Del Mar Municipal Code Ch. 21.20 Water Supply—backflow Prevention

A. The purpose of this Chapter is to:

1. Protect the public potable water supply of the City from the possibility of contamination or pollution by isolating within the customer's internal distribution system(s) such contaminants or pollutants which could backflow into the public water systems;

2. Promote the elimination or control of existing cross-connections, actual or potential, between the customer's in-plant potable water system(s) and nonpotable water system(s), plumbing fixtures, and industrial piping systems; and

3. Provide for the maintenance of a continuing program of cross-connection control which will systematically and effectively prevent the contamination or pollution of all potable water systems to the greatest extent feasible.

B. Responsibility. The Responsible Official shall be responsible for the protection of the public potable water distribution system from pollutants through any water service connection. If, in the judgement of the Responsible Official, an approved backflow prevention assembly is required at the customer's water service connection; or within the customer's private water system for the safety of the City water system, the Responsible Official shall give notice in writing to said customer to install an approved backflow prevention assembly(s) at specific location(s) on the premises. The customer shall immediately install such approved assembly(s) at the customer's own expense; and, failure, refusal or inability on the part of the customer to install, have tested and maintain said assembly(s) shall constitute a ground for discontinuing water service to the premises until such requirements have been satisfactorily met.

C. Reference. The provisions of the California Administrative Code, Title 17, §§ 758 et seq., as amended from time to time, are hereby adopted by reference. The Manual of Cross-Connection Control as published by the Foundation for Cross-Connection Control and Hydraulic Research, latest edition, is hereby adopted by reference.

(Ord. No. 550)

A. Responsible Official means the City Manager, or the City Manager's designated agent, is invested with the authority and responsibility for the implementation of an effective cross-connection control program and for the enforcement of the provision of this Chapter.

B. Approved means accepted by the Responsible Official as meeting an applicable specification stated or cited in the ordinance, or as suitable for the proposed use.

C. Auxiliary Water Supply means any water supply on or available to the premises other than the City's water supply will be considered as an auxiliary water supply. These auxiliary waters may include water from another purveyor's public potable water supply or any natural source(s) such as a well, spring, river, stream, harbor, etc., or "reclaimed or recycled waters" or "industrial fluids." These waters may be contaminated or polluted or they may be objectionable and constitute an unacceptable water source over which the City does not have sanitary control.

D. Backflow means the reversal of the normal flow of water caused by either back-pressure or back-siphonage.

E. Back-Pressure means the flow of water or other liquids, mixtures or substances under pressure into the distribution pipes of a potable water supply system from any source or sources other than the intended source.

F. Back-Siphonage means the flow of water or other liquids, mixtures or substances into the distribution pipes of a potable water supply from any source other than its intended source caused by the reduction of pressure in the potable water supply system.

G. Backflow Preventer means an assembly or means designated to prevent backflow.

1. Air-Gap means an unobstructed vertical distance through the free atmosphere between the lowest opening from any pipe or faucet supplying water to a tank, plumbing, fixture, or other device and the flood level rim of said vessel. An approved air-gap shall be at least double the diameter of the supply pipe, measured vertically, above the overflow rim of the vessel; and in no case less than one inch.

2. Reduced Pressure Principle Assembly means an assembly of two independently acting approved check valves together with a hydraulically operating, mechanically independent differential pressure relief valve located between the check valves and at the same time below the first check valve. The unit shall include properly located test cocks and tightly closing shut-off valves at each end of the assembly. The entire assembly shall meet the design and performance specifications as determined by a laboratory and a field evaluation program resulting in approval by a recognized and City-approved testing agency for backflow prevention assemblies.

3. Double Check Valve Assembly means an assembly of two independently operating approved check valves with tightly closing shut-off valves on each end of the check valves, plus properly located test cocks for the testing of each check valve. The entire assembly shall meet the design and performance specifications as determined by a laboratory and field evaluation program resulting in approval by a recognized and City-approved testing agency for backflow prevention assemblies. To be approved, these assemblies must be readily accessible for in-line testing and maintenance.

H. Contamination - An impairment of the quality of the potable water by sewage, industrial fluids or waste liquids, compounds or other materials to a degree which creates an actual or potential hazard to the public health through poisoning or through the spread of disease, or through other deleterious effects.

I. Cross-Connection means 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 industrial fluids of questionable safety, through which, or because of which, backflow may occur into the potable water system. This would include any temporary connections, such as swing connections, removable sections, four-way plug valves, spools, dummy sections of pipe, swivel or change-over devices or sliding multiport tubes.

J. Cross-Connections—Controlled means a connection between a potable water system and a non-potable water system with an approved backflow prevention assembly properly installed and maintained so that it will continuously afford the protection commensurate with the degree of hazard.

