At its December 15 Commissioner’s meeting, Bay County voted to approve the Florida Department of Environmental Protection’s cross-connection control plan, which would require backflow preventors be installed on all dedicated irrigation meter connections.

From the Agenda Item Summary:

Bay County has a Cross Connection Control (C3) Program that was adopted in 1994. The purpose of the C3 program is to protect the County’s potable water system from contamination due to backflow from customers’ water connections. Florida Administrative Code requires that all water systems have an updated C3 Program and that all connections to the water system have an appropriate backflow prevention device.

The Florida Department of Environmental Protection (FDEP) is requiring that the County and all other regulated water systems within the Northwest District update their C3 Program. The primary impact of the program revision is that all dedicated irrigation meter connections will be required to have an above ground pressure vacuum breaker (PVB) or reduced pressure zone (RPZ) backflow prevention device. This device is required to be installed on the customer’s side of the irrigation meter and must be tested by a Florida-certified tester at the time of installation and every two years thereafter.

“Most of the general public is doing very well in doing this right now. All commercial businesses have had this in place for many years, now it’s just on the residents, which is why we pushed back for so long,” said Bay County Commissioner Philip Griffitts.

More information ca be found here: https://baycounty.novusagenda.com/agendapublic/CoverSheet.aspx?ItemID=2667&MeetingID=180