[Adopted 9-19-1995 by Ord. No. 319]
A.
This article shall be known and may be cited as "An
On-Lot Management Program for Upper Southampton Township."
B.
As mandated by the municipal codes, the Clean Streams
Law (35 P.S. § 691.1) and the Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities
Act (Act of January 24, 1966, P.L. as amended, 35 P.S. § 750.1
et seq., known as Act 537), municipalities have the power and the
duty to provide for adequate sewage treatment facilities and for the
protection of the public health by preventing the discharge of untreated
or inadequately treated sewage. The Sewage Facilities Plan Update
for Upper Southampton Township indicates a commitment to formulate
and implement an on-lot management program for all lots within the
Township utilizing on-lot sewage systems.
C.
The purpose of this article is to provide for the
maintenance, inspection and repair of on-lot sewage systems; and to
establish responsibilities for the proper administration of a sewage
management program.
As used in this article, the following terms
shall have the meanings indicated:
A component of an individual or community sewage system where
liquid from a septic tank seeps into the soil; it consists of an aggregate
filled area containing piping for the distribution of liquid and the
soil or sand/soil combination located beneath the aggregate.[1]
A system of piping, tanks or other facilities serving either
a single lot or two or more lots and collecting, treating and disposing
of domestic sewage into an absorption area.
An individual, association, public or private corporation
for profit or not-for-profit, partnership, firm, trust, estate, department,
board, bureau or agency of the United States, commonwealth, political
subdivision, municipality, district, authority or other legal entity
which is recognized by the law as the subject of rights and duties.
The term includes members of an association, partnership or firm and
the officers of a local agency or municipal, public or private corporation
for profit or not-for-profit.
Any person, as that term is defined in this article, who
engages in the cleaning of community or individual on-lot sewage systems
and/or transports the sewage removed from these systems for disposal
and is licensed by the Bucks County Department of Health. For the
purposes of this article, persons identified herein shall be hereinafter
referred to as "pumpers/haulers."
[Added 6-9-2020 by Ord. No. 463]
The form which shall be used by all licensed pumpers/haulers
to report each pumping of an on-lot sewage system in the Township.
[Added 6-9-2020 by Ord. No. 463]
A tank that provides for aerobic or anaerobic decomposition
of sewage to take place prior to discharge to an absorption area.
This term shall also include cesspools.
[1]
Editor's Note: The former definitions of "certified septic
system inspector" and "licensed sewage hauler," which immediately
followed, were repealed 6-9-2020 by Ord. No. 463.
[Amended 6-9-2020 by Ord. No. 463]
A.
On-lot sewage system pumping and inspection.
(1)
All on-lot sewage systems in the Township shall be
maintained in good and operating condition and in conformance with
the accepted standards in the trade and industry, and shall be visually
inspected and pumped out by a licensed pumper/hauler selected by the
property owner at least once every three years. The three- year time
period and cycle shall be determined by the Township.
(2)
Properties with on-lot sewage systems making use of
a septic tank, cesspool and/or dry well, if the same receive solids
for the structures served, and pump tank, if present, shall have such
systems inspected and pumped. Said inspection and pumping shall occur
once every three years. Furthermore, removal of excess amounts of
solids or scum shall be required and the baffles of the septic tank
shall be inspected by the licensed pumper/hauler in order to determine
that the baffles are functioning properly. All costs of excavation,
if necessary, shall be borne by the property owner.
(3)
Within 10 days after each inspection and pump-out, the licensed pumper/hauler
shall generate a pumper's report on the form provided by the Township.
The pumper's report shall include the findings of the inspection and
note any observed malfunctions and/or deficiencies. The Township shall
notify the Bucks County Department of Health of any potential malfunctions
of the sewerage system.
(4)
Any deficiencies and/or malfunctions identified shall be repaired
within 60 days of the date the condition was identified, weather permitting.
(5)
Upon repair of the deficiencies and/or malfunctions, the property
owner shall submit a receipt documenting the date when the sewage
system was repaired, along with a copy of the Bucks County Department
of Health permit authorizing such repair. Such receipt and permit
must be submitted to the Township within 30 days after the repair.
The Board of Supervisors of the Township of
Upper Southampton, or any officer of the Township designated thereby
for this purpose, is hereby authorized to give notice, by personal
service or by United States mail, to the person who owns a property
on which an on-lot sewage system is located, requiring such owner
to pump, inspect or repair the on-lot sewage system and provide the
Township with a receipt and other specified information documenting
the date on which the on-lot sewage system was pumped, inspected or
repaired.
Costs for the municipal administration of the
management program, including maintaining on-lot system information
and monitoring compliance, shall be assessed to property owners included
in the program and will be set by municipal resolution. It shall be
each individual property owner's responsibility to contract with a
licensed sewage hauler and certified on-lot sewage system inspector
for the pumping and inspection of the on-lot sewage system.
[Added 6-19-2012 by Ord. No. 414[1]]
Any violation of this article shall be enforced by action brought
before a District Justice in the same manner provided for the enforcement
of summary offenses under the Pennsylvania Rules of Criminal Procedure.
Any person, firm or corporation who shall violate any provision of
this article shall, upon conviction thereof, be sentenced to pay a
fine of not more than $1,000 and/or to imprisonment for a term not
to exceed 10 days. Each day that a violation of this article continues,
or each section of this article which shall be found to have been
violated, shall constitute a separate offense. For purposes of this
section, the doing of any act or thing prohibited by any provision
of this article, or the failure to do any act or thing as to which
any provision of this article creates an affirmative duty, shall constitute
a violation of this article punishable as herein stated.
[1]
Editor’s Note: This ordinance also repealed former §
142-19, Enforcement remedies.
