City of Watertown, NY Article III Sewer Use

§ 253-4 Use of public sewers required.

A. It shall be unlawful for any person to place, deposit or permit to be deposited in an unsanitary manner, upon public or private property within the City of Watertown or in any area under the jurisdiction of said City, any human or animal excrement, garbage, industrial wastes or other objectionable waste.

B. It shall be unlawful to discharge, to any natural outlet within the City of Watertown or in any area under the jurisdiction of said City, any sanitary sewage, industrial wastes, the contents of septic tanks or privy vaults or other polluted waters, except where suitable treatment has been provided in accordance with the laws and ordinances of the City, the State of New York and the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

C. The owner of all houses, buildings or properties used for human occupancy, employment, recreation or other purpose, situated within the City 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 City, 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 60 days after the date of official notice to do so or after the installation of said sewer, provided that said public sewer abuts or adjoins or benefits the property.

§ 253-5 Restrictions.

A. No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any stormwater, surface water, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, cooling water or unpolluted industrial process waters to any sanitary sewer. However, the discharge from one cellar drain may enter the sanitary sewer, provided that such drain piping is not connected to footing drains, under-floor drains, elevator-pit drains, roof leaders or other sources of storm water.

B. Stormwater, sump-pump discharges, cistern or tank overflows, boiler room drains, discharge from water motors, discharge of cooling water from air-conditioning and refrigeration units 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 City Engineer. Industrial cooling water or unpolluted process waters may be discharged, upon approval of the City Engineer, to a storm sewer or natural outlet.

C. If no storm sewer is available, water runoff or drainage shall be conducted to adequate dry wells and/or leach fields properly constructed upon the property.

D. Except as hereinafter provided, no person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the following described waters or wastes to any public sewer:

(1) Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than 150º F. (65º C.).

(2) Any waters or wastes which contain grease or oil or other substance that will solidify or become discernibly viscous at temperatures between thirty-two degrees and one hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit (32º and 150º F.).

(3) Any waters or wastes containing emulsified oil and grease exceeding an average of 50 parts per million (417 pounds per million gallons) of ether-soluble matter.

(4) Any gasoline, benzine, naphtha, fuel oil or mineral oil or other flammable or explosive liquid, solid or gas.

(5) Any noxious or malodorous gas such as hydrogen sulfide, sulfur dioxide or nitrous oxide or other substance, which, either singly or by interaction with other wastes, is capable of creating a public nuisance or hazard to life or of preventing entry into sewers for their maintenance and repair.

(6) Any garbage that has not been properly comminuted or triturated.

(7) Any ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plastic, wood, paunch manure, hair and fleshings, entrails, lime slurry, lime residues, beer or distillery slops, chemical residues, paint residues, cannery waste bulk solids or any other solid or viscous substance capable of causing obstruction to the flow of the sewers or other interference with the proper operation of the sewage system.

(8) Any waters or wastes, acid and alkaline in reaction having corrosive properties capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment and personnel of the sewage system. Free acids and alkalies must be neutralized, at all times, within a permissible pH range of six point zero (6.0) to nine point five (9.5).

(9) Any cyanides, in excess of two parts per million by weight as CN.

(10) Any long half-life (over 100 days) of toxic radioactive isotopes, without a special permit.

(11) Any waters or wastes that, for a duration of 15 minutes, have a concentration greater than five times the average of that of normal sanitary sewage [defined in Subsection D(14)] as measured by suspended solids and BOD and/or which is discharged continuously at a rate exceeding 1,000 gallons per minute, except by special permit.

(12) The residue contents of grease, oil and sand interceptors or the contents of any privy vault, septic tank or cesspool.

(13) No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any waters or wastes containing a toxic or poisonous substance, a high chlorine demand or suspended solids in sufficient quantity to injure or interfere with any sewage treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals or create any hazard in the receiving waters or the effluent of the City of Watertown sewage treatment plant.

