(A) Purpose and authority.
(1) It is the purpose of this section to establish a program to assure that the public water supply is protected from any auxiliary water supply which may cause contamination due to backflow or cross-connections. The governing body recognizes that contamination of the public water supply presents an imminent health hazard to the residential and non-residential users of the public water system; the threat of significant economic loss due to disrupted water service to such residential and nonresidential users and the potential liability to the city.
(2) It is the further purpose of this section to meet the requirements of 401 KAR 8:020 as enacted by the Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet.
(B) Definitions. For the purpose of this section, the following definitions shall apply unless the context clearly indicates or requires a different meaning.
AUXILIARY WATER SUPPLY. Any water supply on or available to the premises other than the district or city public water supply. These AUXILIARY WATERS may include water from any natural source, such as a well, spring, river, stream, or body of water or any water or other substance of unknown or questionable quality that may present a health or system hazard to the potable public water supply.
BACKFLOW. The reversal of the normal flow of water caused by either back pressure or back siphonage.
BACKFLOW PREVENTION ASSEMBLY. An assembly or means designed to prevent backflow. A listing of acceptable BACKFLOW PREVENTION ASSEMBLIES and degree of hazard is available in the Kentucky State Plumbing Law, regulations and Code.
CONTAMINATION. An impairment of the quality of the potable water supply by any waste product, fluid, substance, compound, or other material to a degree which creates an actual or potential hazard to the public health through the spread of disease.
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 non-potable water or substance of questionable quality, through which, or because of which, backflow may occur into the potable water system.
THERMAL EXPANSION TANK. A device installed on the cold water supply line near a water heater to compensate for the expansion of water within a water system when such water is heated.
(C) Requirements. The district or city shall provide protection to the public water system against backflow by implementing the following requirements.
(1) Residential. Buildings used for habitation or occupancy shall be considered as residential buildings. No new water service connection to any premises shall be installed by the city unless such service connection is protected by a backflow prevention assembly. Residential service connections shall be considered as low hazard applications and all such connections shall have at a minimum a dual check valve backflow preventer installed between the water meter and the residence. The city may require additional or alternate backflow prevention assemblies if the degree of hazard constitutes a higher level of protection for the public water system.
(2) Nonresidential. No new water service connection to any nonresidential facility shall be installed or allowed to be installed by the city unless such water service connection is protected by a backflow prevention assembly. The type of protective device required shall be determined at the time of installation of the service connection and shall be commensurate with the degree of hazard at the point of such service connection. At a minimum, the service connection shall be installed with a dual check valve backflow preventer. In the event activities to occur within a nonresidential facility change and creates a higher degree of hazard, then the backflow prevention assembly shall be replaced with an assembly which provides acceptable protection.
(3) Inspections. The customer’s water system shall be open for inspection at all reasonable times to authorized representatives of the city to determine whether cross-connections or other structural or sanitary hazards, including violation of this section exist. When such a condition becomes known, the city may deny or immediately discontinue service to the premises by providing a physical break in the service line until the customer has corrected the condition in conformance with the state and local statutes relating to plumbing water supplies and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto. Water service to any premises shall be discontinued if it is found that a backflow prevention assembly required by this section 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.
(4) Existing service connections. All existing water service connections which do not have backflow prevention assemblies or existing water service connections which have less than a minimum required backflow prevention assemblies, shall, except for the inspection requirements, be excluded from the requirements of this section so long as the city is assured that the public water system is satisfactorily protected. However, if the district or city determines that a hazard to health exists, then a backflow prevention assembly meeting the requirements of this section may be installed on such existing service connection. Backflow prevention assemblies shall not be installed on existing service connections until after the property owner of such residential or commercial property has been informed of the actual and potential hazards that may be created as a result of such backflow assembly installation. Notices provided to such property owners shall include the following language as adopted in 815 KAR 20:120 § 1, Item (6), when cross-connection control devices are properly installed, they create a closed water system. A properly sized thermal expansion tank shall be installed in the cold water supply located as near the water heater as possible.
(Res. 2015-01.01, passed 10-19-2015)