§ 298-8. Prohibited discharges to public sewer; pretreatment., Article II. Use of Public Sewers, Chapter 298. Sewers, Part II. General Legislation, Code of Ordinances, Ridgefield

No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged into any public sewer of the Town of Ridgefield any waste other than domestic or sanitary sewage without first obtaining a permit to do so from the Sewer Authority.

No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any compressed air, steam, storm, stormwater, surface water, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, cooling water, air-conditioning and refrigerating wastewaters, unpolluted industrial process waters, sump pump discharges or basement floor drain to any sanitary sewer.

Except as hereinafter provided, no person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the following described waters or wastes to any public sewer:

(1)

Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than 150° F.

(2)

Any water or waste which may contain more than 100 milligrams per liter by weight of fat, oil, wax or grease or containing other substances which may solidify or become viscous at temperatures between 32° and 150° F.

(3)

Any gasoline, benzene, naphtha, alcohol, tar, fuel, oil, or any other flammable or explosive liquid, solid, gas or vapor.

(4)

Any garbage except properly shredded garbage. The installation and operation of any garbage grinder equipped with a motor of 3/4 horsepower or greater shall be subject to the review and approval of the Sewer Authority.

(5)

Any ashes, cinders, stones, sand, mud, straw, grass clippings, shavings, sawdust, metal, sticks, coarse rubbish, glass, rags, feathers, plastics, waste rubber, wood, paunch manure, animal guts or tissues, entrails, blood, hair or hides, or other substance likely to damage, destroy or cause an obstruction to the flow in any sewer or which may interfere with the proper operation of the sewage works.

(6)

Any waters, sewage or wastes having a pH lower than five or higher than 9.5 or having any other corrosive or detrimental property capable of causing damage or hazard to the sewage works or personnel.

(7)

Any waters or wastes containing a toxic, poisonous or radioactive substance in sufficient quantity to injure or interfere with any sewage treatment process or to constitute a hazard to humans, animals or marine life or to create any hazard in the receiving waters.

(a)

The following toxic or poisonous substances shall not be present in any appreciable quantity of industrial or commercial process discharges in excess of the following limits in milligrams per liter by weight. Should the federal or state government promulgate pretreatment standards on toxic, poisonous and hazardous materials that differ from the Town limitations, the more stringent of the limitations shall apply.

[1]

Cyanides: one milligram per liter.

[2]

Copper, zinc, nickel, cadmium, iron, chromium, lead, tin, silver, mercury or other metals, or the salts thereof: five milligrams per liter.

(b)

Radioactive wastes or materials may be discharged into a public sewer if Conditions I and II below are met and if either Condition III or IV is also met, provided that such discharges are in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations:

[1]

Condition I. Such wastes must be readily soluble or dispersible in water.

[2]

Condition II. The gross quantity of all radioactive materials so discharged must not exceed one curie per year.

[3]

Condition III. The daily quantity of any radioactive material, if diluted by the average daily volume of sewage discharged into the system from the installation, must not exceed the maximum concentrations allowed by regulations of the United States Atomic Energy Commission.

[4]

Condition IV. Daily quantities of radioactive materials up to the maximum permitted by the United States Atomic Energy Commission may be so discharged provided that the total monthly quantities, if diluted by the average monthly volume of sewage discharged from the installation, do not exceed the concentrations permissible under Condition III above.

(8)

Any noxious, malodorous or taste-producing gas, vapor or substance, such as phenols, capable of creating a public or private nuisance or which may prove toxic to sewage treatment processes or which may exceed acceptable limits for discharge to receiving waters.

(9)

Materials which exert or cause:

(a)

Unusual concentrations of inert suspended solids (such as, but not limited to, Fullers earth, lime slurries, and lime residues) or of dissolved solids (such as, but not limited to, sodium chloride and sodium sulfate).

(b)

Excessive discoloration (such as, but not limited to, dye wastes and vegetable tanning solutions).

(c)

Unusual BOD, suspended solids, chemical oxygen demand, or chlorine requirements in such quantities as to constitute a significant load on the sewage treatment works.

(d)

Unusual volume of flow or concentration of wastes constituting slugs as defined herein.

(10)

Waters or wastes containing substances which are not amenable to treatment or reduction by the sewage treatment processes employed or are amenable to treatment only to such degree that the sewage treatment plant effluent cannot meet the requirements of other agencies having jurisdiction over discharge to the receiving waters.

