Articles

    New RPZ Requirements May Mean Retrofitting

    The Department of Environmental Protection has started a new initiative to identify all buildings or businesses that require the installation of a back flow preventer (RPZ). Thousands of buildings will be affected by this initiative.

    Simply put, an RPZ prevents dirty water from entering or back-flowing into the clean water supply. Any time water is used in a building for a system that is not supplying drinking water, an RPZ must be installed on the water service line to prevent the non-potable water from contaminating the drinking supply.

    This is a retroactive requirement, meaning that buildings may have not been required to install RPZs when the building was built, yet could be required to do so now. The DEP has published a list of building types that would require back flow preventers – rpz-when-required.pdf

    Some of the examples are fairly obvious – such as laundromats or any building with a dedicated sprinkler service. One not so obvious is the requirement to provide RPZs at the water service feeding a building’s boilers. This alone will trigger the requirement for many buildings.

    DEP has already started these inspections. That said, they have not issued any kind of schedule indicating which addresses or building types are prioritized on their inspection list.

    Once an inspector has issued a notice, the building has 30 days to comply. Extensions of the compliance date may be requested in writing by a licensed plumber or engineer if there are practical difficulties in meeting the 30 day deadline.

    Posted By Austin Regan

    « Previous Entry Next Entry »