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TOWN OF STEWIACKE
BY-LAW NUMBER 2001 - 09
1. Short Title
This By-law may be cited as the "Sewer Discharge By-law".
2. Interpretation
In this By-law, unless the context otherwise requires, the expression:
a) "Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)" means the quantity of oxygen
utilized, expressed in milligrams per litre, in the biochemical oxidation of
matter within a one hundred and twenty-hour period at a temperature of
twenty degrees centigrade as determined in procedures set forth in "Standard
Methods".
b) "Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)"
means the quantity of oxygen
utilized in the chemical oxidation of organic matter under standard laboratory
procedure, expressed in milligrams per litre, according to "Standard Methods";
c) "Colour of liquid"
means the appearance of a liquid from which the
suspended solids have been removed;
d) "Combined Sewer" means a sewer that is intended to conduct wastewater
and stormwater;
e) "Council"
means the Town Council of the Town of Stewiacke;
f) "Domestic Waste" means waste derived principally from dwellings;
g) "Effluent"
means treated wastewater flowing out of a treatment plant;
h) "Engineer"
means the Engineer for the Town of Stewiacke as appointed by
Council;
i) "Grease"
means total oil and grease extracted from aqueous solution or
suspension according to the laboratory procedures set forth in "Standard
Methods", and includes, but is not limited to, hydrocarbons, esters, oils, fats,
waxes and high molecular fatty acids;
j) "Industrial Premises"
means an area of land with or without buildings
or structures on which activities pertaining to industry, manufacturing,
commerce, trade, business, or institutions as distinguished from domestic
dwellings;
k) "Inspector" means a person authorized by the Town of Stewiacke to carry
out observations and inspections and to take samples as prescribed by this By-
law;
l) "Matter"
includes any solid, liquid, or gas;
m) "Natural Outlet"
is any outlet from a natural watercourse into another
watercourse, pond, ditch or lake, or other body of surface or groundwater;
n) "Pathologic Waste" means waste generated in a hospital or similar institution
which contains human or animal tissue altered or affected by disease, and
instruments or other materials which may have come in contact with diseased
tissue;
o) "Person"
shall mean any individual, firm, company, association, society,
corporation or group;
p) "pH" means the measure of the intensity of the acid or alkaline condition of
a solution determined by the hydrogen ion concentration of the solution in
accordance with the "Standard Methods";
q) "Phenolic Compounds"
means hydroxyl derivatives of benzene and its
condensed nuclei, concentrations of which shall be determined by "Standard
Methods";
r) "Professional Engineer"
means a registered member in good standing of
the Association of Professional Engineers of Nova Scotia;
s) "Provincial Regulations"
means the requirements and provisions of the
Province of Nova Scotia contained in any Provincial Statute or in any
Regulation or Order made pursuant to the authority of any Statute of Nova
Scotia;
t) "Sanitary Sewer"
means a sewer for the collection and transmission of
domestic, commercial and industrial wastewater or any of them, and to which
uncontaminated or cooling water, storm, surface, and groundwater are not
intentionally admitted;
u) "Sewage"
means wastewater;
v) "Sewer"
means a pipe, conduit, drain, open channel, or ditch used for
the collection and transmission of wastewater, stormwater, or uncontaminated
process or cooling water;
w) "Sewerage System" means all pipes, mains, equipment, buildings and
structures for collecting, pumping or treatment of wastewater and operated by
the Town of Stewiacke, but does not include a storm sewer;
x) "Standard Methods for examination of Water and Wastewater (Standard
Methods)"
means the analytical and examination procedures provided in
the edition current at the time of testing, published jointly by the American
Public Health Association and the American Water Works Association or any
publication by or under the authority of the Canadian Standards Association
