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The purpose of this section is to establish the city’s requirements for the prevention of backflow and the control of cross connections in the interest of protecting the city’s public water system.
In accordance with Florida Administrative Code, 62-555.360(2), community water systems are required to establish a routine cross-connection control program for the purpose of detecting and controlling cross-connection and to prevent backflow of contaminants into the public water system.
(a) Cross-connections, as defined in Rule 62-550.200, F.A.C., are prohibited. The Utilities Department maintains an ongoing backflow prevention and cross-connection control program to protect its public water system from the hazards originating on the premises of its customers and from temporary connections that may impair or alter the water in the public water system. The return of any water to the Utilities Department’s public water system after the water has been used for any purpose on the customer’s premises or has been within the customer’s piping system is not permitted.
(b) New services of potable or reclaimed water will not be activated until the Department is satisfied that no uncontrolled cross-connection exists. No customer shall create or allow others to create a cross-connection involving potable and reclaimed water lines. In addition, the customer’s auxiliary water supplies shall not be interconnected with the Department’s public water supply system.
(c) In the event of contamination of the utilities department’s or customer’s water system due to backflow on the customer’s premises, the customer shall promptly take steps to confine further spread of contamination and shall immediately notify the Utilities Department.
(Ord. No. 13-032, § 2, 11-9-13)
The following terms and phrases when used in this article shall have the meaning ascribed to them in this section except where the context clearly indicates a different meaning. Words used in the present tense shall include the future, and the singular number includes the plural, and the plural the singular.
(1) Air-gap: 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 such vessel. An approved air-gap shall be at least double the diameter of the supply pipe; measured vertically, above the top of the rim of the vessel and, in no case, less than two inches. When an air-gap is used at the service connection to prevent the contamination or pollution of the public potable water system, an emergency bypass shall be installed in the bypass system which shall include an approved back-flow prevention device.
(2) Approved: Accepted by the director of utilities as meeting an applicable specification stated or cited in this section, or as suited for the proposed use.
(3) Auxiliary water supply: Any water supply on, or available to, the premises other than the purveyor's approved public potable water supply. These auxiliary waters may include water from another purveyor's spring, river, stream, harbor, or the like, or “used waters” or “industrial fluids”. These waters may be polluted or contaminated or they may be objectionable and constitute an unacceptable water source over which the water purveyor does not have sanitary control.
(4) Backflow: The flow of water or other liquid, mixture or substance under pressure into the distributing pipes of a potable water supply system from any source or sources other than its intended source.
(5) Backflow preventer: A device or means designated to prevent backflow or back-siphonage.
(6) Back-siphonage: The flow of water or other liquid, mixture or substance into the distributing pipes of a potable water supply stream from any source other than its intended source caused by the sudden reduction of pressure in the potable water supply system.
(7) Contamination: Any impairment of the quality of potable water by sewage, industrial fluids, waste liquids, compounds, or other materials to a degree which creates a potential actual hazard to the public health through poisoning or through the spread of disease.
(8) Cross-connection: Any physical connection or arrangement of piping or fixtures between two otherwise separate piping systems, one of which contains potable water and the other nonpotable water or industrial fluids of questionable safety, through which, or because of which, backflow or back-siphonage may occur into the potable water system. A water service connection between a public potable water distribution system and a customer’s water distribution system which is cross-connected to a contaminated fixture, industrial fluid system, or with a potentially contaminated supply or auxiliary water system, constitutes one type of cross-connection. Other types of cross-connections include connectors such as swing connections, removable sections, four-way plug valves, spools, dummy sections of pipe, swivel or changeover devices, sliding multiport tube, solid connections, and the like.
a. Cross-connection control by containment: The installation of an approved backflow prevention device at the water service connection to any customer's premises where it is not physically and economically feasible to find and permanently eliminate or control all actual or potential cross-connections within the customer's water system; or the installation of an approved backflow prevention device on the service line leading to and supplying a portion of a customer's water system where there are actual or potential cross-connections which cannot be effectively eliminated or controlled at the point of cross-connection.
b. Cross-connection controlled: A connection between a potable water system and a nonpotable water system with an approved backflow prevention device properly installed that will continuously afford the protection commensurate with the degree of hazard.
