An ordinance intended to improve plumbing code compliance was tabled last week after several plumbers expressed concern about its potential effect on the water system.
The Hot Springs Board of Directors tabled the proposed ordinance until its March 19 business meeting, telling city officials they haven't shown that allowing analog testing of sprinkler system backflow preventers would improve compliance with the testing requirement enshrined in the city plumbing code.
The city won't permit a sprinkler meter unless it's equipped with a reduced pressure zone, or RPZ, assembly that prevents sprinkler water from backing up into the distribution system during flow reversals. RPZs block fertilizers and other nutrients from reaching the potable water supply when the pressure in sprinkler lines is greater than the pressure in the distribution system.
The city plumbing code requires all RPZs be registered, and that registration paperwork includes a digital printout of test results. The ordinance tabled last week replaced the word digital with digital or analog, phrasing city officials said would encourage greater compliance with the testing requirement.
Officials told the board during the Jan. 29 agenda meeting that digital testing equipment is significantly more costly than analog, adding that only a few area plumbers have the digital test kit. Allowing analog testing would open up the service to more plumbers and lower costs, officials said.
The city included the digital testing requirement when it adopted RPZ regulations in 2003. State rules promulgated by the Arkansas Department of Health require annual testing but don't specify digital testing.
Ron Jarrell, one of the plumbers the city said has invested in the digital kit, told the board the digital reading reduces the potential for human error. The city code requires a state certified testing technician to conduct the test.
"If you go to the analog system, you're looking at a pair of gauges with the same hoses that the digital machine has on it, but the man looking at the gauges is writing down the differential pressures, and you're depending on his integrity to use the right measurements and the right test," Jarrell told the board. "When the (digital) test is done, it prints a tab sheet showing the static pressure and pressures from each part of the valve. Those pressures determine whether it's a good valve or a bad valve."
Several board members told officials they didn't see the merit in amending the code without the city demonstrating how allowing analog testing would improve compliance.
The city has about 3,000 sprinkler accounts inside and outside the corporate limits. It told the board last week that the building safety division is enforcing the testing requirement more vigorously than in years past. City Manager Bill Burrough said noncompliant accounts could be disconnected.
Water that runs through a sprinkler meter is not used to calculate wastewater charges. Per city code, wastewater charges for usage exceeding 1,000 gallons a month are based on 88 percent of metered water consumption.
"We are checking RPZs," Burrough said. "We do have a plumbing inspector. He's trying to bring the program into compliance. We do have a hammer when it comes to that. We can cross check that by irrigation code. If we don't have that check and balance in place, it may be that irrigation meter is turned off."
Local on 02/13/2019