HomeMy Public PortalAbout00109REPEALED BY ORDINANCE #1348 REPEALED BY ORDINANCE #2289 REPEALED BY ORDINANCE #4786 O R D I N A N C E NO. 109
AN ORDINANCE regulating the use of public and private
sewers and drains, private and semi-public sewage disposal, and
the discharge of waters and wastes into the public sewer or
drainage systems and providing penalties for the violation
thereof.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE BOARD OF TRUSTEES OF THE METRO-
POLITAN ST. LOUIS SEWER DISTRICT:
ARTICLE I
Section One. Unless the context specifically indicates
otherwise the meaning of terms used in this ordinance shall be as
follows:
B.O.D. (denoting Biochemical Oxygen Demand) shall mean
the quantity of oxygen utilized in the biochemical oxidation of
organic matter under standard laboratory procedure in 5 days at
20ΕC., expressed in parts per million by weight.
COMBINED SEWER shall mean a sewer designed and intended
to receive and convey both sewage and storm water including roof
and street drainage.
DISTRICT shall mean The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer
District.
DRAINAGE CHANNEL shall mean any artificially con-
structed open channel, ditch, swale, or flume, whether lined or
unlined, for the drainage of stormwater and groundwater.
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GARBAGE shall mean every refuse accumulation of animal,
fruit and vegetable matter that attend the preparation, use,
cooking, dealing in or storing of meat, fish, fowl, fruit and
vegetables, and condemned foods found within the District except
frozen or decayed fruits, meats, fish or fowl shipped into the
District in unusable condition. The term garbage shall be held to
also include refuse and offal from slaughter houses, pork houses
and poultry houses.
INDUSTRIAL CONNECTION SEWER shall mean that portion of
sewer line required to carry the sewage of any industrial or
commercial establishment from the last point of sewage entry on
the premises to a sewer or to carry the discharge from any
industrial pretreatment facility to a sewer.
INDUSTRIAL WASTE shall mean any industrial liquid,
waste water, or toxic substance from any industrial process.
INDUSTRIAL WASTE TREATMENT PLANT shall mean any treat-
ment plant device or facility used or intended to be used for the
specific treatment of industrial wastes in which other wastes may
or may not be present; provided, that a treatment plant in a
public sewage system shall not be so designated.
NATURAL OUTLET shall mean any outlet for drainage of
stormwater into a watercourse, stream, creek, river, pond, lake or
other large body of water, exclusive of sinks and subterranean
channels.
PERSON shall mean any individual, firm, company,
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association, society, corporation, or group.
pH shall mean the logarithm of the reciprocal of the
weight of hydrogen ions in grams per liter of solution.
PROPERLY SHREDDED GARBAGE shall mean the wastes from
the preparation, cooking, and dispensing of food that have been
shredded to such degree that all particles will be carried freely
under the flow conditions normally prevailing in public sewers,
with no particle greater than 1/2 inch in any dimension.
PUBLIC SEWER shall mean a sewer owned and maintained by
The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District.
SANITARY SEWER shall mean a sewer designed and intended
to receive and convey only sewage as defined herein, together with
such infiltration as cannot be avoided.
SEMI-PUBLIC sewage disposal or sewage treatment
facility shall mean a device or facility for treating or disposing
of sewage or industrial wastes from a school, public building,
institution, church, hotel, motel, or other building or structure
not classified as private.
SEWAGE shall mean the water carried wastes from
residences, business buildings, institutions and industrial
establishments, singular or in any combination, together with such
ground surface and stormwaters as cannot be avoided.
SEWAGE TREATMENT PLANT shall mean any arrangement of
devices and structures used for treating sewage.
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SEWER shall mean any public, semi-private or private
lateral or main sewer, pipe, or enclosed conduit constructed in a
street, alley, place, easement or right-of-way, exclusive of a
building or industrial connection sewer for the conveyance of
sewage, water carried wastes, or storm water.
SEWERAGE SYSTEM shall mean and include any sewage
treatment facility, sewer, appurtenance, equipment or any
combination thereof used or intended to be used for the purpose of
conveying, treating, or disposing of any storm water, waste water,
industrial waste, or human excrement accumulating on any premise
in the District.
SHALL is mandatory; "May" is permissive.
STORM SEWER shall mean a sewer designed and intended
to receive and convey only storm or unpolluted waters.
STORM WATER shall mean any water resulting from
precipitation mixed with the accumulation of dirt, soil, and other
debris or substances collected from the surfaces on which such
precipitation falls or flows.