(9) Double check valve assembly: An assembly of two (2) independently operating approved check valves with tightly closing shutoff valves on each side of the check valves, plus properly located test cocks for the testing of each check valve. The entire assembly shall meet the design and performance specifications and approval of a recognized and city-approved testing agency for backflow prevention devices. To be approved, these must be readily accessible for in-line maintenance and testing.
(10) Hazard, degree of. The term is derived from an evaluation of the potential risk to public health and the adverse effect of the hazard upon the potable water system, and shall include:
a. Hazard, health: Any condition, device or practice in the water supply system and its operation which could create or, in the judgment of the director of utilities, may create a danger to the health and well-being of the water consumer. An example of a “health hazard” is a structural defect, including a cross-connection, in the water supply system.
b. Hazard, plumbing: A plumbing-type cross-connection in a consumer's potable water system that has not been properly protected by a vacuum breaker, air-gap separation, or backflow prevention device. Unprotected plumbing-type cross-connections are considered to be a health hazard.
c. Hazard, pollutional: An actual or potential threat to the physical properties of the water system or to the potability of the public or the consumer's potable water system but which would constitute a nuisance or be aesthetically objectionable or could cause damage to the system or its appurtenances, but would not be dangerous to health.
d. Hazard, system: 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 pollutant or contaminant which would have a protracted effect on the quality of the potable water in the system.
(11) Industrial fluids system: Any system containing a fluid or solution which may be chemically, biologically or otherwise contaminated or polluted in a form or concentration such as would constitute a health, system, pollutional or plumbing hazard if introduced into an approved water supply. This may include, but shall not be limited to: polluted or contaminated waters; all types of process waters and “used waters” originating from the public potable water system which may have deteriorated in sanitary quality; chemicals in fluid form; plating acids and alkalis; circulated cooling waters connected to an open cooling tower and/or cooling waters that are chemically or biologically treated or stabilized with toxic substances; contaminated natural waters such as from wells, springs, streams, rivers, bays, harbors, irrigation canals or systems, and the like; and oils, gases, glycerine, paraffins, caustic and acid solutions, and other liquid and gaseous fluids used in industrial or other purposes or for fire-fighting purposes.
(12) Pollution: The presence of any foreign substance (organic, inorganic or biological) in water which tends to degrade its quality so as to constitute a hazard or impair the usefulness or quality of the water to a degree which does not create an actual hazard to the public health but which does adversely and reasonably affect such waters for domestic use.
(13) Pressure-type vacuum breaker: An assembly used to isolate entire irrigation lines from potable water systems. It has the ability to withstand supply pressure for long periods and to prevent backflow of toxic and nontoxic water into the potable water system in back-siphonage conditions. To be approved, these devices must be readily accessible for in-line maintenance and testing.
(14) Purveyor or Water purveyor. The owner or operator of the public potable water system supplying an approved water supply to the public.
(15) Reduced pressure principle device: An assembly of two (2) independently operating approved check valves with an automatically operating differential relief valve between the two (2) check valves, tightly closing shutoff valves on either side of the check valves, plus properly located test cocks for the testing of the check and relief valves. The entire assembly shall meet the design and performance specifications and approval of a recognized and city approved testing agency for backflow prevention assemblies. The device shall operate to maintain the pressure in the zone between the two (2) check valves at a level less than the pressure on the public water supply side of the device. At cessation of normal flow, the pressure between the two (2) check valves shall be less than the pressure on the public water supply system side of the device. In case of leakage of either of the check valves, the differential relief valve shall operate to maintain the reduced pressure in the zone between the check valves by discharging to the atmosphere. When the inlet pressure is two (2) pounds per square inch or less, the relief valve shall open to the atmosphere. To be approved, these devices must be readily accessible for in-line maintenance and testing and be installed in a location where no part of the device will be submerged.
