(A) Definitions. For the purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
AIR GAP SEPARATION. The unobstructed vertical distance through the free atmosphere between the lowest opening from any pipe or faucet supplying water to a tank, plumbing fixture, or other device and the flood level rim of the receptacle.
AIR GAP. The unobstructed vertical distance through the free atmosphere between the lowest opening from any pipe or faucet conveying water or waste to a tank, plumbing fixture, receptor, or other assembly and the flood level rim of the receptacle. These vertical, physical separations must be at least twice the diameter of the water supply outlet and never less than one inch (25 mm).
APPROVED. The backflow prevention device has been accepted by the city as meeting an applicable specification stated or cited in this section.
AUXILIARY WATER SYSTEM. Any water system on or available to the premises other than the public water system. These auxiliary water systems shall include used water or water from a source other than the public water system, such as wells, cisterns or open reservoirs that are equipped with pumps or other prime movers, including gravity.
BACK PRESSURE. A pressure higher than the supply pressure, caused by a pump, elevated tank, boiler, or any other means that may cause backflow.
BACKFLOW PREVENTER. An assembly or means designed to prevent backflow.
BACKFLOW. The undesirable reversal of flow in a potable water distribution system as a result of a cross-connection.
BACKSIPHONAGE. Backflow caused by negative or reduced pressure in the supply piping.
BOOSTER PUMP. Any device intended to increase the in-line water pressure.
CONSUMER. The owner or person in control of any premises supplied by or in any manner connected to a public water system.
CONSUMER'S WATER SYSTEM. Any water system, located on the consumer's premises, supplied by or in any manner connected to a public water system. A household plumbing system is considered to be a consumer's water system.
CONTAMINATION. An impairment of a potable water supply by the introduction or admission of any foreign substance that degrades the quality and creates a health hazard.
CROSS-CONNECTION. A connection or potential connection between any part of a potable water system and any other environment containing other substances in a manner that, under any circumstances would allow substances to enter the potable water system. Other substances may be gases, liquids or solids such as chemicals, waste products, steam, water from other sources (potable or nonpotable), or any matter that may change the color or add odor to the water.
DEGREE OF HAZARD. This term is derived from an evaluation of the potential risk to the public health and the adverse effect of the hazard upon the potable water system.
DIRECTOR. The City of Bowling Green Utilities Director or his/her designee.
DOUBLE CHECK VALVE ASSEMBLY. The approved double check valve assembly consists of two internally loaded check valves, either spring-loaded or internally weighted, installed as a unit between two tightly closing resilient-seated shutoff valves and fittings with properly located resilient-seated test cocks. This assembly shall be only used to protect against a non-health hazard (that is a pollutant).
HEALTH HAZARD. A cross-connection or potential cross-connection involving any substance that could, if introduced into a potable water supply, cause death or illness, spread disease, or have a high probability of causing such effects.
HUMAN CONSUMPTION. The ingestion or absorption of water or water vapor as the result of drinking, cooking, dishwashing, hand washing, bathing, showering, oral hygiene.
PLUMBING HAZARD. A plumbing type cross-connection in a consumer's water system where there are actual or potential cross-connections that cannot be effectively eliminated or controlled at the point of the cross-connection.
POLLUTION HAZARD. A condition through which an aesthetically objectionable or degrading material, which is not dangerous to the public water system or health of users, may enter the public water system or portion of a consumer's water system.
PREMISES. Any building, structure, dwelling or area containing plumbing or piping supplied from a public water system.
PROCESS FLUIDS. Any fluid or solution which may be chemically, biologically or otherwise contaminated or polluted in a form or concentration such as would constitute a pollution, system, health or severe health hazard if introduced into the public water system. This includes, but is not limited to:
(1) Polluted or contaminated waters;
(2) Process waters;
(3) Used waters originating from the public water system which may have deteriorated in sanitary quality;
(4) Cooling waters;
(5) Contaminated natural waters taken from wells, lakes, streams, or irrigation systems;
(6) Chemicals in solution or suspension;
(7) Oils, gases, acids, alkalis, and other liquid and gaseous fluids used in industrial or other processes, or for the firefighting purposes.
PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM. The same meaning as in Ohio Administrative Code 3745-81-01.
REDUCED PRESSURE PRINCIPLE-DETECTOR ASSEMBLY. A specifically designed assembly composed of a line-sized approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly with a specific bypass water meter and a meter sized approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly. The meter shall register accurately for only very low rates of flow and shall show a registration for all rates of flows.
