OVERVIEW OF DPH DRINKING WATER SECTION ROLES AND LOCAL HEALTH
ROLES FOR REGULATING SMALL PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS
Lori Mathieu, Section Chief, Drinking Water Section&
Steve Knauf, Chief Sanitarian, Chatham Health District
Outline
Definitions and Jurisdictions DPH Roles Local Health Roles Overlap and Working
Together
CT DPH Drinking Water SectionResponsibilities
Regulate over 2,500 Public Water Systems with 4,400 sources
2.9 million CT residents served – 3.5 million total population
96 systems serve over 1,000 people 461 systems serve under 1,000 people -
small community systems 2,028 non-community systems
Private Well Program At DPH, the Private Well Program is
under the Environmental Health Section
Currently staffed by Cliff McClellan Provides technical assistance to
local health departments in regards to private wells
Definitions and Jurisdictions• Public Water Systems
PHC Section 19-13-B102Enforced by DPH
• Private WellsPHC Section 19-13-B101Enforced by Local Health DepartmentsDPH has a small private well program
• PHC Section 19-13-B51 (well siting & construction applies to both public and private wells)
Public Water System A water company that provides water
service to 15 or more consumers or 25 or more persons per day for at least 60 days of the year
Residential population determined by design criteria (For each home: 2 persons for 1st bedroom and 1 person for each additional bedroom)
Public Drinking Water Regulations
3 Types of PWSs: Community Non-Transient Non-Community Transient Non-Community
Ongoing water quality monitoring program
PWS required to report test results to the DPH-Drinking Water Section-done electronically
Community Provides water service to 15 or more
consumer residences or 25 or more residential persons per day for at least 60 days per year
Chronic exposure to the water by the population served
Approximately 600 in CT DPH inspects every 3 years
Non-Transient Non-Community Provides water to 25 or more of the same
non-residential persons for at least 6 months of the year
Examples include schools, factories, daycares, office buildings
Chronic exposure to the water by the population served
Over 600 in CT DPH inspects every 5 years
Transient Non-Community Provides water service to 25 or more non-
residential persons, not necessarily the same persons, for at least 60 days per year
Examples include restaurants, gas stations, highway rest areas, state parks, municipal recreational facilities
Acute brief exposure to the water by population served
Over 1500 in CT DPH inspects every 5 years
What is not necessarily regulated as a public water system…
Wells serving mass gathering locations such as fairgrounds (unless they serve something other than the fair with 25 or more people for over 60 days per year)
Water company (serving 2 or more service connections) is defined however there are no associated water quality monitoring requirements).
Local health roles Licensing food service establishments Siting private wells Licensing temporary events Fairgrounds if applicable Town facilities served by wells, possibly
Overlap and Working Together Creation of new public water systems
under the CPCN process Conversion from private to public well Re-activation of previously regulated
systems when they get re-occupied Food service establishments served by
wells
What is a “Water Company”? as far as PURA is concerned:
Connecticut General Statutes (CGS) Section 16-262m(a):
“…a corporation, company, association, joint stock association, partnership, municipality, other entity or person, or lessee thereof, owning, leasing, maintaining, operating managing or controlling any pond, lake, reservoir, stream, well or distribution plant or system employed for the purpose of supplying water to 15 or more service connections or 25 or more persons on a regular basis.”
Review requirements for a new Water Company
CGS Section 16-262m(b) (in part):
“No water company may begin the construction or a water supply system, and no water company, except a water company supplying water to 250 or more service connections or 1000 persons, may begin expansion of a water supply system without having first obtained a certificate of public convenience and necessity...”
Local Planning/Zoning Responsibility
CGS Section 8-25a: Proposals for developments using water:“No proposal for a development using water supplied by a company incorporated on or after October 1, 1984, shall be approved by a planning commission or combined planning and zoning commission unless such company has been issued a certificate pursuant to section 16-262m. The municipality in which the planning commission or combined planning and zoning commission is located shall be responsible to the operation of any water company created without a certificate…if the water company at any time is unable or unwilling to provide adequate service to its consumers.”
What does that mean??
If a development project will result in 15 or more service connections or if it will serve 25 or more persons, then the project will be creating a new water company.
CPCN Process Local health invited to well site visit for all
CPCN projects (Phase IA) Keep in mind that this a multi-step process
Phase IB- Is there sufficient water and is water quality acceptable?
Phase II: Storage tanks, transfer pumps, distribution piping and treatment as necessary
For residential systems (community) design information is under CGS 16-262 m
For non-community systems, we have separate design guidelines
Conversion from private to public
DPH needs applicant to be referred to us by local health department so we know this is going to occur
If it has never been public, SWP will review site (including issuing site suitability approval) and request baseline water quality
We will issue a testing schedule and “welcome letter” explaining responsibilities of the public water system
A site visit will be scheduled to look at water system
Re-activation of previously regulated systems when they get
re-occupied DPH again needs applicant to be referred
to us by local health department so we know this is going to occur
We will issue a testing schedule and “welcome letter” explaining responsibilities of the public water system
Scheduling of site visit will depend on when we last surveyed the system and how long it has been inactive
Introducing the Public Water System Screening Form…
Replaces the following: CPCN Screening Form Food Service
Establishment Registration Form
PWS Information Form
It is requested that the new form be sent to DPH with a cover sheet from local health indicating the information is reasonable
Why it pays to work together…
Consistency Applicant information to be
consistent between DPH and Local Health
Septic design information (if applicable) should generally match projected population information on the screening form
Where we need to continue to work together…
New DPH approvals for treatment with backwash
For sanitary surveys of existing water systems, air gap language and final discharge location
More items to talk about… Water hauling at public water
systems- public water system required to notify DPH
Well deepening, redeveloping, hydrofracturing and other work that require local permits- Proposed 25-33 Well Use Regulations
Some helpful information on our website and more to
come… New screening form and
instruction sheet to be posted on our website
Suggested cover sheet format for local health concurrence
A flow chart on how to handle various situations
Where to get more information…
CT DPH-Drinking Water Sectionhttp://www.ct.gov/dph/lib/dph/drinking_water/
EPA-Office of Waterhttp://www.epa.gov/ow/
American Groundwater Trusthttp://www.agwt.org
Water Systems Council – Wellcare Programhttp://www.watersystemscouncil.org
American Water Works Associationhttp://www.awwa.org
National Groundwater Associationhttp://www.ngwa.org
THANK YOU