SUSPENDED SOLIDS shall mean solids that either float on
the surface of, or are in suspension in water, sewage, or other
liquids; and which are removable by laboratory filtering.
WATERCOURSE shall mean a natural surface drainage
channel for stormwater and groundwater in which a flow of water
occurs, either continuously or intermittently.
ARTICLE II
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Section Two. It shall be unlawful to discharge or
deposit into any natural outlet, drainage channel, or watercourse
within The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District any sewage,
industrial wastes, garbage, polluted water or any other substance
which constitutes a nuisance or hazard to the public health or
welfare, except the effluent from a properly designed and approved
sewage treatment facility or device which has been provided in
accordance with the provisions of this ordinance.
Section Three. Except as hereinafter provided, it
shall be unlawful to install any cesspool, septic tank or other
facility intended or used for the disposal of sewage.
ARTICLE III
Section Four. At such time as a sanitary or combined
public sewer becomes available to a property served by a private
or semi-public sewage disposal system or treatment facility, as
provided in Section Five of this ordinance, a direct connection
shall be made to the public sewer in compliance with this
ordinance, and any septic tank, cesspool, or similar private or
semi-public sewage disposal or treatment facilities shall be
abandoned and filled with suitable material. This section shall
not apply to any private sewer constructed, owned, and operated by
any industrial establishment in accordance with the rules and
regulations of The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, and
which has a direct sewer connection to the Mississippi River.
Section Five. Where a public sanitary or combined
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sewer is not available under the provisions of this ordinance, the
building sewer shall be connected to an approved private or semi-
public sewer or sewage disposal system or sewage treatment
facility complying with the provisions of this article. A sewer
shall be considered available if it is within one hundred fifty
feet (150') of any part of the property to be connected to the
sewer.
Section Six. Before commencement of construction of a
private or semi-public sewage disposal system or treatment
facility the owner shall first obtain a construction permit from
The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District. The application for
such permit shall be made on a form furnished by the District,
which the applicant shall supplement by plans, specifications and
other data including the results of soil absorption tests
performed as required by the District if sub-surface disposal is
proposed. A permit and inspection fee of Fifteen ($15.00) Dollars
shall be paid to the District at the time the application is
filed. On and after the effective date of this ordinance the
District shall exclusively issue permits for private and semi-
public sewage disposal or treatment facilities.
Section Seven. The District shall be allowed to
inspect the work at any stage of construction and in any event,
permittee shall notify the District when the work is ready for
final inspection and before any underground portions are covered.
The inspection shall be made within forty-eight hours of the
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receipt of notice by the District.
Section Eight. The type, capacities, location, and
layout of a private, semi-public, or industrial sewage disposal
system or treatment facility shall comply with all recommendations
of the Division of Health, Department of Public Health and Welfare
of the State of Missouri, and with all rules and regulations of
the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District pertaining thereto. All
such rules and regulations shall become effective upon approval of
the Board of Trustees of the District and shall be filed in the
Office of the Secretary-Treasurer as a public record and shall be
filed in the office of the Secretary of State, State of Missouri,
in accordance with the provisions of 536.020 Revised Statutes of
Missouri, 1949.
Section Nine. The Owner shall operate and maintain any
private, semi-public, or industrial sewage disposal or treatment
facilities in an efficient and satisfactory manner at all times,
at no expense to the District. Such facilities shall be subject
to inspection by the Executive Director or his designated
representative at all times.
ARTICLE IV
Section Ten. No person shall discharge or cause to be
discharged any storm water, surface water, ground water, roof
runoff, subsurface drainage, uncontaminated cooling water or un-
polluted industrial process waters into any sanitary sewer. Any
connection, drain or arrangement which will permit any such waters
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to enter any sanitary sewer shall be deemed to be a violation of
this section and this ordinance.
Section Eleven. It shall be unlawful for any plumber,
drainlayer, contractor, or any other person constructing a sewer,
a house or building connection, an industrial connection sewer
connected to a sanitary sewer to leave such connection open,
unsealed, or incomplete in such manner that will permit storm or
surface water to enter into any sanitary sewer within the
District. All such openings shall be tightly sealed at all points
whenever work is not actually in progress on such sewer or
connection.
Section Twelve. Storm water and all other unpolluted
drainage shall be discharged into such sewers as are specifically
designated as combined sewers or storm sewers, or to a drainage
channel or natural outlet approved by the Executive Director of
the District. Industrial cooling water or unpolluted process
waters may be discharged, upon approval of the Executive Director
of the District, to a storm sewer, combined sewers, drainage
channel or natural outlet.