K. Cross-Connection Control by Containment means the installation of an approved backflow prevention assembly at the water service connection to any customer's premises where it is physically and economically unfeasible to find and permanently eliminate or control all actual or potential cross-connections within the customer's water system; or, it shall mean the installation of an approved backflow prevention assembly on the service line leading to and supplying a portion of a customer's water system where there are actual or potential cross-connections which cannot be effectively eliminated or controlled at the point of the cross-connection.

L. Hazard, Degree of means an evaluation of the potential risk to public health and the adverse effect of the hazard upon the potable water system as defined below:

1. Hazard—Health means any condition, device, or practice in the water supply system and its operation which could create, or in the judgement of the Responsible Official, may create a danger to the health and well-being of the water consumer.

2. Hazard—Plumbing means a plumbing type cross-connection in a customer's potable water system that has not been properly protected by an approved air-gap or approved backflow prevention assembly.

3. Hazard—Pollutional means an actual or potential threat to the physical properties of the water system or to the potability of the public or the customer's potable water system but which would constitute a nuisance or be aesthetically objectionable or could cause damage to the system or its appurtenances, but would not be dangerous to health.

4. Hazard—System means an actual or potential threat of severe damage to the physical properties of the public potable water system or the customer's potable water system or of a pollution or contamination which would have a protracted affect on the quality of the potable water in the system.

M. Industrial Fluids System means any system containing a fluid or solution which may be chemically, biologically or otherwise contaminated or polluted in a form or concentration such as would constitute a health, system, pollutional or plumbing hazard introduced into an approved water supply. This may include, but not be limited to: polluted or contaminated waters; all types of process waters and "used waters" originating from the public potable water system which may have deteriorated in sanitary quality; sewage; chemicals in fluid form; plating acids and alkalies, circulating cooling water connected to an open cooling tower and/or cooling towers that are chemically or biologically treated or stabilized with toxic substances; contaminated natural waters such as from wells, springs, streams, rivers, bays, harbors, seas, irrigation canals or systems, etc., oils, gases, glycerin, paraffins, caustic and acid solutions and other liquid and gaseous fluids used in industrial or other purposes or for fire-fighting purposes.

N. Pollution means the presence of any foreign substance (organic, inorganic, or biological) in water which tends to degrade its quality so as to constitute a hazard or impair the usefulness or quality of the water to a degree which does not create an actual hazard to the public health, but which does adversely and unreasonably affect such waters for domestic use.

O. Water—Potable means any water which, according to recognized standards, is safe for human consumption.

P. Water—Non-Potable means water which is not safe for human consumption or which is of questionable potability.

Q. Water—Service Connection means the terminal end of a service connection from the City's water system; i.e., where the City loses jurisdiction and sanitary control over the water at its point of delivery service connection, then the service connection shall mean the downstream end of the meter. There should be no unprotected take-offs from the service line ahead of any meter or any backflow prevention assembly located at the point of delivery to the customer's water system. A service connection shall also include a water service connection from a fire hydrant and all other City-approved temporary or emergency water service connections from the public potable water system.

R. Water—Used means any water supplied by a City from its public potable water system to a consumer's water system after it has passed through the point of delivery and is no longer under the sanitary control of the City.

S. 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 entitled:

AWWA C506-84 Standards for Reduced Pressure Principle and Double Check Valve Backflow Prevention Devices;

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:

Specifications of Backflow Prevention Assemblies Section 10 of the most current issue of the MANUAL OF CROSS-CONNECTION CONTROL.

Said AWWA and FCCC and HR specifications are hereby adopted by the City.

T. Approved Testing Laboratory is a person or firm found on the County of San Diego Cross-Connection Control Program's list of certified testers.

A. No water service connection to any premises shall be installed or maintained by the City unless the water supply is protected as required by State laws and regulations and this Chapter. Service of water to any premises shall be discontinued by the City if a back-flow prevention assembly required by the Chapter is not installed, tested and maintained, or if it is found that a backflow prevention assembly has been removed, bypassed, made nonfunctional or if an unprotected cross-connection exists on the premises. Service will not be restored until such conditions or defects are corrected.

B. Upon reasonable notice, the customer's 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 violations of these regulations, exist. When such a condition becomes known, the Responsible Official may, if in the Responsible Officials' opinion a hazard to public health exists, 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 and City statutes relating to plumbing and water supplies and the regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

C. An approved backflow prevention assembly shall also 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, in an easily accessible location before the first branch line leading off the service line wherever the following conditions exist:

1. Any premises having an auxiliary water supply which is not or may not be of safe bacteriological or chemical quality and which is not acceptable as an additional source by the State Department of Health Services.

2. Any premises on which any industrial fluids or any other objectionable substance is handled in such a fashion as to create an actual or potential hazard to the public water system. This shall include the handling of process waters and waters originating from the utility system which have been subject to deterioration in quality.

