Huntington Park Municipal Code Art. 3 Cross-Connection Control

The Director of Field Services shall be responsible for the protection of the public potable water distribution system from contamination or pollution due to the backflow of contaminants or pollutants through water service connections. If, in the judgment of the Director of Field Services, an approved backflow prevention assembly is required at the customer's water service connection for the safety of the water system, the Director of Field Services or his or her designated agent shall give notice in writing to such customer to install such an approved backflow prevention assembly at specific locations on his or her premises. The consumer shall immediately install such approved assemblies at the consumer's own expense, and the failure, refusal, or inability on the part of the customer to install, have tested, and maintain such assemblies shall constitute a ground for discontinuing water service to the premises until such requirements have been satisfactorily met.

(§ 2, Ord. 441-NS, eff. February 3, 1988, as amended by § 2 (115), Ord. 624-NS, eff. Dec. 15, 1999)

For the purposes of this article, unless otherwise apparent from the context, certain words and phrases used in this article are defined as follows:

"Approved"

shall mean accepted by the Director of Field Services as meeting an applicable specification stated or cited in this article or as suitable for the proposed use.

"Auxiliary water supply"

shall mean any water supply on or available to the premises, other than the purveyor's approved public water supply, which will be considered an auxiliary water supply. Such auxiliary water may include water from another purveyor's public potable water supply or any natural source, such as a well, spring, river, stream, harbor, or the like, or "used waters" or "industrial fluids." Such waters may be contaminated or polluted, or they may be objectionable and constitute an unacceptable water source over which the water purveyor does not have sanitary control.

"Backflow"

shall mean the reversal of the normal flow of water caused by either back pressure or back siphonage.

"Back pressure"

shall mean the flow of water or other liquids, mixtures, or substances under pressure into the distribution pipes of potable water supply systems from any source or sources other than the intended source.

"Back siphonage"

shall mean 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.

"Backflow preventer"

shall mean an assembly or means designed to prevent backflow.

(1)

"Air-gap"

shall mean the 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 such 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"

shall mean 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 clocks 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 an approval by a recognized and City approved testing agency for backflow prevention assemblies. The assembly shall operate to maintain the pressure on the public water supply side of the assembly. At the cessation of a normal flow, the pressure between the two check valves shall be less than the pressure on the public water supply side of the device. In case of leakage of either of the check valves, the differential relief valve shall operate to maintain the reduced pressure in the zone between the check valves by discharging to the atmosphere. When the inlet pressure is two pounds per square inch or less, the relief valve shall open to the atmosphere. To be approved, such assemblies shall be readily accessible for inline testing and maintenance and be installed in a location where no part of the assembly will be submerged.

(3)

"Double check valve assembly"

shall mean 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 clocks 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 an approval by a recognized and City approved testing agency for backflow prevention assemblies. To be approved, such assemblies shall be readily accessible for in-line testing maintenance.

"Contamination"

shall mean 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.

"Cross-connection"

shall mean any physical connection or arrangement of piping or fixtures between two otherwise separate piping systems, one of which contains potable water and the other nonpotable water or industrial fluids of questionable safety, through which, or because of which, backflow may occur into the potable water system. This would include temporary connections, such as swing connections, removal sections, four way plug valves, spools, dummy sections of pipe, swivel or change-over devices, or sliding multiport tubes.

"Cross-connection, controlled"

shall mean 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.

"Cross-connection control by containment"

shall mean the installation of an approved backflow prevention assembly at the water service connection to any customer's premises where it is physically and economically infeasible to find and permanently eliminate or control all actual or potential cross-connections within the customer's water system, or "cross-connection control by containment" shall mean the installation of an approved backflow prevention assembly on the service line leading to the supplying of 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.

"Director of Field Services"

shall mean the Director of Field Services in charge of the Water Department of the City who is vested with the authority and responsibility for the implementation of an effective cross-connection control program and for the enforcement of the provisions of this article.

"Hazard, degree of"

shall mean a term derived from an evaluation of the potential risk to the public health and the adverse effect of the hazard upon the potable water system.

(1)

"Hazard, health"

shall mean any condition, device, or practice in the water supply system and its operation which could create or, in the judgment of the Director of Field Services, may create a danger to the health and wellbeing of the water consumer.

(2)

"Hazard, plumbing"

shall mean a plumbing type cross-connection in a consumer's potable water system which has not been properly protected by an approved air-gap or approved backflow prevention assembly.

(3)

"Hazard, pollutional"

shall mean an actual or potential threat to the physical properties of the water system, or to the potability of the public or the consumer's potable water system, or of a pollution or contamination which would have a protracted effect on the quality of the potable water in the system.

"Industrial fluids system"

shall mean 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 if 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; chemicals in fluid form; plating acids and alkalines; circulating cooling water connected to an open cooling tower and/or cooling towers which are chemically or biologically treated or stabilized with toxic substances; contaminated natural waters, such as from wells, springs, streams, oils, gases, glycerine, paraffins, and caustic and acid solutions, and other liquid and gaseous fluids used for industrial or other purposes or for fire-fighting purposes.

"Pollution"

shall mean the presence of any foreign substance (organic, inorganic, or biological) in water which substance tends to degrade the water 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.

"Water, nonpotable"

shall mean water which is not safe for human consumption or which is of questionable potability.

"Water, potable"

shall mean any water which, according to recognized standards, is safe for human consumption.

