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HomeMy WebLinkAboutOrdinance 2716 ORDINANCE N0. 2- b AN ORDINANCE PRESCRIBING RATES CHARGED CONSUMERS OF WATER SUPPLIED BY THE FORT WORTH CITY WATER WORKS, CONNECTION CHARGES, AND PROVIDING FOR RULES AND REGULATIONS CONTROLLING THE DISTRIBUTION AND SALE OF WATER TO CONSUMERS BY THE FORT WORTH CITY WATER WORKS; PROHIBITING THE TAKING OF WATER FROM CITY MAINS WITHOUT COMPLYING WITH THESE RULES AND REGULATIONS AND PROVIDING THAT FOR A VIOLATION OF ANY OF SUCH RULES AND REGULATIONS, THE WATER BE CUT OFF; DEFINING TERMS; REGULAT- ING THE MAKING OF CONNECTIONS WITH THE CITY LINES AND METERS; PRESCRIBING RATES TO CONSUMERS OUTSIDE THE CITY; DEFINING AND PROHIBITING TAMPERING; PROHIBITING DIVERSION FROM WATER METERS, PIPES OR MAINS; PROHIBITING INTERFERENCE WITH METERS AND PREVENTION OF THE PASSAGE OF WATER THROUGH METERS; PRO- VIDING WHAT SHALL CONSTITUTE PRIMA FACIE EVIDENCE OF KNOWL- EDGE AND INTENTION TO DEFRAUD BY DIVERSION OF WATER; REPEAL- ING ALL ORDINANCES IN CONFLICT HEREWITH AND MAKING THIS ORDI- NANCE CUMULATIVE OF ALL OTHER ORDINANCES ON THE SAME SUBJECT MATTER EXCEPT WHERE IN CONFLICT HEREWITH; PROVIDING A PENALTY FOR THE VIOLATION HEREOF OF A FINE OF NOT LESS THAN TWENTY- FIVE DOLLARS ($25-00) NOR MORE THAN ONE HUNDRED DOLLARS (6100.00); PRESCRIBING A SAVINGS CLAUSE; PROVIDING THAT ALL OF THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ORDINANCE SHALL BE DEEMED TO BE INCORPORATED IN EVERY CONTRACT BETWEEN THE CITY OF FORT WORTH WATER WORKS AND EACH AND EVERY CONSUMER AND THAT SUCH CON- SUMER SHALL BE CHARGED WITH KNOWLEDGE OF THE PROVISIONS OF THIS ORDINANCE; AND NAMING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. 4 ' WHEREAS, it has become necessary and desirable to provide reason- able rules and regulations for the conduct of the business of the City of Fort Worth Water Works, owned and operated by the City of Fort Worth, in the sale and distribution of water frgm its plant, mains and system to consumers in the City of Fort Worth and vicinity; and, WHEREAS, the succeeding provisions of this ordinance, after inves- tigation by the City Council of the City of Fort Worth, have been found to be reasonable rules and regulations for the conduct of such business; NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF FORT WORTH, TEXAS: SECTION I. (a) The term "person" as used in this ordinance shall mean any person, firm, association of persons, or corporation, including a public, private and municipal corporation. (b) The term "City Water Works" or "Water Works" as used in this ordinance shall mean the Ctty Water Works System-arid-zains,,-AM*any and all filtration plants operated by the City, and all other works of the City directly connected therewith, and all plants, properties and ap- pliances incident to or connected with the operation of said Water Works, and shall include the sanitary sewerage system and sewage treatment plant of the City of Fort Worth. SECTION II. (All water furnished by the City Water Works to its consumers shall be measured by meters. The size, type and right to own and control all meters installed or used by consumers of its water shall be determined by said City Water Works) which shall keep all meters owned by it in repair without expense to consumers. SECTION III. All meters three inch and larger shall be purchased by water user through the City Water Works, and in the event repairs on same become necessary, such repairs shall be made by the City Water Works and the charges therefor shall be added to the water bill of the consumer. The rules for paying such charges shall be the same as the rules concerning payment for water consumed. SECTION IV. Should any meter fail to register correctly the amount of water used by a consumer since the previous reading, the right shall exist on the part of the City Water Works to average the month and charge for water on the basis of any three months* average, SECTION V. Meters shall be read monthly, and the consumer notified in writing, or otherwise, and proof of this notice may be made by showing of a card sent to the last known address of said consumer, of the amount due from him to said City Water Works, stating in said notice that unless the amount due from him shall be paid within ten days from date of bill, the water will be turned off and shall not be turned on again until such time as the amount-due ia-paid and $1.00 additional fee for turning off. And in the event that this notice is not complied with and: the full amount due remains unpaid for more than ten days from date of bill, the water supply of such consumer shall be turned off and shall not be turned on again un— til the fee of $1.00 additional for turning same off shall have been paid, SECTION VI. The following rates per month, or fraction thereof, shall be the rates charged for water furnished to water consumers within the corporate limits of the City of Fort Worth: Cubic Feet Rate First 266-2/3 cubic feet $1,00 Minizmxm Next 49,733-1/3 cubic feet V1 per 100 cubic feet " 40,000 cubic feet .1875 per 100 cubic feet " 43,333-1/3 cubic feet .15 per 100 cubic feet " 133,333-1/3 cubic feet .1125 per 100 cubic feet " 400,000 cubic feet .075 per 100 cubic feet For all in excess of 666,666-2/3 cubic feet of water used per month .0675 per 100 cubic feet SECTION VII. (a) A minimum