deemed appropriate by the Town of Stewiacke;
y) "Storm Sewer"
means a sewer and all related structures designed
exclusively for the collection and transmission of uncontaminated water,
stormwater, drainage from land or from any watercourse or any of them;
z) "Stormwater"
means runoff water from rainfall or other natural
precipitation, groundwater or water from the melting of snow or ice and shall
include roof drainage and footing drainage;
aa) "Suspended Solids" means insoluble matter that can be removed by filtration
through a standard glass fibre filter as provided by "Standard Methods";
bb) "Town of Stewiacke"
means the Town of Stewiacke or the area
contained within its municipal boundaries, as the context requires;
cc) "True Colour Units"
means the measure of the colour of the water
from which turbidity has been removed;
dd) "Uncontaminated Water"
means any water, including water from a public or
private water works, to which no matter has been added as a consequence of
its use, or to modify its use, by any person, and may include cooling water;
ee) "Waste"
means any material discharged into the sewerage system;
ff) "Wastewater" means any liquid waste containing animal, vegetable, mineral, or
chemical matter in solution or suspension carried from any premises; and
gg) "Watercourse"
means the bed and shore of every river, stream, lake,
creek, pond, spring, lagoon, swamp, marsh, wetland, ravine, gulch or other
natural body of water and the water therein, and any channel, ditch, reservoir,
drain, land drainage works or other man-made surface feature, whether it
contains or conveys water or not.
3. Use of Sewers
3.1
Disposal of Waste:
No person shall discharge matter of any type or at any temperature or in any
quantity which:
a) may be or may become a health or safety hazard to a sewerage
system's employee; or
b) may be or may become harmful to a sewerage system; or
c) may cause the sewerage system effluent to contravene any requirements of
any applicable federal or provincial legislation; or
d) may interfere with the proper operation of a sewerage system; or
e) may impair or interfere with any sewage treatment process; or
f) which is or may result in a hazard to any person, animal, property, or
vegetation.
3.2
Discharges to Combined and/or Sanitary Sewers:
3.2.1 Except as otherwise provided in this By-law, no person shall discharge,
release, suffer or cause to be discharged into any sanitary sewer, combined
sewer, public or private connections to any sanitary sewer or combined sewer
any of the following:
a) Matter of a type or quantity that has or may emit a toxic or poisonous
vapour or a chemical odour that may interfere with the proper operation
of the sewerage system, constitute a hazard to humans, animals or
property, or create any hazards or become harmful in the receiving waters
of the sewerage system;
b) Noxious or malodorous gases or substances capable of creating a public
nuisance except human wastes, including, but not limited to, hydrogen
sulphide, mercaptans, carbon disulphide, other reduced sulpher
compounds, amines and ammonia;
c) Ashes, cinders, sand, potters clay, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags,
feathers, tar, plastics, wood or other solid or viscous substances capable of
causing obstruction to the flow of sewers or other interference with the
proper operation of the sewerage system;
d) Wastewater which consists of two or more separate liquid layers;
e) Paunch manure or intestinal contents from horses, cattle, sheep or swine,
hog bristles, pig hooves or toenails, animal intestines or stomach casings,
bones hides or parts thereof, manure of any kind, poultry entrails, heads,
feet or feathers, eggshells, fleshing and hair resulting from tanning
operations;
f) Animal fat or flesh in particles larger than will pass through a quarter (1/4)
inch screen;
g) Gasoline, benzene, naphtha, fuel oil or other flammable or explosive
matter or wastewater containing any of these in any quantity;
h) Waste which, either by itself or upon the reaction with other material,
becomes highly colored;
i) Wastes containing herbicides, pesticides or xenobiotics including, but not
