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TITLE 30ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
PART 1TEXAS COMMISSION ON ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY
CHAPTER 290PUBLIC DRINKING WATER
SUBCHAPTER DRULES AND REGULATIONS FOR PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS
RULE §290.39General Provisions

    (B) pro forma income, expense, and cash flow statements;

  (11) identification of any appropriate financial assurance, including those being offered to capital providers;

  (12) a notarized statement signed by the owner or responsible person that the business plan has been prepared under his direction and that he is responsible for the accuracy of the information; and

  (13) other information required by the executive director to determine the adequacy of the business plan or financial assurance.

(g) Business plans not required. A person is not required to file a business plan if the person:

  (1) is a county;

  (2) is a retail public utility as defined by TWC, §13.002, unless that person is a utility as defined by that section;

  (3) has executed an agreement with a political subdivision to transfer the ownership and operation of the water supply system to the political subdivision; or

  (4) is a noncommunity nontransient water system and the person has demonstrated financial assurance under THSC, Chapter 361 or Chapter 382 or TWC, Chapter 26.

(h) Beginning and completion of work.

  (1) No person may begin construction on a new public water system before receiving written approval of plans and specifications and, if required, approval of a business plan from the executive director. No person may begin construction of modifications to a public water system without providing notification to the executive director and submitting and receiving approval of plans and specifications if requested in accordance with subsection (j) of this section.

  (2) The executive director shall be notified in writing by the design engineer or the owner before construction is started.

  (3) Upon completion of the water works project, the engineer or owner shall notify the executive director in writing as to its completion and attest to the fact that the completed work is substantially in accordance with the plans and change orders on file with the commission.

(i) Changes in plans and specifications. Any addenda or change orders which may involve a health hazard or relocation of facilities, such as wells, treatment units, and storage tanks, shall be submitted to the executive director for review and approval.

(j) Changes in existing systems or supplies. Public water systems shall notify the executive director prior to making any significant change or addition to the system's production, treatment, storage, pressure maintenance, or distribution facilities. Public water systems shall submit plans and specifications for the proposed changes upon request. Changes to an existing disinfection process at a treatment plant that treats surface water or groundwater that is under the direct influence of surface water shall not be instituted without the prior approval of the executive director. Any long-term change in water treatment that will impact the corrosivity shall not be instituted without the prior approval of the executive director.

  (1) The following changes are considered to be significant:

    (A) proposed changes to existing systems which result in an increase or decrease in production, treatment, storage, or pressure maintenance capacity;

    (B) proposed changes to the disinfection process used at plants that treat surface water or groundwater that is under the direct influence of surface water including changes involving the disinfectants used, the disinfectant application points, or the disinfectant monitoring points;

    (C) proposed changes to the type of disinfectant used to maintain a disinfectant residual in the distribution system;

    (D) proposed changes in existing distribution systems when the change is greater than 10% of the existing distribution capacity or 250 connections, whichever is smaller, or results in the water system's inability to comply with any of the applicable capacity requirements of §290.45 of this title;

    (E) proposed replacement or change of membranes modules;

    (F) any other material changes specified by the executive director; and

    (G) examples of long-term treatment changes that could impact the corrosivity of the water include the addition of a new treatment process or modification of an existing treatment process. Examples of modifications include switching secondary disinfectants, switching coagulants, and switching corrosion inhibitor products. Long-term changes can include dose changes to existing chemicals if the system is planning long-term changes to its finished water pH or residual inhibitor concentration. Long-term treatment changes would not include chemical dose fluctuations associated with daily raw water quality changes.

  (2) The executive director shall determine whether engineering plans and specifications will be required after reviewing the initial notification regarding the nature and extent of the modifications.

    (A) Upon request of the executive director, the water system shall submit plans and specifications in accordance with the requirements of subsection (d) of this section.

    (B) Unless plans and specifications are required by Chapter 293 of this title (relating to Water Districts), the executive director will not require another state agency or a political subdivision to submit planning material on distribution line improvements if the entity has its own internal review staff and complies with all of the following criteria:

      (i) the internal review staff includes one or more licensed professional engineers that are employed by the political subdivision and must be separate from, and not subject to the review or supervision of, the engineering staff or firm charged with the design of the distribution extension under review;

      (ii) a licensed professional engineer on the internal review staff determines and certifies in writing that the proposed distribution system changes comply with the requirements of §290.44 of this title (relating to Water Distribution) and will not result in a violation of any provision of §290.45 of this title;

      (iii) the state agency or political subdivision includes a copy of the written certification described in this subparagraph with the initial notice that is submitted to the executive director.