REDUCED PRESSURE BACKFLOW PREVENTION ASSEMBLY. The approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly consists of two independently acting approved check valves together with a hydraulically operating mechanically independent pressure differential relief valve located between the check valves and below the first check valve. These units are located between two tightly closing resilient-seated shutoff valves as an assembly and equipped with properly located resilient-seated test cocks.
SERVICE CONNECTION. The terminal end of a service line from the public water system. If a meter is installed at the end of the service, then the service connection means the downstream end of the meter.
SEVERE HEALTH HAZARD. A health hazard to users that could reasonably be expected to result in significant morbidity or death.
SUPPLIER OF WATER. The owner or operator of a public water system.
SYSTEM HAZARD. An actual or potential threat of severe damage to the physical properties of the public potable water system or the consumer's potable water system or of a pollution or contamination that would have a protracted effect on the quality of the potable water in the system.
USED WATER. Any water supplied by a supplier of water from a public water system to a consumer's water system after it has passed through the service connection, treatment, storage or distribution facilities used primarily in connection with such system.
WATER-NONPOTABLE. Water that is not safe for human consumption or that is of questionable quality.
WATER-POTABLE. Water that is safe for human consumption as described by the public health authority having jurisdiction.
WATER SYSTEM. A system for the provision of piped water or process fluids, and includes any collection, treatment, storage or distribution facilities used primarily in connection with such system.
(B) Requirements.
(1) If, in the judgment of the Utilities Director or his/her designee, an approved backflow prevention device is necessary for the safety of the public water system, the Utilities Director will give notice to the water consumer to install such an approved device immediately. The water consumer shall, at his/her own expense, install an approved device at a location and in a manner approved by the Utilities Director and shall have inspections and tests made of such approved devices as required by the Utilities Director. Service of water to any premises shall be discontinued by the Utilities Director or his/her designee, if a backflow prevention assembly required by the city is not installed, tested and maintained, or if it is found that the backflow prevention assembly has been removed.
(2) No person, firm, or corporation shall establish or permit to be established or maintain or permit to be maintained any connection whereby a private, auxiliary, or emergency water supply other than the public water system of the city may enter the supply or distributing system of the municipality, unless such private, auxiliary or emergency water supply and the method of connection and use of such supply shall have been approved by the Utilities Director, and by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
(3) It shall be the duty of the Utilities Director to cause surveys and investigations to be made of industrial and other properties served by the public water system where actual or potential hazards to the public water system may exist. The surveys and investigations shall be made a matter of public record and shall be repeated as often as the Utilities Director shall deem necessary.
(4) The Utilities Director or his/her duly authorized representative shall have the right to enter at any reasonable time any property served by a connection to the public water system or distributing system of the city for the purpose of inspecting the piping system or systems thereof. On demand, the owner, lessees, or occupants of any property so served shall furnish to the Utilities Director any information which he/she may request regarding the piping system or systems or water use on such property. The refusal of such information, when demanded, shall, within the discretion of the Utilities Director, be deemed evidence of the presence of improper connections as provided in this section.
(5) The Utilities Director is authorized and directed to discontinue, after reasonable notice to the occupant thereof, the water service to any property wherein any connection in violation of the provisions of this section is known to exist, and to take such other precautionary measures as he/she may deem necessary to eliminate any danger of contamination of the public water supply distribution mains. Water service to such property shall not be restored until such conditions shall have been eliminated or corrected in compliance with the provisions of this section.
(C) Backflow protection required.
(1) An approved backflow prevention device shall be installed on each service line to a consumer's water system serving premises, where in the judgment of the Utilities Director or his/her designee, a pollution, system, health or severe health to the public water system exists.
(2) An approved backflow prevention device shall be installed on each service line to a consumer's water system serving premises where any of the following conditions exist.
(a) Premises having an auxiliary water system on the site, unless such auxiliary is accepted as an additional source and is approved by the Director.
(b) Premises on which any substance is handled in such a fashion as to create an actual or potential hazard to the public water system. This shall include premises having sources or systems containing process fluids.
(c) Premises having internal cross- connections that, in the judgment of the Utilities Director or his/her designee, are not correctable, or intricate plumbing arrangements which make it impracticable to determine whether or not cross-connections exist.
(d) Premises where, because of security requirements or other prohibitions or restrictions, it is impossible or impracticable to make a complete cross-connection survey.
