Susanville Municipal Code Ch. 8.16 Privies and Septic Tanks

The word "privy"

as used in this chapter means any building or structure, with or without a pit or excavation underneath the same, and whether with or without toilet seats or openings, which is designed for or capable of being used as a means or place for the disposal of human excreta or other wastes from the human body, and any structure, pit, excavation or place which is actually or has been actually used for the disposal of human excreta or other wastes from the human body.

(Prior code § 16.1)

It is unlawful for any person to construct, erect, excavate, maintain, use or suffer or permit to be used, any privy within the corporate limits of the city. It is unlawful for any person to construct, excavate or install within the corporate limits of the city any installation, tank, leach line or pit commonly known, described and referred to as a "septic" tank or any similar device or installation designed to be used for the disposition of human excreta or other wastes from the human body or sewage of any kind.

(Prior code § 16.2)

It is unlawful for the owner of any property within the corporate limits of the city to keep, permit, suffer to be kept or to maintain in and upon such property any privy unless such owner shall have, under the supervision of the building inspector of the city, treated the pit, place or excavation under and beneath the privy structure, with quicklime and shall thereafter have filled such pit or excavation with earth to six inches above the surrounding ground level, and unless such owner shall have removed from any such structure all toilet seats or openings and shall have sealed such openings so that the same cannot be opened or used for the purposes prohibited in the preceding section.

(Prior code § 16.3)

The construction, erection, excavation, maintenance or use of any privy, as defined in Section 8.16.010 and the construction or installation of a septic tank or similar installation as defined and described in Section 8.16.020 are declared to be public nuisances and the owner or occupant of any premises upon which such privies exist or upon which such septic tank has been constructed or installed after September 19, 1975, shall, within 10 days after having received the notice in writing from the building inspector so to do, abate such nuisance by, in the case of a privy, the filling of the pit or excavation thereunder in the manner hereinabove described or, in the case of a septic tank, by the disconnection thereof from the plumbing system of any building or structure to which it is connected and by the removal of the tank and filling the pit or excavation from which it was removed in the manner hereinabove prescribed. Should such owner or occupant fail so to do, within such 10 day period, then the building inspector may cause such nuisance to be abated in a manner described above, and the costs and expenses of so doing shall become a lien upon the premises upon which such privy or septic tank existed, and shall be enforced by the foreclosure thereof or by civil action against the owner or occupant of such premises for the costs and expenses of such abatement; a notice of such lien shall be filed in the office of the county recorder of the county. Nothing in this section or in Section 8.16.030, 8.16.020 or 8.16.010 shall be construed to prevent or prohibit the use, maintenance, repair or replacement of any septic tank or of the leach lines therefrom which were in existence and connected to the plumbing system of any dwelling or structure on September 1, 1975.

(Prior code § 16.4)

A. Notwithstanding anything to the contrary contained in this chapter, private sewage disposal systems, hereinafter called septic tanks, may be installed upon a single individual lot or parcel of land not created by a subdivision or parcel split within the corporate limits of the city as the same existed on March 1, 1982, provided that all of the following conditions are met and exist:

1. The property upon which it is proposed to install such septic tank equals 10,000 or more square feet, and has water available from an existing public water distribution system and sufficient area to permit 100% expansion for leach lines; where water is available only from a private water system, approval of the lot area shall first be obtained from the Lassen County department of health, and shall additionally meet all requirements of Lahontan regional water quality control board.

2. Percolation tests upon said property have been performed in a manner satisfactory to the Lassen County health department and found by said department to meet all applicable laws, rules and regulations.

3. The slope of said property does not exceed 30%.

4. No public sewer is located within 200 feet of the boundaries of said property.

5. A site inspection has been performed by the Lassen County health department to ensure that the foregoing conditions have been met or exist.

6. To the extent that subsections (A)(1) through (5) of this section do not provide for other less, greater or different requirements for septic tanks, the requirements and criteria adopted by Lahontan regional water quality control board for on-site wastewater disposal, as part of its June 26, 1975 Water Quality Control Plan for the Northern Lahontan Basin, shall determine whether or not a permit for the installation of such septic tank shall be granted.

B. If any septic tank is installed upon a lot or parcel of land pursuant to subsection A of this section and thereafter a public sewer line is installed and becomes operative within 200 feet of the boundaries of such lot or parcel, such septic tank shall, upon the expiration of 90 days from the date upon which such public sewer line becomes operative, be discontinued and abated as provided in Section 8.16.040, and shall be a nuisance as therein provided and subject to the abatement procedures therein provided.

C. If the department of health of Lassen County is satisfied that the foregoing conditions exist or have been met, it shall issue a permit for the installation of the septic tank; no building permit shall be issued in connection with such property by the city building inspector unless the above mentioned permit from the Lassen County health department has first been obtained, and such permit shall require the septic tank to conform to the requirements of the uniform plumbing code currently in effect.

D. After the construction or installation of any septic tank pursuant to this section, no backfill shall be made or done until the installation has been inspected by the Lassen County health department and the city building inspector, and any deficiencies discovered by said department and/or inspector have been remedied.

E. As used in this section, the terms "private sewage disposal system" and "septic tank" include the following components: inlet line, septic tank, and leach lines.

(Prior code § 16.5)