If any waters or wastes are discharged or are proposed to be discharged to the public sewers, which waters contain the substances or possess the characteristics enumerated in Subsection C and which in the judgment of the Sewer Authority may have a deleterious effect upon the sewage works, processes, equipment, or receiving waters, or which otherwise create a hazard to life or constitute a public nuisance, the Sewer Authority may:

(1)

Reject the wastes;

(2)

Require pretreatment to an acceptable condition for discharge to the public sewers;

(3)

Require control over the quantities and rates of discharge; and/or

(4)

Require payment to cover the added cost of handling and treating the wastes not covered by existing taxes or sewer charges.

Determination of exclusion of wastes. In determining whether any waste discharged or proposed to be discharged into any public sewer is to be excluded, consideration will be given to the quantity, time or times, rate and manner of discharge, dilution and character of the waste in question, the size of the sewer into which the waste is to be discharged, the probable quantity of sewage or other wastes likely in said sewer, and other pertinent facts. Minute quantities of a waste which would be objectionable in larger quantity may be accepted if sufficiently diluted when and as discharged, or if the quantity discharged is small as compared with the flow in the receiving sewer, but any permission to discharge minute quantities of an otherwise excluded waste shall be revocable at any time by the Sewer Authority.

Pretreatment facilities. At all premises where wastes or substances specified to be excluded from public sewers by these regulations are present and liable to be discharged directly or indirectly into said sewers, suitable and sufficient piping layouts, oil, grease, sand and flammable waste traps, or absolute grease separators, screens, settling tanks, diluting devices, storage or regulating chambers, treatment, cooling or other equipment and devices shall be provided. These shall be maintained and properly operated by the owner of the premises or his agent at his expense to ensure that no waste or substance is discharged in violation of these regulations.

(1)

On premises where any of the wastes or substances as described in this Subsection C of this section are present, the Sewer Authority may require the owner to provide, operate and maintain at his (the owner's) expense a sampling well or wells, flow measuring devices, manholes or other appurtenances, all readily accessible, on the building sewer or drain from said premises near the point where said sewer or drain connects to the public sewer. By means of said sampling well or wells, flow measuring devices, or other appurtenances, the owner, occupants of said premises, the Sewer Authority's designated agent, or any public officer having legal jurisdiction may secure samples of or examine the wastes being discharged into the public sewer for the purpose of determining compliance or noncompliance with the requirements of these regulations. In the event that no special manhole has been required, the control manhole shall be considered to be the nearest downstream manhole in the public sewer to the point at which the building sewer is connected.

(2)

If the Sewer Authority permits the pretreatment or equalization of waste flows, the design and installation of the plants and equipment shall be subject to the review and approval of the Sewer Authority and of any and all state regulatory agencies having jurisdiction, and no construction of such facilities shall be commenced until said approvals are obtained in writing.

(3)

On premises where pretreatment plants and equipment are to be installed, the Sewer Authority may require the owner to provide a control valve to permit prohibited discharges to be diverted away from the public sewer in the event of a malfunction of such pretreatment facilities. The control valve will be under the sole jurisdiction of the Sewer Authority and no person other than the Sewer Authority's designated agent will be permitted its use.

The Sewer Authority's designated agent shall have the right to enter and inspect any part of the premises served by public sewers upon which there may be reason to believe that violations of the requirements of these regulations have occurred or are likely to occur, for the purpose of ascertaining the facts as to such violation or suspected violation, or of obtaining samples of wastes, or of inspecting flow-measuring devices or treatment facilities provided to prevent prohibited discharges, or of regulating discharges through control valves.

All measurements, tests, and analyses of the characteristics of water and wastes to which reference is made in this section shall be determined in accordance with the Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Sewage, published by the American Public Health Association.

No statement contained in this section shall be construed as preventing any special agreement or arrangement between the Sewer Authority and any industrial concern whereby an industrial waste of unusual strength of character may be accepted by the Sewer Authority for treatment, subject to payment therefor by the industrial concern, provided that such agreements do not contravene any requirements of existing federal laws and are compatible with any user charge and industrial cost recovery system in effect.

Any waste disposal practice prohibited by the Environmental Protection Agency or Connecticut Department of Environmental Protection shall be deemed prohibited hereunder.

Editor's Note: Original § 12-20.1, which immediately followed this section and pertained to food service establishments, was repealed 2-5-2003. See now Ch. 193, Food Service Establishments.