Dover City Council pushes forward backflow preventer requirement moratorium

DOVER—The Utility Committee, which convenes as part of the Council Committee of the Whole, pushed forward a resolution Tuesday that would put a one-year moratorium on any program that requires the installation of backflow preventers.

Backflow preventers are devices meant to prevent contaminated water from entering the water supply, which is called cross-connection.

January 2021 Delaware Department of Public Health regulations encouraged the installation of the preventers across the state, but only those determined to be high-risk were required. Sprinkler systems, for example, put out what would be considered contaminated water that the city does not want in the potable water supply.

Other high-risk facilities include but are not limited to, per the Dover code, car washes, dry cleaners, laboratories, medical facilities, mortuaries, and wastewater treatment facilities.

“The original intent for backflow prevention devices being put in were single-feed water supplies, which fed sprinkler systems in buildings,” said Mayor Robin R. Christiansen, calling upon his experience in firefighting. “The pipe that that was used in sprinkler systems, and still is used today was called scheduled pipe. It contained silicone lining in the pipe so that it wouldn’t rust away, as well as oil-filled pipes.”

According to a letter submitted to the record by Councilman Fred Neil, in February 2021, the City of Dover was mandated to come up with and implement a cross-connection control program by February 2024.

Now after that date, the city council said it has begun to hear from real estate agents that claim that the city is telling businesses with “no real risk” of backflow to retrofit backflow preventers at a cost of thousands of dollars to them. According to Dover spokesperson Kay Sass, these places are typically low-hazard, and it is up to the municipalities to decide requirements for the systems in those situations.

House Bill 453, which was defeated by the House earlier this year, would have removed low-hazard properties from cross-connection regulations.

“Wanting everyone to put backflow prevention devices on systems other than sprinkler systems which are required under (National Fire Protection Association) regulations, is really a severe overreach unless the potable water system feeds not only the drinkable and usable water in a household but if it supplies say a closed heating system or something to that effect. It’s been shown that the domestic backflow prevention devices are usually not really effective because particularly in our instance, our water is cleaned and treated,” the mayor added.

The purpose of the year-long moratorium is to give Dover City Council time to come up with alternatives. Currently, the city provides public education on cross-connect control and backflow prevention to low-hazard residential customers instead of requiring them to install backflow prevention.