(A) A CROSS-CONNECTION shall be defined as any physical connection or arrangement between two otherwise separate systems, one of which contains potable water from the town’s water system, and the other from a private source, water of unknown or questionable safety, or steam, gases, or chemicals, whereby there may be a flow from one system to the other, the direction of the flow depending on the pressure differential between the two systems.
(B) No person, firm, or corporation shall establish or permit to be established or maintain or permit to be maintained any cross-connection. No interconnection shall be established whereby potable water from a private, auxiliary, or emergency water supply other than the regular public water supply of the town may enter into the supply or distribution system of the town, unless such private, auxiliary, or emergency water supply shall have been approved by the town’s Water Utility and by the State Department of Environmental Management in accordance with 327 I.A.C. 8-10.
(C) It shall be the duty of the town’s Water Utility to cause inspections to be made of all properties served by the public water system where cross-connections with the public water system is deemed possible. The frequency of inspections and re-inspections based on potential health hazards involved shall be established by the town’s water utility.
(D) Upon presentation of credentials, the representative of the town’s water utility shall have the right to request entry at any reasonable time to examine the property served by a connection to the public water system of the town for cross-connections. On request, the owner, lessee, or occupant of any property so served shall furnish to the inspection agency any pertinent information regarding the piping system, or systems, on such property. The refusal of access or refusal of requested pertinent information shall be deemed prima facie evidence of the presence of cross-connection.
(E) The town’s water utility is hereby authorized and directed to discontinue water service to any property wherein any connection in violation of this section exists, and to take such other precautionary measures deemed necessary to eliminate any danger of contamination of the public water system. Water service shall be discontinued only after reasonable notice is served upon the owner, lessee, or occupants of the property or premises where a violation is found or suspected to exist. Water service to such property shall not be restored until the cross-connection(s) has/have been eliminated in accordance with the provisions of this section.
(F) If it is deemed by the town’s water utility that a cross-connection or an emergency endangers the public health, safety, or welfare and requires immediate action, and a written finding to that effect is filed with the Clerk-Treasurer and delivered to the consumer’s premises, service may be immediately discontinued. The consumer shall have an opportunity for hearing within ten days of such emergency discontinuance.
(G) All consumers using toxic or hazardous liquids, all hospitals, mortuaries, wastewater treatment plants, laboratories, and all other hazardous users shall install and maintain a reduced pressure principal backflow preventer in the main water line serving each building on the premises. The backflow preventer must be installed in an easily accessible location not subject to flooding or freezing.
(H) The reduced pressure principle backflow preventers shall not be installed below ground level.
(I) This section does not supersede the state’s Plumbing Code, the IDEM Rule 327 I.A.C. 8-10, or any plumbing ordinance of the town, but is supplementary to them.
(J) In addition to IDEM Rule 327 I.A.C. 8-10-4 (c), certain customer facilities, as determined by the town’s water utility need a backflow prevention device (see division (L) below for list of potential hazards).
(K) If, in the judgment of the Water Operator, an approved backflow prevention device is necessary for the safety of the public water system, the Water Operator 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 Water Operator and shall have inspections and tests made of such approved devices as required by the Water Operator and in accordance with IDEM Rule 327 I.A.C. 8-10.
(L) (1) Almost all water-using facilities may have actual or potential cross-connection hazards. The following is a partial list of facilities where cross-connections are likely to be found and the recommended device for backflow prevention. The type of device or method of protection required should be commensurate with the degree of hazard.
Facility | Device |
Facility | Device |
Aircraft and missile plants | RP |
Automotive plants | RP |
Beverage bottling plants | RP |
Breweries | RP |
Canneries, packing houses, and reduction plants | DC |
Car washes | RP |
Chemical plants | RP |
Commercial laundries and dye works | RP |
Dairies and cold storage plants | DC |
Fertilizer manufacturing plants | RP |
Film laboratories | RP |
Fountains | AG/RP/PVB/SPVB/DC |
Laboratories | RP |
Medical buildings, hospitals, mortuaries, morgues, sanitariums, and nursing homes | RP |
Metal manufacturing, cleaning, plating, processing, and fabricating plants | RP |
Motion picture studios | RP |
Oil and gas production plants | RP |
Paper and paper products plants | RP |
Photo labs | RP |
Power plants | RP |
Rubber plants | RP |
Schools and colleges with laboratories | RP |
Swimming pools | AG/RP/PVB/DC |
Wastewater treatment plants and wastewater and storm water pumping station | RP |
Water treatment plants | RP |
Waterfront facilities and industries | RP |
(2) Any fixture with a submerged inlet could be a cross-connection hazard. Potential cross-connections exist between the consumer’s water system and the following fixtures. The devices listed are only recommendations. The type of device or method of protection required should be commensurate with the degree of hazard.