[Amended 1-5-2009 by L.L. No. 1-2009]

(14) Normal sanitary sewage shall be construed to fall below the following maximum levels in the effluent of the commercial establishment or industrial plant in question:

		Maximum Levels (parts per million)
	Constituents
	Suspended solids	350
	BOD	300
	Chlorine demand	15

E. Grease, oil and sand interceptors shall be provided for vehicle maintenance and washracks and when, in the opinion of the City Engineer, they are necessary for the proper handling of liquid wastes containing grease in excessive amounts or any flammable wastes, sand and other harmful ingredients, except that such interceptors shall not be required for private living quarters or dwelling units. All interceptors shall be of a type and capacity approved by the Plumbing and Sanitary Inspector and shall be located as to be readily and easily accessible for cleaning and inspection.

F. Grease and oil interceptors shall be constructed of impervious materials, capable of withstanding abrupt and extreme changes in temperature. They shall be of substantial construction, watertight and equipped with easily removable covers which, when bolted in place, shall be gastight and watertight.

G. Where installed, all grease, oil and sand interceptors shall be maintained by the owner, at his expense, in continuously efficient operation at all times and shall be readily accessible and open to inspection by the Plumbing and Sanitary Inspector at any time.

H. Hospitals, nursing homes and penal or correctional institutions shall install appropriate equipment to comminute or shred their liquid wastes prior to entry into the public sewers or shall install suitable screening devices to capture and exclude from the sewers the debris from disposable products utilized in such institutions and any other bulk solids capable of causing obstruction to flow in the public sewers.

I. The admission into the public sewers of any waters or wastes having a five-day biochemical oxygen demand greater than 300 parts per million by weight or containing more than 350 parts per million by weight of suspended solids or containing more than 15 parts per million of chlorine demand or containing any quantity of substances having the characteristics above the previously described limits or having an average daily flow greater than 2% of the average daily sewage flow of the City shall be subject to the review and approval of the City Engineer. Where necessary, in the opinion of the City Engineer, the owner shall provide, at his expense, such preliminary treatment as may be necessary to reduce the biochemical oxygen demand to 300 parts per million and the suspended solids to 350 parts per million by weight or reduce the chlorine demand to 15 parts per million or reduce objectionable characteristics or constituents to within the maximum limits, provided for in Subsection D of this section, or control the quantities and rates of discharge of such waters or wastes. Plans, specifications and any other pertinent information relating to proposed preliminary treatment facilities shall be submitted for the approval of the City Engineer, the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, and no construction of such facilities shall be commenced until said approvals are obtained in writing.

[Amended 1-5-2009 by L.L. No. 1-2009]

J. Where preliminary treatment facilities are provided for any waters or wastes, they shall be maintained continuously in satisfactory and effective operation by the owner at his expense.

K. When required by the City Engineer, the owner of any property served by a building sewer shall install a suitable control manhole 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 City Engineer. 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.

L. All measurements, tests and analyses of the characteristics of waters and wastes to which reference is made in this section shall be determined in accordance with Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Waste Water, 13th Edition, 1971, American Public Health Association, upon suitable samples taken at control manhole provided for above. 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.

M. Procedure upon violation of provisions.

(1) When the volume, characteristics or strength of a particular liquid waste entering the public sewers exceeds the limitations described in this section, the City Engineer shall notify the owner of the violation, supported by test results and/or measurement records compiled by the City. Within 30 days after receipt of said notice, the owner shall reply in writing to the City Engineer stating the steps or procedures he proposes to follow to comply with the requirements of this section, including a timetable to accomplish the same. If approved, the owner shall proceed with the implementation of his plan in accordance with the stated timetable.

(2) Notwithstanding the above notification procedures, the City reserves the right to order the owner immediately to exclude from the public sewers any liquid or substance which, either singly or in combination with other wastewaters, could result in physical damage to the sewers or sewage treatment works or could upset the treatment process or could create potentially hazardous conditions for City employees or the public.