Chapter 911: Sewers Generally

Sections

Cross references

  • Power to regulate water closets and privies - see Ohio R.C. 715.40
  • Power to construct sewerage system - see Ohio R.C. 715.40, 717.01
  • Compulsory sewer connections - see Ohio R.C. 729.06; BLDG. 1343.02
  • Management and control of sewerage system - see Ohio R.C. 729.50
  • Regulations to control house sewers and connections - see Ohio R.C. 729.51
  • Untreated sewage - see Ohio R.C. 3701.59
  • Interference with sewage flow - see Ohio R.C. 4933.24
  • Properly connected toilets required - see BLDG. 1343.01

911.01   Definitions

Useless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this chapter shall be as follows:

  1. (a) “BOD” (denoting biochemical oxygen demand) means the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in five days at twenty degrees Centigrade, expressed in milligrams per liter.

  2. (b) “Building drain” means that part of the lowest horizontal piping of a drainage system which receives the discharge from soil, waste and other drainage pipes inside the walls of the buildings and conveys it to the building sewer, beginning five feet outside the inner face of the building wall.

  3. (c) “Building sewer” means the extension from the building drain to the public sewer or other place of disposal.

  4. (d) “Garbage” means solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation, cooking and dispensing of food and from the handling, storage and sale of produce.

  5. (e) “Industrial wastes” means liquid wastes from industrial manufacturing processes, trade or business, as distinct from sanitary sewage.

  6. (f) “Natural outlet” means any outlet into a watercourse, pond, ditch, lake or other body of surface or ground water.

  7. (g) “Person” means any individual, firm, company, association, society, corporation or group.

  8. (h) “pH” means logarithm of the reciprocal of the weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.

  9. (i) “Properly shredded garbage” means the wastes from the preparation, cooking and dispensing of food that have been shredded to such a degree that all particles will be carried freely under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers, with no particle greater than one-half inch in any dimension.

  10. (j) “Public sewer” means a sewer in which all owners of abutting properties have equal rights and is controlled by public authority.

  11. (k) “Sanitary sewer” means a sewer which carries sewage and to which storm, surface and ground waters are not intentionally admitted.

  12. (l) “Sewage” means a combination of the water-carried wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions and industrial establishments, together with such ground surface, and storm waters as may be present.

  13. (m) “Sewage treatment plant” or “waste water treatment plant” means any arrangement of devices and structures used for treating sewage.

  14. (n) “Sewage works” means all facilities for collecting, pumping, treating and disposing of sewage.

  15. (o) “Sewer” means a pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.

  16. (p) “Shall” is mandatory; “may” is permissive.

  17. (q) “Slug” means any discharge of water, sewage or industrial waste which in concentration of any given constituent or in quantity of flow exceeds for any period of duration longer than fifteen minutes more than five times the average twenty-four hour concentration or flows during normal operation.

  18. (r) “Storm drain”, sometimes termed “storm sewer”, means a sewer which carries storm and surface waters and drainage, but excludes sewage and industrial wastes, other than unpolluted cooling water.
    (Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

  19. (s) “Superintendent” and “Superintendent of Services” means the Superintendent of Utilities or his or her authorized deputy, agent or representative.
    (Ord. 2008-65. Passed 12-8-08.)

  20. (t) “Suspended solids” means solids that either float on the surface of or are in suspension in water, sewage, or other liquids, and which are removable by laboratory filtering.

  21. (u) “Watercourse” means a channel in which a flow of water occurs, either continuously or intermittently.

  22. (v) “Hearing Board” means that Board appointed according to the provisions of Section 911.12.
    (Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

911.02   Use of public sewers required

  1. (a) No person shall place, deposit or permit to be deposited in any unsanitary manner on public or private property within the Municipality or in any area under the jurisdiction of the Municipality any human or animal excrement, garbage or other objectionable waste.

  2. (b) No person shall discharge to any natural outlet within the Municipality, or in any area under the jurisdiction of the Municipality, any sewage or other polluted waters, except where suitable treatment has been provided in accordance with subsequent provisions of this chapter.

  3. (c) Except as provided in Chapter 919, no person shall construct or maintain any privy, privy vault, septic tank, cesspool or other facility intended or used for the disposal of sewage.
    (Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

  4. (d) The owner of all houses, buildings or properties used for human occupancy, employment, recreation or other purposes situated within the Municipality and abutting on any street, alley or right of way in which there is now located or may in the future be located a public sanitary sewer of the Municipality, is hereby required at his expense to install suitable toilet facilities therein and to connect such facilities directly with the proper public sewer in accordance with the provisions of this chapter within ninety days after the date of official notice to do so, provided that such public sewer is within 200 feet of the foundation wall.

