[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors
of the Township of Birmingham as indicated in article histories. Amendments
noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 12-19-1988 by Ord. No. 88-04; amended in its entirety at time of adoption of Code (see
Ch. 1, General Provisions, Art. I)]
The following words shall have the meanings indicated below,
unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. In addition, any terms
used in this article but not defined herein shall be defined according
to the most recently adopted rules and regulations of the Bucks County
Water and Sewer Authority as the owner/operator of the public sanitary
sewer system in the Township.
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act, as amended, also
known as the "Clean Water Act," as amended, 33 U.S.C. § 1251
et seq.; and Pennsylvania Sewage Facilities Act, Act of January 24,
1966, P.L. (1965) 1535, as amended (the "Sewage Facilities Act").
A method of demonstrated on lot sewage treatment and disposal not described in Title 25, Chapter 73, of the Pa. Code titled, "Standards for Onlot Sewage Treatment Facilities."
A sewer line transporting wastewater from the premises of
a user to the sewage treatment plant.
Any structure or any portion thereof intended to be used
wholly or in part for the purpose of carrying on a trade, business
or profession, or for social, amusement, religious, educational, charitable
or public uses, and which contains plumbing for kitchen or toilet
or washing facilities.
A sewage system which serves two or more lots, or two or
more equivalent dwelling units, and uses a system of piping, tanks,
or other facilities for collecting, treating, and disposing of sewage
into a soil absorption area, or by retention in a holding tank.
A system, whether publicly or privately owned, for the collection
of sewage of a liquid nature from two or more lots, and for the treatment
or disposal of the sewage on one or more of the lots or at any other
site.
A system employing the use of demonstrated on-lot sewage treatment and disposal technology in a manner specifically recognized by Chapter 73 of the Pa. Code titled, "Standards for Onlot Sewage Treatment Facilities." The term does not include alternate or experimental sewage systems.
The discharge of treated or untreated wastewater directly
to the waters of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.
Any person who conveys wastewater into the sewage treatment
plant's collection system.
Customary wastes from kitchens, baths, showers, sinks, water
closets, lavatories and laundries.
A technology by which effluent is distributed to a drip dispersal
field using a configuration of components, including an automated
controller, treatment and pump tanks, a hydraulic unit with filter,
and a network of flexible drip emitter tubing.
The United States Environmental Protection Agency or, where
appropriate, the term may also be used as a designation for the Administrator
or other duly authorized official of said agency.
A method of on-lot sewage treatment and disposal not described in Title 25, Chapter 73, of the Pa. Code titled, "Standards for Onlot Sewage Treatment Facilities," which is proposed for the purpose of testing and observation.
Solid wastes from the domestic and commercial preparation,
cooking and dispensing of food and from the commercial handling, storage
and sale of produce.
Waters conveyed from an underground aquifer. This does not
include groundwater from remediation sites which is treated prior
to discharge to the collection system.
Any waste from holding tanks, such as vessels, chemical toilets,
campers, trailers, septic tanks and vacuum-pump trucks.
An individual sewage system which serves a single lot and
a single equivalent dwelling unit, and uses a system of piping, tanks,
or other facilities for collecting, treating, and disposing of sewage
into a soil absorption area, or spray field, or by retention in a
holding tank.
An individual sewage system which serves a single dwelling
and which treats and disposes of sewage through use of a system of
piping, treatment tanks, and soil renovation through spray irrigation.
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 waters of this commonwealth or by means of conveyance
to another site for final disposal.
Any structure intending to be used wholly or in part for
the manufacturing, fabricating, processing, cleaning, laundering or
assembly of any product, commodity or article.
Any person discharging anything other than domestic waste
to the sanitary sewage system.
Any solid, liquid or gaseous substance or waterborne wastes
or form of energy rejected or escaping from any industrial, manufacturing,
trade or business process or from the development, recovery or processing
of natural resources, as distinct from sanitary sewage.
Septage, sludge, or liquids pumped from septic or aerobic
sewage treatment tanks, cesspools, holding tanks, privies, chemical
toilets, or any other component of a sewage system which does not
include any toxic, industrial, or hazardous wastes.
Any person engaged in the business of pumping and transporting
liquid waste. Each vehicle used for such purpose shall be licensed
by the Chester County Health Department.