Fixture | Device |
Fixture | Device |
Air-conditioning equipment with dual safe and unsafe water supplies or with direct sewer connection for wastewater | RP |
Any direct connection between water pipes and sewers, even though gate valves are used | RP |
Any individual vat, tank, and the like which has an inverted water supply connection or a water supply connection below the top of the spill rim | RP |
Aquariums with a below the rim water inlet | AG/RP |
Aspirators on chemical sprayers | AVB |
Aspirator on surgical, dental, or industrial equipment operated by water ejector | AVB |
Automatic device for filling tanks, boilers, and vats which have overflow connections to a sewer | AG/AVB |
Automatic soap dispenser | AG/AVB |
Baptistery with below the rim water connection | AG/AVB |
Bath with below the rim water connection | Not allowed |
Bedpan washer and sterilizer with below the rim water connection, or with inverted water supply subject to direct contamination | AVB |
Bidet with submerged inlet | AVB |
Bird bath with submerged inlet | AG/RP |
Boilers | AG/RP |
Cellar drains of the water ejector type | AG |
Cistern supply in private home, cross connected with the town supply | RP |
Coffee urn with direct water supply and sewer connections | AVB |
Combination faucet with one safe and one unsafe supply | AVB |
Commercial dishwashing machines | AVB |
Condenser on medical and industrial equipment | AG/RP |
Cuspidor with water supply connection | RP |
Dental cuspidor and saliva ejector with unprotected water supply connection | RP |
Dishwasher with water inlet below the rim | AVB |
Drinking fountain with submerged water inlet or with the water supply line passing through the drain | Not allowed |
Dual water supplies cross connected in factories and the like | RP |
Dual water supplies, such as hot water supply from an unsafe source | AG/RP |
Egg boiler having direct water supply and sewer connections | AVB |
Ejector actuated by direct water connection | RP |
Filter with waste connected direct to sewer | AG |
Fire hydrant with drain connection to sewer or weephole to the sewer or to the ground surrounding the sewer | RP |
Fish pond with submerged water inlet | AG/RP |
Floor drain having automatic device for sealing | AG |
Floor drain with flushing connection, often used in operating rooms | AVB |
Flush meter valve not protected with siphon breaker | AVB |
Foot tub with submerged water inlet | Not allowed |
Frost-proof hydrant, whether or not the valve drains to the sewer or to the ground surrounding the sewer | AVB |
Garbage can washers | AVB/PVBA |
Gas-type chlorinator with dual feed to mixing basin and clear well | AG/RP |
Grease trap with water supply connection for flushing | AG |
Hose for sink, laundry tray, soap kettles, and the like | AVB |
Hose outlets for washing down industrial, commercial, or other equipment | AVB |
Hospital equipment such as autoclave, instrument sterilizer, utensil sterilizer, and the like, with submerged inlets and with direct connections to the sewer | RP |
Hydraulic elevator with waste connection direct to sewer | AG |
Industrial processes requiring direct water connections | RP |
Industrial water supplies process appliances with direct water supply connections not having adequate air gaps | RP |
Kitchen fixtures with common waste and supply lines | Not allowed |
Kitchen sink garbage disposal or grinder | AG/AVB |
Lawn sprinkling systems | SPVB/PVB/DCV |
Lawn sprinkling systems with automatic chemical dispenser | SPVB/PVB/RP |
Leaky water main or service near sewer | RP |
Make-up water tank at swimming pool with below-water inlet | AG |
Ordinary home and store-type evaporative air cooling units, with a float valve to maintain water at a constant level | RP |
Pump pit with drain connection to sump or sewer line | AG |
Pump used for dual purposes, with one safe and one unsafe supply | AG/RP |
Pump used for unsafe material having a direct water connection for priming | AG/RP |
Refrigeration equipment with water cooling | AG/RP |
Rubber hose connection extending water line to below the overflow rim of sinks, lavatories, tanks, tubs, laboratory apparatus, and the like | AVB |
Rubber hose with hand control or self-closing faucets attached, as used in connection with baths, industrial vats, containers, and the like | AVB |
Sealing ring on sewage pump with direct water connection | AG/RP |
Seat-action water closet with pressure tank having a flush valve in or attached to the bowl | AVB |
Sewage lift with direct water connection | AG/RP |
Sinks with below-the-rim water inlets | Not allowed |
Siphon flush tank with water connection below the overflow rim | AG |
Sludge line with direct water connection for flushing | AG/RP |
Steam table with water supply connection entering the bottom of the table | AVB |
Sterilizers of all kinds, both medical and dental, with submerged inlets | RP |
Still with direct water connection | RP |
Swimming pool with direct water connection | AG/RP |
Tank with inverted supply or below-the-rim supply | AG |
Therapeutic bath with submerged inlet | AG |
Toilet equipped with flush meter valve attached to the bowl | AVB |
Tumbler washer in beverage sink having submerged inlet | AG/AVB |
Urinal having direct flushing device | AG |
Vat with inverted supply or below-the-rim supply | AG/RP |
Water closet of the hopper type with pressure tank having a flush valve in or attached to the bowl | AVB |
Water cooler improperly designed and using toxic refrigerant which may pollute the water supply | RP |
Water-operated aspirator in undertaking establishments, hospitals, and the like | AVB |
Water-operated aspirator on a suction flask in laboratories, and the like | AVB |
Water softener waste discharge or overflow pipe | AG |
Watering troughs (dairies, hog farms, and horse stables) | AG/AVB |
X-ray developing tank with submerged water supply inlet | RP |
Yard hydrant having drip openings below ground surface that may allow polluted ground water to drain into the water supply pipes | RP |
(Ord. G-13-06, passed 6-17-2013)