    Nothing in this subsection shall be deemed to obviate the requirement of toilet facilities for residences and other buildings as provided in Section 1343.01 of the Building Code, irrespective of the proximity of sanitary sewers.
    (Ord. 2015-13. Passed 4-27-15.)

911.03   Building sewers and connections

  1. (a) No unauthorized person shall uncover, make any connections with or opening into, use, alter or disturb any public sewer or appurtenance thereof without first obtaining a written permit from the Municipality.

  2. (b) There shall be two classes of building sewer permits:

    1. (1) For residential and commercial, and

    2. (2) For service to establishments producing industrial wastes. In either case, the owner or his agent shall make application with the Village for such installation. The permit application shall be supplemented by any plans, specifications or other information considered pertinent in the judgment of the Building Inspector. A permit and inspection fee for a building sewer permit shall be paid at the time the application is filed.

  3. (c) All costs and expense incident to the installation and connection of the building sewer shall be borne by the owner. The owner shall indemnify the Municipality from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer.

  4. (d) A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building except that where one building stands at the rear of another on an interior lot and no private sewer is available or can be constructed to the rear building through an adjoining alley, courtyard or driveway, the building sewer from the front building may be extended to the rear building and the whole considered as one building sewer.

  5. (e) Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, on examination and test by the Building Inspector, to meet all requirements of this chapter.

  6. (f) The size, shape, alignment, materials of construction of a building sewer and the methods to be used in excavating, placing of the pipe, jointing, testing and backfilling the trench, shall all conform to the requirements of the Building Code or other applicable rules and regulations of the Municipality.

  7. (g) Whenever possible, the building sewer shall be brought to the building 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 sewer, sanitary sewage carried by such building drain shall be lifted by an approved means and discharged to the building sewer.

  8. (h) No person shall make connection of roof downspouts, exterior foundation drains, areaway drains or other sources of surface runoff or ground water to a building sewer or building drain which in turn is connected directly or indirectly to a public sanitary sewer.

  9. (i) The connection of the building sewer into the public sewer shall conform to the requirements of the Building Code or other applicable rules and regulations of the Municipality. All connections shall be made gastight and watertight. Any deviation from the prescribed procedures and materials must be approved by the Building Inspector before installation.

  10. (j) The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the Building Inspector when the building sewer is ready for inspection and connection to the public sewer. The connection shall be made under supervision of the Building Inspector or his representative. Regardless of fit, the first joint from the public sewer lateral to the home lateral shall be cemented.

  11. (k) All excavations for building sewer installations 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 a manner satisfactory to the Municipality.
    (Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

  12. (l) The Municipal Engineer is directed, prior to final approval of any newly installed sewer system and/or reconstructed sewer, to require that any and all contractors cause to be made photographs of the entire sewer system installed, showing thereby that the sewer system has been constructed upon a sound engineering basis, that the sewer system is free of any and all accumulations of foreign substance and nature and that the passage and flow of sewage and storm water is free and clear.

  13. (m) Upon inspection of such photographs and if satisfied that such sewer is free and clear of all foreign substance and that there is nothing present to prevent free flow of sewage and storm waters, the Engineer is hereby authorized to approve the same as a final inspection, placing in safekeeping all photographs for future reference.

  14. (n) The cost of such photographing and photographs shall be entirely paid for by the contractor or developer of such land and/or sewer system and the photographs shall remain the property of the Municipality.
    (Ord. 1964-604. Passed 8-10-64.)

911.04   Storm sewer waste prohibited in sanitary sewer

  1. (a) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any storm water, surface water, ground water, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, uncontaminated cooling water or unpolluted industrial process waters into any sanitary sewer.

  2. (b) Storm water and all other unpolluted drainage shall be discharged to such sewers as are specifically designated as storm sewers or to a natural outlet approved by the Building Inspector. Industrial cooling water or unpolluted process waters may be discharged, on approval of the Building Inspector, to a storm sewer, combined sewer or natural outlet.
    (Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

911.05   Prohibited wastes

No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the following described waters or wastes into any public sewer:

  1. (a) Gasoline, benzene, naphtha, fuel oil or other flammable or explosive liquid, solid or gas.

  2. (b) Waters or wastes containing toxic or poisonous solids, liquids or gases in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with other wastes, to injure or interfere with any sewage treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals, create a public nuisance or create any hazard in the receiving waters of the sewage treatment plant, including, but not limited to, cyanides in excess of two mg/l as CN in the wastes as discharged to the public sewer.

  3. (c) Waters or wastes having a pH lower than 5.5 or having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment and personnel of the sewage works.

