The general
management, care, control and supervision of the city water system shall be in
the superintendent of water and sewage, who shall be hired by the governing
body.
(Code 1990)
The furnishing of
water to customers by the city through its waterworks system shall be governed
by the regulations set out in this article.
(Code 1990)
The city does not
guarantee the delivery of water through any of its mains and connecting
services at any time except only when its mains, pumping machinery, power
service connection are in good working order, and the supply of water is
sufficient for the usual demand of its consumers.
(Code 1990)
Service installation
charges for water service in the city shall be as follows:
(a) All charges for water service installation in
the amounts as hereinafter fixed shall be paid to the city clerk when
application is made for a new service installation for the supply of water from
the city mains. The city shall make such installation when the applicant shall
have extended his. or her service line to the proper location for a meter as
determined by the water department. The charges to the customer for making such
installation shall be as follows:
(1) 3/4 to 5/8 inch meter - $1,100.00;
(2) 1 ½ inch meter- $1,440.00;
(3) 2 inch compound meter - $2,565.00;
(4) All meters larger than 2 inches - $1,065.00
plus the cost of materials and installation; provided, that all temporary meter
installations shall be the cost of the materials and installation, regardless
of size.
(b) Each customer shall pay, in addition to the
charges set out above, a flat extension charge as follows:
(1) Single family dwelling units- $100;
(2) Multiple family dwelling units - $100 for the
first unit plus $50 for each additional unit;
(3) Commercial units - $100.
(Ord. 628)
Any person, firm or
corporation desiring a connection with the municipal water system shall apply
in writing to the city clerk, on a form furnished by the city for that purpose,
for a permit to make a connection with the water mains adjacent to the
applicant’s property. Upon receipt of the application, if the same is in proper
form, and the payment of the sum required in section 15-204, the city clerk
shall issue to the person applying for the same a permit to connect to the
water system.
(Ord. 390)
All mains and service
pipe to the meter shall be maintained by the city.
(Ord. 390, Sec. 1)
All customers shall
keep their own service pipe from the meter to the buildings, stop cocks and
boxes and apparatus in good repair and protected from freezing at their own
expense, and shall prevent all unnecessary waste of water; and no claim shall
be made against the city by reason of the breaking or leaking of any service
pipe or service cock.
(Ord. 390, Sec. 1)
All water supplied by
the municipal water system shall be metered. All meters shall be furnished by
and remain the property of the city.
(Ord. 390, Sec. 1)
Any person from whose
premises the water shall have been turned off for any reason herein provided or
for a violation of any of the provisions of this article who shall turn the
water on or cause the same to be turned on without authority in writing from
the city, shall, upon conviction thereof, be fined in any sum not exceeding
$50.
(Ord. 390, Sec. 1)
Any person who shall
willfully and maliciously injure or destroy any machinery, meter, pipes,
hydrants or other fixtures or property belonging to the city, or carry away
from the waterworks system of the city any water for private use without a
written permit from the water superintendent shall, upon conviction thereof, be
fined in any sum not exceeding $250 for each offense.
(Ord. 390, Sec. 1)
The city hereby
reserves the right to discontinue service to any or all consumers of the
municipal water without notice when the same is necessary for the repair of the
system, or any part thereof, or for the extension of mains, by first giving an
hour’s notice thereof.
(Ord. 390, Sec. 1)
Unless special
permission is granted by the governing body, each premises shall have a
separate service connection, and where permission is granted for a branch
service, each service must have a separate meter and cut off.
(Ord. 390, Sec. 1)
(a) Service Fee. A service fee in the amount of
$15 shall be paid by each consumer at the time application is made for water
service
(b) Delinquency Charges. A delinquency charge of
10% shall be charged for any water bill not paid by the 10th of the following
month in which the customer has been billed. In the event the bill for any
month is not paid by the 25th day of the delinquent month, the water shall be
turned off and the same shall not be reinstated until all due bills, a $25.00
reinstatement charge and the deposit as set out in subsection (c) below, have
been paid. In the event the 25th day of the month falls on a Saturday, Sunday
or legal holiday, the customer shall have until the close of the next business
day in which to pay the charges. Notice of termination of service shall be
given as provided by Section 15-103.
(c) Deposit. There shall be a deposit required in
an amount twice the customer’s average monthly bill before turning on and
reinstating the water after the same has been shut off for nonpayment under the
provisions of this Code or any other water ordinance. The deposit will be
returned to the customer if his or her account has not incurred any delinquency
charges for 12 consecutive months immediately following reinstatement. If there
has been a delinquency, then the deposit will be held for another 12 months
under the same conditions. Said deposit shall be held for additional 12 month
periods if there continues to be delinquencies. If there has not been a
delinquency during any particular 12-month period, the customer must request in
writing the return of said deposit. If the customer moves or otherwise
terminates said services before the expiration of said 12-month period and if
the account has not incurred any delinquency, the customer may make a request
in writing for the return of the deposit. Any return will be made only after
all city utility bills have been paid in full or the amount due will be
subtracted from the deposited amount. There shall be a $10.00 charge for turning
on and reinstating the water if the customer has requested that the services be
discontinued for reasons other than for repairs.
(d) Meters.
(1) Accessibility: The owners and occupants of
any premises where city water is used shall be responsible for keeping the
meters free and clear of all obstructions and shall see that the same is
conveniently accessible at all times for the purpose of reading, inspecting,
and repairing the same.
(2) Interference: No water or city water facility
shall be connected, removed, repaired, or otherwise disturbed without proper
authorization of the city. No supply of water shall be opened to any person or
premises without proper authorization of the city. Violation of this section
shall be punishable be a fine of not more than $100 or imprisonment for not
more than 30 days or both.