(16) Water:
a. Water, nonpotable: Water which is not safe for human consumption or which is of questionable potability.
b. Water, potable: Any water which, according to recognized standards, is safe for human consumption.
c. Water, service connections: The terminal end of a service connection from the public potable water system; that is, where the water purveyor loses jurisdiction and sanitary control over the water at its point of delivery to the customer's water system. If a meter is installed at the end of the service connection, the service connection shall mean the downstream end of the meter. There should be no unprotected takeoffs from the service line ahead of any meter or backflow prevention device located at the point of delivery to the customer's water system. “Service connection” shall also include water service connection from a fire hydrant and all other temporary or emergency water service connections from the public potable water system.
d. Water, used: Any water supplied by a water purveyor from a public potable water system to a consumer's water system after it has passed through the point of delivery and is no longer under the sanitary control of the water purveyor.
(17) Water system: The water system shall be considered as made up of two (2) parts: The customer system and the utility system.
a. The “customer system” shall include those parts of the facilities beyond the termination of the utility distribution system which are utilized in conveying utility-delivered domestic water to points of use.
b. The “utility system” shall consist of the source facilities and the distribution system; and shall include all those facilities of the water system under the complete control of the utility, up to the point where the customer's system begins (meter). The “source” shall include all components of the facilities utilized in the production, treatment, storage and delivery of water to the distribution system. The “distribution system” shall include the network of conduits used for the delivery of water from the source to the customer's system.
(Ord. No. 90-51, § 1, 11-7-90; Ord. No. 13-032, § 2, 11-9-13)
(a) No water service connection to any premises shall be installed or maintained by the water purveyor unless the water supply is protected as required by state law and regulation (Chapter 17-555(b1), Florida Administrative Code) and this article. Service of water to any premises shall be discontinued by the water purveyor if a backflow prevention device required by this article is not installed, tested and maintained, or if it is found that a backflow prevention device has been removed, bypassed, or if an unprotected cross-connection exists on the premises. Service will not be restored until such conditions or defects are corrected.
(b) It is the responsibility of the customer and/or his or her designees to determine the size of the backflow prevention assembly. In order to adequately handle the maximum flow of the water meter, the assembly should be the same size as the meter or larger. It is recognized that if the service line is sized smaller than the meter, the assembly should be the same size as the service line.
(c) All residential potable water services with 1-1/2" meters or larger shall have a reduced pressure assembly (RPZ) installed.
(d) All non-residential potable water services shall have a reduced pressure assembly installed.
(e) All new residential potable water meters 1" or less must be equipped with a residential dual check valve (RDC).
(f) All residential 5/8" and 1" meters with access to a master-metered reclaimed water irrigation system which is not isolated from the potable water system shall have a residential dual check valve.
(g) All temporary construction meters shall have a reduced measure assembly (RPZ) installed by the contractor. A combination 5/8" hydrant meter with a built in backflow preventer can be provided by the city at a higher cost for pressure cleaning or non-construction projects.
(h) Dedicated closed fire sprinkler systems shall have as a minimum a double check detector assembly.
(i) Fire sprinkler systems with a pressure/storage tank, booster pumps, chemical injection, or any auxiliary water supply shall have a reduced pressure detector assembly.
(j) The customer's system should be open for inspection at all reasonable times to authorized representatives of the utilities department to determine whether cross-connections or other structural or sanitary hazards, including violations of these regulations, exist. When such a condition becomes known, the director of utilities shall deny or immediately discontinue service to the premises by providing for a physical break in the service line until the customer has corrected the condition in conformance with state and city laws relating to plumbing and water supplies and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto.
(k) An approved backflow prevention device shall be installed on all temporary water services that are supplied by fire hydrant meter installations. The following requirements shall apply:
(1) Only city personnel with the appropriate authority can set, lock, move, and relocate fire hydrant meters.
