[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Editor's Note: This local law also repealed former Ch. 66, Water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.Â
Construction standards and inspection procedures for
the storage of liquids which present a hazard to the Town's waterways
or aquifer system.
B.Â
The inventory of all existing storage systems containing
such liquids by size, composition, age and content.
C.Â
Regular testing of existing liquid storage systems.
D.Â
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.Â
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:
All subsurface water within the Town of Islip.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Any individual, partnership, association, firm, corporation or any
and all combinations of individuals acting in concert, as well as individuals.
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.Â
Failure of underground liquid storage tanks, pipes or
connections.
B.Â
Failure of aboveground liquid storage systems.
C.Â
Disposal in landfills, drainage systems, any waterways
or on the land surface.
D.Â
Spills which occur during transport on public or private
property.
E.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.Â
Underground systems.
(1)Â
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)Â
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)Â
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)Â
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.Â
Aboveground installations with a capacity of one thousand
one hundred (1,100) gallons or more.
(1)Â
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)Â
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.Â
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.Â
Retesting shall be done in accordance with the same schedule
or as required by the Building Inspector.
C.Â
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.Â
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.Â
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.
