Chapter 5.10 WASTEWATER FACILITIES USE REGULATION AND PROTECTIVE MEASURES

Prevent a public hazard, public nuisance or other condition detrimental to the public health, welfare and safety arising from the collection, treatment and disposal of wastes through the District's wastewater facilities.

Limit use of wastewater facilities furnished by the District to what is reasonable and beneficial under the circumstances.

Prevent the introduction of pollutants into the District's wastewater system and protect the District's operations personnel, who may be affected in the course of their employment, the general public, and the environment.

Maintain conformance to regulatory requirements regarding wastewater pretreatment and discharge.

Provide for fees that equitably distribute the cost of operation, maintenance, and improvement of the District's wastewater facilities and pretreatment program.

All users discharging into the District's sewerage facilities shall be subject to the regulations set forth in this chapter, in this title, and other provisions of the Dublin San Ramon Services District Code from time to time in effect except those that are determined by the General Manager to be inapplicable. By applying for or receiving wastewater service from the District, each user covenants and agrees to comply with and to be bound by such regulations.

The District may regulate the volume and quality of wastewater that users discharge into the wastewater facilities to protect public health and ensure an equitable service to all consumers. The District reserves the right at any time to regulate the discharge of wastewater into its sewerage facilities and treatment works in a manner that it determines to be in the public interest for any reason.

General penalties and other provisions for enforcement of violations of the Dublin San Ramon Services District Code are set forth in Chapter 1.30 DSRSDC, Enforcement.

The District shall endeavor to collect and treat wastewater continuously at a rate sufficient for service to its customers. The District makes no warranty, express or implied, about any aspect of such service and shall not be liable for interruptions in service. To the extent practical, the District shall endeavor to give advance notice of such interruptions or variations. The District reserves the right to bypass flows that would otherwise flow through customer facilities at any time for the purpose of maintaining, repairing, altering, or enlarging District facilities.

The District Engineer shall from time to time establish wastewater collection points suitable for collection of wastewater by gravity flow for all customers where reasonably feasible. In accepting wastewater service, customers are deemed to have accepted all conditions of discharge and flow. In circumstances where, as solely and conclusively determined by the District Engineer, it is not reasonably feasible to collect wastewater by gravity flow, the District may furnish wastewater service on the additional terms and conditions described in the following sentence. To obtain wastewater service in such circumstances, each customer shall install and maintain, at his or her sole expense, a pump and such other facilities as are determined by the District Engineer to be sufficient to discharge wastewater at the point of connection, subject to the District's approval of the installation and maintenance; the customer shall install a backflow prevention device on its domestic water line, downstream of the water meter.

Need for an Account. The District shall furnish wastewater service only to a customer who has a current account, including a current address and the name of the person responsible for making payments on the account. For customers in those areas in which the District elects to have its wastewater charges collected on the tax roll in the same manner as property taxes, a customer's presence on the tax roll shall be treated as an account for purposes of this subsection.

Requests for Wastewater Service. Approval of an application for service in accordance with Chapter 3.40 DSRSDC, Application for Services, is required to initiate wastewater service for the first time to a particular parcel. Requests for wastewater service to parcels that have previously received wastewater service shall be made in writing during the District office's regular posted business hours. In case of an emergency (as determined by the District), the District shall accept requests during nonregular business hours.

Location of Wastewater Service. No customer or other user of the District's wastewater services shall use, or permit the use of, any customer facilities to enable wastewater service to be furnished to or upon any land other than that described in, and permitted under, the application made by the customer or user for wastewater service. In addition, the use of the connection to the District's wastewater facilities is limited to the units covered by the wastewater service application.

Reinstatement. If the District for any reason authorized by this code or by applicable law terminates wastewater service, service shall not be reestablished until all charges described in Chapter 5.30 DSRSDC, Rates and Charges, have been paid for services rendered by the District with respect to the premises for which service has been terminated. In addition, the District may require a deposit in connection with reinstatement, as specified in DSRSDC § 5.30.070(C), Deposit.