  4. (d) Solid or viscous substances in quantities or of such size capable of causing obstructions to the flow in sewers or other interference with the proper operation of the sewage works such as, but not limited to, ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plastics, wood, unground garbage, whole blood, paunch manure, hair and fleshings, entrails, paper dishes, paper towels and wiping cloths, paper cups, milk containers, etc., either whole or -ground by garbage grinders.
    (Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

911.06   Restricted wastes

No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged the following described substances, materials, waters or wastes if it appears likely in the opinion of the Superintendent that such waste can harm either the sewers, sewage treatment process or equipment, have an adverse effect in the receiving stream, or can otherwise endanger life, limb or public property or constitute a nuisance. In forming his opinion as to the acceptability of these wastes, the Superintendent shall give consideration to such factors as the quantities of subject wastes in relation to flows and velocities in the sewers, materials of construction of the sewers, nature of the sewage, treatment process, capacity of the sewage treatment plant, degree of treatability of wastes in the sewage treatment plant, and other pertinent factors. The substances prohibited are:

  1. (a) Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than 150 degrees Fahrenheit (sixty-five degrees Centigrade).

  2. (b) Any water or waste containing fats, wax, grease or oils, whether emulsified or not, in excess of 100 mg/1 or containing substances which may solidify or become viscous at temperatures between thirty-two and 150 degrees Fahrenheit (zero and sixty-five degrees Centigrade).

  3. (c) Any garbage that has not been properly shredded. The installation and operation of any garbage grinder, equipped with a motor of three-quarter horsepower (0.76 horsepower metric) or greater, shall be subject to the review and approval of the Superintendent.

  4. (d) Any waters or wastes containing strong acid iron pickling wastes or concentrated plating solutions whether neutralized or not.

  5. (e) Any waters or wastes containing iron, chromium, copper, zinc and similar objectionable or toxic substances, or wastes exerting an excessive chlorine requirement, to such degree that any such material received in the composite sewage at the sewage treatment works exceeds the limits established by the Superintendent for such materials.

  6. (f) Any waters or wastes containing phenols or other taste or odor producing substances, in such concentrations exceeding limits which may be established by the Superintendent as necessary, after treatment of the composite sewage, to meet the requirements of the State, Federal or other public agencies of jurisdiction for such discharge to the receiving waters.

  7. (g) Any radioactive wastes or isotopes of such half-life or concentration as may exceed limits established by the Superintendent in compliance with applicable State or Federal regulations.

  8. (h) Any waters or wastes having a pH in excess of 9.5.

  9. (i) Materials which exert or cause:

    1. (1) Unusual concentrations of inert, suspended solids such as, but not limited to, fuller’s earth, lime slurries and lime residues, or of dissolved solids such as, but not limited to, sodium chloride and sodium sulfate.

    2. (2) Excessive discoloration such as, but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions.

    3. (3) Unusual BOD, chemical oxygen demand or chlorine requirements in such quantities as to constitute a significant load on the sewage treatment works.

    4. (4) Unusual volume of flow or concentration of wastes constituting slugs, as defined herein.

  10. (j) Waters or wastes containing substances which are not amenable to treatment or reduction by the sewage treatment processes employed or are amenable to treatment only to such degree that the sewage treatment plant effluent cannot meet the requirements of other agencies having jurisdiction over discharge to the receiving waters.
    (Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

911.07   Authority of superintendent

If any waters or wastes are discharged or are proposed to be discharged to the public sewers, which waters contain the substances or possess the characteristics enumerated in Section 911.06, and which in the judgment of the Superintendent may have a deleterious effect upon the sewage works, processes, equipment or receiving waters, or which otherwise create a hazard to life or constitute a public nuisance, the Superintendent may:

  1. (a) Reject the wastes;

  2. (b) Require pretreatment to acceptable condition for discharge to public sewers;

  3. (c) Require control over the quantities and rates of discharge, and/or wastes not covered by existing taxes or sewer charges under the provisions of Section 911.09(d). If the Superintendent permits the pretreatment or equalization of waste flows, the design and installation of the plants and equipment shall be subject to the review and approval of the Superintendent and to the requirements of all applicable codes, ordinances and laws.
    (Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

911.08   Interceptors

Grease, oil and sand interceptors shall be provided when, in the opinion of the Superintendent, they are necessary for the proper handling of liquid wastes containing grease in excessive amounts, or any flammable wastes, sand or other harmful ingredients; except that such interceptors shall be of a type and capacity approved by the Superintendent and shall be located as to be readily and easily accessible for cleaning and inspection.
(Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

911.09   Treatment; tests; special agreements

  1. (a) Maintenance of Treatment Facilities. Where preliminary treatment or flow-equalizing facilities are provided for any waters or wastes, they shall be maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective operation by the owner at his expense.