limited to, polychlorinated biphenols (PCB's);
j) Atomic wastes and radioactive materials except as may be permitted under
the Atomic Energy Control Act (Canada) currently in force and regulations
thereunder;
k) Wastewater or uncontaminated water having a temperature in excess of
sixty (60) degrees Celsius;
l) Wastewater having a pH less than 5.5 or greater than 9.5 or having any
other corrosive or scale forming properties capable of causing damage or
hazard to the sewerage system or personnel of the sewerage system;
m) Wastewater that will create tastes or odours in drinking water supplies,
making such waters unpalatable after conventional water purification
treatment;
n) Matter of any type or at any temperature or in any quantity which may
cause the sludge from the sewerage system to fail to meet the criteria
relating to contaminants for spreading the sludge on agricultural lands,
under Nova Scotia guidelines for sewage sludge utilization on agricultural
lands;
o) Stormwater, water from drainage of roofs or footing drains or land, or
water from a watercourse or uncontaminated water, except in the case of
discharge to any combined sewer;
p) Sewage containing dyes or colouring materials which pass through a
sewage works and discolour the sewage works effluent;
q) Wastewater containing any of the following in excess of the indicated
concentrations:
Aluminum (Al) 50 Milligrams/Litre
Antimony (Sb) 5 Milligrams/Litre
Arsenic (As) 1 Milligram/Litre
Barium (Ba) 5 Milligrams/Litre
Beryllium (Be) 5 Milligrams/Litre
Bismuth (Bi) 5 Milligrams/Litre
Cadmium (Cd) 0.1 Milligram/Litre
Chlorides expressed as Cl 1500 Milligrams/Litre
Chromium (Cr) 4 Milligrams/Litre
Cobalt (Co) 5 Milligrams/Litre
Copper (Cu) 1 Milligram/Litre
Cyanide expressed as HCN 2 Milligrams/Litre
Fluorides expressed as F 10 Millograms/Litre
Iron (Fe) 50 Milligrams/Litre
Lead (Pb) 2 Milligrams/Litre
Manganese (Mn) 5 Milligrams/Litre
Mercury (Hg) 0.1 Milligrams/Litre
Molybdenum (Mo) 5 Milligrams/Litre
Nickel (Ni) 2 Milligrams/Litre
Phenolic Compounds 1 Milligram/Litre
Phosphorus (P) 30 Milligrams/Litre
Sulphates expressed as SO 4 1500 Milligrams/Litre
Sulphide expressed as H2S 2 Milligrams/Litre
Selenium (Se) 5 Milligrams/Litre
Silver (Ag) 2 Milligrams/Litre
Tin (Sn) 5 Milligrams/Litre
Zinc (Zn) 3 Milligrams/Litre.
r) Wastewater of which the BOD exceeds three hundred (300) milligrams per
litre;
s) Wastewater containing more than three hundred fifty (350) milligrams per
litre of suspended solids;
t) Wastewater of which the COD exceeds one thousand (1000) milligrams
per litre;
u) Wastewater containing more than one hundred (100) milligrams per litre
of fat, grease, or oil, and, in the case of mineral oils, in concentrations
exceeding fifteen (15) milligrams per litre;
v) Any matter in such quantities which exert excessive chlorine requirements
so as to constitute a significant load on the wastewater treatment works;
w) Wastewater containing fish offal or pathologic wastes;
x) Septic tank sludge, wastes from marine vessels or vehicles or sludge from
sewage treatment plants;
y) Any waters or wastes containing substances for which special treatment or
disposal practices are required by applicable provincial or federal
legislation.
3.2.2 No person shall connect a sump pump to a sanitary sewer.
3.2.3 The presence in wastewater of any one of the matters in Section 3.2.1
in a concentration in excess of its limits constitutes a separate offence.
3.2.4 Compliance with any limit is not attainable simply by dilution.
3.3
Discharges to Storm Sewers:
Except as otherwise provided in this By-law, no person shall discharge,
release, place or cause to be placed, any substance other than stormwater or
uncontaminated water into a storm sewer.
4. Sampling and Analysis
4.1
The owner or operator of industrial premises with one or more connections to
a sewage works shall install and maintain in good repair in each connection a
suitable manhole to allow observation and sampling of the wastewater and
measurement of the flow of wastewater therein, provided that where
installation of a manhole is not possible, an alternate device or facility may be
substituted with the written approval of the Engineer.