ARTICLE V
Section Thirteen. No person shall deposit or throw
into any sewer, sewer inlet or privy vault, or into any private
drain connecting with a public sewer any straw, hay, shavings,
tinners scraps, waste, produce or material of manufacture, rags,
or garbage, which has not been properly shredded, or any substance
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which may choke up or cause a nuisance; nor shall any dam or other
obstruction be placed in any sewers unless permission so to do is
expressly granted by the Executive Director or his duly authorized
agents.
Section Fourteen. No gasoline filling station, garage,
refining plant, chemical plant, packing house, slaughterhouse,
lard rendering establishment, dairy, steam engine, steam boiler,
steam plant, or any other establishment from which any substance
would be discharged into the sewers which would tend to obstruct
or damage the sewers or cause a nuisance or endanger the public
health or safety or endanger persons who might be in such sewers,
shall be connected with any public sewer or to any private sewer
which discharges directly or indirectly into any public sewer,
except through one or more intervening catch basins or traps as
may be prescribed by the Executive Director, and in case the
substance discharged by any establishment cannot be so intercepted
or trapped as to render the discharged substance harmless to the
sewer, not dangerous to the public health or safety and not
dangerous to persons who may enter such sewers, the discharge from
such plant shall be entirely excluded from the sewer. The catch
basins hereinbefore required shall be maintained and operated in a
manner satisfactory to the Executive Director and the substance
removed from such catch basins and traps shall not be deposited in
public highways or sewers. Any person violating the provisions of
this section shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor.
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Section Fifteen. The owner or occupant of any
establishment which discharges any substance into any public sewer
or into any private sewer which discharges directly or indirectly
into any public sewer not in accordance with the preceding
sections, shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor. The owner or
occupant of such establishment upon order of the Executive
Director or his duly authorized agents, shall cease from such
violation and if the Executive Director further finds that catch
basins or traps can be so installed as to avoid the violation of
such sections, such catch basins or traps shall be so installed
within thirty days of the order by and at the expense of such
establishment under the supervision and to the satisfaction of the
Executive Director. If the order so given shall not have been
complied with, the person failing to so comply shall be deemed
guilty of a misdemeanor.
Section Sixteen. If the drainage from any gasoline
filling station, garage, refining plant, chemical plant, packing
house, slaughterhouse, lard rendering establishment, dairy, steam
engine, steam boiler, steam plant or any other establishment shall
cause a deposit or obstruction or damage to any public sewer the
Executive Director shall cause such deposit or obstruction to be
removed promptly or cause such damage to be repaired, keeping an
account of the cost of such work including materials, labor and
supervision and shall certify an account of such cost to the
person from whose establishment or premises the material causing
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such deposit, obstruction or damage came and if such person shall
fail, neglect or refuse to pay the sum specified to the Secretary-
Treasurer of The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District within five
days after demand has been made, the person shall be deemed guilty
of a misdemeanor.
Section Seventeen. The admission into the public
sewers that discharge into any treatment facility maintained and
operated by The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District of any
waters or wastes having (a) a 5-day Biochemical Oxygen Demand
greater than 300 parts per million by weight, or (b) containing
more than 350 parts per million by weight of suspended solids, or
(c) containing any quantity of substances having the
characteristics described in Section Fourteen, or (d) having an
average daily flow greater than 2% of the average daily sewage
flow of the District, shall be subject to the review and approval
of the Executive Director. If such excess Biochemical Oxygen
Demand, or suspended solids, could constitute a nuisance or
adversely affect the operation of any sewage treatment plant or
overload any sewage treatment plant owned or operated by The
Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District the owner shall provide, at
his expense, such preliminary treatment as may be necessary to,
(a) reduce the Biochemical Oxygen Demand to 300 parts per million
and the suspended solids to 350 parts per million by weight, or
(b) control objectionable characteristics or constituents in such
a manner so as not to obstruct or interfere with the maintenance
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or operation of any public sewage facility, or (c] control the
quantities and rates of discharge of such waters or wastes.
Plans, specifications, and any other pertinent information
relating to proposed preliminary treatment facilities shall be
submitted for the approval of the Executive Director, and no con-
struction of such facilities shall be commenced until said
approval is granted in writing.
Section Eighteen. Where installed, all grease, oil and
sand interceptors and where preliminary treatment facilities are
provided for any waters or wastes, they shall be maintained
continuously in satisfactory and efficient operation by the owner
at his expense.
