is completed and approved in the manner
provided for new installations.
Any violation of this chapter, either by the occupancy of a septic tank,
tile field, seepage pit, chemical toilet, privy or discharge pipe without
compliance with the terms and provisions aforesaid or any violation of any
of the terms or provisions of this chapter, is hereby declared to be an infraction
and shall render the owner of the land whereon the same was installed, or
the tenant or the person so installing same, or any other person guilty of
a violation thereof, to a fine not to exceed the sum of $50.
