(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/provincial laws and regulations and this chapter. Service of water to any premises shall be discontinued by the water purveyor if a backflow prevention assembly required by this chapter is not installed, tested and maintained, or if it is found that a backflow prevention assembly 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) The customer’s system should be open for inspection at all reasonable times to authorized representatives of the city water system to determine whether cross-connections or other structural or sanitary hazards, including violations of these regulations, exists. When such a condition becomes known, the city 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(s) in conformance with state/provincial and city statutes relating to plumbing and water supplies and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto.
(C) An approved backflow prevention assembly 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; but in all cases, before the first branch line leading off the service line wherever the following conditions exist.
(1) In the case of premises having an auxiliary water supply that is not or may not be safe bacteriological or chemical quality and that is not acceptable as an additional source by the city, the public water system shall be protected against backflow from the premises by installing an approved backflow prevention assembly in the service line, appropriate to the degree of hazard.
(2) In the case of premises on which any industrial fluids or any other objectionable substances are 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 against backflow from the premises by installing an approved backflow prevention assembly in the service line, appropriate lo the degree of hazard. This shall include the handling process waters and waters originating from the utility system that have been subject to deterioration in quality.
(3) In the case of premises having: internal cross-connections that cannot be permanently corrected and controlled; or 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 an approved backflow prevention assembly in the service line.
(D) The type of protective assembly required under divisions (C)(1), (C)(2) and (C)(3) above shall depend upon the degree of hazard that exists as follows.
(1) In the ease of any premises where there is an auxiliary water supply is stated in division (C)(1) above, and is not subject to any of the following rules, the public water system shall protected the an approved air-gap separation or an approved reduced-pressure principle backflow prevention assembly.
(2) In the case of any premises where there is water or 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.
(3) In the case of any premises where there is any material dangerous to health that 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 assembly. Examples of premises where these conditions will exist include sewage treatment plants, sewage pumping stations, chemical manufacturing plants, hospitals, mortuaries and plating plants.
(4) 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 assembly at the service connection.
(5) 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 from these premises by either an approved air-gap separation or an approved reduced-pressure principle backflow prevention assembly on each service to the premises.
(6) In the case of any premises where, in the opinion of the city, an undue health threat is posed because of the presence of extremely toxic substances, the city may require an air gap at the service connection to protect the public water system. This requirement will be at the discretion of the city and is dependent on the degree of hazard.
(E) Any backflow assembly required herein shall be a model and size approved by the city. The term APPROVED BACKFLOW PREVENTION ASSEMBLY shall mean an assembly that has been manufactured in full conformance with the standards established by the American Water Works Association titled: AWWA C520-89 - Standard for Double Check Valve Backflow Prevention Assembly, and AWWA C511-89 - Standard for Reduced-Pressure Principle Backflow Prevention Assembly, and have 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: Specification of Backflow Prevention Assemblies § 10 of the most current issue of the Manual of Cross-Connection Control.
(1) Said AWWA and FCCHR standards and specifications have been and are hereby adopted by the city. Final approval shall be evidenced by a certificate of approval issued by an approved testing certifying full compliance with said AWWA standards and FCCHR specifications.
(2) The following testing laboratory has been qualified by the city to test and certify backflow preventors:
Foundation for Cross-Connection Control and Hydraulic Research
University of Southern California
University Park
Los Angeles, CA 90089
(3) Testing laboratories, other than the laboratory listed above, will be added to an approved list as they are qualified by city.
(F) Backflow preventors that may be subjected to backpressure or backsiphonage that have been fully tested and have been granted a certificate of approval by said qualified laboratory and are listed on the laboratory’s current list of approved backflow prevention assemblies are installed to have certified inspections and operational tests at least once a year. In those instances there the city deems the hazard to be great enough, certified inspections may be required at more frequent intervals. These inspections and tests shall be at the expense of the water user and shall be performed by the assembly manufacturers representative, or by a certified tester approved by the state and/or the city. It shall be the duty of the city to see that these tests are made in a timely manner. The customer/user shall notify the city in advance when tests are to be undertaken so that the city may witness the tests if so desired. These assemblies shall be installed, repaired, overhauled or replaced at the expense of the customer/user whenever said assemblies are found to be defective. Forms shall be made available to each customer/user for their representative to complete for repairs, inspections, overhauls and installation by the city.
(G) All presently installed backflow prevention assemblies that do not meet the requirements of this section but were approved assemblies for the purpose described herein at the time of installation and that have been properly maintained, shall, except for the inspection and maintenance requirements under division (F) above, be excluded from the requirements of these rules so long as the city is assured that they will satisfactorily protect the utility system. Whenever the existing assembly is moved from the present location, requires more than minimum maintenance, or when the city finds that the maintenance constitutes a hazard to health, the unit shall be replaced by an approved backflow prevention assembly meeting the requirements of this section.
(Ord. 485, passed 4-12-2005)