Any outlet into a watercourse, ditch, pond, lake or other
body of surface or groundwater.
Any building used for one or more dwelling or household units,
stores, shops, offices, businesses or commercial or industrial units,
erected and intended for continuous or periodic habitation, occupancy
or use by human beings or animals and from which structure sanitary
sewage and industrial wastes, or either thereof, is or may be discharged.
Any community on-lot sewage system or individual on-lot sewage
system, as defined herein.
Any person vested with ownership, legal or equitable, sole
or partial, of any property, or their agent.
Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority who purchased the
public sanitary sewer system from the Township and has taken over
all responsibilities and obligations related to the public sanitary
sewer system (with the exception of the adoption of the Official Plan
which the Township must adopt pursuant to Chapter 71, Title 25, Regulations,
of the Pennsylvania Code. The term owner/operator includes the successors
and assigns to Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority who purchases
the public sanitary sewer system.
The Department of Environmental Protection of the Commonwealth
of Pennsylvania, or any department or agency of the commonwealth succeeding
to the existing jurisdiction or responsibility of the Department.
Referred to herein as "PADEP."
Any individual, firm, company, partnership, copartnership,
corporation, association, joint-stock company, trust, estate, group,
society or other legal entity whatsoever, government entity, either
commonwealth or local, and their agencies, commissions, departments
and instrumentalities, or the legal representatives, heirs, successors
and assigns thereof.
A sewage facilities plan for the Township of Birmingham prepared
in accordance with the requirements of Chapter 71, Title 25, Regulations,
of the Pennsylvania Code, as it may be supplemented or revised by
Birmingham Township.
Any dredged spoil, solid waste, incinerator residue, sewage,
garbage, sewage sludge, munitions, chemicals, chemical wastes, biological
materials, radioactive materials, heat, wrecked or discharged equipment,
rock, sand, cellar dirt and industrial, municipal and agricultural
waste.
The man-made or man-induced alteration of the chemical, physical,
biological and radiological integrity of water.
Improved property which abuts on or has access to the public
sanitary sewer system and whose principal building is within 150 feet
of said sewer system.
The sanitary sewer system owned and operated by Bucks County
Water and Sewer Authority and served by a public sewer treatment plant
owned and operated by Bucks County Water and Sewer Authority.
The normal waterborne waste from a household, and toilet
wastes from residences, business buildings, institutions, commercial
and industrial establishments.
A sewer which carries sanitary sewage and/or industrial waste
and to which storm, surface and ground waters are not intentionally
admitted.
The sewage collection and treatment system serving Birmingham
Township and any pipe, conduit or other equipment which carries wastewater
to the sewage treatment plant, or any of its component parts. For
purposes of the applicability of the regulations promulgated by this
chapter, the sanitary sewage system also includes any sewers or facilities
that convey wastewater to the sewage treatment plant from persons
outside of Birmingham Township who are, by contract, users of the
treatment plant; and any person who conveys sewage from sewers or
facilities within Birmingham Township which are treated outside of
the Township.
A substance that contains waste products, excrement or other
discharge from the bodies of human beings or animals; a substance
harmful to the public health, 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 known as "The Clean Streams Law,"
as amended.
An official of the local agency who reviews permit applications,
sewage facilities planning modules, and issues permits as authorized
by PADEP. In Chester County, Chester County Health Department serves
as their local agency. Such person is authorized to conduct investigations
and inspections that are necessary to implement the Pennsylvania Sewage
Facilities Act, the rules and regulations promulgated thereunder,
and this or any other ordinance adopted by the Township or Chester
County Health Department.
The sewage treatment plant owned and operated by Bucks County
Water and Sewer Authority which services properties in the Township.
A pipe or conduit for carrying sewage.
An individual or community sewage system designed to adequately
treat sewage flows not greater than 2,000 gpd for final disposal,
using stream discharge or other methods approved by the Department
of Environmental Protection.
Any flow occurring during or following any form of natural
precipitation and resulting exclusively therefrom.
The discharge of treated sewage wastes to a stream or to
the surface water of the commonwealth, designed and permitted in accordance
with the regulations of the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection.
The total suspended matter that floats on the surface of
or is suspended in water, wastewater or other liquid and which is
removable by laboratory filtering.
See "sanitary sewer system."
