§ 1000-4. Use of public sewers.

4-1 No person, firm, or corporation shall discharge or cause to be discharged into the public sanitary sewer, either directly or indirectly, any ground water, spring water, surface water or rainwater. Cellar drains, yard drains, sump pumps, or roof leader connections into said public sanitary sewer are prohibited.

4-2 No person, firm, or corporation shall discharge or cause to be discharged into the public sanitary sewer, either directly or indirectly, any overflow or drainage from manure pits, cesspools or other receptacles storing organic waste or any material prohibited by state or federal law, from discharging to natural streams, ponds, lakes, or other natural bodies of water except as specifically permitted in section 1000-8.

4-3 Except as hereinafter provided, no person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the following into any public sanitary sewer:

4-3.1 Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than 150 degrees Fahrenheit.

4-3.2 Any water or waste which may contain more than 100 parts per million by weight of fat, oil, or grease.

4-3.3 Any gasoline, benzene, naphtha, fuel oil, or other flammable or explosive liquid, gas, or solid, or any substance which may generate or form any flammable explosive or combustible substance, fluid, gas, vapor or mixture when combined with air, water, or other substances commonly found in sewers.

4-3.4 Any garbage that has not been properly shredded by an approved garbage disposal unit.

4-3.5 Any ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plaster, plastics, wood, paunch manure or any other solid or viscous substance capable of obstructing the flow in sewers or other interference with the proper operation of the sewage works.

4-3.6 Any waters 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, and personnel of the sewage works.

(Amd. of 5-19-1975, § 1)

4-3.7 Any waters or wastes containing a toxic, poisonous, or radioactive substance in sufficient quantity to interfere with any sewage treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals, or create any hazard in the receiving waters of the sewage treatment plant. Toxic or poisonous substances shall include, but are not limited to cyanides, copper, zinc, nickel, iron, chromium, lead, tin, silver, mercury or salts thereof.

(Amd. of 5-19-1975, § 2; Amd. of 5-17-1976, § 2)

4-3.8 Any waters or wastes containing suspended solids of such character and quantity that unusual attention or expense is required to handle such materials at the sewage treatment plant.

4-3.9 Any noxious or malodorous gas or substance capable of creating a public nuisance.

4-4 The admission into the public sanitary sewers of any waters or wastes having (a) a five-day biochemical oxygen demand more than 300 parts per million by weight or (b) containing more than 350 parts per million by weight of suspended solids, or (c) containing any quantity of substances having the characteristics described in section 4-3, or (d) a chlorine demand greater than 15 parts per million by weight, or (e) having an average daily flow greater than two percent of the average daily flow of the town shall be subject to review and approval by the superintendent. Where necessary in the opinion of the superintendent, the owner shall, at his expense, provide preliminary treatment to reduce objectionable characteristics or constituents to within the maximum limits provided for in this section. Plans, specifications, and any other pertinent information relating to proposed preliminary treatment facilities shall be submitted to the sewer authority and to the state department of health. No construction of such facilities shall commence until said approval is obtained in writing.

(Amd. of 7-17-1972)

4-5 In determining whether any waste discharged or proposed to be discharged into any public sewer is to be excluded under section 4-3 or 4-4 of these regulations, consideration shall be given to the quantity, time or times, rate and manner of discharge, dilution and character of the waste in question, the size of the sewer into which it is or is to be discharged, the probable quantity of other sewage in said sewer or drain at the time of discharge, the quantities of other objectionable wastes likely in said sewer or drain and other pertinent facts. Minute quantities of a waste which would be objectionable in larger quantity may be permitted if sufficiently diluted when discharged, or if the quantity discharged is very small in comparison to the receiving sewer or drain and the flow therein at the time of discharge, upon specific permission from the authority on recommendation of the superintendent. Permission to discharge minute quantities of an otherwise excluded waste shall be revocable at any time by said superintendent.

4-6 At all premises where wastes or substances specified to be excluded from sewers or drains by these regulations are customarily present and liable to be discharged directly or indirectly into any public sewer or drain, suitable and sufficient piping layouts, oil or grease traps or separators, screens, sedimentation chambers, diluting devices, storage and regulating, treatment, cooling or condensing equipment and similar devices or equipment shall be provided, maintained and operated to ensure that no waste, substance, or water required to be excluded from said sewer or drain shall be discharged in violation of the requirements of these regulations. Such devices or equipment shall be subject to inspection by the superintendent at reasonable hours.

4-7 At premises where any of the excluded substances or wastes are present and liable to be discharged contrary to these regulations, the superintendent may require the owner to provide, operate and maintain a sampling well or wells, a flow measuring device, manholes, catch basins or other suitable devices or treatment facilities on all building sewers or drains near where said drains connect to any public sewer.

4-8 Where preliminary treatment facilities are provided for any water or wastes, they shall be maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective operation by the owner at no expense to the town.

4-9.1 The superintendent and other duly authorized employees of the town bearing proper credentials and identification shall be permitted to enter all properties for the purposes of inspection, observation, measurement, sampling and testing in accordance with the provisions of these regulations.

4-9.2 While performing the necessary work on private properties referred to in section 4-9.1 above, the superintendent or duly authorized employees of the town shall observe all safety rules applicable to the premises established by the company.

4-9.3 The superintendent and other duly authorized employees of the town bearing proper credentials and identification shall be permitted to enter all private properties through which the town holds a duly negotiated easement for the purposes of, but not limited to, inspection, observation, measurement, sampling, repair and maintenance of any portion of the sewage works lying within said easement. All entry and subsequent work, if any on said easement, shall be done in full accordance with the terms of the duly negotiated easement pertaining to the private property involved.

(Amd. of 5-17-1976, § 4)

4-10 The superintendent may at any time stop the discharge into the public sanitary sewer of any substance deemed injurious by severing the connection or causing the removal of any medium through which such substance is discharged.

4-11 All measurements, tests and analyses of the characteristics of waters and wastes to which reference is made in these regulations shall be determined in accordance with the latest edition of Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, published by the American Public Health Association.

4-11.1 All industries discharging into a public sewer shall perform such monitoring of their discharges as the superintendent and/or other duly authorized employees of the town may reasonably require, including installation, use and maintenance of monitoring equipment, keeping records and reporting the results of such monitoring to the superintendent. Such records shall be made available upon request by the superintendent to other agencies having jurisdiction over discharges to the receiving waters.

(Amd. of 5-17-1976, § 3)

4-12 No statement contained in these regulations shall be construed as preventing any special agreement or arrangement between the town and any industrial concern whereby an industrial waste of unusual strength or character may be accepted by the town for treatment, subject to payment therefore by the industrial concern, provided that such agreements do not contravene any requirements of existing federal laws and are compatible with any user charge and industrial cost recovery system in effect.

(Amd. of 5-17-1976, § 3)

(Amd. of 6-1-2010)

Editor's note

An amendment of June 1, 2010, restated and amended former section 1000-4 in its entirety.