Liability of Owner and Tenant. An owner, tenant, or other user of property with respect to which such charges are delinquent are jointly and severally liable for payment to the fullest extent permitted by law.

The point of collection of wastewater collected by the District shall, except as set forth in the next sentence, be the discharge side of the customer facilities, typically where the lateral sewer connects to the District's wastewater facilities, typically a sewer main or manhole.

The District is responsible for the handling and transmission of wastewater from the designated point of collection through the sewerage facilities to the treatment works. Each user of wastewater services shall bear the risk of loss, and shall be responsible for the carriage, control, handling, storage, distribution and collection of wastewater to and before the point of collection by the District.

By applying for or receiving wastewater service from the District, each user shall hold the District harmless from any damage suffered by the District and shall indemnify the District from liability or claim of liability for property damage or personal injury, including death, resulting from the carriage, control, handling, storage, or collection of wastewater before it enters the point of collection.

The District retains the ownership of all of the District facilities, including sewerage facilities and treatment works. No additional charge will be made upon change of ownership of the property unless the character of the service is changed.

Operation and inspection of all of the District facilities, up to the point of connection of the customer facilities, shall be under the management and control of the District. No persons except authorized employees, agents, or contractors of the District shall have the right to enter upon, inspect, operate, adjust, change, alter, move, or re-locate any portion of the foregoing District facilities, regardless of whether the result is to limit or block flows, or otherwise to interfere with any of the District's facilities.

The District is the sole owner of the District facilities, and of related equipment, supplies, warranties, rights-of-way and other property interests, encroachment permits, and licenses that are acquired therefor.

The customer owns all sewer facilities from the point of connection to the District's sewer main to the customer's building facilities, whether the pipelines are located within private property or a public road right-of-way. All facilities on the customer side of the point of connection, including any side sewer (from the building structure to the connection to the District sewer), sampling manhole, flow meter, overflow protection device, grease interceptor or any other pretreatment facilities, and appurtenances such as pumps and other fixtures used to collect and transport wastewater to the District facilities shall be owned, operated, and maintained by the customer; provided, that such ownership, operation, or maintenance shall not entitle any person, except one authorized by the District, to limit or block flows, install or remove flow restrictors, nor install or remove flow measuring and monitoring equipment; and further provided, that no person, other than a District-authorized person, may bypass wastewater flows, nor connect or disconnect the customer's sewer service line.

The General Manager, District Engineer, consultants, contractors, and other officers or agents of the District shall have unrestricted access to customer facilities and premises in accordance with DSRSDC § 5.10.100, Access to and obstruction of District facilities or certain customer facilities. To facilitate periodic inspections of such facilities and premises, the District may install, or require the customer to install, a sampling manhole, flow meter or any other measuring or observation apparatus, a grease interceptor or any other pretreatment facilities.

No user shall create conditions that result in damage to or reduced life of the District facilities or any other property of the District, or impairment of flow in the District facilities. Customers or other users of wastewater services shall reimburse the District for costs of repairs or replacement resulting from such conditions and for any damages proximately resulting from such conditions.

Any damage occurring to the District facilities and caused directly or indirectly by lack of due care by the customer or other user of wastewater services is the sole responsibility of the customer or other user of wastewater services, who shall pay for the damage on presentation of a bill.

Before beginning construction work, the owner or his agent shall ascertain from the District Engineer the location of sewers, District facilities, and other structures belonging to the District.

The General Manager, District Engineer, consultants, contractors, and other officers and agents of the District shall have unrestricted access at reasonable hours to all District facilities, and to those customer facilities and premises which deliver wastewater to the District, and may periodically inspect the portion of the customer's facilities comprising the collection system, sampling manhole, flow meter, grease interceptor, and other pretreatment facilities to see that the rules and regulations of the District regarding the discharge of wastewater are being observed.

