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Hillsborough Neighbors Find Water System Successes Easier
By Melody Jameson melody@observernews.net
Sep 20, 2007 - 10:54:41 PM

With kinder, gentler approaches, Hillsborough’s neighbors have taken on backflow prevention with fewer complaints and less controversy. 

This is the picture painted by water utility managers in several counties surrounding Hillsborough who attribute their successes in meeting public water protection objectives to a range of reasons.   Managers point to pro-active public information programs, employee training and willingness to work with customers as underpinning their cross connection control programs.  

Across Tampa Bay in Pinellas County, for instance, at established residences in the unincorporated county where a cross connection exists and backflow prevention is necessary, the county utility department itself handles  installation, passing its costs on to the customer. 

In sharp contrast to Hillsborough policy, on those properties where it is shown no cross connection exists between public water lines and irrigation lines, no fee is imposed and no valve is required.   

For the meter-attached double check valve assembly suited to the “medium or low hazard environment such as a shallow well or pond,” labor and materials for the three-quarter-inch installation is $245.00, said Ken Goergen, a manager in the technical section.  Labor and materials for the one-inch valve connection would be $265.00, he added. 

Customers are allowed 90 days without penalty to pay the charges, Goergen said.
The cross connection prevention program is not controversial or the subject of many complaints in Pinellas, the utility manager indicated, adding “we have a tremendous public education program.”  The utility provides packets of information to new homeowners, regularly conducts public information sessions for established communities and trains inspectors to carefully, clearly explain in person the reasons, requirements and procedures related to cross connection control, Goergen noted.  
 Pasco County, to the north, also stakes out gentler ground, letting the customer off the valve installation hook as soon as it is determined a cross connection does not exist.

When the county utilities department learns of a potential cross connection on a residential property due to presence of an auxiliary water system for irrigation, an inspector first will prove or disprove a cross connection, according to Nelson Holt, field supervisor in the water services section.
If no cross connection exists, the matter ends there, he said, and there is no charge whatsoever to the customer.
However, if a cross connection contamination of the public water supply is possible, the property owner is expected to sever the connection immediately - within 24 hours - and to install a backflow preventer within 10 days – half Hillsborough’s mandated timeframe.  If needed, the connection then can be re-established.
To prevent a contamination, Pasco expects the owner to install an RPZ above-ground valve at homeowner expense, Holt noted.   At the present time, he added, such units are being supplied and installed by certified plumbers in that area at the rate of about $350 for a three-quarter inch and about $400 for a one-inch diameter – considerably less than Hillsborough plumbers have been asking.

The county utility also requires annual inspection of the installed backflow preventers – and makes it easy.  Affected customers are billed $3.81 each month - for a yearly total of $45.72 - and the annual service is performed by department personnel, he said.

Pasco, like most jurisdictions, will suspend potable water service to the home if non-compliance occurs.  

However, Holt said that few complaints are heard and little resistance is encountered. He, too, attributed citizen cooperation to the public information and education efforts on the subject made by the department. 
Of all the surrounding counties, Polk, on Hillsborough’s eastern border, may be kindest to the public water customer.  Polk’s utility department routinely uses a dual check assembly with the below-ground water meter to prevent any potential contamination of public water on residential properties across the county. 
This has been the utility’s policy for nearly two decades, since the late 1980s, said Mike Crumpton, the organization’s technical service director.  Water meters, he added, periodically are replaced and over the years the dual check assemblies have been added to the system at meter change-outs.  Such assemblies, he also noted, are used for up to two-inch diameter connections.
The meter and dual check assembly replaced at change-out is provided at county expense.  A new meter and assembly installed at a newly-constructed home is charged to the owner as part of the connection fee,  $450.00.
The Polk program generally eliminates the burden of looking for and trying to remedy potentially harmful cross connections on residential sites where, for example, an auxiliary system for irrigation pumps water from a lake or shallow well, Crumpton indicated.   
Naturally, it also avoids setting in motion the citation cycle in which homeowners are accused of possibly contaminating potable water supplies and then forced to install remedial equipment at considerable cost. Moreover, it eliminates need for annual inspections by plumbers engaged and paid by customers.     
 On the other hand, Crumpton said, the utility does investigate and address any cross connection contamination coming to its attention.  When and where a hazard is found to exist, the department well may mandate installation of an RPZ or above-ground backflow valve at the property owner’s expense.  The department also can and will require an immediate cure, on the spot, possibly including shut-off of the potable water service, he added. 
However, preventing contaminating backflow into Polk’s public water supply,  Crumpton summed up, has been achieved without creating many headaches for either utility management or county residents.    
In Manatee County, to the south of Hillsborough, though, the policy is somewhat less customer-friendly and a specific problem has cropped up for managers, customers and law enforcement alike.
County staff there will inspect a residential property for a cross connection and if none is found, the matter is closed with no charge to the homeowner, said Sue Glasgow, Manatee’s cross connection coordinator.
If, however, a potentially contaminating connection is determined, the resident has no more than 10 days – also  half Hillsborough’s allotted time - to install the backflow preventer at owner expense, Glasgow said.  What’s more, the time allowed for installation could be cut even more, depending on the type of possible contamination, she added.  
And, Manatee’s utility department makes no bones about its intent to cut off service to a residential customer determined to have a potential cross connection that is not corrected. 
Backflow valve above-ground installation by the certified craftsman is running in the $600 neighborhood at the present time, Glasgow said.
 As for annual inspections of the installed backflow device, she said a department letter is sent the homeowner each year.  If no certification of inspection by a qualified plumber is received by the utility in 60 days, a written warning is issued.  If this communication is ignored, a notice of forthcoming inspection by county personnel in seven days at a charge of $40 per device goes out, she said. 
Annual inspections by plumbers range from $28 to $90, with the average being around $30, she added. 
The problem in Manatee County, as in other areas, is theft of the above-ground valves, Glasgow noted.  More than 100 of the devices have been stolen since January, she calculated. The Manatee County Sheriff’s Office is actively pursuing investigations, Glasgow added, trying to put the lid on thievery that nets the culprits $20 to $30 for the scrap metal contained in each unidentifiable valve and puts the homeowner out by several hundred dollars for each loss.   

© Melody G. Jameson 2007


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