(a) Water Purveyor.
(1) On new installations, the Water Purveyor will provide on-site evaluation and/or inspection of plans in order to determine the type of backflow preventer, if any, that will be required and will perform inspection and testing.
(2) For premises existing prior to the start of this program, the Water Purveyor will perform evaluations and inspections of plans and/or premises and inform the owner by letter of any corrective action deemed necessary, the method of achieving the correction, and the time allowed for the correction to be made. Ordinarily, ninety (90) days will be allowed. However, this time period may be shortened depending upon the degree of hazard involved and the history of the device(s) in question.
(3) The Water Purveyor will not allow any cross-connection to remain unless it is protected by an approved backflow preventer which will be regularly tested to insure satisfactory operation.
(4) The Water Purveyor shall inform the Owner by letter of any failure to comply by the time of the first re-inspection. The Purveyor will allow an additional fifteen (15) days for the correction. In the event the Owner fails to comply with the necessary correction by the time of the second re-inspection, the Water Purveyor will inform the Owner by letter, that the water service to the Owner's premises will be terminated within a period not to exceed five (5) days. In the event that the Owner informs the Water Purveyor of extenuating circumstances as to why the correction has not been made, a time extension may be granted by the Water Purveyor, but in no case will exceed an additional thirty (30) days.
(5) If the Water Purveyor determines at any time that a serious threat to the public health exists, the water service will be terminated immediately.
(6) The Purveyor will begin initial premise inspections to determine the nature of existing or potential hazards. Initial focus will be on high hazard industries and commercial premises.
(b) Owner.
(1) The Owner shall be responsible for the elimination or protection of all cross-connections on his premises.
(2) The Owner, after having been informed by a letter from the Water Purveyor, shall at his expense, install, maintain and test, or have tested, any and all backflow preventers on his premises.
(3) The Owner shall correct any malfunction of the backflow preventer which is revealed by periodic testing.
(4) The Owner shall inform the Purveyor of any proposed or modified cross-connection and also any existing cross-connections of which the Owner is aware, but have not been found by the Water Purveyor.
(5) The Owner shall not install a by-pass around any backflow preventer unless there is a backflow preventer of the same type on the bypass. Owners who cannot shut down operation for testing of the device(s) must supply additional devices necessary to allow testing to take place.
(6) The Owner shall install backflow preventers in a manner approved by the Water Purveyor.
(7) The Owner shall install only backflow preventers approved by the Water Purveyor or the WVBPH.
(8) Any Owner having a private well or other private water source must have the approval of the Water Purveyor and the WVBPH if the well or source is cross-connected to the Water Purveyor's system. Permission to cross-connect may be denied. The Owner may be required to install a backflow preventer at the service entrance if a private water source is maintained, even if it is not cross-connected to the Water Purveyor's system.
(9) In the event the Owner installs plumbing to provide potable water for domestic purposes which is on the Water Purveyor's side of the backflow preventer, such plumbing must have its own backflow preventer installed.
(10) The Owner shall be responsible for the payment of all fees for permits, annual or semi-annual device testing, retesting in the case that the device fails to operate correctly, and second re-inspections for non-compliance with Water Purveyor or WVBPH requirements.
Upon request, the Water Purveyor will submit records of inspection, surveys, tests or corrective actions to the West Virginia Bureau for Public Health.
(Passed 1-28-08.)