Cross Connection Control Program

Safety of drinking water is a public health issue. In the province of British Columbia, the Ministry of Health Services provides leadership and assumes ultimate responsibility for providing safe drinking water for British Columbians.

The Ministry of Health Services is the lead agency for drinking water issues. As of February 2003, the Interior Health Authority, Ministry of Health Services, requires that every water supplier develop and implement a Cross Connection Control Program. This requirement is a condition of the Permit to Operate for the City of Salmon Arm, Water Utility. In addition to the requirements of the Health Authority, there are other considerations leading to the decision to implement a Cross Connection Control Program.

There are indications from the insurance industry that elevated insurance costs will result for water suppliers that do not address identified hazards in their water utility systems. Also there are liability issues.

Purpose

The City of Salmon Arm has developed a Cross Connection Control Program in compliance with the Interior Health Authority's - Permit to Operate a water system (Drinking Water Protection Act, Part 2, Section 8). The purpose of this program is to protect the public health by ensuring that the safe clean water provided by the City of Salmon Arm is not contaminated due to backflow after it is introduced into the water distribution system. A Cross Connection Control Program addresses the backflow threat as a result of cross connections by establishing operating policies and procedures as well as backflow preventer selection, installation, testing and maintenance practices and procedures. The Program tracks all installed testable backflow preventers connected to the City of Salmon Arm Water Utility to ensure that they remain in proper working order. The program also maintains a list of certified backflow preventer testers to help ensure qualified persons are testing the backflow preventers.

Goals and Objectives

Our goal is to develop and implement a Cross Connection Control Program, maintain and assess the program in an ongoing and objective manner, ensuring that clean safe water is delivered to the people of the City of Salmon Arm.

Enforcement Authority

The City of Salmon Arm Cross Connection Control Program receives its authority from the Cross Connection Control Bylaw No. 3934 (PDF) and the British Columbia Building Code, Part 7, require that potable water be protected from contamination.

Cross Connection Control Program