  2. (b) Control Manholes. When required by the Superintendent, the owner of any property serviced by a building sewer carrying industrial wastes shall install a suitable control manhole together with such necessary meters and other appurtenances in the building sewer to facilitate observation, sampling and measurement of the wastes. Such manhole, when required, shall be accessibly and safely located and shall be constructed in accordance with plans approved by the Superintendent. The manhole shall be installed by the owner at his expense and shall be maintained by him so as to be safe and accessible at all times.

  3. (c) Measurements, Tests, Analyses. All measurements, tests and analyses of the characteristics of waters and wastes to which reference is made in this chapter 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 and shall be determined at the control manhole provided or upon suitable samples taken at such control manhole. In the event that no special manhole has been required, the control manhole shall be considered to be the nearest downstream manhole in the public sewer to the point at which the building sewer is connected. Sampling shall be carried out by customarily accepted methods to determine the existence of hazards to life, limb and property. The particular analyses involved will determine whether a twenty-four hour composite of all outfalls of a premise is appropriate or whether a grab sample or samples should be taken. Normally, but not always, BOD and suspended solids analyses are obtained from twenty-four hour composites of all outfalls whereas pH is determined from periodic grab samples.

  4. (d) Special Agreements. No statement contained in Sections 911.04 to 911.08 and this section shall be construed as preventing any special agreement or arrangement between the Municipality and any industrial concern whereby an industrial waste of unusual strength or character may be accepted by the Municipality for treatment, subject to payment therefor by the industrial concern.
    (Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

911.10   Protection from damage

No unauthorized person shall maliciously, willfully or negligently break, damage, destroy, uncover, deface or tamper with any structure, appurtenance or equipment which is a part of the sewage works. Any person violating this provision shall be subject to immediate arrest under charge of disorderly conduct.
(Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

911.11   Powers and authority of inspectors

  1. (a) The Superintendent and other duly authorized employees of the Municipality bearing proper credentials and identifications shall be permitted to enter all properties for the purposes of inspection, observation, measurement, sampling and testing in accordance with the provisions of this chapter. The Superintendent or his representative shall have no authority to inquire into any processes, including metallurgical, chemical, oil refining, ceramic, paper or other industries beyond that point having a direct bearing on the kind and source of discharge to the sewers or waterways or facilities for waste treatment.

  2. (b) While performing the necessary work on private properties referred to in subsection (a) hereof, the Superintendent or duly authorized employees of the Municipality shall observe all safety rules applicable to the premises established by the company and the company shall be held harmless for injury or death to the Municipal employees, and the Municipality shall indemnify the company against loss or damage to its property by Municipal employees and against liability claims and demands for personal injury or property damage asserted against the company and growing out of the gauging and sampling operation, except as such may be caused by negligence or failure of the company to maintain safe conditions as required in Section 911.09(b).

  3. (c) The Superintendent and other duly authorized employees of the Municipality bearing proper credentials and identification shall be permitted to enter all private properties through which the Municipality holds a duly negotiated easement for the purpose of, but not limited to, inspection, observation, measurement, sampling, repair and maintenance of any portion of the sewage works lying within such easement. All entry and subsequent work, if any, on such easement shall be done in full accordance with the terms of the duly negotiated easement pertaining to the private property involved.
    (Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

911.12   Appeals

Appeals to any provision of Chapter 911 shall be heard by the Board of Zoning Appeals pursuant to Section 1111.03 and subject to the standards set forth in Section 1111.07. A decision of the Board of Zoning Appeals rendered pursuant to this provision shall be final and appealable to the court of common pleas.
(Ord. 2015-13. Passed 4-27-15.)

911.13   Separability

The invalidity of any section, clause, sentence or provision of this chapter shall not affect the validity of any other part of this chapter which can be given effect without such invalid part or parts.
(Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

911.99   Penalty

  1. (a) Whoever violates any provision of this chapter, except Section 911.10, shall be served by the Municipality with written notice stating the nature of the violation and providing a reasonable time limit for the satisfactory correction thereof. The offender shall, within the period of time stated in such notice, permanently cease all violations.
    (Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)

  2. (b) Whoever continues any violation beyond the time limit provided for in subsection (a) hereof shall be fined not more than five hundred dollars ($500.00) or imprisoned not more than six months, or both. Each day such violation continues shall constitute a separate offense.

  3. (c) Whoever violates any of the provisions of this chapter shall become liable to the Municipality for any expense, loss or damage occasioned the Municipality by reason of such violation.
    (Ord. 1968-738. Passed 9-17-68.)