[Adopted May 1996 ATM as Title 2, Ch. 12, § 6,
of the General Bylaws]
The purpose of this bylaw is:
A.
To protect the public potable water supply of the Town of Upton from
the possibility of contamination or pollution by isolating within
the customer's internal distribution system(s) or the customer's private
water system(s) such contaminants or pollutants that could backflow
into the public water system;
B.
To 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 systems, plumbing fixtures, and industrial
piping systems; and
C.
To provide for the maintenance of a continuing program of cross-connection
control that will systematically and effectively prevent the contamination
or pollution of all potable water systems.
As provided in the federal Safe Drinking Water Act of 1974 (Public
Law 93-523)[1] and the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Drinking Water Regulations,
310 CMR 22.22, the water purveyor has the primary responsibility for
preventing water from unapproved sources or any other substances from
entering the public potable water system.
[1]
Editor's Note: See 42 U.S.C. § 300f et seq.
The Upton Water Department 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
the water service connection. If in the judgment of the Upton Water
Department 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 water system, the Upton Water
Department or its designated agent shall give notice, in writing,
to said customer to install such an approved backflow-prevention assembly(s)
at specific location(s) on his/her premises. The customer shall immediately
install such approved assembly(s) at his/her own expense, and failure,
refusal, or inability on the part of the customer to install, have
tested, and maintain said assembly(s) shall constitute grounds for
discontinuing water service to the premises until such requirements
have been satisfactorily met.
Accepted by the authority responsible as meeting an applicable
specification stated or cited in this bylaw or as suitable for the
proposed use.
Any water supply on or available to the premises other than
the purveyor's approved public 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,
and so forth; used 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 water purveyor does not
have sanitary control.
The undesirable reversal of flow in a potable water distribution
system as a result of a cross-connection.
An assembly or means designed to prevent backflow.
AIR GAPThe obstructed vertical distance through the free atmosphere between the lowest opening from any pipe or faucet conveying water or waste to a tank, plumbing fixture, receptor, or other assembly and the flood-level rim of the receptacle. These vertical, physical separations must be at least twice the diameter of the water supply outlet, never less than one inch (25 mm).
REDUCED PRESSURE BACKFLOW-PREVENTION ASSEMBLYThe approved reduced-pressure principle backflow-prevention assembly consists of two independently acting approved check valves together with a hydraulically operating, mechanically independent pressure differential relief valve located between the check valves and below the first valve. These units are located between two tightly closing, resilient-seated shutoff valves as an assembly and equipped with properly located resilient-seated test cocks.
DOUBLE CHECK-VALVE ASSEMBLYThe approved double check-valve assembly consists of two internally loaded check valves, either spring-loaded or internally weighted, installed as a unit between two tightly closing, resilient-seated shutoff valves and fittings with properly located resilient-seated test cocks. This assembly shall only be used to protect against a nonhealth hazard (that is, a pollutant).
A pressure, higher than the supply pressure, caused by a
pump, elevated tank, boiler, or any other means that may cause backflow.
Backflow caused by negative or reduced pressure in the supply
piping.
An impairment of potable water supply by the introduction
or admission of any foreign substance that degrades the quality and
creates a health hazard.
A connection or potential connection between any part of
a potable water system and any other environment containing other
substances in a manner that, under any circumstances would allow such
substances to enter the potable water system. Other substances may
be gases, liquids, or solids, such as chemicals, waste products, steam,
water from other sources (potable or nonpotable), or any matter that
may change the color or add odor to the water.
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 that cannot be effectively
eliminated or controlled at the point of the cross-connection.
A connection between a potable water system and a nonpotable
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.
The Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection.
The term is derived from an evaluation of the potential risk
to public health and the adverse effect of the hazard upon the potable
water system.
HAZARD, HEALTHA cross-connection or potential cross-connection involving any substance that could, if introduced in the potable water supply, cause death or illness, spread disease, or have a high probability of causing such effects.
HAZARD, PLUMBINGA plumbing-type cross-connection in a consumer's potable water system that has not been properly protected by an approved air gap or an approved backflow-prevention assembly.
HAZARD, NONHEALTHA cross-connection or potential cross-connection involving any substance that generally would not be a health hazard but would constitute a nuisance or be aesthetically objectionable if introduced into the potable water supply.
HAZARD, SYSTEMAn actual or potential threat of severe damage to the physical properties of the public potable water system or the consumer's potable water system or of a pollution or contamination that would have a protracted effect on the quality of the potable water in the system.
