Swansea City Zoning Code
ARTICLE XVI
Aquifer Protection District
§ 265-16.1 Purpose of district.
The purpose of this Aquifer Protection District is to:
A.
Promote the health, safety, and general welfare of the community by ensuring an adequate quality and quantity of drinking water for the residents, institutions, and businesses of the Town of Swansea;
B.
Preserve and protect existing and potential sources of drinking water supplies;
C.
Conserve the natural resources of the Town of Swansea; and
D.
Prevent temporary and permanent contamination of the environment.
§ 265-16.2 Scope of authority.
The Aquifer Protection District is an overlay district superimposed on the zoning districts. This overlay district shall apply to all new construction, reconstruction, or expansion of existing buildings and new or expanded uses. Applicable activities/uses in a portion of one of the underlying zoning districts which fall within the Aquifer Protection District must additionally comply with the requirements of this district. Uses prohibited in the underlying zoning districts shall not be permitted in the Aquifer Protection District.
§ 265-16.3 Definitions.
For the purposes of this article, the following terms are defined below:
Geologic formation composed of rock, sand or gravel that contains significant amounts of potentially recoverable water.
The zoning district defined to overlay other zoning districts in the Town of Swansea. The Aquifer protection district may include specifically designated recharge areas.
The quantities of sanitary sewage, expressed in gallons per day (gpd), for which a system must be designed in accordance with 310 CMR 15.203.
See on site system.
Water found in cracks, fissures and pore spaces in the saturated zone below the ground surfaces, including but not limited to perched ground water.
Material having a percolation rate greater than 60 minutes per inch for reasons including, but not limited to, the presence of bedrock, schist, peat, ledge, unconsolidated material, organic matter or topsoil or subsoil.
Material or structure on, above, or below the ground that does not allow precipitation or surface water to penetrate directly into the soil.
Any water-carried or liquid waste resulting from any process or industry, manufacture, trade, business, or activity list in 310 CMR 15.004.
For the purposes of this article, a buildable lot is described as parcel of land at least 60,000 square feet in area as shown in the Table of Standard Dimensional Regulations,[1] but subject to the provisions of § 265-4.4, Open Space Residential Design subdivisions. If a lot is not entirely within the Aquifer Protection District, this area requirement is applicable if the house or septic system lies within the Aquifer Protection District.
The removal or relocation of geologic materials such as topsoil, sand, gravel, metallic ores, or bedrock.
A system or series of systems for the treatment and disposal of sanitary sewage below the ground surface of a facility.
The standard components of a system are: a building sewer, a septic tank to retain solids and scum: a distribution box; a soil absorption system containing effluent distribution line to distribute and treat septic tank effluent prior to discharge to appropriate subsurface soils; and a reserve area.
These terms also include tight tank, shared systems and alternative systems. Unless the text of 310 CMR 15.000 indicates otherwise, these terms also include nonconforming systems.
Areas which could provide significant potable water in the future.
Areas that collect precipitation or surface water and carry it to aquifers. Recharge areas may include areas designated as Zone I, Zone II, or Zone III.
Greywater and blackwater from domestic commercial and other non-industrial sources.
Any substance or mixture of physical, chemical, or infectious characteristics posing a significant, actual, or potential hazard to water supplies or other hazards to human health if such substance or mixture were discharged to land or water in the Town of Swansea. Toxic or hazardous materials include, without limitation; synthetic organic chemicals, petroleum products, heavy metals, radioactive or infectious wastes, acids and alkalis, and all substances defined as Toxic or Hazardous under Massachusetts General Laws (MGL) Chapter (c.) 21C and 21E and 310 CMR 30.00, and also include such products as solvents and thinners in quantities greater than normal household use.
Any and all devices, processes and properties real or personal, used in the collection, pumping transmission, storage, treatment, disposal, recycling, reclamation or reuse of waterborne pollutants, including septage receiving facilities but not including any works receiving a hazardous waste from off the site of the works for the purpose of treatment, storage or disposal. Treatment works must be permitted by the Department of Environmental Protection pursuant to the authority of MGL c. 21, §§ 27 through 52 and regulation thereunder.
Business which services or repairs commercial trucks which are not owned by the business.
The modification of one or more components of an on-site system which is intended to bring a non-conforming system into conformance with 310 CMR 15.000 to the maximum feasible extent. An emergency repair is not an upgrade.
Public utilities are subject to forms of public control and regulation ranging from local community-based groups to statewide government and are essential for basic services to the public. The term utilities refers to the set of services provided by these organizations, and/or the government directly, utilized by the public: electricity, communications, natural gas, water, stormwater and sewage.
Lands lying adjacent to water courses and surface water bodies which create the catchment or drainage areas of such water courses and bodies.
§ 265-16.4 Establishment and delineation of groundwater protection district.
For the purposes of this district, there are hereby established within the Town of Swansea certain aquifer protection areas, consisting of aquifers or recharge areas which are delineated on a map. This map is at a scale of one inch to 1,000 feet and is entitled "Aquifer Protection District, Town of Swansea," dated May 18, 1998, as revised by the January 8, 2001, Special Town Meeting. This map is hereby made a part of the Town of Swansea zoning bylaw and is on file in the Office of the Town Clerk.
