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CORTLAND -- Council will vote on legislation in the coming weeks that will allow the city to inspect backflow devices to make sure that they are Environmental Protection Agency compliant if the property owners refuse to do so themselves.
Mayor Deidre Petrosky said the EPA requires backflow devices to be inspected every 12 months. These devices ensure that water does not flow backward in a pipe, potentially risking contamination to the public water supply.
"While most entities are compliant, we have some that ignore the reminders," Petrosky said last week. "Because these entities are not compliant, it results in the city being noncompliant with EPA regulations, which could result in a letter being sent to all of our residents. I want to avoid that situation."
While residential properties are not required to have backflow preventers in most circumstances, Cortland Service Director Kim Blasco used imagery of a swimming pool to describe the importance of the devices.
"To give a clearer picture, someone throws a hose into a swimming pool, there's a fire down the street and the fire department hooks up to a hydrant, and because of that there is a pull on the water supply, and basically it would even pull water from those residential areas," Blasco said. "Anything that might have an end, in other words that hose being in the pool, it could possibly pull water from that swimming pool back into the system … (backflow devices) prevent these things,"
Blasco said in the event that water did flow backward through the piping, the backflow device, if working properly, would simply empty the water onto the ground, preventing it from returning to the water source.
Blasco said the scenario she described would only occur under rare circumstances, and only ever if there was a dramatic pull on the public water system.
Previously, the EPA required that every commercial establishment have a backflow preventer. That rule changed in October 2022, as now the public water provider, in this case Cortland, is able to determine which commercial establishments will actually be required to have Blasco said facilities that use significant water, such as funeral homes, hospitals, chemical plants and car washes, are really the only establishments that would pose a threat to the public water system.
"A lawyer's office is literally only going to have a toilet, a sink, maybe a small kitchen with a microwave, nothing more serious than a residential home," Blasco said. "Something like that would not really require one."
Blasco said the only facilities in Cortland that would require backflow devices are car washes, nursing homes and funeral homes.
At last week's city council meeting, Petrosky said there are some properties throughout the city that have backflow devices, although they likely do not need them. The mayor said future legislation could be discussed that would help the city and its residents determine who actually needs backflow preventers.
"Another thing we talked about doing is perhaps hiring another plumber to come in and assess these backflow devices and have them removed from the properties that do not need them," Petrosky said.
The mayor said removing the backflow devices where they are not needed would help the city be in compliance with EPA regulations. Regardless of whether the device is actually needed, it must be tested every 12 months.
Blasco said there have been a couple establishments that have not been compliant with the testing regulations.
"We have one in the city that resists getting tested," Blasco said. "Basically it's a renter versus an owner. The renter says that the owner is responsible and vice versa."
If council decides to adopt the legislation in coming meetings, it would give the city the authority to take such matters into its own hands.
"With that (potentially) being in place, that permits us to send a plumber out to have it tested," Blasco said. "It enforces that rule, it forces them to be in compliance. We'd send a plumber out to have it tested, and then we can either bill them or their taxes will be assessed based on the cost of whatever it cost to test that backflow."
Blasco said the establishment she was referring to likely did not even need its backflow device, and that if it were inspected, it could probably be removed.
"Because they haven't had it tested in the last 12 months, the EPA deems it a threat," Blasco said.
At the meeting Aug. 21, Petrosky said there would be "due process" for the city to follow before simply sending out a plumber.
While the potential legislation would allow the city to make sure that all of its properties are in EPA compliance, Blasco said that overall safety is the main reason for the legislation.
"All in all, it is a safety factor," Blasco said. "It makes sure that we keep the entire public water system safe."