STORM DRAIN CONNECTIONS ARE PROHIBITED

NOTICE TO RESIDENTS

Please be reminded that it is illegal (per Town of Sunderland bylaw Chapter 140 §144-11 Prohibited connections) to connect sump pumps, roof drains and other types of pumping devices into the sewer collection system (drains directly or indirectly connected to the public sanitary sewer). This practice can cause severe damage, as well as backups, to the Waste Water Collection/Treatment System.

§ 144-13.  Prohibited discharge.  

  1. General prohibition. No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any stormwater, surface water, groundwater, roof runoff, subsurface drainage, uncontaminated cooling water or unpolluted industrial process waters to any sanitary sewer.  
  2. Restrictions. Stormwater and all other unpolluted drainage shall be discharged to such sewers as are specifically designated as combined sewers or storm sewers to a natural outlet approved by the Board of Selectmen. Industrial cooling water or unpolluted process waters may be discharged, on approval of the Board of Selectmen, to a storm sewer, combined sewer or natural outlet.  
  3. No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged any of the following described waters or wastes to any public sewers:  
    1. Any gasoline, benzene, naphtha, fuel oils or other flammable or explosive liquid, solid or gas.  
    2. Any waters or wastes containing toxic or poisonous solids, liquids or gases in sufficient quantity, either singly or by interaction with other wastes, to injure or interfere with any sewage treatment process, constitute a hazard to humans or animals, create a public nuisance or create any hazard in the receiving waters of the sewage treatment plant, including but not limited to cyanides in excess of two (2) milligrams per liter as CN in the wastes as discharged to the public sewer or by one (1) part per million as CN after dilution by the minimum flow in the common sewer.  
    3. Any waters or wastes having a pH lower than five point five (5.5) nor higher than nine point five (9.5) or having any other corrosive property capable of causing damage or hazard to structures, equipment and personnel of the sewage works.  
    4. Solid or viscous substances in quantities or of such size capable of causing obstruction to the flow in sewers or other interference with the proper operation of the sewage works, such as but not limited to ashes, cinders, sand, mud, straw, shavings, metal, glass, rags, feathers, tar, plastics, wood, unground garbage, whole blood, paunch manure, hair and fleshings, entrails and paper dishes, cups, milk containers, etc., either whole or ground by garbage grinders, without prior approval of the Board of Selectmen.    
  4. No person shall discharge or cause to be discharged the following described substances, materials, waters or wastes if it appears likely, in the opinion of the Board of Selectmen, that such wastes can harm either the sewers, sewage treatment process or equipment; have an adverse effect on the receiving stream; or can otherwise endanger life, limb, public property or constitute a nuisance. In forming its opinion as to the acceptability of these wastes, the Board of Selectmen will give consideration to such factors as the quantities of subject wastes in relation to flows and velocities in the sewers, materials of construction of the sewers, nature of the sewage treatment process, capacity of the sewage treatment plant, degree of treatability of wastes in the sewage treatment plant and other pertinent factors. The substances which shall not be discharged to the common sewers without prior approval of the Board of Selectmen are:  
    1. Any liquid or vapor having a temperature higher than one hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit (150° F.) at the point of discharge.  
    2. Any water or waste containing fats, wax, grease or oils, whether emulsified or not, in excess of one hundred (100) milligrams per liter or containing substances which may solidify or become viscous at temperatures between thirty-two and one hundred fifty degrees Fahrenheit (32° and 150° F.) [zero and sixty-five degrees Celsius (0° and 65° C.)].  
    3. Any garbage that has not been properly shredded. The installation and operation of any garbage grinder equipped with a motor of three-fourths (3/4) horsepower [seventy-six hundredths (0.76) horsepower metric] or greater shall be subject to the review and approval of the Board of Selectmen.  
    4. Any waters or wastes containing strong acid iron pickling wastes or concentrated plating solutions, whether neutralized or not.  
    5. Any waters or wastes containing iron, chromium, copper, zinc and similar objectionable or toxic substances or wastes exerting an excessive chlorine requirement, to such degree that any such material received in the composite sewage at the sewage treatment works exceeds the limits established by the Board of Selectmen for such materials.
    6. Any waters or wastes containing phenols or other taste- or odor-producing substances, in such concentrations exceeding limits which may be established by the Board of Selectmen as necessary, after treatment of the composite sewage, to meet the requirements of the State Division of Water Pollution Control.  
    7. Any radioactive wastes or isotopes of such half-life or concentration as may exceed limits established by the Board of Selectmen in compliance with applicable state or federal regulations.  
    8. Any waters or wastes having a pH less than five point five (5.5) nor more than nine point five (9.5) in the building sewer.  
    9. Materials which exert or cause:   
      1. Unusual concentrations of inert suspended solids.   
      2. Excessive discoloration.   
      3. Unusual biochemical oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand or chlorine requirements in such quantities as to constitute a significant load on the sewage treatment works.   
      4. 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.

Thank you for your cooperation.

For assistance or questions, please contact the Selectmen’s Office: 665-1441