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Municipalities Exert Pressure to Protect Water Building Owners Responsible for Safety Installations
November, 2008
By Barbara Carss
Municipalities across Ontario are moving to safeguard the water supply with by-laws that compel building owners to install backflow protection devices on all connections to the municipal water main. Recently constructed buildings may already comply with the requirement since the technology has been widely available since the 1990s, and the 2006 Ontario Building Code mandated measures to prevent backflow into the drinking water system from buildings categorized as high hazards.
Retrofit costs should be relatively minor for property owners who now have to catch up. Plumbing contractors qualified to perform the work estimate that it should cost in the range of $5,000 to $10,000 for a straightforward installation on a four-inch pipe.
In municipalities like Toronto, however, where fire systems must also immediately comply with the by-law, costs are likely to be higher. "For those, they could be looking at as much as $30,000 because it's a wider pipe," explains Brad Arnold, President of the plumbing services company, Bradley Mechanical.
Nevertheless, the fallout from non-compliance could be more onerous still. Consider the car wash operation that contaminated the City of Stratford's water supply a few years ago.
"We were lucky because the substance was pink and foamy rather than clear. People could see it and wouldn't drink it," says Joe Salter, Stratford's Manager of Water Treatment and Distribution and a past president of the Ontario Water Works Association (OWWA).
MOE IDENTIFIES BEST PRACTICE
Pressure differentials between the municipal distribution system and connected buildings can cause water within a building's system to flow back into the municipal water main. This could occur because the building's water pressure is deliberately greater than the municipal system's, which is typically the case in high-rise buildings where water must be pumped several storeys above ground, or it could occur when breaks or demands for firefighting lower the pressure in the municipal main. In either case, backflow protection devices are designed to prevent seepage from a building.
In recent years, the Ministry of the Environment (MOE) has been encouraging municipalities to enact by-laws to regulate the cross connections between municipal and private water systems. "It is a recommended best practice when the Ministry does its yearly annual inspections," Salter notes.
Several municipalities - beginning with the City of Guelph - have now adopted by-laws and more are expected to do so. Stratford is also among the earliest adopters of a cross connection by-law and it was already on the books at the time of the March 2005 contamination incident, but the car wash operator was not in compliance.
Section 20 of Ontario's Safe Drinking Water Act prohibits the release of any substances or materials that could pose a health hazard into the drinking water system so, regardless of municipal regulations, property owners who contaminate the water supply will be charged. They would also be subject to greater liability and bad publicity - as was the case in Stratford. "When there's a water advisory where all you can do with water is flush your toilet, it tends to create awareness," Salter observes.
AWARENESS CAMPAIGN IS STARTING POINT IN HALTON
"We stress that this a good neighbour policy," concurs Bob McMurray, Manager of Systems Operations for Halton Region. "These properties are located among people who are their customers who are drinking the same water their facilities are using."
Halton Region is now in the second year of an envisioned six-year phased implementation schedule to ensure compliance among approximately 6,600 identified commercial, industrial and institutional buildings. "Our mandate from our Council was to begin with education and getting everyone to understand what's going on," McMurray says.
The Region has sponsored a series of open houses where Works staff has been available to answer questions, and has a compiled a list for building owners' convenience of 99 contractors qualified to do the surveys, installation and tests the by-law requires. "There are a lot of instances where the devices have been installed, but have never been tested," adds Aneta Ludwig, the Coordinator of Halton's Cross-Connection Control Program.
Initially, more emphasis will be placed on more severe hazards. For example, fire systems that contain glycol or antifreeze must be fitted with a backflow protection device, but owners of water-based systems simply have to submit results of annual fire-flow tests, which are required under the Fire Code anyway.
IMMINENT DEADLINES IN TORONTO
In contrast, the City of Toronto has set a much tighter timeline for adherence to its by-law, which Council adopted in 2006, and is now reminding property owners of impending deadlines.