Any system containing a fluid or solution that may be chemically,
biologically, or otherwise contaminated or polluted in a form or concentration
such as would constitute a health, system, pollution, 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 that may have deteriorated in sanitary quality; chemicals
in fluid form; plating acids and alkalies; circulating cooling waters
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 wells, springs, streams, rivers,
bays, harbors, seas, irrigation canals or systems, and so forth; oils,
gases, glycerine, paraffins, caustic and acid solutions, and other
liquid and gaseous fluids used in industrial or other purposes for
firefighting purposes.
The presence of any foreign substance in water that tends
to degrade its quality so as to constitute a nonhealth hazard or impair
the usefulness of the water.
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 takeoffs from the
service line ahead of any meter or backflow-prevention assembly located
at the point of delivery to the customer's water system. Service connection
shall also include water service connection from a fire hydrant and
all other temporary or emergency water service connections from the
public potable water system.
The Superintendent in charge of the Water Department of the
Town of Upton is invested with the authority and responsibility for
the implementation of an effective cross-connection control program
and for the enforcement of the provisions of this bylaw.
Water that is not safe for human consumption or that is of
questionable quality.
Water that is safe for human consumption as described by
the public health authority having jurisdiction.
Any water supplied by a water purveyor from a 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 water purveyor.
A.
The Upton Water Department will operate an active cross-connection
control program, to include the keeping of necessary records, which
fulfills the requirements of the State DEP's Cross-Connection Regulations
and is approved by the DEP.
B.
The owner shall allow his property to be inspected for possible cross-connections
and shall follow the provisions of the Upton Water Department's program
and the DEP regulations.
A.
Water system.
(1)
The water system shall be considered as made up of two parts: the
utility system and the customer system.
(2)
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 (usually at the meter).
(3)
The source shall include all components of the facilities utilized
in the production, treatment, storage, and delivery of water to the
distribution system.
(4)
The distribution system shall include the network of conduits used
for the delivery of water from the source to the customer's system.
(5)
The customer's system shall include those parts of the facilities
beyond the termination of the utility distribution system that are
utilized in conveying utility-delivered domestic water to points of
use.
B.
Policy.
(1)
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 bylaw.
Service of water to any premises shall be discontinued by the water
purveyor if a backflow-prevention assembly required by the bylaw is
not installed, tested, and maintained, or if it is found that a backflow-prevention
assembly has been removed or bypassed, or if an unprotected cross-connection
exists on the premises. Service will not be restored until such conditions
or defects are corrected.
(2)
The customer's system should be open for inspection at all reasonable
times to authorized representatives of the Town of Upton Water Department
to determine whether cross-connections or other structural or sanitary
hazards, including violations of these regulations, exist. When such
a condition becomes known, the Upton Water Department 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 Town statutes
relating to plumbing and water supplies and the regulations adopted
pursuant thereto.
(3)
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:
(a)
In the case of premises having an auxiliary water supply that
is not or may not be of safe bacteriological or chemical quality and
that is not acceptable as an additional source by the Upton Water
Department, 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.
(b)
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 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 waters and waters originating from the utility
system that have been subject to deterioration in quality.
(c)
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.
(4)
The type of protective assembly required under Subsection B(3)(a), (b) and (c) shall depend upon the degree of hazard that exists as follow:
(a)
In the case of any premises where there is an auxiliary water supply as stated in Subsection B(3)(a) of this section and it 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 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.
(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.
(f)
In the case of any premises where, in the opinion of the Upton
Water Department, an undue health threat is posed because of the presence
of extremely toxic substances, the Upton Water Department may require
an air gap at the service connection to protect the public water system.
This requirement will be at the discretion of the Upton Water Department
and is dependent on the degree of hazard.
(5)
Any backflow-prevention assembly required herein shall be a model
and size approved by the DEP and the Upton Water Department. The backflow-prevention
assemblies must comply with the DEP list of approved backflow prevention
devices, as amended.
(6)
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 per year. In those instances
where the Upton Water Department 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 manufacturer's representative,
Town of Upton Water Department personnel, or by a certified tester
approved by the Upton Water Department. Fees for backflow prevention
assembly inspection and testing conducted by the Town of Upton Water
Department will be assessed at the rate of $100 for each backflow
prevention assembly installed or required. It shall be the duty of
the Upton Water Department to see that these tests are made in a timely
manner. The customer-user shall notify the Upton Water Department
in advance when the tests are to be undertaken so that the customer-user
may witness the tests if so desired. These 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 and made available to the Upton
Water Department.
(7)
All presently installed backflow-prevention assemblies that do not meet the requirements of this section but were approved assemblies for the purposed described herein at the time installation and that have been properly maintained shall, except for the inspection and maintenance requirements under Subsection B(6), be excluded from the requirements of these rules so long as the Upton Water Department 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 Upton Water Department 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.