(e) Premises having a repeated history of cross-connections being established or reestablished.
(f) Others specified by the Utilities Director or his/her designee.
(3) The following requirements apply to premises that have an auxiliary water system on the real property owned or under the control of the consumer and adjacent to the premises.
(a) A physical separation shall be maintained between the public water system or a consumer's water system and the auxiliary water system as required by subsection (2) and;
(b) An approved backflow prevention device shall be installed on each service connection serving the consumer's water system, unless the supplier of water does all of the following:
1. Determines, on a case by case basis, that the installation of an approved backflow prevention device on a service connection is not required in consideration of factors including, but not limited to, the past history of cross-connections being established or reestablished on the premises, the ease or difficulty of connecting the auxiliary water system with the public water system on the premises, the presence or absence of contaminants on the property or other risk factors;
2. Requires the consumer to sign an agreement which specifies the penalties, including those set forth in rule 3745-95-08 of the Ohio Administrative Code, for creating a connection between the public water system and the auxiliary water system;
3. Conducts or causes to be conducted an inspection at least every 12 months to certify that no connection or means of connection has been created between the public water system and the auxiliary water system;
4. Maintains an inventory of each consumer's premises where an auxiliary water system is on or available to the premises, or on the real property adjacent to the premises; and
5. Develops and implements an education program to inform all consumers served by the public water system about the dangers of cross-connections.
(4) An approved backflow prevention device shall be installed on each service line to a consumer's water system serving, but not necessarily limited to the following types of facilities unless the Director or his/her designee determines that no severe health, health, system, or pollution hazard to the public water system exists:
(a) Hospitals, mortuaries, clinics, nursing homes;
(b) Laboratories;
(c) Piers, docks, waterfront facilities;
(d) Sewage treatment plants, sewage pumping stations, or stormwater pumping stations;
(e) Food or beverage processing plants;
(f) Chemical plants;
(g) Metal plating industries;
(h) Petroleum processing or storage plants;
(i) Radioactive material processing plants or nuclear reactors;
(j) Car or truck washes; and
(k) Others specified by the Director or his/her designee.
(5) An approved backflow prevention device shall be installed at any point of connection that is approved in accordance with subsection (2) between a public water system or a consumer's water system and an auxiliary water system, unless such auxiliary water system is accepted as an additional source by the supplier of water and the source is approved by the Director or his/her designee.
(D) Protection required; type.
(1) The type of protection required under division (E) shall depend on the degree of hazard which exists as follows:
(a) An approved air gap separation shall be installed where a public water system may be contaminated with substances that could cause a severe health hazard;
(b) An approved air gap separation, an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly or an approved reduced pressure detector check assembly shall be installed where a public water system may be contaminated with any substance that could cause contamination of a system or health hazard;
(c) An approved air gap separation, an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly, an approved reduced pressure principle-detector assembly, an approved double check valve assembly or an approved double check-detector check valve assembly shall be installed where a public water system may be contaminated with any substance that could cause a pollution hazard.
(2) The type of protection required under division (E)(5), shall be an approved air gap separation or an approved interchangeable connection.
(3) Where an auxiliary water system is used as a secondary source of water for a fire protection system, the provisions of division (E)(2), for an approved air gap separation or an approved interchangeable connection may be waived by the Director or his/her designee, provided:
(a) At premises where the auxiliary water system may be contaminated with substances that could cause a system, health or severe health hazard, the public water system shall be protected against backflow by installation of an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly or an approved reduced pressure principle-detector check assembly;
(b) At all other premises, a public water system or a consumer's water system shall be protected against backflow by installation of an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly, an approved reduced pressure principle-detector check assembly, an approved double check valve assembly or an approved double check-detector check valve assembly;
(c) The public water system or a consumer's water system shall be the primary source of water for the fire protection system;
(d) The fire protection system shall be normally filled with water from the public water system; and
(e) The water in the fire protection system shall be used for fire protection only, with no other use of water from the fire protection system downstream from the approved backflow prevention device.
(E) Backflow prevention devices.