ARTICLE VI
Section Nineteen. When required by the Executive
Director, the owner of any property served by a building or
industrial connection sewer carrying industrial wastes shall
install a suitable control manhole in the building sewer to
facilitate observation, sampling and measurement of the wastes.
Such manhole, when required, shall be accessibly and safely
located, and shall be constructed in accordance with plans
approved by the Executive Director. The manhole shall be
installed by the owner at his expense, and shall be maintained by
him so as to be safe at all times and accessible at reasonable
times.
Section Twenty. All measurements, tests and analyses
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of the characteristics of waters and wastes to which reference is
made in Sections Fourteen and Seventeen shall be determined in
accordance with the 10th Edition of Standard Methods for the
Examination of Water, Sewage and Industrial Wastes published
jointly by the American Public Health Association, The American
Water Works Association and the Federation of Sewerage and
Industrial Wastes Association. Additional methods of making
measurements, tests or analyses of the characteristics of waters
or wastes may be provided by the Executive Director with the
approval of the Board of Trustees of The Metropolitan St. Louis
Sewer District when in the opinion of the Executive Director they
are necessary. All measurements, tests or analyses provided for
in this Section shall be determined at the control manhole
provided for in Section Nineteen, or upon suitable samples taken
at said control manhole. 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 or industrial connection sewer is connected.
Section Twenty-One. It shall be the duty of every
person, public utility, or institution holding a permit to operate
a sewerage system or sewage treatment plant to furnish records for
ascertaining compliance with this Ordinance as may be required by
the Executive Director.
Section Twenty-Two. The Executive Director shall cause
to be made such surveys, investigations, and studies of sewage,
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sewerage systems, watercourses, and streams receiving sewage and
drainage as may be necessary to determine that all sewerage
systems are installed, operated, and maintained in compliance with
the provisions of this Ordinance.
ARTICLE VII
Section Twenty-Three. It shall be unlawful to place
any dam or other obstruction in any drainage facility or water
course unless permission to do so is expressly granted in writing
by the Executive Director.
Section Twenty-Four. It shall be unlawful for any
unauthorized person to maliciously, willfully, or negligently
break, damage, destroy, uncover , deface, alter, or tamper with
any structure, appurtenance, or equipment which is a part of the
sewerage system of The Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District.
ARTICLE VIII
Section Twenty-Five. Any person found to be violating
the provisions of Section Five or Section Ten of this Ordinance
shall be given written notice stating the nature of the violation
and providing a reasonable time limit for the satisfactory
correction thereof. The offender shall, within the period of time
stated in such notice satisfactorily correct said violation.
Section Twenty-Six. Any person who shall continue any
violation beyond the time limit provided for in Section Twenty-
Five of this ordinance shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and
upon conviction thereof shall be fined not less than Ten Dollars
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($10.00) nor more than Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00) or be
imprisoned in the City Workhouse or the County Jail as the case
may be not less than three (3) days nor more than ninety (90)
days, or by both such fine and imprisonment for each violation.
Each day in which any such violation shall continue shall be
deemed a separate offense.
Section Twenty-Seven. If any person shall continue a
violation of Section Five or Section Ten of this ordinance beyond
the time limit provided in the notice to correct said violation
the Executive Director may order the work of correcting the
violations of Section Ten of the ordinance to be done by the
District and shall make a charge against the owner or occupier of
such premises for the reasonable cost of such work. If such bill
is unpaid after thirty (30) days, notice may be filed in the
Office of the Recorder of Deeds of the City of St. Louis or of St.
Louis County as the case may be, whereupon such bill shall become
a lien against the property involved.
Section Twenty-Eight. Any person violating any
provision of this ordinance other than Sections Five and Ten shall
be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor and upon conviction thereof
shall be fined not less than Five Dollars ($5.00) nor more than
Three Hundred Dollars ($300.00) or be imprisoned in the City
Workhouse or the County Jail, as the case may be, not less than
three (3) days nor more than ninety (90) days, or by both such
fine and imprisonment, and each day of such violation shall
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constitute a separate offense.
ARTICLE IX
Section Twenty-Nine. All ordinances or parts of
ordinances in conflict herewith are hereby repealed.
Section Thirty. The invalidity of any section, clause,
sentence, or provision of this ordinance shall not affect the
validity of any other part of this ordinance which can be given
effect without such invalid part or parts.
The foregoing Ordinance was adopted January 14, 1957.