Department of Environmental Protection
Report on Backflow Prevention

The Department of Environmental Protection issued an Interim Report of the Backflow Prevention Task Force. Below are excerpts from the Report---

BACKGROUND
Section 5-1.31 of the State DOH/Sanitary Code requires that each supplier of water protect the public water supply system by requiring containment of hazardous backflow through the installation of air gaps, reduced pressure zone devices (RPZ’s) or double check valves (DCV’s) on water service lines. The purpose of installing such devices is to insure that any contamination of the water supply within a building does not migrate into the public water supply system.

In 1981 the New York State Department of Health issued guidelines on how local suppliers of water were to classify degrees of hazard so that it could be determined whether a water service line for a building required an Air Gap, RPZ, DCV, or no device at all. Consistent with those guidelines, in an October 22, 1998 report, DEP estimated that approximately 105,000 buildings in New York City may require some sort of protective device. DEP also reported that, as of September 1998, the installation of 4963 devices had been completely approved and installed with another 1578 devices in various stages of review or approval but without evidence of completed installation.

UNIVERSE OF BUILDINGS THAT M UST COMPLY
While the Task Force did not have the expertise to determine whether the DEP estimate of 105,000 buildings was accurate, all members agreed that compliance efforts should be directed at the buildings with the greater potential (hazardous) health risks in the event of a cross connection incident (e.g. hospitals, colleges/universities, mortuaries, etc). With that goal in mind, DEP identified approximately 22,765 buildings in this "hazardous" category. The Task Force agreed that compliance efforts should be directed at this group, with a goal to achieve compliance within five (5) years.

COMPLIANCE PROTOCOL FOR NEW INSTALLATIONS
It was obvious that after 12 years, compliance is at a low level. Compliance is only 30 if viewing the higher risk building (6541 out of approximately 22,765). It should be noted that there may be an additional 82,235 buildings which may also require devices and which may not be in compliance.

Under the current Rules (RCNY Title 15/Chapter 20) when an owner continues to ignore the demands of the Department to install a device the Commissioner of DEP is only empowered to shut off the water supply to the building.

In view of the above, the Task Force has recommended the following protocol to achieve maximum compliance:
[verifying inspections by DEP personnel, letters to owners, 2nd letter to owner consultation with Dept of Health, violation issuance, cease & desist order, water shut off]

COMPLIANCE PROTOCAL FOR ANNUAL TESTS
Compliance with the statutory annual test requirement is also low.
For 1999 compliance was only 38%, with 2444 annual test reports submitted for the 6541 devices on record at DEP. To address this, the Task Force recommended that DEP be given the authority to issue Notices of Violation to owners who fail to comply.

The Department of Environmental Protection draft revision of RCNY Title 15, Chapter 20 authorizes increased enforcement powers for the DEP Commissioner (i.e. Notices of Violation for non-compliance with annual testing requirements).

RECOMMENDATIONS
1. Promulgate draft revision of RCNY Title 15, Chapter 20.
2. Increase staff of the Division of Permitting and Connections of BWSO to sufficient levels to achieve the 5-year target goal.
3. Develop comprehensive computerized compliance tracking systems.
4. Continue Task Force meetings regularly in order to continue to define (in conjunction with recommendations fro NYSDOH) the direction of: