No person shall receive from the Lowell Regional Water Utility water or water service except at the rates and charges set forth in this Part
1.
No person shall injure any public pipe or reservoir
connected with the waterworks or shall break and enter the same or
draw or cause to be removed any of the water therefrom or shall turn
on or off the water in any such water pipe or reservoir or remove
the cover of any hydrant, except in case of fire, without the permission
of the Executive Director of the Lowell Regional Water Utility or
the Chief of the Fire Department.
The Executive Director of the Lowell Regional
Water Utility shall require all persons desiring water introduced
into the premises to sign up an application therefor, after which
he may without delay proceed to lay the necessary service pipe, in
all cases to the interior of the building, and all expenses incurred
beyond the line of the street shall be paid by the owner of the premises.
[Amended 12-23-2008]
The following regulations shall be considered a part of the contract with every person who takes the water, and every such person, by taking the water, shall be considered to express his assent to be bound thereby. They shall be printed on every bill for water rent, and whenever any one of them is violated, the Executive Director of the Lowell Regional Water Utility shall cause the water to be cut off from the building or place of such violation, although two or more parties may receive the water through the same pipe, and shall not let the water on again except by his order and on payment as provided in Chapter
150, Fees, and in case of any such violation, the Executive Director of the Lowell Regional Water Utility shall have the right to declare any payment made for the water by the person committing the violation to be forfeited and the same shall thereupon be forfeited.
A. All persons taking water shall keep the service pipe
within their premises, including any area beneath the sidewalk, in
good repair and protected from frost, at their own expense, and they
will be held liable for all damage which may result from their failure
to do so.
B. They shall prevent all unnecessary waste of water,
and there shall be no concealment of the purpose for which it is used.
C. No alterations shall be made in any of the pipes or
fixtures inserted by the City, except by its agents, who are to be
allowed to enter the premises supplied to examine the apparatus and
to ascertain whether there is any unnecessary waste.
D. No water is allowed to be supplied to parties not
entitled to the use of it under the City ordinances unless by special
permission.
E. The Executive Director of the Lowell Regional Water
Utility with the necessary agent and assistants may enter the premises
of any water taker to examine the quantity used and the manner of
use and to cut off the water for nonpayment of rents or fines or any
violation of the foregoing rules.
F. Every separate connection with the City service pipe
shall be provided with a stop and waste cock in the cellar, of a pattern
which has been approved by the Executive Director of the Lowell Regional
Water Utility.
The Executive Director of the Lowell Regional
Water Utility, or his designee, shall exercise a constant supervision
over the use of water and attend to the enforcement of all regulations
relating thereto. He shall make out and distribute all bills for the
same, and on or before the 10th day of January annually shall present
to the City Council a report containing a statement of the number
of water takers, the number of cases where the water has been cut
off, the number and amount of abatements, the expenditures in the
Utility and such other matters as he may deem expedient. He shall
keep suitable books in which shall be entered the names of all persons
who take the water, the kind of building, the name and number of the
street, the nature of the use, the number of taps and the amount charged.
All water bills shall be payable as indicated
on the bill, and any current bill paid within 30 days thereof shall
be entitled to a discount of 5%.
Repairs to meters may be made at the expense
of the owner whenever the Executive Director of the Lowell Regional
Water Utility deems repairs necessary, and no meter shall be moved,
disturbed, removed or interfered with without permission from the
Executive Director of the Lowell Regional Water Utility.
It shall be the duty of the police of the City
to report to the Executive Director of the Lowell Regional Water Utility
all cases of leakage, waste or unnecessary profusion in the use of
water and all violations of the water ordinances that may be brought
to their notice.
Under Public Law 93-523, the Safe Drinking Water
Act of 1974, and NHRSA Chapter 148, Protection of Sources of Water,
all as amended, the water purveyor has the primary responsibility
for preventing water from unapproved sources, or any other substances,
from entering the public potable water system.
As used in this article, the following words
and terms shall have the meanings respectively ascribed:
APPROVED
Accepted by the Executive Director of the Lowell Regional
Water Utility as meeting an applicable specification stated or cited
in this article or as suitable for the proposed use.
AUXILIARY WATER SUPPLY
Any water supply on or available to the premises other than
the purveyor's approved public potable water supply.
BACKFLOW
The flow of water or other liquids, mixtures or substances
into the distributing pipes of a potable water supply system from
any source or sources other than its intended source.
BACKFLOW PREVENTER
A device or means designed to prevent backflow or siphonage.
A.
AIR GAPThe 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 rim of said vessel. An approved air gap shall be as required by Lowell Regional Water Utility standards.
B.
REDUCED-PRESSURE-PRINCIPLE DEVICEAn assembly of two independently operating approved check valves with an automatically operating differential relief valve between the two check valves, tightly closing shutoff valves on either side of the check valves, plus properly located test cocks for the testing of the check and relief valves.
C.
DOUBLE CHECK-VALVE ASSEMBLYAn assembly of two independently operating approved check valves with tightly closing shutoff valves on each side of the check valves, plus properly located test cocks for the testing of each check valve.
D.
PRESSURE VACUUM BREAKERA device containing one or two independently operating loaded check valves and an independently operating loaded air inlet valve located on the discharge side of the check or checks.
BACKSIPHONAGE
The flow of water or other liquids, mixtures or substances
into the distributing pipes of a potable water supply system from
any source other than its intended source caused by the sudden reduction
of pressure in the potable water supply system.
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 hazard to the public health through
poisoning or through the spread of disease.
CROSS-CONNECTION
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
or backsiphonage may occur into the potable water system.
CROSS-CONNECTION CONTROL BY CONTAINMENT
The installation of any approved backflow prevention device
at the water service connection to any customer's premises or the
installation of an approved backflow prevention device 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 cross-connection.
CROSS-CONNECTION, CONTROLLED
A connection between a potable water system and a nonpotable
water system with an approved backflow prevention device properly
installed that will continuously afford the protection commensurate
with the degree of hazard.
HAZARD, DEGREE OF
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.
A.
HAZARD, HEALTH (HIGH HAZARD)Any condition, device, or practice in the water supply system and its operation which could create or, in the judgment of the Executive Director of the Lowell Regional Water Utility, may create a danger to the health and well-being of the water consumer.
B.
HAZARD, PLUMBING (HIGH HAZARD)A plumbing-type cross-connection in a consumer's potable water system that has not been properly protected by a vacuum breaker, air-gap separation or backflow prevention device. Unprotected plumbing-type cross-connections are considered to be a health hazard.
C.
HAZARD, POLLUTIONAL (LOW HAZARD)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 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.
INDUSTRIAL FLUIDS SYSTEM
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.
POLLUTION
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.
WATER, NONPOTABLE
Water which is not safe for human consumption or which is
of questionable potability.
WATER, POTABLE
Water from a source which has been approved by the Massachusetts
Division of Water Pollution Control for human consumption.
WATER SERVICE CONNECTION
The terminal end of a service connection from the public
potable water system, i.e., 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. 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.
WATER, USED
Any water supplied by a water purveyor from a public potable
water system to a customer's water system after it has passed through
the point of delivery and is no longer under the sanitary control
of the water purveyor.
All testing and/or maintenance performed on
backflow devices by the Lowell Regional Water Utility or its agent
will be charged to the owner of the device.