charge per month, or fraction thereof, shall be made for each connection with the mains of the City Water Works. This charge shall be based on the size of service connections and be as follows: l Size Minimum Charge 5/8 inch or 3/4 inch 6 1.00 1 inch 1,25 1-1/4 inch 2.75 1-1/2 inch 3.75 2 inch 6.25 3 inch 15.00 4 inch 20.00 6 inch 40.00 8 inch 60.00 10 inch 75.0 12 inch 150,00 An amount of water at rates in effect will be allowed for this mini- mum charge. The above minimum charges do not apply for connections for automatic sprinkler systems installed and used for fire protection only, for which the monthly charge shall be fifty cents (500) per inch-of diameter of the service connection. In all cases where more than one living or business unit is supplied 61 � through one meter, a minimum charge will be made for each living unit or business unit supplied through such meter. (b) A charge shall be made by the City Water Works for each new tapping of the water mains for a connection, said charge to deterar►e3 by the size of the connection and the character of the surface of the street in which the connection is to be located. From the following schedule shall be determined the charge for making taps, said charge being payable in advance: Size Dirt Chat Paved 3/4 inch connection $25.00 $30.00 450.00 1 inch connection 30.00 37.50 57.50 1-1/2 inch connection 50.00 57.50 75.00 2 inch connection 65.00 70.00 87.50 For any connection larger than two inches, such shall be made under a specific contract between the consumer and.the City, acting through the City Water Works, SECTION Vill, The rates charged by the City for water furnished for use on premises outside the corporate limits of Fort Worth shall be double the rates charged for water furnished for use on premises within the corporate limits of Fort Worth. Nothing in this section or any other section of this ordinance or any other ordinance shall be construed to compel the City Water Works to furnish consumers beyond the corporate limits or to continue such supply once begun; and the City Water Works reserves the right'to furnish such customers it deems advisable and to, at any time, wholly or partially discontinue the supply upon violation of any of the terms of this ordi- nance the same as though such consumer resided in the City. No water shall be furnished consumers beyond the corporate limits of the City unless and until such consumers desiring City water shall fur- nish the City Water Works satisfactory evidence that all plumbing, includ- ing fixtures and appliances, through which City water is to pass, has been approved by the City Plumbing Inspector. In the event additional plumbing is to be installed on such prem- ises after City water service has commenced, such consumer must secure a City of Fort Worth plumbing permit for such additional installations, and no water from the City Water Works shall be provided such premises until and unless such additional plumbing installations have been approved by the Fort Worth Plumbing Inspector. SECTION I%. All consumers shall be required to make a deposit, in advance, of an amount of money which will, in the judgment of the City Water Works, be sufficient to insure it against loss due to non-payment of bills. A consumer changing his residence and having a deposit shall have the right, by presenting his receipt at the office and paying final bill, to have said deposit transferred to his new residence or place of business. SECTION %. Water bills shall become due and payable at the office of the City Water Works, City Hall, Fort Worth, Texas, within ten days from date of bill. SECTION XI. All property owners, their agents and tenants, shall be held respon- sible as consumers for loss of water due to leakage in pipe or plumbing inside the discharge side of the meter or on said property, and if this water is not paid for according to the rates provided herein, when it be- comes due, the water shall be cut off by the City Water Works and not turned on again until all claims are paid. In the event of any change in tenant as consumer in rented property and there exists, at the time, arrearages for past leakage, the landlord and property owner shall be held to account for payment for this leakage before service will be extended and water furnished to the second tenant. If any consumer shall be in debt to the City Water Works for water furnished or for leakage or repairs on any account at his then or previous place of consumption, his water shall be cut off by the City Water Works until payment in full is made. SECTION XII. No plumber or any other person shall turn on or off water from the street stop-cock without a written permit first being obtained from the City Water Works, except only in case of repairs to the plumbing system through which the City water is used. SECTION XIII. No consumer shall supply water to other persons or to other families or suffer them to take it,expept for use on the premises, without the per- mission of the City Water Works. SECTION XIV. After water is introduced into a building or upon any premises, the same shall not be extended by any plumber or any other person to any other premises for additional fixtures. SECTION XV. Two houses shall not be permitted to be supplied with one service pipe where there is a water main in front of the premises, but shall have