(2) In the case of short term installations, ten (10) days or shorter durations, the city shall furnish a combined meter and backflow prevention device for normal flow volume requirements. For larger flows requiring more than three (3) inch meter the customer shall supply the backflow prevention device for the meter installation.
(3) In the case of long-term installations, over ten (10) days period, the customer will be required to supply his/her own back flow prevention device.
(4) The backflow prevention devices shall be tested and approved by a certified plumbing contractor certified by the State of Florida and/or approved by the city, as consistent with the intent of this section.
(l) An approved backflow prevention device shall be installed on all new multi-family and commercial construction(s) and renovation(s). The owner of such installation(s), or the designee of the owner, shall report the installation to the Utilities Director within five (5) days after the installation.
(m) An approved backflow prevention device shall be installed on each service line to a customer's water system at or near the property line or immediately inside the building being served and, in all cases, before the first branch line leading off the service line, whenever the following conditions exist:
(1) In the case of premises having an auxiliary water supply which is not or may not be safe bacteriologically or [in] chemical quality and which is not acceptable as an additional source by the director of utilities. The public water system shall be protected against backflow from the premises by installing a backflow prevention device in the service line appropriate to the degree of hazard.
(2) In the case of premises upon which any industrial fluids or any other objectionable substance is handled in such a fashion as to create an actual or potential hazard to the public water system, the public system shall be protected against backflow from the premises by installing a backflow prevention device in the service line appropriate to the degree of hazard. This shall include the handling of process waters and waters originating from the utility system which have been subject to deterioration in quality.
(3) In the case of premises having internal cross-connections that cannot be permanently corrected and controlled, intricate plumbing and piping arrangements, or where entry to all portions of the premises is not readily accessible for inspection purposes, making it impracticable or impossible to ascertain whether or not dangerous cross-connections exist, the public water system shall be protected against backflow from the premises by installing a backflow prevention device in the service line. The type of protective device required shall depend upon the degree of hazard which exists, as follows:
a. In the case of any premises where there is an auxiliary water supply as stated in this section, the public water system shall be protected by an approved air-gap separation or an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention device.
b. In the case of any premises where there is water or some substance that would be objectionable but not hazardous to health if introduced into the public water system, the public water system shall be protected by an approved double check valve assembly.
(4) In the case of any premises where there is any material dangerous to health which is handled in such a fashion as to create an actual or potential hazard to the public water system the public water system shall be protected by an approved air-gap separation or an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention device. Examples of premises where these conditions may exist include wastewater treatment plants, wastewater pumping stations, chemical manufacturing plants, hospitals, mortuaries and metal plating plants.
(5) In the case of any premises where there are “uncontrolled” cross-connections, either actual or potential, the public water system shall be protected by an approved air-gap separation or an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention device at the service connection.
(6) In the case of any premises where, because of security requirements or other prohibitions or restrictions, it is impossible or impractical to make a complete in-plant cross-connection survey, the public water system shall be protected against backflow or back-siphonage from the premises by the installation of a backflow prevention device in the service line. In this case, maximum protection will be required; that is, an approved air-gap separation or an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention device shall be installed in each service to the premises.
(7) An approved backflow prevention device of the type designated shall be installed on each water service connection to the following types of facilities. This list is presented as a guideline and should not be construed as being complete.
Abbreviations are as follows:
A.G. —Air-gap separation
R.P. —Reduced pressure principle backflow preventer
D.C.V.A. —Double check valve assembly
P.V.B. —Pressure vacuum breaker
A.V.B. —Atmospheric vacuum breaker
Type of Facility Minimum Type of Protection
Automotive repair facilities R.P.
Breweries, distilleries, bottling plants R.P.
Car wash with recycling system and/or wax educator [applicator] R.P.
Chemical plants R.P.
Dairies R.P.
Dentist offices R.P.
Fertilizer plants R.P.