(3) Estimate: The meters shall be read once each
month. In the event any meter fails to register, or in the event the same as
registered is incorrect in the opinion of the city water department or if the
meter cannot be read for any reason, the city clerk shall estimate the reading
based on the consumer’s established pattern of use.
(Ord. 390; Ord 528; Ord. 635)
(a) The owner of all houses, buildings, or
properties used for human occupancy, employment, recreation, or other purpose,
situated within the city abutting on any street, alley, or right-of-way in
which there is now located or may in the future be located near public water
mains, is hereby required at his or her own expense to make connection to such
public water main.
(b) Before any connection is made to the city’s
water system an application must be made in writing to the city clerk by the
owner of the premises, or his or her authorized representative, for a permit to
make such connection.
(Code 1990)
All taps shall be
given, street excavations made, corporation cocks inserted, pipes installed
from main to curb, and the curb cock installed in a meter box to which the
service pipe is to be connected by city employees only.
(Code 1990)
There shall be a curb
cock in every service line attached to the city main, the same to be placed
within the meter box. Curb cocks shall be supplied with strong and suitable “T”
handles.
(Code 1990)
Check valves are
required on all connections to steam boilers or on any other connection deemed
necessary by the water superintendent. Safety and relief valves shall be placed
on all boilers or other steam apparatus connected with the water system where
the steam pressure may be raised in excess of 40 pounds per square inch.
(Code 1990)
No person, company,
corporation or institution shall establish or permit to be established or
maintain or permit to be maintained, any cross connection whereby a private
water supply, or any source of contamination may enter the regular public water
supply or the City of Whitewater, unless said source is approved by the City
Council of the City of Whitewater, and the Kansas Department of Health and
Environment.
(Ord. 531; Code 2025)
Approved devices to
protect against backflow or backsiphonage shall be installed at all fixtures
and equipment where backflow or backsiphonage may occur and where there is a
hazard of contamination of the potable water supply system.
(Ord. 531; Code 2025)
The city utility
superintendent or other designee of the governing body shall have the right of
entry into any building or premises in the city as frequently as necessary in
his or her judgment in order to ensure that plumbing has been installed in
accordance with the laws of the city so as to prevent the possibility of
pollution of the water supply of the city.
(Ord. 531; Code 2025)
Pursuant to the city’s
constitutional home rule authority and K.S.A. 65-163a, the city may refuse to
deliver water through pipes and mains to any premises where a condition exists
which might lead to the contamination of the public water supply system and it
may continue to refuse the delivery of water to the premises until that
condition is remedied. In addition, the city may terminate water service to any
property where the cross connections or backsiphonage condition creates, in the
judgment of the superintendent, an emergency danger of contamination to the
public water supply.
(Ord. 531; Code 2025)
There is hereby
incorporated by reference for the purpose of regulating cross connections
between the public water supply and any sources of contamination that certain
manual known as “MANUAL OF REGULATIONS REGULATING BACKFLOW AND BACKSIPHONAGE OF
CONTAMINANTS DUE TO CROSS CONNECTIONS FOR THE CITY OF WHITEWATER PUBLIC WATER
SUPPLY”. No fewer than three copies of said manual shall be marked and stamped,
“Official Copy as Adopted by Ordinance 531”, and to which shall be attached a copy
of said ordinance or this code section, and filed with the City Clerk to be
open to inspection and available to the public at all reasonable hours.
(Ord. 531; Code 2025)
No allowances shall be
made for water used or lost through leaks, carelessness, neglect or otherwise
after the same has pass through the meter. However, every customer shall have
the right to appeal to the city from water bill or meter reading which he or
she may consider excessive.
(Code 1990)
It shall be a
violation of this article for any unauthorized person to:
(a) Perform any work upon the pipes or
appurtenances of the city’s waterworks system beyond a private property line
unless such person is employed by the city;
(b) Make any connections with any extension of
the supply pipes of any consumer without written permission to do so having
been first obtained from the governing body;
(c) Remove, handle or otherwise molest or disturb
any meter, meter lid, cutoff, or any other appurtenances to the water system of
the city.
(Code 1990)
Authorized employees
of the city may enter upon any premises at reasonable hours for the purpose of
reading the meter or servicing or inspecting meters or water lines.
(Code 1990)
The rates per month
for the use of water in the City of Whitewater, Kansas shall be as follows:
(a) Readiness to serve fee as follows:
$24.70 per month - ¾ inch
meter;
$30.50 per month - 1 ½
inch meter;
$36.75 per month - 2
inch meter;
$52.50 per month -
3-inch meter.
(b) In addition to the readiness to serve fee,
water used within the corporate limits of the City shall be charged at the rate
of $5.75 per thousand gallons.
(c) For water used outside the corporate limits
of the City, the schedule of charges shall be 150% of those set forth in
subsection (b) and the readiness to serve fee shall be $30.50 per month;
however, the landowner who has donated right-of-way easements to the City for
its water transmission line from Potwin to Whitewater shall be charged the
rates set forth in subsection (a) of this section providing that the water is
used for domestic purposes as defined by K.S.A. 82a-701.
(Ord. 612)
Water service shall be
terminated for nonpayment of service fees or charges as provided in sections
15-102:104.
(Code 1990)
No person owning or
occupying premises connected to the municipal water system shall use or allow
to be used during a fire any water from the water system except for the purpose
of extinguishing the fire. Upon the sounding of a fire alarm it shall be the
duty of every such person to see that all water services are tightly closed and
that no water is used except in extraordinary cases of emergency during the
fire.
(Code 1990)