If a violation of any provision of the Dublin San Ramon Services District Code is found, the responsible customer shall be charged a fee to cover the costs involved in investigating and correcting such violation, and to cover the cost of wastewater service at the highest then-applicable charge effective either during the period in which unauthorized service was obtained, or when the violation is discovered, whichever is higher. Such charges shall be determined by the General Manager on a case-by-case basis using criteria approved by the Board. General penalties for violations of the Dublin San Ramon Services District Code are set forth in DSRSDC § 1.30.010, General penalty, and DSRSDC § 1.30.020, Other remedies for violations.

No person shall place any object, materials, debris, or structure of any kind upon or about any District facilities so as to prevent free access to same at all times. No person shall place any object, materials, debris, or structure of any kind upon or about any customer facilities so as to prevent free access by the District Engineer, consultants, contractors, and/or other officers or agents of the District to those customer facilities and premises described in the preceding portions of this section to determine whether the rules and regulations of the District regarding the discharge of wastewater are being observed. General penalties for violations of the Dublin San Ramon Services District Code are set forth in DSRSDC § 1.30.010, General penalty, and DSRSDC § 1.30.020, Other remedies for violations.

For the protection of the public and the District's wastewater facilities, many offenses are by state law made misdemeanors for which the offender may be criminally prosecuted. These include, but are not necessarily limited to:

Section 372, Penal Code: Maintaining, committing, permitting a public nuisance;

Section 374.2, Penal Code: Maliciously discharging substance that can damage public sewer;

Section 374.3, Penal Code: Dumping or causing to be dumped waste matter on public property;

Section 374.7, Penal Code: Dumping waste matter into any body of water;

Section 374.8, Penal Code: Knowingly causing the deposit of any hazardous substance on land or in water;

Section 375, Penal Code: Release or discharging noxious substances at any place of business;

Section 607, Penal Code: Injuring reservoirs storing water for reclamation;

Section 624, Penal Code: Breaking, cutting or obstructing pipes, etc.;

Section 5650, Fish and Game Code: Placing refuse or other material deleterious to life where it can pass into the waters of this state;

Section 5411, Health and Safety Code: Causing contamination, pollution or a nuisance by discharging sewage or other waste substances;

Section 117000, Health and Safety Code: Fouling or polluting ponds and reservoirs;

Section 13387, Water Code: Introducing pollutant or hazardous substance that could cause personal injury, property damage; introducing pollutant or hazardous substance into sewer system of publicly owned treatment works in violation of pretreatment requirements, causing violation of waste discharge requirements.

For the protection of the public and the District's wastewater facilities, many offenses may also be criminally prosecuted under federal law and are punishable by fines and/or imprisonment. These include, but are not necessarily limited to:

Section 1317, 33 United States Code: Operating any source in violation of any pretreatment standard, effluent standard or prohibition;

Section 1319, 33 United States Code: Introducing pollutant or hazardous substance that could cause personal injury, property damage; introducing pollutant or hazardous substance into sewer system of publicly owned treatment works in violation of pretreatment requirements, causing violation of waste discharge requirements; knowingly makes any false material statement, representation, or certification in any application, record, report, plan, or other document filed or required to be maintained under the Clean Water Act.

Whenever the General Manager determines maintenance of the District's facilities requires suspension of wastewater collection, such collection may be suspended without liability on the part of the District, provided, except in cases of emergency, advance notice of such suspension of service shall be given in the manner, if any, required by law to the affected customer or customers. The District will attempt to schedule interruptions of service at such times as will provide the least inconvenience to the customer.

The General Manager may direct the suspension of wastewater collection or the termination of water service to any customer or user:

Wastewater collection and/or water service shall not be reinstituted unless and until the General Manager determines that adequate measures or means have been taken by the user to comply with the Dublin San Ramon Services District Code, prevent recurrence of such endangerment or violation or of any other such endangerment or violation. Wastewater service and/or water service shall be reinstituted at the customer's expense except when the service or wastewater collection was suspended for the reasons specified in subsection (B)(2)(b) of this section, or water service was suspended for the reasons specified in DSRSDC § 4.10.120(B)(2)(b), Suspension or termination of deliveries.