separate service pipes. Two or more houses fronting on a street or streets where there is no water main may be supplied with one service connected with the main, said service being of sufficient size to insure ample supply, but in such cases each of said houses shall have a separate service pipe from the sidewalk and separate stop-cocks and stop-box one foot inside the curb. SECTION XVI. Every person taking water from the City Water Works shall at all reasonable times permit the Superintendent or his agents to enter the prem- ises and building for examination of pipes and fixtures and the manner in which the water is used, and refusal by any consumer shall result in refusal of water supply from the City Water Works until such permission be granted. SECTION XVII. The City Water Works reserves the right to make all repairs and renewals of service pipes from main to curb, and it shall be unlawful for any other person or persons to repair or renew service pipes from main to curb without first obtaining the written consent of the City Water Works. SECTION XVIII. All boilers for heating water shall-be provided with safety valves and a check valve shall be placed on the service pipes to protect the meter from hot water. Any consumer failing to comply with this provision shall have his water supply turned off, and it will not be turned on again until such valve has been installed. All steam boilers connecting direct with City supply are required to be provided with a tank or tanks havin# at least twelve hourst storage capacity into which the water direct from the City supply is stored and from which the water is introduced into the steam boiler. No lawn sprinkling system or lawn sprinkling piping shall be con- nected to the City Water Works System unless the same shall be equipped with a syphon breaker of a type approved by the City Plumbing Inspector. The water user will be held responsible for any damage that might be caused by failure to comply with this section. Churches, opera houses, theatres, schools and factories maybe sup- plied through one connection with the street main. SECTION XIx. All buildings used as flats or apartment houses shall be required to provide a separate connection and meter with the main for each apartment, and, upon noncompliance with this provision, the City Water Works shall cut off the supply for the entire building or any portion thereof deemed proper, a v SECTION XX. All service pipes hereafter laid shall be of extra heavy lead, un- less the use of service pipes of brass or other material shall be au- thorized by the Water Works Superintendent. All iron service pipe, upon becoming defective and impracticable to repair, or in the event that the street in which the same is located shall be paved, shall be relaid with extra strong lead pipe prior to the paving of the street; and any owner or agent or consumer of said service failing or rQfusing to re-lay said services, when notified to do so by said City Water Works, prior to such paving is given notice that no water supply will be furnished in the future to such premises until the service is re-laid with extra strong lead pipe at the expense of such owner or consumer desiring the same, and that the cost of such renewal after the street is paved practically doubles cost before paving, according to schedule of rates for said work on file at the Office of the City Water Works. SECTION XXI. She right is reserved in the City Water Works to temporarily discontinue and to re-connect without notice water supply to all consumers for the purpose of making repairs, connections, extensions and cleaning of mains, machinery, reservoir or any part of said City Water Works. SECTION XXII. It shall be unlawful for any plumber or person, other than the tapes. per employed by the City Water Works, to tap any street main, make con- nections with the street mains or extend service pipes from mains to one foot inside the curb line, and to place a stop-cock and stop-box at that point, and all of this equipment shall be under the exclusive control of the City Water Works, and said tap and service shall be paid for by the plumber ordering the work done before work is commenced, according to schedule of prices on file in the City Water Works' Office, copies of which shall be furnished to all licensed plumbers upon application upon revision. r, SECTION XXIII. All service pipes from the discharge side of the meter shall be laid at least eighteen inches under the natural ground surface grade and provided with stop and waste cock inside of the property line, so installed as to properly drain all pipes above ground. SECTION XXIV. It shall be unlawful for any person, except a member of the Fire Department or employee of the City Water Works, to open or use water from a fire hydrant, or to take off the cap without permission from the City Water Works. It shall be unlawful for any person to in any manner deface the houses, walls, machinery or fixtures connected with or pertaining to the City Water Works and its system. SECTION XXV. All hose attachments when located on the sidewalk, as well as stop- cock boxes, must have suitable iron cover with top flush with surface of sidewalk. SECTION XM. All elevated tanks located on roofs of buildings for water distri- bution below may be constructed with one connection direct between the maims and said