Construction and Operation Standards
13.1 (1) A sewage system shall not use a shallow buried trench unless the system is a Class 10 sewage system. (2) An applicant for a certificate of approval for a Class 10 sewage system shall submit with the application a certificate in a form acceptable to the Director and signed on behalf of the manufacturer of the sewage system’s tertiary sewage treatment unit stating whether, in the opinion of the manufacturer, the unit is compatible with the intended use and overall design of the sewage system. (3) A person shall not construct or operate a Class 10 sewage system except in accordance with the following standards: 1. The tertiary sewage treatment unit shall permit sampling of the effluent. 2. The sewage system shall have sufficient capacity for storing the total daily sewage flow multiplied by 1.75. 3. The storage capacity required by paragraph 2 shall be located so that it occurs before any effluent is disposed of in a shallow buried trench. 4. The tertiary sewage treatment unit shall not be located closer to an item set out in Column 1 of Table 3 than the horizontal distance set out opposite to the item in Column 2. 5. The sewage system shall contain an audible failure warning alarm located to warn occupants of the building served by the system of a malfunction in the operation of the tertiary sewage treatment unit. 6. A shallow buried trench shall not be located in or on soil or fill that has a percolation time of less than one minute or more than 125 minutes. 7. Every chamber shall be as wide as the shallow buried trench in which it is contained and the cross-section height of the chamber at its centre point shall not be less than one half the width of the trench. 8. A shallow buried trench shall not contain more than one pressurized pipe. 9. If the shallow buried trenches in the sewage system are located in or on soil or fill that has a percolation time of less than 50 minutes, the total length of the pressurized pipe in the sewage system shall be determined by the following formula: L = Q ÷ 75 where, L = the total length of the pressurized pipe in the sewage system, expressed in metres, Q = the total daily sewage flow, expressed in litres. 10. If the shallow buried trenches in the sewage system are located in or on soil or fill that has a percolation time of 50 minutes or more, the total length of the pressurized pipe in the sewage system shall not be less than the greater of 30 metres and the length determined by the following formula: L = Q ÷ 40 where, L = the total length of the pressurized pipe in the sewage system, expressed in metres, Q = the total daily sewage flow, expressed in litres. 11. Every pressurized pipe shall be at least 25 millimetres in diameter. 12. The orifices in every pressurized pipe shall be at least three millimetres in diameter and shall be equally spaced along the length of the pipe. 13. Every pressurized pipe shall be self-draining so as to prevent freezing of its contents. 14. A shallow buried trench shall not, i. be located in an area that has an average slope that exceeds one unit vertically to every four units horizontally, ii. be located so that a pressurized pipe installed in the shallow buried trench is closer to an item set out in Column 1 of Table 4 than the horizontal distance set out opposite the item in Column 2, iii. be located where the effluent from the shallow buried trench would cause impairment of the groundwater, or iv. be located in or on an area subject to flooding that would be likely to cause, A. damage to the shallow buried trench, or B. impairment of the operation of the shallow buried trench that would, in turn, be likely to cause a public health nuisance. 15. Every shallow buried trench shall be approximately the same length and, i. shall not exceed 30 metres in length, ii. shall be between 0.3 and 0.6 metres in depth, iii. shall be at least 0.3 metres in width, iv. shall be centred at least 1.6 metres apart, v. shall be set at an elevation so that the bottom of the trench is at all points at least, A. 0.5 metres above the highest elevation at which there is physical evidence that the soil or fill has been saturated with water, and B. 0.9 metres above the maximum elevation of rock, and vi. after installation of the chamber, shall be backfilled with porous soil or fill so as to ensure that, after the soil or fill settles, the surface of the shallow buried trench will not form any depressions. 16. A shallow buried trench shall not be constructed unless the soil or fill is sufficiently dry to resist compaction and smearing during excavation and shall not be constructed in a manner that causes compaction or smearing of the soil or fill. (4) A person shall operate and maintain a Class 10 sewage system in accordance with the following standards: 1. The sewage system shall be operated and maintained in accordance with written material prepared by the manufacturer of the tertiary sewage treatment unit that provides a detailed description of the sewage system and complete instructions in relation to the operation, servicing and maintenance requirements of the sewage system and its related components. 2. The sewage system shall not be operated unless, before the issuance of a use permit for the sewage system, the manufacturer of the tertiary sewage treatment unit submitted to the Director a certificate in a form acceptable to the Director and signed on behalf of the manufacturer stating that the manufacturer or a person described in paragraph 3 was present at the site and observed the construction, installation, establishment, enlargement, extension or enlargement of the sewage system. 3. The sewage system shall be inspected at least once every 12 months by a person authorized by licence to service and maintain the tertiary sewage treatment unit or a person who, in the opinion of the Director, possesses the qualifications to service and maintain the unit. 4. Servicing and maintenance of the tertiary sewage treatment unit and its related components shall be carried out only by a person described in paragraph 3 who possesses the written material referred to in paragraph 1. 5. The sewage system shall not be operated unless there is a written agreement executed between the owner or operator of the sewage system and a person described in paragraph 3 that specifies the following: i. Servicing and maintenance of the tertiary sewage treatment unit and its related components shall be carried out by a person described in paragraph 3. ii. The owner or operator of the sewage system shall arrange with a person described in paragraph 3 for the sampling of effluent in accordance with the following rules: A. The sample shall be collected from a location that follows the discharge of the effluent from the tertiary sewage treatment unit but is before the effluent enters the shallow buried trench. B. The sample shall be a grab sample collected in accordance with the procedure described in the Ministry of Environment and Energy publication entitled “Protocol for the Sampling and Analysis of Industrial/Municipal Wastewater” and dated August, 1994, as it may be amended from time to time. C. The sample shall be obtained on one day in each 12-month period with an interval of no less than 11 months between successive samples. D. The sample shall be analyzed for Total Suspended Solids (TSS), referred to as Analytical Test Group 8 in the Ministry of Environment and Energy publication entitled “Protocol for the Sampling and Analysis of Industrial/Municipal Wastewater” and dated August, 1994, as it may be amended from time to time. E. The sample shall be analyzed for Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD), referred to as Analytical Test Group 1a in the Ministry of Environment and Energy publication entitled “Protocol for the Sampling and Analysis of Industrial/Municipal Wastewater” and dated August, 1994, as it may be amended from time to time. iii. If the result of an analysis performed under sub-subparagraph D or E of subparagraph ii is that either or both parameters is greater than 10 milligrams per litre, the owner or operator of the sewage system shall arrange with the person described in paragraph 3 for the person described in paragraph 3 to assess the sewage system for the purpose of determining whether the sewage system is operating in accordance with its design. iv. If the person described in paragraph 3 determines under subparagraph iii that the sewage system is not operating in accordance with its design, he or she shall report this determination to the Director immediately. O. Reg. 370/97, s. 3. Licensing