(A) (1) Backflow prevention shall be required at every service connection to a user’s water system when the Department determines the potable water supplied by the public potable water system may be subject to contamination, pollution or other deterioration of quality by conditions within the user’s water system.
(2) Backflow prevention required by the Department shall be sufficient to protect against the potential degree of hazard to the public potable water supply from the user’s water system.
(B) (1) When any of the following items or activities are present or conducted on premises served by the potable water system, a potential hazard to the public potable water system shall be presumed and a backflow preventer, of the type specified for that item or activity herein, must be in place at each service connection for that premises:
(a) Aircraft and missile plants: RP;
(b) Animal clinics and animal grooming shops: RP;
(c) Automotive repair with steam cleaner, acid cleaning equipment or solvent facilities: RP;
(d) Auxiliary water systems (interconnected): RP;
(e) Auxiliary water systems (non-interconnected): DC;
(f) Beverage bottling plants: DC;
(g) Breweries: DC;
(h) Buildings greater than three stories or greater than 34 feet in height from curb level: DC;
(i) Buildings with house pumps and/or potable water storage tank: DC;
(j) Buildings with sewage ejectors (inadequate on-site protection): RP;
(k) Buildings with sewage ejectors (adequate on-site protection): DC;
(l) Canneries, packing houses and reduction plants: RP;
(m) Car wash facilities: RP;
(n) Centralized heating and air conditioning plants: RP;
(o) Chemical plants: RP;
(p) Chemically treated potable or non-potable water systems: RP;
(q) Civil works (government owned or operated facilities not open for inspection by the Department): RP;
(r) Commercial laundries: RP;
(s) Dairies and cold storage plants: DC;
(t) Dye works: RP;
(u) Film processing laboratories, facilities or equipment: RP;
(v) Food processing: DC;
(w) High schools and colleges: DC;
(x) Holding tank disposal stations: RP;
(y) Hospitals and mortuaries: RP;
(z) Medical and dental buildings, sanitariums, rest and convalescent homes engaged in the diagnosis, care or treatment of human illness: DC;
(aa) Irrigation system:
1. Premises having non-potable piping one inch and larger: RP; and
2. Premises having a separate system: RP.
(bb) Laboratories using contaminated materials: RP;
(cc) Manufacturing, processing and fabricating plants using toxic or nontoxic materials: RP;
(dd) Mobile home parks served by master meter: DC;
(ee) Motion picture studios: RP;
(ff) Oil and gas production facilities: RP;
(gg) Plating plants: RP;
(hh) Power plants: RP;
(ii) Radioactive materials processing facilities: RP;
(jj) Restricted, classified or other closed facilities: RP;
(kk) Rubber plants: RP;
(ll) Sand and gravel plants: RP;
(mm) Sewage and storm drainage facilities: RP;
(nn) Shopping centers: DC;
(oo) Any premises where a cross-connection is maintained: RP;
(pp) Water, trucks, hydraulic sewer cleaning equipment: RP and AG;
(qq) Any premises where water supplied by the city is subject to deterioration in sanitary quality and its entry into the public water system: RP; and
(rr) Fire protection systems will be required to have the following type of protection:
1. Direct connection from public water system (non-contaminating): DC;
2. Direct connection from public water system (contaminating): RP;
3. With pump and/or storage tank: RP; and
4. With auxiliary supply: DC and RP.
(2) When two or more of the items or activities listed above are present or concluded on the same premises and served by the same service connection, the most restrictive backflow preventer required for any of the items or activities present or conducted on the premises shall be required to be utilized or installed at the service connection. The order of most restrictive to least restrictive backflow preventers shall be as follows:
(a) Air gap (AG) (most restrictive);
(b) Reduced pressure principle assembly (RP);
(c) Double check valve assembly (DC); and
(d) Pressure vacuum breaker assembly (least restrictive): (PVB).
(3) If the Department determines, after inspection of the user’s system, that a backflow preventer less restrictive than that required in this section will provide adequate protection of the public potable water system, the Department may, in its sole discretion, modify the requirements of this section accordingly.
(4) Each backflow prevention assembly required hereunder shall be approved by the Department prior to installation and shall be installed by and at the expense of the user.
(5) (a) The Department may approve backflow assemblies when such devices have received approval from the Foundation for Cross-Connection Control and Hydraulic Research of the University of Southern California, American Water Works Association (A.W.W.A.).
(b) Assemblies shall be specified and located on the constructions plans for all new buildings, additions with new services, and changes of use of existing buildings. Approval shall be obtained prior to issuance of the building permit.
(Prior Code, § 8-10.05)
(Ord. 720, passed - -1993) Penalty, see § 51.99