Film laboratory or processing plants R.P.
Fire hydrants D.C.V.A. (?)
Fire sprinkler lines, without pumps D.C.V.A.
Fire sprinkler lines, with booster pumps R.P.
Food or beverage plants R.P.
Hospitals, clinics, medical buildings R.P.
(parallel)
Irrigation systems (Non-residential) R.P. or D.C.V.A
Laboratories R.P.
Laundries and dry cleaning plants R.P.
Machine tool plants (health or system hazard) R.P.
Machine tool plants (pollution hazard) R.P.
Metal processing plant (health or system hazard) R.P.
Metal processing plant (pollution hazard) R.P.
Metal plating plant R.P.
Morgues or mortuaries R.P.
Nursing homes R.P.
Packing houses or rendering plants R.P.
Paper products plants R.P.
Pesticides (exterminating companies) A.G. or R.P.
Petroleum processing plants R.P.
Petroleum storage yards (health or system hazard) R.P.
Petroleum storage yards (pollutional hazard) R.P.
Pharmaceutical or cosmetic plants R.P.
Piers, docks or waterfront facilities R.P.
Power plants R.P.
Radioactive material plants R.P.
Restaurants R.P.
Sand and gravel plants R.P.
Schools R.P.
Sewage treatment plants R.P.
Sewage pumping stations R.P.
Swimming pools with piped fill line (at pool) A.G. or R.P.
Tall buildings over three (3) stories R.P.
Veterinary establishments R.P.
(8) For all premises (including residential) in areas serviced by irrigation water from a wastewater reuse system, the public water system shall be protected by an approved double check valve assembly at the service connection.
(n) Any backflow prevention device required herein shall be of a model and size approved by the director of utilities. The term “approved backflow prevention device” shall mean a device that has been manufactured in full conformance with the standards established by the American Water Works Association and entitled “AWWA C510 Double Check Valve Backflow Prevention Assembly” or “AWWA C511 Reduced Pressure Principle Backflow Prevention Assembly” and which has met completely the laboratory and field performance specifications of the Foundation for Cross Connection Control and Hydraulic Research of the University of Southern California established by the Manual of Cross-Connection Control, 8th Edition, dated June 1988, or the most current issue.
(1) Such AWWA and FCCC and HR standards and specifications have been adopted by the director of utilities. Final approval shall be evidenced by a certificate of approval issued by an approved testing laboratory certifying full compliance with such AWWA standards and FCCC and HR specifications.
(2) It shall be the duty of the customer-user at any premises where backflow prevention devices are installed, to have certified inspections and operational tests made at least once per year. In those instances where the director deems the hazard to be great enough, he may require certified inspections at more frequent intervals. These inspections and tests shall be at the expense of the customer and shall be performed by the device manufacturer's representative, or by a certified tester approved by the director of utilities.
(3) These devices shall be repaired, overhauled, or replaced at the expense of the customer-user whenever such devices are found to be defective. Records of such tests, repairs and overhauls, shall be submitted to the director of utilities.
(4) All presently installed backflow prevention devices which do not meet the requirements of this section but were approved devices for the purposes described herein at the time of installation and which have been properly maintained shall, except for the inspection maintenance requirements, be excluded from the requirements of those rules so long as the director of utilities is assured that they will satisfactorily protect the public potable water supply system. Wherever the existing device is moved from the present location or requires more than minimum maintenance, or when the director of utilities finds that the maintenance constitutes a hazard to health, the unit shall be replaced by a backflow prevention device meeting the requirements of this section.
(Ord. No. 90-51, § 1, 11-7-90; Ord. No. 01-28, § 2, 7-3-01; Ord. No. 13-032, § 2, 11-9-13)
(a) The Utilities Department shall be responsible for the protection of the public potable water distribution system from contamination or pollution due to the backflow or back-siphonage of contaminants or pollutants through the water service connection.
