No unauthorized person shall uncover, make any connection with or opening into, use, alter, or disturb any public sewer or appurtenance thereof without first obtaining a written permit from the authorized City representative.

   All disposal by any person into the sewer system is unlawful except those discharges in compliance with federal standards promulgated pursuant to the Federal Act and more stringent State and local standards.

   There shall be two classes of building sewer permits.

   1.   For residential and commercial service, and

   2.   For service to establishments producing industrial wastes.

In either case, the owner or agent shall make application on a special form furnished by the City. The permit application shall be supplemented by any plans, specifications, or other information considered pertinent in the judgment of the authorized City representative. A sewer connection charge or inspection fee as established by the City for a building sewer permit shall be paid to the City at the time the application is filed. An industry, as a condition of permit authorization, must provide information describing its wastewater constituents, characteristics, and type of activity.

   A building sewer permit will only be issued and a sewer connection shall only be allowed if it can be demonstrated that the downstream sewerage facilities, including sewers, pump stations, and wastewater treatment facilities have sufficient reserve capacity to adequately and efficiently handle the additional anticipated waste load.

   All costs and expenses incident to the installation, connection, and maintenance of the building sewer, from the main to the building served, shall be borne by the owner. The owner shall indemnify the City from any loss or damage that may directly or indirectly be occasioned by the installation of the building sewer.

   A separate and independent building sewer shall be provided for every building, except where one building stands at the rear of another on an interior lot and no private sewer is available or can be constructed to the rear building through an adjoining alley, court, yard, or driveway, the building sewer from the front building may be extended to the rear building and the whole considered as one building sewer.

   Old building sewers may be used in connection with new buildings only when they are found, on examination and test by the authorized City representative to meet all requirements of this chapter.

   The size, slope, alignment, materials of construction of a building sewer, and the methods to be used in excavating, placing of the pipe, jointing, testing, and backfilling the trench, shall all conform to the requirements of the Building Code and Altoona Plumbing Code or other applicable rules and regulations of the City. In the absence of code provisions or in amplification thereof, the materials and procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the American Society of Testing Materials, Water Pollution Control Federation Manual of Practice No. 9, and Chapter 12 – Iowa Standards for Sewer Systems, shall apply.

   Whenever possible, the building sewer shall be brought to the building at an elevation below the basement floor. In all buildings in which any building drain is too low to permit gravity flow to the public sewer, sanitary sewage carried by such building drain shall be lifted by an appropriate means in accordance with the Altoona Plumbing Code and discharged to the building sewer.

   No persons shall make connection of roof downspouts, sump pumps, exterior foundation drains, areaway drains, or other sources of surface runoff or groundwater to a building sewer or building drain which in turn is connected directly or indirectly to a public sanitary sewer.

   The connection of the building sewer into the public sewer shall conform to the requirements of the Building Code and Altoona Plumbing Code, or other applicable rules and regulations of the City, or the procedures set forth in appropriate specifications of the American Society of Testing Materials, Water Pollution Control Federation Manual of Practice No. 9 and Chapter 12, Iowa Standards for Sewer Systems. All such connections shall be made gastight and watertight. Any deviation from the prescribed procedures and materials must be approved by the authorized City representative before installation.

   The applicant for the building sewer permit shall notify the authorized City representative when the building sewer is ready for inspection and connection to the public sewer. The connection shall be made under the supervision of the authorized representative.

   All excavation for building sewer installations shall be adequately guarded with barricades and lights so as to protect the public from hazard. Streets, sidewalks, parkways, and other public property disturbed in the course of the work shall be restored in a manner satisfactory to the City.

   Backwater valves shall be installed in accordance with the Altoona Plumbing Code whenever the Superintendent determines that such valves are needed in the building drainage system.