Facilities considered to pose severe hazards - such as heavy industry, car washes, medical laboratories, dry cleaners and funeral homes - must comply by December 31, 2008. Most office, retail, multi-residential and institutional properties, with the exception of hospitals, are classified as a moderate risk and have until June 30, 2009 to have the backflow protection devices in place.
"Our by-law is based on CSA standard B64," says Alex Marich, Director of Operations Systems with Toronto Water.
Property owners are required to hire installers certified by the OWWA, test their backflow protection devices, and submit the results to the City. Those who have not done so by the designated compliance deadline will receive notices, and could ultimately be fined. In subsequent years, the devices must be tested annually.
Owners with large portfolios and many buildings requiring retrofits may qualify for a deadline extension if they have sound reasons and an approved plan for achieving compliance. "It will be determined case by case," Marich says.
As with any new regulation, ignorance is not a defence against non-compliance even if it's widespread among affected parties, and industry advocacy groups like the Greater Toronto Apartment Association (GTAA) are now trying to get the message out. In early November, it sponsored a sold-out educational seminar at which members could hear from City of Toronto officials and plumbing contractors qualified to conduct the work.
"This is a learning curve that we're all on," observes Brad Butt, the GTAA's Executive Director. "This really came in under the radar. I certainly wasn't informed that this by-law was being developed until it was a done deal."
Since the vast majority of rental housing buildings were built before the mid 1970s, few are expected to have backflow protection devices currently, and experience in other municipalities reveals the same trend in other sectors. "When you look at small commercial units, I would guess it would be a good 60 to 70% that don't have them," Salter notes.
COSTS & COMPLICATIONS
Other surprises could also lurk. Up until the mid 1970s, asbestos was often used as an insulating material around water meter connections because its mud-like consistency made it easier to apply to irregular joints. It absorbed condensation from the pipe and helped to keep it cool - a function that also led to breakdown of the material as it was exposed to moisture.
"The majority of the water meters that ever had asbestos have probably been stripped by now, but a significant proportion of older commercial buildings would have had it and, absolutely, there will be some buildings where it's still in place" says Don Pinchin, President of the environmental consulting firm, Pinchin Environmental. "The people doing the installation [of backflow protection devices] will have to become knowledgeable in visual identification.
They will either have to sample the material or assume the insulation contains asbestos and take appropriate precautions."
It might make business sense for contractors to go a step further and ensure that some of their workers are trained in Type 2 asbestos removal. "The good new is, it is almost always a Type 2 or glove removal," Pinchin notes. "It will be disruptive to the schedule, but the cost of removal is not particularly high. If the people doing the installation have had training for Type 2 work they could easily do it."
Theoretically, commercial, industrial, multi-residential and institutional building owners should already be aware of the presence of asbestos on their properties since, under Ontario's asbestos Regulation, they were required to complete an asbestos survey and management plan by November 1, 2007. One year after that deadline, however, a significant percentage of designated buildings have not been surveyed - a scenario that doesn't necessarily bode well for compliance targets for cross connection by-laws.
"There is more awareness of it in Stratford, obviously, but across the rest of Ontario, probably not so much," Salter speculates.
Labour shortages could also be a factor as more municipalities enact by-laws. In Toronto, for example, it's estimated that 30,000 to 40,000 buildings will have to meet the new standards by deadlines of December 31, 2008, March 31, 2009 or June 30, 2009 depending on the risk category.
"In Halton Region, we are getting five, six or seven calls a day," says Brad Arnold, whose company is on the list of authorized contractors. Required surveys typically take two hours to one day to complete, while installation of the device will take two to three days. The water will have to be turned off in the building while work is underway, causing other possible scheduling dilemmas for property managers.
The surveys have also proved to be a valuable vigilance exercise for municipal water departments. "In some cases we find Code violations," Arnold reports. "That's probably going to cost building owners more than putting in the backflow prevention device."
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