How fast must a Tempe business clean up a sewer overflow? City Code 27-197

Subsection (a) sets the trigger. When it is necessary to remediate a "private sanitary sewer overflow, release of industrial waste, or chemical release" that has entered the City's right-of-way, "has the potential to enter the public right-of-way, or poses a threat to public health, safety and welfare," the property owner "or responsible party using the property" is issued a written notice ordering remediation.

Subsection (b) is the quote above. If the order is not followed in the time given, the City may remediate the right-of-way "and any area that poses a threat to public health, safety and welfare."

Subsection (c) says the owner or responsible party "shall be charged for time and materials necessary to remediate the property to the extent necessary to eliminate the threat" plus an administrative fee of 5 percent of the total remediation costs.

Subsection (d) says failure to comply with the order, or to reimburse the City and pay the fee, "shall be cause for termination of water and sewer services to the property."

A related duty sits in 27-32(c), which applies to nondomestic users discharging under that section. They must take "all necessary actions to prevent the discharge of sewage from the user's private system," mitigate an overflow and properly sanitize any area that could create a public health hazard, and "notify the Public Works Department immediately if an SSO enters the public right-of-way and comply with Section 27-197."

• SSO. Section 27-4 defines a sanitary sewer overflow as "untreated or partially treated sewage overflows from a sanitary sewer collection system."
• Remediate. The section does not define it. A reading: contain, clean up and sanitize the affected area, as 27-32(c)(4) describes.
• Commence. The clock requires starting the remediation, not finishing it. The code does not say what counts as a start.
• Responsible party using the property. The code does not define it. A tenant or operator in control of the space is one reading.
• Right-of-way. The section does not define it. A reading: the public street, alley and similar strip outside the property line.

Property owners and the parties using the property: landlords, tenants, restaurants, plants, shops and facility managers. The text reaches private sewer overflows, releases of industrial waste and chemical releases.

It does not apply to every wet floor. The trigger is an overflow or release that has entered the right-of-way, could enter it, or poses a threat to public health, safety and welfare, and the City must issue a written notice. A contained backup that meets none of those words is not described by 27-197, though a nondomestic user still has the 27-32(c) mitigation duty.

A restaurant lateral blocks on a Friday night. Grease backs up through a floor drain, floods the back lot and reaches the alley. A written order arrives at the door. The clock is one hour from receipt.

A strip center with three tenants. The blockage is in the building line shared by the units, and the order goes to "the property owner or responsible party using the property." The section does not divide the cost between landlord and tenant, so the lease and the sewer line's ownership under 27-175 decide who ends up paying.

The edge case: the clock versus the cause. A tenant starts cleanup in 40 minutes and stops the flow, but the stoppage is still in the line. The order is about the spilled sewage, not the pipe. The pipe is the owner's under 27-175, "from the owner's home or building to the public sewer main," which includes the part in the city right-of-way.

A chemical release. A shop's solvent spill runs toward a curb inlet. Subsection (a) covers a chemical release that has the potential to enter the right-of-way as well as a sewer overflow.

1. 1Stop the source. Stop using the fixtures draining to the affected line and contain the flow.
2. 2Call Public Works immediately if sewage has reached the right-of-way. Tempe's Environmental Services section lists 480-350-2678 on its FOG program page. Ask it for the right overflow line.
3. 3If a written order arrives, write down the time you received it and start remediation within the hour.
4. 4Photograph the spill, the area and the cleanup, and keep invoices. The city bills time and materials.
5. 5Get the stoppage cleared and the line inspected. Camera inspection shows whether the cause is grease, roots or a broken pipe.
6. 6Repairs that replace pipe need a permit under the Administrative Code. See the tenant improvement permit page for how Tempe handles plumbing alterations.

• Counting the hour from the overflow. The text counts from receiving the written notice.
• Assuming the landlord alone is on the hook. The order can go to the owner or the responsible party using the property.
• Assuming the city main is the city's problem. Section 27-175 makes the owner responsible for the service line and private mains from the building to the public sewer main, including the tap and saddle.
• Treating the bill as the worst outcome. Subsection (d) allows termination of water and sewer services.

The city's code text governs; this page explains it.