Sewer Specifications

Customer Service Lines Furnished by Customer

A. The owner of all houses, buildings or properties used for human occupancy, employment, recreation or other purpose, situated in the City or in any area where there is an availability of sewers in a jurisdiction with which the City has an interjurisdictional sewage treatment agreement and abutting on any street, alley or right-of-way in which there is now located or may in the future be located a sanitary sewer of the City, is hereby required, at his/her expense, to install suitable toilet facilities therein and to connect such facilities directly with the proper sanitary sewer in accordance with the provisions of this Chapter within one hundred eighty (180) days after sewer service is available, provided such sanitary sewer is within three hundred (300) feet of all structures used for human occupancy, employment, recreation or other purposes. In the event there is no sanitary sewer within three hundred (300) feet of the structure, the owner may request permission of the City to construct and maintain an adequate on-site wastewater treatment system installation at the owner's expense, until such time as a sanitary sewer is made available. At which time a public sanitary sewer does become available, the owner shall connect the building sewer to the public sanitary sewer. The owner shall remove the septage from the sewage tank and dispose of it in an approved manner, the sewage tank shall be abandoned and filled with suitable material or be removed.

B. No person shall make any connection to the POTW, either direct or indirect, without written permission from the Director nor reconnect wastewater services when such services have been disconnected for non-payment of a bill for wastewater services unless such bill for wastewater services, including charges for disconnection, has been paid in full.
   
C. No person shall tap into any sanitary sewer line of the POTW except by using an approved tapping method and an approved connection fitting unless otherwise approved by the Director. The Director shall develop reasonable rules and regulations on tapping and connecting procedures. These rules and regulations shall take force and effect five (5) days after the same shall be filed in the office of the City Clerk.
 
D.  The building sewer shall be constructed and conform to the requirements of the Building and Plumbing Codes or other applicable rules and regulations of the City. The building sewer shall be constructed of Schedule 40 or heavier polyvinyl chloride (PVC), cast-iron soil pipe or any other material as approved by the Director with an inside diameter of no less than four (4) inches. Joints of the building sewer shall be watertight and rootproof. Joints for PVC pipe can be either the gasketed type or glue on. If the joints are to be glued, then an approved primer/cleaner and solvent-type cements shall be used. The primer/cleaner shall be purple in color for identification purposes. Ninety degree (90°) ells or bends shall not be allowed at any point of the building sewer. At the point where the building drain connects to the building sewer, there shall be a tee or wye and a cleanout extended above the flow line of the building sewer and the line brought up above the surface of the surrounding ground. The pipe shall have an approved cap or screw in plug to be used for access. The building sewer shall be laid at a minimal slope of one quarter (¼) inch of fall per foot of horizontal distance and may not be located within two (2) feet of a side property line unless the sanitary sewer main is positioned along the side property line. The connection of the building drain to the building sewer shall be made at point not less than three (3) feet from the foundation and not more than five (5) feet from the foundation. The cleanout must be of the same size of pipe as the building sewer up to the foundation. All pipe and fittings must be installed with granular pipe embedding, consisting of crushed or chipped limestone with a nominal size of not less than one-half (½) inch or greater than one (1) inch. Bedding material shall be used to provide a uniform trench bottom. A minimum bedding of two (2) inches above and below the exterior of the pipe is required. When the building sewer runs in excess of one hundred (100) linear feet, addition cleanouts shall be installed a maximum of one hundred (100) linear feet apart. The building sewer shall not be installed in the same trench as the water supply line. Water service pipe and building sewer shall be separated by five (5) feet of undisturbed or compacted earth. An eighteen (18) inch vertical separation shall be required between the building sewer and water supply line. Where this vertical separation cannot be complied with, then the building sewer and water supply line shall be without joints or connections until a five (5) foot separation is obtained. When existing conditions do not allow specified separation, sealed encasement shall be provided for either line until separation is achieved.  Building sewers laid under drives, parking lots or traffic areas shall be either encased in metal conduit or shall be covered with a minimum of six (6) inches of crushed or chipped limestone, as specified herein, on all sides of the pipe or the pipe shall be cast iron or ductile iron.
 
E.  The maintenance and repairs of the building sewer shall be the responsibility of the owner to the point of connection with the City's sanitary sewer main.  This shall include when the building sewer crosses any street, road, highway, alley or right-of-way.

F. For building sewers constructed or replaced after January 1, 2016, a minimum 12 gauge single strand copper clad steel high strength conductive tracer wire with HDPE insulation, shall be installed directly above and adjacent to the customer's building sewer line, where such piping is located within the public right of way.  Wire splices shall be made with either rigid fittings or weatherproof connectors specifically designed for direct burial.  Electric ground shall be established by splicing on to existing tracer wire where available or using a minimum 1' copper grounding rod driven into the trench bottom near the sewer main.  The tracer wire shall be extended to the surface adjacent to the building clean out and housed within a protective enclosure constructed of schedule 40 PVC pipe and a schedule 40 PVC threaded clean out or an alternately constructed housing as may be approved by the City.  The protective enclosure shall be extended to grade, installed so that it is easily accessible but shall not be located within any driving or parking surface unless rigid clean-out fittings are used.

     1.  This provision shall apply to building sewers operating under pressure or vacuum except that protective housings for accessing the tracer wire shall be located adjacent to the associated pump vault.

G. A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building and each individual premises intended to be maintained and owned separately, except where one (1) building may stand at the rear of another building in an interior lot and no public sanitary sewer is available or can be constructed to the rear building through any street, alley or right-of-way.  In which case the building sewer from the front building may be extended to the rear building.

H.  Whenever possible, the building sewer shall be brought to the building drain at an elevation that will permit gravity flow into the building sewer. In all buildings in which any building drain is too low to permit gravity flow to the sanitary sewer, the sanitary sewage carried by the building drain shall be lifted by an approved means and discharged to the building drain or the nearest point that will permit gravity flow to the sanitary sewer. In any and all cases where the building drain or the drain of any plumbing fixture, that drains by gravity, is at a lower elevation than the highest elevation of closest upstream manhole, which is part of the sanitary sewer main to which the building sewer is connected, a backwater valve shall be installed on the building sewer. A backwater valve shall also be installed on the upstream portion of the building sewer if at any point of the building sewer there is a connection of a pressurized discharge line from a pump used to carry water from a building subdrain to the building sewer. All bearing parts of backwater valves shall be of corrosion-resistant material. Backwater valves shall comply with ASME A112.14.1, CSA CAN/CSA-B181.1 or CSA CAN/CSA-B181.2. Backwater valves shall be so constructed as to provide a mechanical seal against backflow. Backwater valves, when fully opened, shall have a capacity not less than that of the pipes in which they are installed. Backwater valves shall be installed so that access is provided to the working parts for service and repair.


I.    Old building sewers may be used in connection with a new building only when the old building sewer is constructed per this Section. Building sewers constructed of any non-approved materials shall be abandoned and disconnected at the point of connection to the public sanitary sewer
 
J.    The Public Works Director shall be notified twenty-four (24) hours before the building sewer and connection to the public sanitary sewer is ready for inspection. The ditch shall not be backfilled until the inspection is made with approval given. Documentation of the location of the lateral shall be made at the time of inspection and shall be transferred to a permanent recordkeeping system established to document the same. A building sewer line inspection fee of forty dollars ($40.00) shall be submitted to the City prior to inspection or approval for service. The City may refuse to give sanitary sewer service for failure to conform to the requirements contained herein.