[Adopted 2-9-2009 by Ord. No. 2009-1]
This article shall be known as the "On-Lot Sewage Administration
Ordinance."
The Township reaffirms the delegation to the Washington County
Sewage Council to administer the requirements of Act 537 and the Union
Township ordinances governing all aspects of on-lot sewage collection,
treatment and discharge.
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
The Act of January 24, 1966, P. L. 1535 as amended, 35 P.S.
§ 750.1 et seq., known as the "Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities
Act."
Any on-lot sewage system so designated as an alternate type
by the Department of Environmental Protection.
A certified sewage enforcement officer, code enforcement
officer, professional engineer, plumbing inspector, municipal secretary
or any other qualified or licensed person who is delegated by the
municipality to function within the specified limits as the agent
of the municipality to carry out the provisions of this article.
The Board of Supervisors, Union Township, Washington County,
Pennsylvania.
An individual employed by the municipality to administer
and enforce other ordinances in the municipality.
Any system, whether publicly or privately owned, for collection
of sewage from two or more lots and the treatment and/or disposal
of the sewage on one or more lots or at any other site.
The Department of Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania.
A system of piping, tanks or other facilities serving a single
lot and collecting and disposing of sewage in whole or in part into
the soil or into any waters of the commonwealth.
The condition which occurs when an on-lot sewage disposal
system discharges sewage onto the surface of the ground, into groundwaters
of the commonwealth, backs up into the building connected to the system
or otherwise causes a nuisance hazard to the public health or pollution
of groundwater or surface water or contamination of public or private
drinking water wells. Systems shall be considered to be malfunctioning
if any of the conditions noted above occur for any length of time
during any period of the year.
Anytime the municipality's certified sewage enforcement
officer determines a parcel or lot as having marginal soils after
properly testing said parcel or lot.
Union Township, Washington County, Pennsylvania.
A comprehensive plan for the provision of adequate sewage
disposal systems adopted by the municipality and approved by the Department
of Environmental Protection as described in and required by the Pennsylvania
Sewage Facilities Act.[1]
Any system for disposal of sewage involving pretreatment
and subsequent disposal of the clarified sewage into the soil for
final treatment and disposal; and including both individual sewage
systems and community sewage systems, including, but not limited to,
drip irrigation systems, AB systems, small stream discharge systems,
community on-lot systems and any other currently DEP-approved and
sewage disposal systems which may be approved by the DEP in the future,
it being the intent of this article to address all systems.
Any individual, association, public or private corporation
for profit or not for profit, partnership, firm, trust, estate, department,
board, bureau or agency of the commonwealth, political subdivision,
municipality, district, authority or any other legal entity whatsoever
which is recognized by law as the subject of rights and duties. Whenever
used in any clause prescribing and imposing a penalty or imposing
a fine or imprisonment, the term shall include the members of an association,
partnership or firm and the officers of any local agency or municipal,
public or private corporation for profit or not for profit.
Work done to modify, alter, repair, enlarge or replace an
existing on-lot sewage disposal system.
A portion of a lot or a developed property, sized to allow
installation of a subsurface sewage disposal area, which is reserved
to allow that installation in the event of the malfunction of the
originally installed on-lot disposal system.
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 substances 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 which constitutes
pollution under the Act of June 22, 1937 (P.L. 1987, No. 394), known
as "The Clean Streams Law," as amended.[2]
The designated official of the municipality who issues and
reviews permit applications and conducts such investigations and inspections
as are necessary to implement Act 537 and the rules and regulations
promulgated thereunder, which includes the WCSC/Council.
Any area or areas of a municipality for which a sewage management
program is recommended by the municipality's adopted Act 537
official sewage facilities plan. A sewage management district may
or may not encompass the entire municipality.
The Washington County Sewage Council, an intergovernmental
cooperative organization which provides certain services to member
municipalities.
From the effective date of this article, its provisions shall
apply in any portion of the municipality identified in the municipality's
Act 537 official sewage facilities plan as a sewage management district.
Within such an area or areas, the provisions of this article shall
apply to all persons owning any property serviced by a new on-lot
sewage disposal system and to all persons installing or rehabilitating
or repairing on-lot sewage disposal systems with a new alternate type
systems. If necessary, the entire municipality may be identified as
a sewage management district.
A.
Any supplements or revisions to the municipality's official
sewage facilities plan which are prepared pursuant to the applicable
regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection
for subdivision or development of land within an identified sewage
management district shall provide for the testing, identification
and reservation of an area of each lot or developed property suitable
for the installation of a replacement on-lot sewage disposal system.
