Water service briefly shut off in Niles

June 20, 2011 at 12:00a.m.

NILES

The city’s water superintendent briefly shut down water service to five prominent businesses last week and warned that more could face the same fate for failing to test their backflow devices.

Backflow is the unintentional reversal of flow in a potable water system that could contaminate drinking water.

Randy Fabrizio, water superintendent, said he ordered the shutoff after receipt of a report from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency noting that of 567 business and industry service connections in Niles, “only 265 of the customers had provided test results … which indicates that Niles’ backflow prevention program may be lacking.”

“We have to protect the public from cross contamination that would affect our water supply,” said Councilman Edward McCormick D-4th Ward, chairman of council’s utilities committee.

Businesses and industries with service connections are required to have their devices that monitor backflow inspected and tested at least once a year, however, the superintendent said the five — El Jalapeno restaurant, Aspen Dental, Great Clips, Burger King and McDermott Funeral Home — had not tested their devices in two years. Fabrizio said the EPA allows the city to exclude most residents from the inspection requirement. “The only exceptions are those people who have underground lawn-sprinkler systems because there is the possibility of contamination from them,” Fabrizio said.

“We sent [the five businesses] six notices each over two years, and they still hadn’t complied, so we had to shut off their water,” Fabrizio said.

The shutoff didn’t last very long, according to the superintendent. “They were able to get the testing done right away and had their water restored within two hours of the shutoff,” Fabrizio said

Brian Pritchard, owner of A to Z Plumbing in Niles, said testing is not expensive. “I charge my customers from $60 to $85 depending on whether parts need to be repaired, taken apart or cleaned,” Pritchard said.

Failure to test is not a problem limited to Niles, according to Pritchard. “I’ve had [business] customers in Warren, Youngstown and Girard who have not tested their backflow devices,” Pritchard said.

Charlotte Hammar, EPA environmental specialist who conducted the inspection, ordered the city to provide a monthly distribution operating report listing the number of connections requiring a testing device and “a synopsis of any enforcement actions the city has taken” against those businesses that are not testing as required.

Fabrizio has responded to the report by advising the EPA that the city plans to purchase software and build a database enabling daily tracking of accounts instead of manual monthly or bimonthly tracking. Fabrizio wrote that the software will generate notices and a noncompliant list. If businesses are noncompliant after one year, “I will turn that list over to customer service for shutoff,” Fabrizio told the EPA.

The superintendent said the software should be operational in two months. Until it is, the city’s backflow coordinator will provide a list of the most delinquent five accounts each week. Those, too, will be shut off by customer service.

“We are satisfied with the city’s response,” said Mike Settles, an OEPA spokesman in Columbus. “They have provided a timetable, and we will be checking upon its progress.”

Testing of backflow devices is performed by plumbers certified by a division of the Ohio Department of Commerce. A list of certified plumbers in each county is available on the department’s website.