(1) Any backflow prevention device required by § 51.06 shall be a model or construction approved by the city and conform to at least one of the following standards:
(a) For air gap separations: American National Standards Institute standard A112.1.2-1991;
(b) For reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assemblies: American National Standards Institute/American Water Works Association standard C511-97 (1997), or American Society of Sanitary Engineering standard 1013-99 (1999), or Canadian Standards B64.4-01(2001), or Foundation for cross Connection Control and Hydraulic Research, University of Southern California Specifications of Backflow Assemblies for Reduced Pressure Principle Assemblies-Ninth edition (1993);
(c) For double check valve assemblies: American National Standards Institute/American Water Works Association standard C510-97 (1997), or American Society Sanitary Engineering standard 1015, or Canadian Standards Association Standard B64.5-01 (2001), or Foundation for Cross-Connection Control and Hydraulic Research, University of Southern California Specifications of Backflow Assemblies for Double Check Valve Assemblies-Ninth edition (1993);
(d) For reduced pressure principal-detector assemblies: American National Standards Institute/American Society of Sanitary Engineering standard 1047-99 (1999), or Canadian Standards Association standard 1364.4.1-01 (2001), or Foundation for Cross-Connection Control and Hydraulic Research, University of Southern California Specifications of Backflow Assemblies for Reduced Pressure Principle-Detector Assemblies-Ninth Edition (1993); or
(e) For double check-detector check valve assemblies: American National Standards Institute/American Society of Sanitary Engineering standard 1048-99 (1999), or Canadian Standards Association standard B64.5.1-01(2001), or Foundation for Cross-Connection Control and Hydraulic Research, University of Southern California Specifications of Backflow Assemblies for Double Check-Detector Assemblies-Ninth edition (1993).
(2) Any backflow prevention device required by § 51.06 shall be installed in a location and in a manner approved by the city and shall be installed at the expense of the water consumer. In addition, any backflow prevention device required by § 51.06 shall be installed at a location and in a manner approved by the Utilities Director or his/her designee.
(3) It shall be the duty of the water consumer to maintain any backflow prevention device required by § 51.06, to be inspected and have operational tests performed at the time the devices are installed or repaired as reasonably required by the Utilities Director or his/her designee, but in all cases at least once every 12 months.
(a) The city shall retain authority over all backflow prevention devices required by § 51.06.
(b) It shall be the duty of the city to require the tests and inspections to be completed under § 51.06.
(c) The consumer shall, on any premises on which backflow prevention devices are required by § 51.06 are installed, have through inspections and operational tests made of the devices at the time of installation or repair, and as may be reasonably required by the Utilities Director or his/her designee, but in all cases at least once every 12 months. These inspections and tests shall be at the expense of the water consumer and shall be performed by a person qualified to inspect and test backflow prevention devices and approved by the Utilities Director or his/her designee.
(d) Backflow prevention devices shall be repaired, overhauled or replaced at the expense of the consumer whenever they are found to be defective.
(e) Records of such inspections, tests, repairs and overhauls shall be kept by the consumer and made available to the supplier of water.
(4) The Utilities Director or his/her designee shall inspect or cause to be inspected all installations where an approved connection exists between an auxiliary water system and the public water system or a consumer's water system at least once every 12 months and shall maintain an inventory of all such installations and inspection records. Such inventories and inspection records shall be made available during sanitary surveys and upon request.
(F) Booster pumps.
(1) No person shall install or maintain a water service connection to any one, two or three-family dwelling where a booster pump has been installed, unless an air gap separation is provided.
(2) No person shall install or maintain a water service connection to any premises not included in subsection (1) of this rule where a booster pump has been installed on the service line to or within such premises, unless such booster pump is equipped with a low pressure cut-off designed to shut off the booster pump when the pressure in the service line on the suction side of the pump drops to ten pounds per square inch gauge or less.
(3) It shall be the duty of the water consumer to maintain the low pressure cutoff device in the proper working order and to certify to the Utilities Director or his/her designee, at least once every 12 months that the device is operable and maintained in continuous operation.
(G) Violations.
(1) The Utilities Director shall deny or discontinue, after reasonable notice to the occupant thereof, the water service to any premises wherein any backflow prevention device required by this chapter is not installed, tested, and maintained in an acceptable manner, or if it is found that the backflow prevention device has been removed or bypassed, or if an unprotected cross-connection exists on the premises or if a low pressure cut-off required by this section is not installed and maintained in working order, or if the Director of Utilities or his/her designee is denied entry to determine compliance with this section.
(2) Water service to such premises shall not be restored until the consumer has corrected or eliminated such conditions or defects in conformance with § 51.06, and to the satisfaction of the Utilities Director or his/her designee.
(1980 Code, § 51.06) (Ord. 4325, passed 4-18-1983; Am. Ord. 7759, passed 3-17-2008) Penalty, see § 51.99