14.10.020 Definitions.
(a) For the purposes of this chapter, WSSC incorporates by section reference the definitions of the following terms as stated in the 2013 WSSC Plumbing and Fuel Gas Code (WSSC Chapter 14.25), and any future amendments thereto: backflow (Section 202), backflow preventer (BFP) (Section 202), Backflow Technician (Section 113.7), backpressure (Section 202), backsiphonage (Section 202), Chief Code Official (Section 202), Code Official (Section 103), cross-connection (Section 202), cross-connection control (Section 202), customer (Section 202), degree of hazard (Section 202), high hazard (Section 202), and low hazard (Section 202).
(b) As used in this chapter, the following terms shall have the meanings indicated herein:
(1) “Contamination” means impairment of the quality of the water which creates a hazard to the public health through poisoning or through the spread of disease by sewage, industrial fluids, or waste.
(2) “Cross-connection control program” means a program to eliminate, monitor, protect and prevent cross-connections from allowing backflow.
(3) “Cross-connection control program base fee” means a fee levied to all commercial water customers to recover program costs. The fee is structured in two tiers based on inspection priority rankings by Code Officials: the higher tier for customers identified as having high levels of hazardous water uses; the lower tier for customers with moderate to low risk water uses.
(4) “Inspection” means a visual examination of backflow preventers, equipment, piping arrangements, materials and workmanship to verify proper installation, testing, and operational performance.
(5) “Inspection priority ranking” means a WSSC designation assigned to a commercial water customer based on the degree of hazard the customer’s water end-use plumbing fixtures, equipment, and/or processes pose to the safety and potability of the drinking water system, both on the customer’s property as well as within the Commission’s distribution system. The ranking is a numeric scale of odd numbers from 1 to 9, where 1 and 3 represent the higher degrees of hazard and will equate to the higher tier of the program’s base fee. Rankings of 5, 7, and 9 represent moderate and low degrees of hazard and will equate to the lower tier of the program’s base fee. See Appendix A for a spreadsheet representation of customer inspection priority rankings.
(6) “Test report” means a demonstration of a backflow preventer analysis performed and submitted by a registered Backflow Technician to WSSC to fulfill requisite testing and reporting requirements set forth by the WSSC Plumbing and Fuel Gas Code.
(7) “Test report submittal fee” means a fee that is determined by the WSSC for management of the records associated with each backflow assembly. (Amended during 2019 codification; REG-REGS-EC-2014-004 § II)