[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of Mathews County 1-29-1958.
Amendments noted where applicable.]
A.
Every house used as human habitation, every public building,
every recreation or tourist camp, transient lodging house, or other place
where human beings congregate, live, work or loiter in Mathews County shall
be provided with a sanitary pit privy or other sanitary device for the catchment
or receiving of human discharges.
B.
No person, firm or corporation shall deposit any human
excrement upon the ground in any place where it may endanger a source of drinking
water or which may be accessible to flies, rodents, or other animals. No untreated
sewage may be discharged or deposited in any stream, river, ditch or creek.
No person, firm or corporation shall construct, maintain or permit to
be constructed on any premises owned or leased by him/her or it an arrangement
for the disposal of human excrement which may possibly endanger any source
of drinking water or which allows flies or rodents to have access to the human
excrement or may pollute streams, creeks or rivers.
A.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation
to install or repair at any place in Mathews County a septic tank system without
first making application to the Health Department for a septic tank permit.
If the size and location of the lot and the type of soil are suitable for
a septic tank system, the Director of the Health Department or his/her agent
shall issue a permit with the specifications for the installation of the septic
tank system clearly shown on said permit.
B.
The Health Department Director or his/her agent shall
determine the size and location of the septic tank, the amount of subsurface
drain tile and the kind and amount of absorption material.
C.
The basic standard shall be the Virginia State Septic
Tank Bulletin for Suburban and Country Homes, a copy of which is on file in
the Clerk's office of the Circuit Court of Mathews County, Virginia.
D.
All materials, operations and structures included in
any septic tank or sewage system are subject at all times to the inspection
and approval of the Director of the Health Department or his/her agent, and
the complete system must pass any test that the Director or his/her agent
shall require, and no part of the same shall be covered or put into use until
completed and approved by the Director or his/her agent.
E.
The length of time trenches are allowed to remain open
shall be as short as possible. They shall be backfilled immediately after
inspection and approval by the Director of the Health Department or his/her
agent, and care shall be taken not to disturb the pipe grades, joints or alignment
by the backfilling or otherwise.
A.
No person, firm or corporation shall engage in the business
of cleaning septic tanks until the equipment to be used in connection with
such business is approved in writing by the Director of the Health Department
and until the name and address of the person, firm, or corporation owning
or operating such equipment is painted thereon in letters at least four inches
high.
B.
Any person, firm or corporation contracting to clean
septic tanks in Mathews County for any person, firm or corporation shall first
post a bond acceptable to the county in the penalty of $1,000 issued by a
bonding company licensed to do business in the Commonwealth of Virginia payable
to Mathews County. The condition of such bond shall be to indemnify and save
harmless the county or its agents or employees thereof on account or in consequence
of neglect on the part of the principal obligor in carrying out the act of
cleaning an individual sewage disposal system in Mathews County. Such bond
shall be so conditioned that any and all sludge and material removed from
such system shall be disposed of in accordance with this chapter.
This chapter shall apply in the case of all new construction and in
the case of existing disposal systems whenever such systems cease to function
satisfactorily so as to create a health hazard or a nuisance.
It shall be unlawful for any person, firm or corporation to start any
new subdivision, housing development or dwelling before furnishing plans and
specifications of the sewage disposal system to be used, together with plans
for the anticipated water system to be used in the structure or structures.
These plans and specifications must be approved by the Director of the Health
Department or his/her agent before construction is started.
Any person, firm or corporation who or which violates the provisions
of this chapter shall be fined a sum not exceeding $100, and each week of
failure or refusal to comply with the provisions shall be deemed a separate
offense for which a fine not to exceed $25 may be imposed.
