[HISTORY: Adopted by the Town Board of the Town of Islip 3-20-79 as Local Law No. 2, 1979.[1] Amendments noted where applicable.]
[1]
Editor's Note: This local law also repealed former Ch. 66, Water Pollution, consisting of Article I, Discharge of Effluents into Waterways, adopted 3-4-75, and Article II, Water Supply Pollution, adopted 11-12-35.
The Town Board of the Town of Islip finds that the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency has determined that the aquifer system underlying Nassau and Suffolk Counties is the principal source of drinking water for these counties, and that if the aquifer system was contaminated, it would create a significant hazard to public health. The Board also finds that hydrocarbon products and other toxic chemicals are stored within this aquifer system in large numbers of underground storage facilities which are aged, corroded and leaking, at an alarmingly increasing frequency. The Board further finds that the discharge of such liquids underground via leaks or above ground via spills contaminates the aquifer and drinking water, causes the accumulation of volatile vapors in the vicinity of such discharges, destroys life forms in surface waterways and requires enormous expenditures in cleanup operations. Finally, the Board finds that prevention of such discharges is imperative for the health and safety of all the citizens of the Town of Islip.
The purposes of this local law are to protect the Town's aquifer system from contamination by hazardous substances, to protect lives and property from injury and destruction by explosive vapors emitted from volatile liquids and to protect the Town's waterways and all their life forms from contamination and destruction by toxic chemicals. The local law is further intended to provide for:
A. 
Construction standards and inspection procedures for the storage of liquids which present a hazard to the Town's waterways or aquifer system.
B. 
The inventory of all existing storage systems containing such liquids by size, composition, age and content.
C. 
Regular testing of existing liquid storage systems.
D. 
Replacement of liquid storage systems when their continued use or presence endangers the health and safety of the public or the Town's natural resources.
E. 
Retrieval of expenses incurred by the Town of Islip in achieving compliance when the owner of the property containing a hazardous system fails to comply with the provisions of this local law.
This local law shall be known and may be cited as the "Water Quality Law" and applies to all new and existing liquid storage systems which contain or are designed to contain hazardous liquids.
The following terms, phrases, words and their derivatives shall have the meanings given herein; words used in the singular are deemed to include the plural and vice versa:
AQUIFER
All subsurface water within the Town of Islip.
FAILURE
Any leak, split, blockage, malfunction, improper installation or similar occurrence which can or does result in a discharge of contaminant out of the storage system.
HAZARDOUS SUBSTANCES
All liquid hydrocarbon products, including but not limited to gasoline, fuel oil and diesel oil, and any other toxic and corrosive chemicals, sewage, industrial waste, radioactive materials or any substance injurious to the environment, the aquifer or waterways. This also includes solid materials which, if exposed to water, will partially dissolve, forming a hazardous liquid.
IMPERMEABLE MATERIAL
A layer of natural and/or man-made material of sufficient thickness, density and composition to prevent the discharge into the underlying groundwater of any hazardous substances for a period of at least as long as the maximum anticipated time during which the hazardous substances will be in contact with the material.
LIQUID STORAGE SYSTEM
Any combination of tanks, barrels, transmission pipes, vents and pipe fittings which are used or designed to be used for the storage and/or transmission of hazardous substances, except a sewage treatment system approved by the Suffolk County Department of Health.
PERSON
Any individual, partnership, association, firm, corporation or any and all combinations of individuals acting in concert, as well as individuals.
WATERWAYS
All surface waters, fresh and salt waters, within the Town of Islip.
This local law shall be enforced by the Director of the Town of Islip Building Division and the Commissioner of the Department of Environmental Control or their appointed agents. The Building Director, who hereafter shall be referred to as the "Building Inspector," is hereby authorized to make inspections of all types of liquid storage systems throughout the Town, to solicit and maintain inventory of such systems and to ensure that such systems conform to the provisions of the local law and to adopt rules and regulations to enforce and carry out the intents of this local law.
It shall be unlawful to discharge hazardous substances upon the surface or into the subsurface land, aquifer or waterway, anywhere in the Town of Islip, by whatever method such discharge may occur, except the discharge of sewage into approved disposal systems. Unlawful discharge includes but is not limited to:
A. 
Failure of underground liquid storage tanks, pipes or connections.
B. 
Failure of aboveground liquid storage systems.
C. 
Disposal in landfills, drainage systems, any waterways or on the land surface.
D. 
Spills which occur during transport on public or private property.
E. 
Disposal or storage of contaminated material, including but not limited to soil, sand or gravel, anywhere in the Town of Islip.
Should the discharge of hazardous substances from a system with a capacity of one thousand one hundred (1,100) gallons or more occur as described in this local law, the responsible person, in addition to any other penalty as authorized in this local law, will be required to take immediate action to reclaim the discharged material, restore the environment in accordance with New York State laws and repair any physical damage caused by the spill, explosion or cleanup operations.
Any person owning a hazardous liquid storage system with a capacity of one thousand one hundred (1,100) gallons or more must register with the Town of Islip Building Division by providing a site plan of the property and a complete description of the system, including the location, number, size, composition, type of liquid being stored, and date of original installation of underground tanks and transmission pipes. Such registry must be done within one (1) year from the effective date of this local law on forms prescribed by the Building Inspector.
A. 
