City of Hagerstown, MD Article V Building Sewers

§ 240-32 Responsibility for costs of installation and connection and maintenance of building sewers; indemnification of City.

[Amended 9-28-2010 by Ord. No. O-10-16]

All costs and expenses incident to the installation and connection of the building sewer shall be borne by the owner. The owner shall indemnify and hold harmless the City from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer. The Utility Department – Wastewater Division shall have no duty, obligation or responsibility with respect to maintenance of wastewater piping, equipment or apparatus on the premises of any wastewater customer. "Customer premises" will be defined as any property that is located behind the curb or the property line in absence of a curb.

§ 240-33 Separate building sewer for each building.

A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building, unless it is determined by the approving authority that it would be impractical to do so or would cause undue hardship to the owner. The determination as to whether to allow an exception shall be within the discretion of the approving authority. A separate permit shall be required for each structure or unit serviced, even though the whole may constitute a single building sewer.

§ 240-34 Use of existing building sewers with new buildings.

Existing building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when:

A. Proper application is made for a sanitary sewer connection permit under the provisions of Article IV of this chapter;

B. The application is approved by the approving authority; and

C. The building sewer is found, on examination and test by the approving authority and Plumbing Inspector, to meet all requirements of this chapter and those of the Plumbing Code and all other applicable federal, state, county and City statutes, ordinances and regulations.

§ 240-35 Construction.

The size, slope, alignment, materials of construction of a building sewer and the methods to be used in excavating, bedding, placing of pipe, jointing, testing and backfilling and trench shall all conform to the requirements of the Plumbing Code and other applicable rules and regulations of the City. In the absence of the code provisions or in amplification thereof, the materials and procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the ASTM and WEF Manuals of Practice shall apply. All building sewers shall be laid from the service connection or the point of connection to the public sanitary sewer to the building drain. All such connections shall be subject to inspection by the approving authority and the Plumbing Inspector.

§ 240-36 Means of lifting sewage; responsibility for costs.

[Amended 4-23-1996 by Ord. No. 1996-7]

A. Whenever possible, the building sewer shall be brought to the building drain at an elevation below the basement floor. In all buildings in which any building drain is too low to permit gravity flow to the public sanitary sewer, sanitary sewage carried by such a building sewer shall be lifted by a means approved by the approving authority and the Plumbing Inspector and discharged to the building sewer. All costs and expenses incident to the proper installation, operation and maintenance of said means of lifting the sewage shall be borne by the owner. The owner shall indemnify and hold harmless the City from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation, operation and maintenance of said means of lifting the sewer.

B. Except as otherwise provided herein, the construction, installation or use of low-pressure grinder pump systems, or any similar installations or facilities, shall not be directly connected to a building sewer or any public sanitary sewer in order to provide sanitary sewer service to a private dwelling or existing unit(s). No low-pressure grinder pump systems shall be donated, transferred or dedicated, impliedly or directly, to the City of Hagerstown for ownership, maintenance or operation, except as otherwise provided herein.

C. The Mayor and Council of the City of Hagerstown may, within its absolute discretion, make exceptions to the provisions(s) of this section for low-pressure grinder pump construction, installation or use in connection with the City water pollution control system, provided that same meets standards and specifications of the City, and further provided that said permission and granting of an exception, in each and every instance and installation, be by formal vote of the Mayor and Council at a duly authorized and constituted public meeting.

D. This chapter does not apply to existing low-pressure pump systems constructed or approved by the Water and Sewer Department of the City of Hagerstown prior to the effective date of this section.

E. In addition to the standard service charge rates for all classes of customers, customers with low-pressure sewer service with grinder pumps shall be charged a low-pressure service surcharge for the additional cost of maintaining the low-pressure system. The quarterly surcharge shall continue to be $97.80 per each grinder pump serving one unit and $53.73 per each grinder pump serving two units.

[Added 5-28-2002 by Ord. No. 2002-15; amended 5-25-2004 by Ord. No. 2004-28; 7-12-2005 by Ord. No. O-05-19; 6-20-2006 by Ord. No. O-06-17; 5-22-2007 by Ord. No. O-07-15; 5-27-2008 by Ord. No. O-08-19; 9-22-2009 by Ord. No. O-09-13; 2-25-2014 by Ord. No. O-14-02; 4-23-2019 by Ord. No. O-19-03[1]]

[1] Editor’s Note: This ordinance also provided that it shall be effective 30 days after passage, with the increases in rates effective for all bills rendered on or after July 1, 2019, and for all bills rendered on or after July 1 of the subsequent four fiscal years.

§ 240-37 Prohibited connections.

No person shall make a connection of roof downspouts, exterior foundation drains or other sources of surface runoff or groundwater to a building sewer or building drain which, in turn, is connected directly or indirectly to a public sanitary sewer. If any owner shall, after notice as provided herein, refuse or neglect to disconnect any such illegal connection from the public sanitary sewerage system, the City shall cause the disconnection to be made at the sole expense of the owner. This expense shall be a lien against the property as provided by law.

§ 240-38 Conformance with other requirements.

The connection of the building sewer into the public sanitary sewer shall conform to the requirements of the Plumbing Code and other applicable rules and regulations of the City. All such connections shall be sealed to prevent infiltration and exfiltration of gas and water. Any deviation from the prescribed procedures and materials must be approved in writing by the approving authority and the Plumbing Inspector before installation.

§ 240-39 Inspection and connection to public sewer.

The applicant for the sanitary sewer connection permit shall notify the approving authority and the Plumbing Inspector when the building sewer is ready for inspection and connection to the public sanitary sewer. The connection shall be made under the supervision of the approving authority and the Plumbing Inspector or his representative.

§ 240-40 Guarding of excavations; restoration of streets and public property.

All excavations for building sewer installation shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights so as to protect the public from hazard. Streets, sidewalks, parkways and other public property disturbed in the course of the work shall be restored in accordance with the existing City standards and specifications.