[Adopted 6-20-2011 by Ord. No. 4-2011]
A.
Purpose. The purpose of this article is to establish procedures for
the installation, use and maintenance of sewage grinder pumps and
any associated force mains or low-pressure laterals. It is hereby
declared that the enactment of this article is necessary for the protection,
benefit and preservation of the health, safety and welfare of the
inhabitants of the Township.
B.
Authority. The Township is authorized by law to enact ordinances
or adopt resolutions regarding sewage conveyance, treatment and disposal.
Unless the context specifically and clearly indicates otherwise,
the meaning of terms used in this article shall be as follows:
The Township's Official Plan as defined in the Pennsylvania
Sewage Facilities Act of January 24, 1966, P.L. 1535 (1965), No. 537,
as amended, 35 P.S. §§ 750.1-750.20a ("Sewage Facilities
Act" or "Act 537").
The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection.
Any electric-motor-driven, submersible, centrifugal pump
capable of macerating all material found in normal domestic sanitary
sewage, including reasonable amounts of objects, such as plastics,
sanitary napkins, disposable diapers, rubber and the like, to a fine
slurry, and pumping this material through a small diameter discharge.
Any property within the Township upon which there is erected
a structure intended for continuous or periodic habitation, occupancy
or use by human beings or animals and from which structure sewage
shall or may be discharged.
A change in the Township's Act 537 Plan to provide for
additional or newly identified future or existing sewage facilities
needs, as defined fully in Section 1 of the Sewage Facilities Act,
35 P.S. § 750.1.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any property located in the Township.
Any substance that contains any of the waste products or
excrement or other discharge from the bodies of human beings or animals
and any noxious or deleterious substance being harmful or inimical
to the public health, or to animal or aquatic life or to the use of
water for domestic water supply or for recreation or any substance
which constitutes pollution under the Clean Stream Law, 35 P.S. §§ 691.1-691.1001,
as amended.
Willistown Township and/or its Board of Supervisors.
The connection of existing properties or proposed new land development
to an existing or proposed sewerage system through the use of sewage
grinder pumps, their associated force mains, or low-pressure laterals
shall occur only after an official plan revision to the Township's
Act 537 Plan, approved by both the Township and Department, designates
that the proposed properties be served by such a connection.
The Township is hereby authorized and empowered to adopt such
rules and regulations concerning sewage which it may deem necessary
from time to time to affect the purposes herein. The Township is hereby
authorized and empowered to take such other actions as are necessary,
including, but not limited to, entering into agreements with property
owners that ensure proper operation and maintenance of sewage facilities
within the Township's borders, including, but not limited to,
sewage grinder pumps and any associated force mains or low-pressure
laterals.
A.
The Township shall exercise its powers and legal authority set forth
herein, and under all applicable statutes, ordinances, and other laws,
to affect the purposes of this article.
B.
The Township may enter into an agreement with each property owner
or representative homeowner association representing multiple property
owners located within a development proposing to install or who has
installed a sewage grinder pump or low-pressure sewage system to assure
the short- and long-term operation and maintenance, use, service,
repair or replacement of such systems.
C.
All grinder pumps and low-pressure sewer systems and the installation,
use, operation, maintenance, service, repair and replacement thereof
shall comply with the rules and regulations of the Township in effect
from time to time.
D.
All grinder pumps and low-pressure sewer systems shall be connected
to the sewage collection and conveyance system in full compliance
with the rules and regulations of the Township in effect from time
to time.
E.
The Township shall maintain control over the type of grinder pumps
used and maintain extra grinder pump replacement parts, including
pumps and controls for emergency repair or replacement on short notice.
F.
The Township is to provide twenty-four-hour, seven-days-a-week on-call
service for the owners of grinder pump systems. In addition, the Township
will provide annual cleaning for the grinder pump and basin and checking
and inspecting the components of the grinder pump system.
G.
The Township shall provide the grinder pump system at cost, including
pump, pump controls, pump basin and valves, to the property owner
or property owner's contractor for new installations.
H.
The Township shall provide inspection services to the property owner
during startup of the grinder pump system.
A.
Each property owner served by a grinder pump shall be responsible for maintenance charges for low-pressure sewer systems under § 105-11.
B.
Each property owner served by a grinder pump shall bear full responsibility
for installing, using, operating, maintaining, servicing beyond the
annual service provided by the Township, repairing and replacing his/her
grinder pump and/or its low-pressure force main or lateral, unless
otherwise set forth herein.
C.
Each property owner served by a grinder pump shall have full responsibility
for using the pump consistent with the manufacturer's instructions
and instructions provided by the Township, if applicable, and shall
avoid introducing into the sewerage system materials that may damage
the impellers on the pump, including, but not limited to, items designated
as biodegradable in septic tanks.
D.
Each property owner served by a grinder pump shall close the sewage
system and cease operations during any period when the grinder pump
and/or low-pressure system serving a property is inoperable for more
than 90 days.
E.
Where the low-pressure force main or lateral is shared between property
owners, they shall submit to the Township a Declaration of Easements,
Covenants and Restrictions in recordable form setting forth the agreement
of each benefited property owner with respect to the installation,
use, operation, maintenance, service, repair and replacement of the
low-pressure sewer system, which agreement shall bind all future property
owners. Following the approval of the low-pressure system by all applicable
agencies, the Township will not issue a permit for its installation
until evidence is presented that the agreement has been recorded in
the Office for the Recording of Deeds, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
All such rules and regulations adopted by the Township to effectuate
this article shall be in conformity with the provisions herein, all
other ordinances of the Township, and all applicable laws, and applicable
rules and regulations of administrative agencies of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