4.2
The manhole or alternate device shall be located on the property of the owner
or operator of the premises, unless the Engineer has given written approval
for a different location.
4.3
Every manhole device or facility installed as required by subsection 4.1 shall
be designed and constructed in accordance with good engineering practice and
the requirements of the Engineer, and shall be constructed and maintained by
the owner or operator of the premises at his expense.
4.4
The owner or operator of industrial premises shall at all times ensure that
every manhole device or facility installed as required by subsection 4.1 is at all
times accessible for purposes of observing and sampling the wastewater and
measuring the flow of wastewater therein.
4.5
Where a sample is required for the purpose of determining the characteristics
or contents of the wastewater, uncontaminated water or stormwater to which
reference is made in this By-law:
a) One sample alone is sufficient and, without limiting the generality of the
foregoing the sample may be a grab sample or a composite sample, may
contain additives for its preservation and may be collected manually or by
using an automatic sampling device;
b) Except as otherwise specifically provided in this By-law, all tests,
measurements, analyses and examinations of wastewater, uncontaminated
water and stormwater, shall be carried out in accordance with Standard
Methods; and
c) For each of the metals whose concentration is limited in the By-law the
analysis shall be for the quantity of total metal, which includes all metal
both dissolved and particulate.
4.6
Where testing of a sample is required for the purpose of determining the
characteristics or contents of the wastewater, uncontaminated water or
stormwater to which reference is made in this By-law, said testing shall be
conducted in accordance with the method hereinafter described or by
mechanical sampling devices:
a) A minimum of seven (7) grab samples shall be taken, one (1) each day at
different days in any thirty (30) day period;
b) Analyses shall be conducted separately on each day's grab sample; and
c) The final results of these tests shall be averaged for this period to
determine the characteristics and concentration of the effluent being
discharged into the sewerage system or storm sewer system.
4.7
The Inspector may from time to time conduct such tests as are deemed
necessary at the manhole, or may enter the industrial premises and conduct
the tests as deemed necessary.
5. Spills
5.1
Every person who discharges or deposits or causes or permits the discharge or
deposit of any matter in any sewer that in nature or quantity is not in the
ordinary course of events, shall forthwith notify the Town of Stewiacke.
5.2
For any of the discharges in subsection 5.1 for which the person is required to
forthwith notify the Town of Stewiacke, the notification shall include the
following:
a) The name of the company and the address of the spill;
b) The name of the person reporting the spill and telephone number where
that person can be reached;
c) The time of the spill;
d) The type and volume of material discharged and any associated hazards;
and
e) The corrective actions being taken to control the spill.
5.3
Within five (5) days following a spill, the person shall submit to the Town of
Stewiacke a detailed written report describing the cause of the spill and the
actions taken or to be taken to prevent a recurrence.
6. Waste Survey Report
6.1
Any person who deposits, intends to deposit or permits or intends to permit
the deposit of any waste except domestic wastes into a sanitary or combined
sewer shall file a Waste Survey Report with the Engineer.
6.2
The Waste Survey Report shall contain the following information and shall be
signed by an authorized representative of the owner or operator:
a) The name and address of the premises, and the names of its owner and
operator;
b) Description of process operations, including waste discharge rates and
contaminant concentrations, hours of operation and plans and reports
certified by a professional engineer indicating proposed industrial
expansion, addition, new construction, or proposed pre-treatment works;
and
c) A schematic process diagram indicating waste discharge points and waste
descriptions.
6.3
The Waste Survey report shall be in the form attached as Schedule "A"
6.4
Where a change occurs in the information contained in a Waste Survey
Report, the owner or operator of the premises shall submit the new
information within thirty (30) days of the change.
6.5
Where a change occurs in any information described in a Waste Survey
Report, the owner or operator of the premises shall submit a new Waste
Survey Report setting out the changes.
6.6
No person shall deposit any wastes other than domestic waste in any sanitary
or combined sewer until:
a) A Waste Survey Report has been filed with the Engineer; and
b) The Engineer has confirmed that the wastes will comply with the
requirements of this By-law.