3. Any premises having (1) internal cross-connection that cannot be permanently corrected or controlled, or (2) intricate plumbing and piping arrangements or where entry to all proportions of the premises is not readily accessible for inspection purposes, making it impracticable or impossible to ascertain whether or not dangerous cross-connections exist.

4. Any premises having a separate irrigation system(s).

Plants or facilities where backflow prevention assemblies will usually be required are without limitation:

1. Auxiliary Water Systems.

2. Buildings—Hotels, Apartment Houses, Public and Private Buildings, or any other structures having unprotected cross-connections.

3. Car Wash Facilities.

4. Chemical Plants—Manufacturing, Processing, Compounding or Treatment.

5. Chemically Contaminated Water Systems.

6. Civil Works.

7. Film Laboratories.

8. Fire Systems.

9. Hospitals, Medical Buildings, Sanitariums, Morgues, Mortuaries, Autopsy Facilities, Nursing and Convalescent Homes and Clinics.

10. Irrigation Systems—Premises Having Separate Systems (i.e. Parks, Playgrounds, Cemeteries, Golf Courses, Schools, Estates, Ranches, etc.).

11. Laundries and Dye Works.

12. Metal Manufacturing, Cleaning, Processing and Fabricating Plants.

13. Multi-storied Buildings.

14. Multiple Services—Interconnected.

15. Oil and Gas Production, Storage or Transmission Properties.

16. Paper and Paper Products Plants.

17. Plating Plants.

18. Power Plants.

19. Radioactive Materials or Substances—Plants or Facilities Handling.

20. Restricted, Classified or other Closed Facilities.

21. Rubber Plants—Natural or Synthetic.

22. Sand and Gravel Plants.

23. Schools and Colleges.

24. Sewage and Storm Drain Facilities, Reclaimed Water Plants.

25. Solar Heating Systems—Direct Auxiliary.

26. Temporary Service.

27. Waterfront Facilities and Industries, Marinas.

28. Any other facility required by State law, local ordinances, or the Responsible Official.

Note: A detailed discussion of plants and facilities that usually require backflow prevention assemblies and the degree of protection required can be found in Section 7 of the Manual of Cross Connection Control, which is adopted by reference in Subsection 21.20.010.C.

The type of protective assembly required shall depend upon the degree of hazard which exists as follows:

A. In the case of any premises where there is an auxiliary water supply which is not subject to any of the following rules, the public water system shall be protected by an approved air-gap separation or an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly.

B. 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.

C. In the case of any premises where there is any material dangerous to health which 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 where these conditions will exist include sewage treatment plants, sewage pumping stations, chemical manufacturing plants, hospitals, dental and medical offices, mortuaries and plating plants.

D. 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.

E. 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 the premises by either an approved air-gap separation or an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly on each service to the premises.

A. Any backflow prevention assembly required herein shall be a model and size approved by the Responsible Official.

B. Final approval shall be evidenced by a "Certificate of Approval" issued by an approved testing laboratory certifying full compliance with the said AWWA standards and FCCC & HR specifications.

C. Backflow preventers which may be subjected to back-pressure or back-siphonage that have been fully tested and have been granted a Certificate of Approval by an approved testing laboratory and are listed on the laboratory's current list of "Approved Backflow Prevention Assemblies" may be used without further test or qualification.

D. Any newly installed backflow prevention assembly must be tested and certified by an approved testing laboratory prior to being connected to the City water system.

A. It is the responsibility of the customer at any premises where backflow prevention assemblies are installed to maintain the assemblies in full operating condition at all times and to have certified inspections and operational tests made at least once per year. In those instances where the Responsible Official deems the hazard to be great enough, he/she may require certified inspections at more frequent intervals. These inspections and tests shall be at the expense of the customer and shall be performed by an approved testing laboratory. It shall be the duty of the Responsible Official to see that these tests are made in a timely manner. The City shall maintain records of the tests. Customers will be notified by the City approximately one month prior to the backflow test due date. The customer-user shall notify the Responsible Official at least one week in advance of the retest date so that a representative of the City may witness the tests, if desired.

B. Assemblies shall be repaired, overhauled or replaced at the expense of the customer-user whenever said assemblies are found to be defective. Records of such tests, repairs and overhaul shall be kept by the customer and a copy shall be sent to the City.

C. If the Responsible Official has reason to question the accuracy of the tests or certification, the Responsible Official may require the customer to retest the backflow prevention assemblies.

D. The City may require the payment of a fee for the administration, notification and other City costs associated with regulation of backflow prevention devices and compliance with this Chapter.

E. A non-compliance fee in an amount set forth in the City of Del Mar Fee Schedule will be assessed to those customers who fail to certify that their backflow preventive devices have been tested within the 45 days provided from the time of notification by the City. If certification is not received within 15 days after the 45-day fee is imposed, service will be subject to termination under the conditions stipulated in Subsections 21.12.130.B., C.

(Ord. No. 650, § 4; Ord. No. 968, § 3, 7-20-2020)