Solids that either float on the surface of or are in suspension
or dissolved in water, sanitary sewage or other liquids, as determined
by standard laboratory procedure.
Quantity of material deposited when a quantity of sanitary
sewage is filtered; it includes settleable and all suspended (including
volatile) solids.
The Township of Birmingham, Chester County, Pennsylvania.
Any person who contributes wastewater into the public sanitary
sewage system.
The liquid and water-carried industrial or domestic wastes
from dwellings, commercial buildings, industrial facilities and institutions,
together with any groundwater, surface water and stormwater that may
be present, whether treated or untreated, which is contributed into
or permitted to enter the sewage treatment plant.
All streams, lakes, ponds, marshes, watercourses, waterways,
wells, springs, reservoirs, aquifers, irrigation systems, drainage
systems and all other bodies or accumulations of water, surface or
underground, natural or artificial, public or private, which are contained
within, flow through or border upon the state or any portion thereof.
A.
The
public sanitary sewer system previously owned by the Township, inclusive
of the sewage treatment plant, was sold to Bucks County Water and
Sewer Authority, who is identified herein as the owner/operator of
the sanitary sewer system, pursuant to a Sanitary Sewer Asset Purchase
Agreement, dated May 5, 2021.
B.
Bucks
County Water and Sewer Authority is a municipal authority organized
and existing under the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Act of 1945[1] that furnishes wastewater service to the public in multiple
counties, including Chester County, Pennsylvania.
[1]
Editor's Note: The Municipality Authorities Act of 1945 (53
P.S. § 301 et seq.) was repealed by Act 22 of 2001 (6-19-2001,
P.L. 287, No. 22). See now the Municipality Authorities Act, 53 Pa.C.S.A.
§ 5601 et seq.
C.
Bucks
County Water and Sewer Authority is responsible for the operation,
maintenance, and administration of the public sanitary sewer system.
D.
The
Township shall retain certain obligations and approval authority related
to on lot sewer systems and adoption and amendment of the Official
Plan.
A.
It shall be unlawful for any person to place, deposit or permit to
be deposited in an unsanitary manner upon public or private property
within the Township, or in any area under the jurisdiction of the
Township, human or animal excrement, garbage or other objectionable
waste.
B.
It shall be unlawful to discharge sanitary sewage into any natural
outlet within the Township or to discharge industrial waste or other
polluted water into said outlets unless the person doing so is operating
with the approval of or under a permit issued by the Pennsylvania
Department of Environmental Protection.
C.
It shall be unlawful to construct, install or use any facility which
causes surface and/or subsurface stormwater or groundwater to be discharged
to the public sanitary sewage system. Facilities prohibited shall
include but not be limited to sump pumps, area drains, yard drains,
perimeter drains, foundation drains, roof leaders, downspouts, street
inlets, storm sewers and cross-connections between the water system
and sewer system.
E.
The official plan for Birmingham Township may provide for the disposal
of sanitary sewage by the following methods:
(1)
Individual sewage systems. It shall be the responsibility of the
owner or owners of such systems to design, construct and maintain
individual sewage systems in accordance with the regulations of the
Chester County Health Department and the Pennsylvania Department of
Environmental Protection. Such design, construction and maintenance
may, however, be subject to the inspection of Birmingham Township.
(2)
Community sewage systems. If a sanitary sewage system is designed
to serve two or more lots, such system must be approved by revision
to the official plan of Birmingham Township. Community sewage systems,
including collection lines, pumping stations and treatment and disposal
facilities, consisting of central treatment facilities, pumps, subsurface
disposal beds, spray irrigation fields or stream discharge facilities,
shall be continuously offered for dedication to the owner/operator,
but the owner/operator shall not be obligated to accept such an offer.
If a community sewage system is accepted by the owner/operator, it
shall become a part of the public sanitary sewage system as defined
by this article; otherwise the operation and maintenance of such systems
shall be the responsibility of an individual person, partnership,
corporation or homeowners' association subject to the review
and approval by Birmingham Township of the form and organization of
the entity designated for the maintenance and operation of the facility.
Birmingham Township and/or the owner/operator of the sanitary sewage
system may reserve the right to regulate, inspect and monitor the
design, construction and operation of community sewage systems.
A.