tank, but no other connection shall be made on said line to the tank, and a check valve shall be placed on said service to the tank as near the entrance of the building as possible. In case an additional supply is desired, a separate connection shall be made with the main as provided for stores and office buildings, but in no case shall a connection larger than two inches be made with the City mains. SECTION XXVII. It shall be unlawful for any person, individually or in associa- tion with others, to wilfully break, injure or tamper with any part of the Water Works System of the City of Fort Worth for any purpose whatsoever, or in any other manner to maliciously interfere with or prevent the running and operation of such system and the water supply therein. SECTION XMII. Whoever by any means or device prevents water from passing through any meter belonging to the City Water Works, or prevents any :peter used in connection with the supply of water to any consumer by said City Water Works from registering the amount of water passing through such meter, or prevents a meter from duly registering the quantity of water supplied or in any way interferes with its proper action or just registration, or, without the consent in writing of the Superintendent and Director of said City Water Works, diverts any water from any pipe or pipes of the City Water Works, or otherwise uses, or causes to be used, without the consent of the Superintendent and Director of the City Water Works, any water pro- duced or distributed by said City Water Works, or retains possession of, or refuses to deliver, any meter or other appliance loaned to him by the City Water Works for the purpose of furnishing water through same, shall be in violation of these rules and regulations and shall, for each such offense, be fined as hereinafter provided. The presence at any time on or about any such meter or pipe of any device or pipes resulting in the, diversion of water or prevention of its free passage and registration by the meter, or resulting in the diversion from the meter as above defined, or resulting in the prevention of water reaching the meter, or resulting in the prevention of the just registration of the meter or meters or the taking of any water except through a meter as above set forth, shall con- stitute prima facie evidence, on the part of the person owning or having custody and control of the room, building, place or premises where such device or pipe is, of knowledge of the existence thereof and knowledge of such existence to the ,,peerson who would be benefitted by the failure of the water to be properly4i�tered, and shall further constitute prima facie evidence of intention on the part of such person or persons to defraud, and shall bring such person prima facie within the scope, meaning and penal- . ties of this section and ordinance* SECTION )MX. This ordinance shall repeal every prior ordinance in conflict here- with, but only insofar as the portions of such prior ordinances shall be in conflict, and as to all other sections of ordinances not in direct con- flict herewith, this ordinance shall be and is hereby made cumulative. SECTION XXX. A violation of any of the above rules and regulations of the City Water Works as set out in the preceding sections, or a doing or causing to be done by any person or persons, firm or association, of.any of the things or acts forbidden or made unlawful in any of the preceding sections, shall be deemed to constitute a violation under the terms of this ordi- nance and an offense, and shall be punishable as such; and for each and every violation of the terms of this ordinance, the person, firm, asso- ciation or corporation shall, upon conviction thereof in the Corporation Court, be fined not less than Twenty-five Dollars ($25.00) nor more than One Hundred Dollars ($100.00), and each violation and each day there is a failure to comply with the terms of this ordinance shall constitute a separate offense. SECTION XXXI. If any section, part of a section or provision of any section of this ordinance shall be held to be void, ineffective or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, the holding of such section, part of a section or provision of any section to be void, ineffective or un- constitutional for any cause whatsoever shall in no way affect the va- lidity of the remaining sections and provisions of this ordinance, which shall remain in full force and effect. The City Council would not have passed any sections, parts of sections or provisions of any sections of this ordinance that were unconstitutional, void or ineffective if they had known that they were unconstitutional, void or ineffective at the time of adopting this ordinance. SECTION XMI. All of the provisions of this ordinance shall be deemed to be in- corporated in every contract between the City Water Works and its consumers, and each consumer shall be charged with knowledge of the provisions of this ordinance and, by applying and accepting water from the City Water Works, to have assented to the provisions hereof. SECTION XXXIII. This ordinance shall take effect and be in full force and effect from and after the date of its passage and publication as required by law. APPROVED AS TO FORM: City Attorney q. ORDINANCE Titl—_ G N i Day of �` .1-✓ z r City Secretary i 6 1, Y a. L.P. O.Ha 1SfiD7.�_- ,b