(a) The local agency has the power and duty
to:
(1) Employ or contract with sewage
enforcement officers to administer section 7 of the act (35 P. S. §
750.7) and this part.
(2) Employ or contract with other technical
and administrative personnel necessary to support the activities of the sewage
enforcement officer.
(3) Set rates
of compensation for the sewage enforcement officer and other employes necessary
for the administration of the act by the local agency.
(4) Maintain offices and purchase equipment
and supplies necessary for the administration of the act.
(5) Establish a schedule of fees for the
processing of applications and other services provided by the local agency.
This fee schedule may establish different charges for various activities and
types of systems consistent with the administrative costs of reviewing
applications, conducting necessary tests and investigations and supervising the
installation of the system.
(6)
Collect the appropriate fees as designated in the established fee schedule. The
local agency shall maintain records of income, expenses and transactions of the
local agency in a manner consistent with accepted accounting
practices.
(7) Establish a system
of receipts for monetary transactions. The receipt system shall provide to the
local agency and to the applicant a record of the amount tendered to the local
agency and the specific purpose of the transaction.
(8) Adopt and maintain standards and
procedures for applications and permits for individual and community onlot
sewage systems identical to those of the Department, as contained in this
part.
(9) Adopt and maintain other
regulations the local agency deems necessary for the administration and
enforcement of section 7 of the act as long as they are consistent with the act
and this part.
(10) Submit reports
and data to the Department as required by this part or an order of the
Department.
(11) Submit to the
Department annually the name and address of its certified sewage enforcement
officer and alternate sewage enforcement officer.
(12) Make or cause to be made inspections and
tests necessary to carry out sections 7, 8, 12, 13, 13.1, 14, 15 and 16 of the
act. For this purpose, the authorized representatives of the local agency have
the right to enter upon lands.
(13)
Proceed under sections 7, 8, 12, 13, 13.1, 13.2(b) 14, 15, and 16 of the act to
restrain violations of the act and this part, and to abate nuisances in
accordance with existing statutes, or as defined in the act.
(14) Notify the Department in writing within
15 days of a change in the sewage enforcement officer or his address.
(15) Cease issuing permits in designated
areas when ordered to do so by the Department under section 10(7) of the act
(35
P. S. §
750.10(7)),
after notice and opportunity for a Departmental hearing. The local agency may
issue permits in these areas for the abatement of existing health hazards and
public nuisances.
(16) When
applicable, establish a program for requiring, verifying, forfeiting,
administering and enforcing the provision of financial assurances under §
73.151 (relating to standards for
financial assurances). Costs for administering this program shall be included
in the fee schedule of the local agency.
(17) Adopt by resolution a list of
individuals who are sewage enforcement officers employed by companies or
corporations under contract with the local agency to perform the services of
sewage enforcement officers.
(18)
Set and collect fees necessary to support the administrative and personnel
costs of a maintenance inspection and enforcement program.
(19) Charge for engineering or consulting
services required by the local agency to complete its review of a permit
application. The application or review fees charged for these services shall be
reasonable and in accordance with the ordinary and customary charges by the
engineer or consultant for similar service in the community, and fees may not
exceed the rate or cost charged by the engineer or consultant to the local
agency when fees are not reimbursed by or otherwise imposed on applicants.
(i) If the applicant disputes the amount of
the fees or charges, the applicant shall, within 10 working days of the date of
billing, notify the local agency that the fees or expenses are disputed as
unreasonable or unnecessary, in which case the local agency may not delay or
disapprove an application for any approval or permit due to the applicant's
dispute over fees or charges.
(ii)
If, within 20 days from the date of billing, the local agency and the applicant
cannot agree on the amount of fees or charges which are reasonable and
necessary, the applicant and local agency shall comply with the procedure
established in section 8(b)(4) of the act (35 P. S. §
750.8(b)(4)) to resolve the
fee or charge dispute.
(20) Complete and provide to the applicant
the results of any site suitability review, soil probe testing and soil
percolation testing within 20 working days of the local agency's receipt of a
permit application.
(i) The testing and
results of the testing may be deferred to a later date that the applicant may
request in writing or by a later date agreed to by the sewage enforcement
officer and the applicant, which is confirmed in writing by the sewage
enforcement officer.
(ii) A
one-call system serial number shall be obtained prior to soil testing by the
permit applicant or the contractor retained by the applicant to perform the
test excavation. This notification shall take place no less than 3 and no more
than 10 working days prior to the excavation. The deadline for permit review by
the local agency in this subsection does not apply to an applicant who fails to
comply with the one-call system notification requirement.
(iii) It is the obligation of the applicant
to have the site prepared in the manner required by written instructions
provided to the applicant after receipt of at least 48 hours' notice from the
local agency or sewage enforcement officer of the anticipated time the soils
tests will be performed. Written instructions shall include provisions for
deferral of testing due to weather.
(iv) Failure of the local agency to comply
with these time limits shall entitle the applicant, upon request, to a refund
of fees paid by the applicant for soil testing that was not performed by the
local agency, and the applicant shall be entitled to submit results of soils
tests, on forms provided by the Department conducted in a manner consistent
with this article by a certified sewage enforcement officer, who need not be
employed by or under contract with the local agency. These test results shall
be accepted by the local agency and its sewage enforcement officer, who shall
rely upon the results of these tests in acting on an application.
(v) An applicant who, after receiving the
notice of testing, fails to have the site prepared for soil testing in a manner
required by the local agency, does not have the right to submit the results of
soils testing performed by a certified sewage enforcement officer not employed
by or under contract with the local agency, nor is the applicant entitled to a
refund of fees paid for soil testing as provided in this section.
(vi) Neither the municipality, local agency,
local agency's sewage enforcement officer nor the Department will be held
liable on a cause of action arising out of soil tests performed under this
section by a certified sewage enforcement officer not employed by or under
contract with the local agency.
(21) Make inspections of and verify
measurements made by applicants on public or private properties which are
determined by the local agency's authorized representative to have natural or
manmade features from which specific isolation distances are required prior to
the approval of onlot sewage disposal system usage in subdivisions or
individual lots. The local agency's authorized representative shall have the
right to enter upon lands for these purposes.
(22) Determine if a proposed individual
residential spray irrigation system will create a nuisance or adversely impact
existing and proposed drinking water supplies and report this information to
any affected municipality served by the local agency.
(23) Assure that an individual residential
spray irrigation system discharge is sampled at least once per year by the
property owner through a testing laboratory for fecal coliforms, carbonaceous
biological oxygen demand, suspended solids and disinfectant residual or
effectiveness. Individual effluent samples may not exceed a
BOD
5 of 25 mg/l and suspended solids concentration of 30
mg/l. Free chlorine residual shall be maintained at a range of 0.2-2.0 PPM
unless a higher level is required to control disease producing organisms. This
disinfection shall produce an effluent which will contain a concentration not
greater than 200 fecal coliform organisms per 100 milliliters in a single
sample. The local agency shall review the results of these samples and the most
recent system inspection conducted under §
73.167 (relating to operation and
maintenance) and take any necessary action to resolve operational or
maintenance problems identified through the sample results. Additional sampling
may be required by the local agency if the annual sample indicates a violation
of the limitations specified in this paragraph.
(24) A county health department and joint
county departments of health may also administer the continuing maintenance
provisions of §
71.73 (relating to sewage
management programs) when the municipality relinquishes and the county health
department or joint county department of health accepts the authority and
conforms with § 71.73.