§ 265-16.5 District boundary disputes.
The burden of proof shall be upon the owner(s) of the land to show where the bounds should be located. At the request of the owner(s), the Town may engage a professional engineer, hydrologist or soil scientist to determine more accurately the boundaries of the district with respect to individual parcels of land, and may charge the owner(s) for the cost of the investigation.
§ 265-16.6 Wellhead protection regulations.
310 CMR 22.21(2) Wellhead Protection
A.
Wellhead protection zoning and non-zoning controls submitted to the Department in accordance with 310 CMR 22.21(1), shall collectively prohibit the siting of the following land uses within the Zone II, or Zone III if the criteria of 310 CMR 22.21(1)(f) have been met, of the proposed wellfield, whichever is applicable:
(1)
Landfills and open dumps, as defined in 310 CMR 19.006;
(2)
Landfills receiving only wastewater residuals and/or septage (wastewater residuals "monofills");
(3)
Automobile graveyards and junkyards, as defined in MGL c. 140B, § 1;
(4)
Stockpiling and disposal of snow or ice removed from highways and streets located outside of Zone II that contains sodium chloride, chemically treated abrasives or other chemicals used for snow and ice removal;
(5)
Petroleum, fuel oil, and heating oil bulk stations and terminals, including, but not limited to those listed under Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Codes 5171 and 5983, not including liquefied petroleum gas. SIC Codes are established by the U.S. Office of Management and Budget and may be determined by referring to the publication, Standard Industrial Classification Manual and any subsequent amendments thereto;
(6)
Treatment or disposal works subject to 314 CMR 5.00, for wastewater other than sanitary sewage. This prohibition includes, but is not limited to, treatment or disposal works related to activities under the Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) Codes set forth in 310 CMR 15.004(6) (Title 5), except the following:
(a)
The replacement or repair of an existing system(s) that will not result in a design capacity greater than the design capacity of the existing system(s);
(b)
Treatment works approved by the Department designed for the treatment of contaminated ground or surface waters and operated in compliance with 314 CMR 5.05(3) or 5.05(13); and
(c)
Publicly owned treatment works, or POTW;
(7)
Facilities that generate, treat, store or dispose of hazardous waste that are subject to MGL c. 21C and 310 CMR 30.000 except for the following:
(a)
Very small quantity generators, as defined by 310 CMR 30.000;
(b)
Household hazardous waste collection centers or events operated pursuant to 310 CMR 30.390;
(c)
Waste oil retention facilities required by MGL. c. 21, § 52A; and
(d)
Treatment works approved by the Department designed in accordance with 314 CMR 5.00 for the treatment of contaminated ground or surface waters
B.
Wellhead protection zoning and non-zoning controls submitted to the Department in accordance with 310 CMR 22.21(1), shall collectively prohibit the siting of the following land uses within the Zone II, or Zone II, or Zone III if the criteria of 310 CMR 22.21(1)(f) have been met, of the proposed well or wellfield, whichever is applicable, unless designed in accordance with the specified performance standards:
(1)
Storage of sludge and septage, unless such storage is in compliance with 310 CMR 32.30 and 310 CMR 32.31;
(2)
Storage of sodium chloride, chemically treated abrasives or other chemicals used for the removal of ice and snow on roads, unless such storage is within a structure designed to prevent the generation and escape of contaminated runoff or leachate;
(3)
Storage of commercial fertilizers; unless such storage is within a structure designed to prevent the generation and escape of contaminated runoff or leachate;
(4)
Storage of animal manures, unless such storage is within a structure designed to prevent the generation and escape of contaminated runoff or leachate.
(5)
Storage of liquid hazardous materials, as defined in MGL c. 21E, and/or liquid petroleum products unless such storage is above ground level AND on an impervious surface in container(s) AND either;
(a)
In above ground tank(s) within a building on an impervious surface OR;
(b)
Outdoors in covered container(s) or above ground tank(s) in an area that has a containment system designed and operated to hold either 10% of the total possible storage capacity of all containers, or 110% of the largest container's storage capacity, whichever is greater;
(6)
The removal of soil, loam, sand, gravel or any other mineral substances within four feet of the historical high groundwater table elevation (as determined from monitoring wells and historical water table fluctuation data compiled by the United States Geological Survey), unless the substances removed are re-deposited within 45 days of removal on site to achieve a final grading greater than four feet above the historical high water mark, and except for excavations for the construction of building foundations, the installation of utility works, or wetland restoration work conducted in accordance with a valid Order of Condition issued pursuant to MGL c. 131, § 40, including storm water mitigation measures consistent with the most recent version of the MassDEP's Stormwater Handbook.
(7)
Land uses that result in the rendering impervious any lot or parcel more than 15% or 2,500 square feet, whichever is greater, unless a system for artificial recharge of precipitation is provided that will not result in the degradation of groundwater quality.
§ 265-16.7 Severability.
A determination that any portion or provision of this overlay protection district is invalid shall not invalidate any other portion or provision thereof, nor shall it invalidate any special permit previously issued thereunder.
§ 265-16.8 Violations and penalties.
Whoever violates any of the provisions of this bylaw shall be subject to a fine of not more than $200 per day for each offense.