(b) If, in the judgment of the Department, an approved backflow prevention device is required at the city’s water service connection to any customer’s premises for the safety of the water system, the director of utilities or his designated agent shall give notice in writing to the customer to install such an approved backflow prevention device at each service connection to his or her premises. The customer shall immediately install such approved device or devices at his own expense, the failure, refusal, or inability on the part of the customer to install such device or devices immediately, shall constitute a ground for discontinuing water service to the premises until such device or devices have been properly installed.
(c) In the case of installation a copy of the test report and permit shall be furnished by the customer to the city with 60 days of installation, replacement, or relocation of a backflow prevention assembly. The customer and/or his designee shall be responsible for obtaining all applicable permits.
(1) All backflow prevention assemblies and devices on the potable water service shall be installed by a plumbing contractor who is licensed by the State of Florida and/or approved by the city.
(2) All backflow prevention assemblies installed as part of a fire suppression system should be installed by a fire protection contractor I, II or V who is licensed by the State of Florida. (Reference: F.S. §§ 633.021 and 633.541.)
(3) Single check valves and all R.P.(s) on the water service shall be installed by the customer’s contractor, with the appropriate state certification and/or approved by the city, on the type of service installation required.
(d) In the case of testing and maintenance, all backflow test for new potable water services (domestic and fire line) shall be performed by a certified plumbing contractor certified by the State of Florida and/or approved by the city, at the time the service is activated. An additional backflow certification fee will be billed by the city for each test.
(e) In the case of recertification the customer’s responsible for hiring an appropriately licensed, certified backflow prevention assembly tester to test and maintain all of their backflow prevention assemblies on an annual basis after the initial test. All backflow prevention assemblies and devices on the customer’s side of the potable water service shall be tested by a plumbing contractor who is licensed by the State of Florida and/or approved by the city.
(1) The technician performing any repairs must hold a repair certification issued by an American Water Works Association approved course.
(2) A valid backflow prevention assembly recertification must contain, at minimum, the following information:
a. The name and license number of the Plumbing Contractor performing the testing.
b. The address of the tested assembly.
c. The date the assembly was tested.
d. The make, model, size and serial number of the assembly tested.
e. The water meter serial number the assembly is protecting (if applicable).
f. Clearly identified test results as outlined below:
i. RP - the relief valve opening reading, the differential reading across the #1 check valve, the differential reading across the #2 check valve, and if the #2 check valve leaked during the backpressure test.
ii. DC - the differential reading across the #1 check valve and the differential reading across the #2 check valve.
iii. PVB - the air inlet reading, the reading the check valve holds at, and a comment or remark if backpressure was present at the time of testing.
iv. The name of the tester along with the tester’s certification number.
The annual recertification shall be received by the city prior to the expiration of the previous certification. In the event the assembly tested does not perform to manufacturer’s specification, a failing test report shall be submitted to the Department. This will afford the customer additional time to acquire estimates for repair; ordering of parts, and the scheduling of necessary shut-down, for the repair or replacement of the failing assembly.
Upon completion of testing, the tester shall affix to the assembly in a semi-permanent manner a weather-proof tag that identifies the plumbing or fire protection company performing the test and the month and year of the recertification.
The customer shall be notified by the city in writing approximately 60 days prior to the next inspection date of the backflow assembly. If the customer fails to provide the city with a passing backflow preventer test and maintenance report by the due date, the city may assign testing and recertification process to a city authorized certified backflow prevention device technician. See Section 26.2010, Fees and Permits.
(f) In the case of non-compliance, upon discovery that an unapproved cross-connection exists, the city shall immediately disconnect the cross-connection or terminate the customer’s potable water service. By-passing an existing backflow prevention assembly shall be considered an unapproved cross-connection. The customer’s potable water supply will be turned off if the customer fails to adequately maintain the backflow prevention assembly(ies) or provide annual certification to the city.
(Ord. No. 90-51, § 1, 11-7-90; Ord. No. 13-032, § 2, 11-9-13)
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