"Water service connection"

shall mean the terminal end of a service connection from the public potable water system; that is, where the water purveyor loses jurisdiction and sanitary control over the water at its point of delivery to the customer's water system. If a meter is installed at the end of the service connection, then the service connection shall mean the downstream end of the meter. There should be no unprotected takeoff 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. "Service connection" shall also include a water service connection from a fire hydrant and all other temporary or emergency water service connections from the public potable water system.

"Water, used"

shall mean any water supplied by a water purveyor from a public potable water system to a consumer's water system after the water has passed through the point of delivery and is no longer under the sanitary control of the water purveyor.

(§ 2, Ord. 441-NS, eff. February 3, 1988, as amended by § 2 (115), Ord. 624-NS, eff. Dec. 15, 1999)

(a) The water system shall be considered as made up of two parts: the utility system and the customer system.

(b) The utility system shall consist of the source facilities and the distribution system and shall include all those facilities of the water system under the complete control of the utility, up to the point where the customer's system begins.

(c) The source shall include all components of the facilities utilized in the production, treatment, storage, and delivery of water to the distribution system.

(d) The distribution system shall include the network of conduits used for the delivery of water from the source to the customer's system.

(e) The customer's system shall include those parts of the facilities beyond the termination of the utility distribution system which are utilized in conveying utility-delivered domestic water to points of use.

(§ 2, Ord. 441-NS, eff. February 3, 1988)

(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 laws and regulations and this Code. Service of water to any premises shall be discontinued by the water purveyor if a backflow prevention assembly required by this Code is not installed, tested, and maintained, or if it is found that a backflow prevention assembly has been removed or by-passed, or if an unprotected cross-connection exists on the premises. Service will not be restored until such conditions or defects are corrected.

The customer's system should be open for inspection at all reasonable times to authorized representatives of the Water Department to determine whether cross-connections or other structural or sanitary hazards, including violations of this article, exist. When such a condition becomes known, the Director of Field Services 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 in conformance with State and City statutes relating to plumbing and water supplies and regulations adopted pursuant thereto.

(b) 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, before the branch line leading off the service line, wherever the following conditions exist:

(1) In the case of 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 Director of Field Services, 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 fluid or any other objectionable substance is handled in such a fashion as to create an actual or potential hazard to the public water system, the public 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. This shall include the handling of process water and waters originating from the utility system which have been subject to deterioration in quality.

(3) In the case of premises having (1) an internal cross-connection which cannot be permanently corrected or controlled or (2) 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 crossconnections exist, the public water system shall be protected against backflow from the premises by installing an approved backflow prevention assembly in the service line.

(c) The type of protective assembly required pursuant to subsection (b) of this section shall depend upon the degree of hazard which exists, as follows:

(1) In the case of any premises where there is an auxiliary water supply as set forth in subsection (1) of subsection (b) of this section, and it is not subject to any of the rules set forth in subsections (2) through (5) of this subsection, the public water system shall be protected by an approved air-gap separation of an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly.

(2) In the case of any premises where there is water or a substance which 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 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 of premises where such 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 the premises by either an approved air-gap separation or an approved reduced pressure principle backflow prevention assembly on each service to the premises.

(d) Any backflow prevention assembly required by this article shall be of a model and size approved by the Director of Field Services. The term "approved backflow prevention assembly" shall mean an assembly which 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 & HR standards and specifications have been adopted by the Director of Field Services. Final approval shall be evidenced by a "Certificate of Approval" issued by an approved testing laboratory certifying full compliance with said AWWA standards and FCCC & HR specifications.

The following testing laboratory has been qualified by the Director of Field Services to test and certify backflow preventers: Foundation for Cross-Connection Control and Hydraulic Research, University of Southern California, University Park, Los Angeles, California 90089-0231. Testing laboratories other than said laboratory will be added to an approved list as they are qualified by the Director of Field Services.

Backflow preventers which may be subjected to back pressure or back siphonage and which 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" may be used without further test or qualification.

(e) It shall be the duty of the customer-user at any premises where backflow prevention assemblies are installed to have certified inspections and operational tests made at least once each year. In those instances where the Director of Field Services deems the hazard to be great enough, he or she may require certified inspections at more frequent intervals. Such inspections and tests shall be performed at the expense of the water user and shall be performed by the assembly manufacturer's representative, Water Department personnel, or by a certified tester approved by the Director of Field Services. It shall be the duty of the Director of Field Services to ascertain that such tests are made in a timely manner. The customer-user shall notify the Director of Field Services in advance when the tests are to be undertaken so that an official representative may witness the tests if so desired. Such assemblies shall be repaired, overhauled, or replaced at the expense of the customer-user whenever such assemblies are found to be defective. Records of such tests, repairs, and overhauling shall be kept and made available to the Director of Field Services.

(f) All presently installed backflow prevention assemblies which do not meet the requirements of this section but were approved devices for the purposes described in this section at the time of installation and which have been properly maintained, except for the inspection and maintenance requirements of the provisions of this section, shall be excluded from the requirements of said provisions so long as the Director of Field Services is assured such assemblies will satisfactorily protect the utility system. Whenever the existing device is moved from the present location or requires more than minimum maintenance, or when the Director of Field Services 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.

(§ 2, Ord. 441-NS, eff. February 3, 1988, as amended by § 2 (115), Ord. 624-NS, eff. Dec. 15, 1999)