Each
owner of any dwelling unit, building or property used for occupancy,
employment, recreation or other purposes situated in the Township
and abutting on any street, alley or right-of-way wherein there has
been constructed or shall be constructed a public sanitary sewage
system, and the principal building can be connected to and served
by the public sanitary sewage system, may, but is not required to,
with prior consent and approval of the owner/operator of the public
sanitary sewage system, install suitable sanitary facilities therein
and connect such facilities and/or industrial waste outlets at the
property owner's sole expense directly with the sanitary sewage
system in accordance with the rules, regulations and standard adopted
by the owner/operator. Where more than one dwelling unit is contained
in a single structure, a common connection to the lateral of the public
sanitary sewage system shall be permitted for accommodating all units
in such structure, provided that separate connections shall be required
for each semidetached or row-type house or structure.
B.
The
owner of a property who chooses to connect to the public sanitary
sewer system and who has been authorized by the owner/operator to
make such connection shall, at the owner's sole expense, construct
the connection from the building to the sewer main. Such connections
shall be constructed in accordance with the rules and regulations
and under the inspection of the owner/operator of the public sanitary
sewer system. Upon completion of the installation of the connection,
the portion of the connection lying within public rights-of-way shall
be offered for dedication to the owner/operator and shall thereafter
become the property and maintenance responsibility of the owner/operator.
The portion of the connection from the street right-of-way line to
the building shall be owned and maintained by the owner of the property.
C.
Within 30 days after an owner connects to the public sanitary sewer system, the owner shall, at his or her expense, remove the existing sewage system and backfill and grade as necessary or remove all wastewater and completely fill with stone, concrete or soil all existing tanks, pits, cesspools or below-grade structures on his or her property which shall thereafter be abandoned. Failure of an owner to comply with this article shall constitute a violation of this article and subject the owner to the penalties set forth in § 94-11 herein.
A.
Prohibited
discharge standards. The owner/operator has adopted discharge standards
and pollutant limitations on what may be discharged into the public
sanitary sewer system. Users shall adhere to such standards.
B.
Federal
categorical pretreatment standards. The owner/operator has adopted
pretreatment standards in accordance with the National Categorical
Pretreatment Standards. Such standards are imposed on all industrial
users of the public sanitary sewers system.
The owner/operator has adopted pretreatment standards and requirements
for industrial users that all users shall adhere to.
The owner/operator requires significant industrial users and
commercial users to obtain a wastewater discharge permit prior to
discharging waste into the public sanitary sewer system. All significant
industrial users and commercial users shall obtain such permit prior
to discharging any wastewater into the public sanitary sewer system.
The owner/operator has adopted reporting and notification requirements
which users must adhere to.
Inspection and sampling. The owner/operator shall have the right
to enter the facilities of any user to ascertain whether the user
is adhering to all rules and regulations adopted by the owner/operator
or imposed by the Township pursuant to this article. Users shall allow
the owner/operator, and if necessary, the Township and its agents
and designees, ready access to all parts of the premises for the purpose
of inspection, sampling, records examination and copying and the performance
of any additional duties.
A.
The owner/operator has adopted various fees for connection to the
public sanitary sewer system, including connection fees and tapping
fees.
B.
Sewer rents. The owner/operator has adopted sewer rents and charges
payable for the use, whether direct or indirect, of the public sanitary
sewer system which it shall be responsible for collecting in accordance
with all relevant laws and rules and regulations. All fees and charges
assessed by the owner/operator shall be paid in accordance with such
adopted rates, including penalties and interest for late fees.
A.
Fines.
(1)
Any person or user of the public sanitary sewer system who violates
any of the rules and regulations of the owner/operator shall be subject
to fines and penalties adopted by the owner/operator or established
pursuant to the requirements of the United States Environmental Protection
Agency and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Department of Environmental
Protection.
(2)
Any person or user who violates any provision of §§ 94-3 or 94-4 of this article shall be sentenced to pay a fine of not more than $1,000, together with the costs of prosecution, which may include but are not limited to reasonable attorneys' fees, court costs, sampling and monitoring expenses and the cost of any actual damages incurred by the Township for each separate offense, and/or to suffer imprisonment for a period not to exceed 90 days. Each day of continued violation of §§ 94-3 or 94-4 of this article shall constitute a separate offense.
