(a) No person shall install or maintain a water service connection to any premises where an actual or potential cross connection to the Municipal water system may exist, unless such actual or potential cross connections are abated or controlled to the satisfaction of the Municipality and by the Ohio EPA.
(b) If, in the judgment of the Municipality, an approved backflow prevention device is necessary for the safety of the public water system, the Municipality will give notice to the water consumer to install such an approved device immediately. The water consumer shall, at his or her own expense, install such an approved device at a location and in a manner approved by the Municipality, and shall have inspections and tests made of such approved devices as required by the Municipality. The Municipality may assess fees associated with the annual notification of testing to the consumer, for each device, as may be reasonable, to cover the costs associated with implementing a comprehensive cross connection control program.
(c) No person 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 regular public water supply of the Municipality, may enter the supply or distribution system of the Municipality, unless such private, auxiliary or emergency water supply and the method of connection and use of such supply has been approved by the Manager and by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
(d) The Municipality shall cause surveys and investigations to be made of industrial and other properties served by the public water supply where actual or potential hazards to the public water supply may exist. Such surveys and investigations shall be made a matter of public record and shall be repeated as often as the Municipality deems necessary.
(e) The Municipality or its duly authorized representative shall have the right to enter, at any reasonable time, any property served by a connection to the public water supply or distribution system of the Municipality, for the purpose of inspecting the piping system or systems thereof. Upon demand, the owners, lessees or occupants of any property so served shall furnish to the Municipality any information which it may request regarding the piping system or systems of water use on such property. The refusal of such information, when demanded, shall, within the discretion of the Municipality, be deemed evidence of the presence of improper connections as provided in this section.
(f) The Municipality is hereby authorized and directed to discontinue, after providing 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 it 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 have been eliminated or corrected in compliance with the provisions of this section.
(g) Residential law sprinkling systems shall be protected by an ASSE 1020 Pressure Vacuum Breaker for minimum protection and be subject to all inspection and survey requirements of the backflow program.
(h) Yard hydrants are prohibited unless an approved backflow prevention device has been installed.
(i) An approved backflow prevention device shall be installed on each service line to a consumer's water system serving premises where the following conditions exist:
(1) Premises having an auxiliary water system, unless such auxiliary system is accepted as an additional source by the Municipality and the source is approved by the Director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency;
(2) Premises on which any substance is handled in such a fashion as to create an actual or potential hazard to a public water system, including premises having sources or systems containing process waters or fluids or waters originating from a public water system which are no longer under the control of the Municipality;
(3) Premises having internal cross connections that, in the judgment of the Municipality, are not correctable, or intricate plumbing arrangements which make it impracticable to determine whether or not cross connections exist;
(4) Premises where, because of security requirements or other prohibitions or restrictions, it is impossible or impractical to make a complete cross connection survey;
(5) Premises having a repeated history of cross connections being established or re established; and
(6) Others specified by the Municipality or the Director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
(j) 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:
(1) Hospitals, mortuaries, clinics, nursing homes;
(2) Laboratories;
(3) Piers, docks, waterfront facilities;
(4) Sewage treatment plants, sewage pumping stations, or storm water pumping stations;
(5) Food or beverage processing plants;
(6) Chemical plants;
(7) Metal plating industries;
(8) Petroleum processing or storage plants;
(9) Radioactive material processing plant or nuclear reactors;
(10) Car washes; and
(11) Others specified by the supplier of water or the Director of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency.
(k) An approved backflow prevention device shall be installed at a location and in a manner approved by the Municipality, and shall be installed by and at the expense of the water consumer. Backflow prevention devices installed on the service line to a consumer's water system shall be located on the consumer's side of the water meter, as close to the meter as is reasonably practical, and shall be installed prior to any other connection.
(l) The type of protection required under subsection (h), (i), and (j) hereof shall depend on the degree of hazard which exists as follows:
(1) An approved air gap separation shall be installed where the public water system may be contaminated with substances that could cause a severe health hazard;
(2) An approved air gap separation or an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention device shall be installed where the public water system may be contaminated with any substance that could cause a system or health hazard; or
(3) An approved air gap separation or an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention device or an approved double check valve assembly shall be installed where the public water system may be polluted with any substance that could cause a pollutional hazard.
(m) Any backflow prevention device required by these regulations shall be of a model or construction approved by the Municipality and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and shall comply with the following:
(1) An air gap separation, to be approved, shall be at least twice the diameter of the supply pipe, measured vertically above the top rim of the vessel, but in no case less than one inch;
(2) A double check valve assembly on a reduced pressure principle backflow prevention device shall be approved by the Municipality and shall appear on the current list of approved backflow prevention devices of the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency; and
(3) An interchangeable connection, to be approved, shall be either a swing type connector or a four way valve of the lubricated plug type that, when operated through a mechanism which unseats the plug, turns it ninety degrees and reseats the plug. Four way valves shall not be used as stop valves, but must have separate stop valves on each pipe connected to the valve. The telltale port on the four way valve shall have no piping connected and the threads or flange on this port shall be destroyed so that a connection cannot be made.
(n) No person shall install or maintain a water service connection to any premises 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.
(o) It shall be the duty of the water consumer to maintain the low pressure cut off device in proper working order and to certify to the supplier of water, at least once a year, that the device is operable.
(p) It shall be the duty of the consumer, at any premises on which backflow prevention devices required are installed, to have inspections, tests and overhauls made in accordance with the following schedule, or more often where inspections indicate a need:
(1) Air gap separations shall be inspected at the time of installation and at least once every twelve months thereafter;
(2) Double check valve assemblies shall be inspected and tested for tightness at the time of installation and at least once every twelve months thereafter. They shall be dismantled, inspected internally, cleaned and repaired whenever needed and at least once every thirty months;
(3) Reduced pressure principle backflow prevention devices shall be inspected and tested for tightness at the time of installation and at least once every twelve months thereafter. They shall be dismantled, inspected internally, cleaned and repaired whenever needed and at least once every five years; and
(4) Interchangeable connections shall be inspected at the time of installation and at least once every twelve months thereafter.
(q) Inspections, tests and overhauls of backflow prevention devices shall be made at the expense of the water consumer and shall be performed by a person approved by the Municipality as qualified to inspect, test and overhaul backflow prevention devices.
(r) Whenever backflow prevention devices are found to be defective, they shall be repaired, overhauled or replaced at the expense of the consumer, without delay.
(s) The water consumer must maintain a complete record of each backflow prevention device from purchase to retirement. This record shall include a comprehensive listing that includes a record of all tests, inspections, repairs and overhauls. Records of inspections, tests, repairs and overhauls shall be submitted to the Municipality.
(t) Backflow prevention devices shall not be bypassed, made inoperative, removed or otherwise made ineffective without specific authorization by the Municipality.
(u) Existing backflow prevention devices, approved by the Municipality or the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency at the time of installation, and if properly maintained, shall, except for inspection, testing and maintenance requirements, be excluded from the requirements, provided the Municipality is assured that they will satisfactorily protect the public potable water system. Whenever the existing device is moved from the present location or requires more than minimum maintenance, or when the Municipality finds that the maintenance of the device constitutes a hazard to health, the device shall be replaced by a backflow prevention device meeting the requirements of these regulations.
(v) The Municipality 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 a manner acceptable to the supplier of water, or if it is found that the backflow prevention device was removed or by passed, or if an unprotected cross connection exists on the premises, or if a low pressure cut off on a booster pump is not installed or maintained in good working order, or if the supplier of water or his or her authorized representative is denied entry to determine compliance with this chapter or any provision of the Ohio Administrative Code.
(Ord. 25-10. Passed 12-14-10.)