7. General
7.1
For the purpose of the administration of this By-law, the Inspector may, upon
production of his identification, enter any industrial premises and have free
unimpaired access, to observe, to measure the flow of wastewater to any sewer
and to collect any samples required at reasonable times upon reasonable
notice.
7.2
No person shall break, damage, destroy, deface or tamper or cause or permit
the breaking, damaging, destroying, defacing or tampering with:
a) Any part of the sewerage system or storm sewer system; and
b) Any permanent or temporary device installed in the sewerage system or
storm sewer system for the purpose of measuring, sampling and testing of
wastewater.
7.3
No work shall be carried out on any sewer other than by the authority of the
Engineer.
7.4
The Council shall have the power to stop and close up and prevent from
discharging into the sewerage system, any private sewer or drain though which
substances are discharged or into which substances are thrown, deposited, or
supposed to be put, prohibited by this By-law or which are liable to injure the
sewers or obstruct the flow of sewage.
7.5
The Council shall not cause any sewer to be closed up pursuant to this sub-
section unless the owner of the sewer is first notified and given an opportunity
to be heard by Council.
8. Compliance Program
8.1
A compliance program may be issued as set out in subsections 8.2 to 8.5 and
8.9 for the discharge of a non-complying effluent during the period of
planning, design, construction or installation of facilities to eliminate the non-
compliance with the limits prescribed in Sections 3 and 4.
8.2
The owner or operator of industrial premises may submit to the Town of
Stewiacke a program to prevent or to reduce and control the discharge or
deposit of wastewater into or in land drainage works, private branch drains or
connections to any sanitary sewer or combination sewer from premises.
8.3
The owner or operator of industrial premises may submit to the Town of
Stewiacke a program to eliminate the discharge or deposit of wastewater into
or in land drainage works, private branch drains or connections to any storm
sewer from the premises.
8.4
The Town of Stewiacke may issue an approval for a compliance program to
the person who submitted the program.
8.5
Every compliance program shall be for a specified length of time during which
the facilities are to be installed, and shall be specific as to the remedial actions
to be implemented, the dates of commencement and completion, and the
materials or other characteristics of the wastewater, uncontaminated water or
stormwater to which it relates. The final activity completion date shall not be
later than the final compliance date in the compliance program.
8.6
The compliance program shall be in the form attached as Schedule "B" and,
upon recommendation of the Engineer, the person seeking an approval for a
compliance program is authorized to execute such compliance programs
under the authority of this By-law.
8.7
A person to whom a compliance program has been issued shall submit a
compliance program progress report within 7 days after the scheduled
completion date for each activity listed in the compliance program.
8.8
The compliance program progress report shall be in the form attached as
Schedule "C".
8.9
Where the operating authority for the sewage treatment plant, land drainage
work, or storm sewer which is receiving wastewater, uncontaminated water or
stormwater from the premises identified in the letter of compliance program is
not the Engineer, the compliance program does not become effective unless
the operating authority has reviewed and approved the compliance program.
8.10
A person to whom a compliance program has been issued shall not be
prosecuted under Sections 3 or 4 of this By-law so long as the compliance
program is being fully complied with.
9. Offenses
Any person who contravenes any section of this By-law is liable on conviction
to a penalty of not less than $1,000.00 and not more than $5,000.00 per
occurrence and, in default of payment, to imprisonment for a term of not
more than six (6) months, or both.
10. Repeal
This By-law repeals any and all By-laws regarding sewer discharge.
Annotations for Official Bylaw Book
Date of first reading: March 22, 2001
Date of advertisement of Notice of Intent to Consider:
Date of second reading: April 26, 2001
Date of advertisement of Passage of By-law:
Date of mailing to Minister a certified copy of By-law:
I certify that this Sewer Discharge By-law was adopted by Council and published
as indicated above.
______
CAO / Clerk
Date