This requirement is in addition to the testing, identification and
reservation of an area for the primary sewage disposal system.
B.
No permit shall be issued for any proposed on-lot sewage disposal
system on any newly created or subdivided property in any sewage management
district that has any lots designated as marginal soils unless and
until a replacement area is approved, identified and reserved for
the lots with the marginal soils designation. The replacement area
must be identified on the land survey at the time of subdivision approval.
This § 211-25 is only when the Township revises its official sewage facilities plan and is only applicable to the area or areas affected by such revision.
A.
Any on-lot sewage system may be inspected by the municipality's
authorized agent at any reasonable time as of the effective date of
this article.
B.
The inspection may include a physical tour of the property, the taking
of samples from surface water, wells, other groundwater sources, the
sampling of the contents of the sewage disposal system itself and/or
the introduction of a traceable substance into the interior plumbing
of the structure served to ascertain the path and ultimate destination
of wastewater generated in the structure.
C.
The Township's authorized agent shall have the right to enter
upon land for purposes of inspection described above.
D.
An initial inspection shall be conducted by the Township's authorized
agent within one year of the effective date of this article for the
purpose of determining the type and functional station of each on-lot
sewage disposal system in the sewage management district. A written
report shall be furnished to the owner of each property inspected
as evidence of said inspection, and a copy of said report shall be
maintained in the municipal records.
E.
A schedule of routine inspections may be established by the Township,
if necessary, to assure the proper function of the on-lot sewage disposal
systems in the sewage management district.
F.
The Township and its authorized agent shall inspect systems known
to be, or alleged to be, malfunctioning. Should said inspections reveal
that the system is indeed malfunctioning, the Township and its authorized
agent shall take action to require the correction of the malfunction.
If total correction is not technically or financially feasible in
the opinion of the authorized agent and a representative of the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection, then action by the property
owner to mitigate the malfunction shall be required.
G.
There may arise geographic areas within the Township where numerous
on-lot sewage disposal systems are malfunctioning. A resolution of
these area-wide problems may necessitate detailed planning and a Township-sponsored
revision to the area's Act 537 official sewage facilities plan.
When a Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection authorized
official sewage facilities plan revision has been undertaken by the
Township, mandatory repair or replacement of individual malfunctioning
sewage disposal systems within the study area may be delayed, at the
discretion of the Township, pending the outcome of the plan revision
process. However, the Township may compel immediate corrective action
whenever a malfunction, as determined by the Township officials and
the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, represents
a serious public health or environmental threat.
Only normal domestic wastes shall be discharged into any on-lot
sewage disposal system. The following shall not be discharged into
the system:
A.
Industrial wastes;
B.
Automobile oil and other domestic oil;
C.
Toxic or hazardous substances or chemicals, including, but not limited
to, pesticides, disinfectants, acids, paints, paint thinners, herbicides,
gasoline and other solvents; or
D.
Clean surface water or groundwater, including water from roof or
cellar drains, springs, basement sump pumps and french drains.
A.
The provisions of this article are not applicable to conventional
leach-field and sand-mound sewage systems.
B.
The provisions of this article are applicable to all new alternate
systems currently listed in the DEP Alternate Systems Guidance Manual,
as well as other alternate on-lot sewage systems subsequently approved
by the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP).
C.
The provisions of this article are applicable to community on-lot
disposal systems, small stream discharge systems and holding tanks.
D.
The provisions of this article are applicable to on-lot disposal
systems located in subdivisions with marginal condition for long-term
use of on-lot sewage disposal.
E.
The Township specifically delegates to WCSC the enforcement of the
provisions of this article, any other Township and DEP requirements,
rules, regulations and provisions regarding municipal governance and
enforcement of on-lot sewage systems, except as to malfunction of
any such systems, which shall be addressed by the Township.
F.
The Township and the WCSC shall jointly prepare and approve by resolution
rules, regulations and requirements for on-lot septic systems applicable
to this article, including permitting approval and maintenance of
said systems.
A.
Any person failing to comply with any provisions of this article
shall be subject to a fine of not less than $500 and costs and not
more than $5,000 and costs, and/or confinement in the county jail
for a period of not more than 90 days. Each day of noncompliance shall
constitute a separate offense.
B.
The penalty for actual malfunctions of any on-lot sewage septic system
will come under the rules and regulations of Title 25 Pennsylvania
Code Chapter 73 and 35 P.S. §§ 750.14, Nuisances, and 750.13,
Penalties.