It shall be unlawful to install or replace any liquid storage system without first securing a Town of Islip permit for the same and paying a permit fee as established by the Town Board. The permit request shall be prepared on forms prescribed by the Building Inspector and shall include any information required by him, including the manufacturer's installation instructions.
B. 
It shall be unlawful to repair any leak in a liquid storage system without notifying the Building Inspector within twenty-four (24) hours of discovering the leak. No permit or notification is required for mechanical repairs.
All storage systems which receive a permit after the effective date of this local law shall comply with the following construction, installation and testing specifications:
A. 
Underground systems.
(1) 
All underground liquid storage systems shall be of double-wall construction, equipped with a failure detection system and protected both internally and externally from corrosion and structural failure. Noncorrosive tanks and transmission pipes approved by the Underwriters' Laboratories may be used in lieu of double-wall construction. Other storage systems which meet the safety performance of a double-walled system, as approved by the Building Inspector, may be used.
(2) 
Installation must be done strictly in accordance with manufacturer's specifications or in accordance with installation procedures approved by the Building Inspector. Construction may proceed from stage to stage, only upon approval by the Building Inspector.
(3) 
The entire system shall be tested before it is covered as required by the Building Inspector. If a failure is detected, work may not proceed until the failure is repaired and the system is retested and no additional failures are found. The system must again be tested within one (1) year after the system is operational and every ten (10) years thereafter, in a manner prescribed by the Building Inspector.
(4) 
The installation of new underground tanks for the storage of fuel oil, which have a capacity of less than one thousand one hundred (1,100) gallons, is exempt from the new construction provisions of the Water Quality Law, § 66-10 of the Code of the Town of Islip.
[Added 3-4-80 by L.L. No. 3, 1980]
B. 
Aboveground installations with a capacity of one thousand one hundred (1,100) gallons or more.
(1) 
Aboveground liquid storage systems do not require double-wall construction, but must be placed within drainage collection areas sized and designed to capture and hold the entire contents of the largest tank of the storage system and to facilitate the recovery of any spillage in the event of failure. Such drainage areas shall be constructed of impermeable material.
(2) 
Aboveground storage of solid material which can produce a hazardous liquid when it comes into contact with water must also be stored within a drainage area designed to collect the rain runoff and to recover the dissolved material. Such material may be permanently roofed in lieu of a drainage collection system, but the material must still be stored on a solid surface impermeable to any liquid produced from the material.
C. 
Aboveground systems and aboveground parts of underground systems must be reasonably protected from damage by motor vehicles, trucks and vandalism.
A. 
Every underground liquid storage system existing which does not conform on the effective date of this local law and has a capacity of one thousand one hundred (1,100) gallons or more must be tested for failure, using the final test in the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) No. 329 or other test of equivalent or superior accuracy as approved by the Building Inspector and in accordance with the following schedule. Such testing must be performed by a qualified professional testing service doing business in New York State, and the results must be presented to the Building Inspector in a signed and notarized report before December 31 of the year indicated in the schedule.
B. 
Retesting shall be done in accordance with the same schedule or as required by the Building Inspector.
C. 
If failure is detected, that part of the system which failed must be pumped out immediately and cannot be reused until the system is repaired or replaced as provided for in this local law. Recovery of the contaminant shall proceed in accordance with state law, as enforced by the New York State Department of Transportation.
Any replacement of underground liquid storage systems in whole or in part, as directed by the Building Inspector, must conform to specifications for new construction. All existing underground systems with capacities of one thousand one hundred (1,100) gallons or more, regardless of their age, which do not comply with the provisions of this local law for new construction must be replaced within fifteen (15) years from the effective date of this local law or earlier as provided herein.
A. 
Any underground liquid storage system which fails but is less than ten (10) years old may be repaired at the direction of the Building Inspector and in accordance with specifications approved by him. Any system which fails and which is ten (10) years old or more must be replaced in accordance with this local law.
B. 
Any underground liquid storage system which has not been in continual use for a period of one (1) year and which does not comply with the specifications of this local law for new construction must be removed within sixty (60) days of notification by the Building Inspector.
Anyone who wishes to appeal the Building Inspector's directive, where such directive was based on his judgment, requiring the replacement of a system, must file a written request for a hearing with the Commissioner of Planning and Development within ten (10) days of receipt of the directive. Failure to do so will be considered as an agreement to perform the directed work.
Any person, firm or corporation violating any applicable provision of this local law or failing to comply with a lawful order of the Building Inspector under this local law, upon conviction, shall be fined not less than two hundred fifty dollars ($250.) nor more than five hundred dollars ($500.), or be subject to imprisonment for not exceeding fifteen (15) days, or both, for each offense, and a separate offense shall be deemed committed on each day a violation occurs or continues. In addition, the Building Inspector may declare the liquid storage system as a public nuisance or an immediate hazard as provided for in Chapter 9 of the Code of the Town of Islip. Such declaration may result in the Town of Islip performing all the required work, including but not limited to the removal of the tanks, and annexing all the costs incurred by the Town to the tax bill of the person whose property contains the nuisance or hazard.
Each section and every part of each section of this local law is hereby declared independent of every other section or part hereof, and the finding or holding of any section or part hereof to be void or ineffective for any cause shall not be deemed to affect any other section or part thereof.
This local law shall take effect upon filing with the Secretary of State.