    (C) Unless plans and specifications are required by Chapter 293 of this title, the executive director will not require planning material on distribution line improvements from any public water system that is required to submit planning material to another state agency or political subdivision that complies with the requirements of subparagraph (B) of this paragraph. The notice to the executive director must include a statement that a state statute or local ordinance requires the planning materials to be submitted to the other state agency or political subdivision and a copy of the written certification that is required in subparagraph (B) of this paragraph.

  (3) If a certificate of convenience and necessity (CCN) is required or must be amended, the CCN application must be included with the notice to the executive director.

(k) Planning material acceptance. Planning material for improvements to an existing system which does not meet the requirements of all sections of this subchapter will not be considered unless the necessary modifications for correcting the deficiencies are included in the proposed improvements, or unless the executive director determines that reasonable progress is being made toward correcting the deficiencies and no immediate health hazard will be caused by the delay.

(l) Exceptions. Requests for exceptions to one or more of the requirements in this subchapter shall be considered on an individual basis. Any water system which requests an exception must demonstrate to the satisfaction of the executive director that the exception will not compromise the public health or result in a degradation of service or water quality.

  (1) The exception must be requested in writing and must be substantiated by carefully documented data. The request for an exception shall precede the submission of engineering plans and specifications for a proposed project for which an exception is being requested.

  (2) Any exception granted by the commission is subject to revocation.

  (3) Any request for an exception which is not approved by the commission in writing is denied.

  (4) The executive director may establish site specific design, operation, maintenance, and reporting requirements for systems that have been issued an exception to the subchapter.

(m) Notification of system startup or reactivation. The owner or responsible official must provide written notification to the commission of the startup of a new public water supply system or reactivation of an existing public water supply system. This notification must be made immediately upon meeting the definition of a public water system as defined in §290.38 of this title.

(n) The commission may require the owner or operator of a public drinking water supply system that was constructed without the approval required by THSC, §341.035, that has a history of noncompliance with THSC, Chapter 341, Subchapter C or commission rules, or that is subject to a commission enforcement action to take the following action:

  (1) provide the executive director with a business plan that demonstrates that the system has available the financial, managerial, and technical resources adequate to ensure future operation of the system in accordance with applicable laws and rules. The business plan must fulfill all the requirements for a business plan as set forth in subsection (f) of this section;

  (2) provide adequate financial assurance of the ability to operate the system in accordance with applicable laws and rules. The executive director will set the amount of the financial assurance, after the business plan has been reviewed and approved by the executive director.

    (A) The amount of the financial assurance will equal the difference between the amount of projected system revenues and the projected cash needs for the period of time prescribed by the executive director.

    (B) The form of the financial assurance will be as specified in Chapter 37, Subchapter O of this title and will be as specified by the executive director.

    (C) If the executive director relies on rate increases or customer surcharges as the form of financial assurance, such funds shall be deposited in an escrow account as specified in Chapter 37, Subchapter O of this title and released only with the approval of the executive director.

(o) Emergency Preparedness Plans for Affected Utilities.

  (1) Each public water system that is also an affected utility and that exists as of November 1, 2011 is required to adopt and submit to the executive director an emergency preparedness plan in accordance with §290.45 of this title and using the template in Appendix J of §290.47 of this title or another emergency preparedness plan that meets the requirements of this subchapter no later than February 1, 2012. Emergency preparedness plans are required to be prepared under the direction of a licensed professional engineer when an affected utility has been granted or is requesting an alternative capacity requirement in accordance with §290.45(g) of this title, or is requesting to meet the requirements of TWC, §13.1395, as an alternative to any rule requiring elevated storage, or as determined by the executive director on a case by case basis.

  (2) Each affected utility that supplies, provides, or conveys surface water to wholesale customers shall include in its emergency preparedness plan under this subsection provisions for the actual installation and maintenance of automatically starting auxiliary generators or distributive generation facilities for each raw water intake pump station, water treatment plant, pump station, and pressure facility necessary to provide water to its wholesale customers.

  (3) The executive director shall review an emergency preparedness plan submitted under this subsection. If the executive director determines that the plan is not acceptable, the executive director shall recommend changes to the plan. The executive director must make its recommendations on or before the 90th day after the executive director receives the plan. In accordance with the commission rules, an emergency preparedness plan must include one of the options listed in §290.45(h)(1)(A) - (H) of this title.

  (4) Not later than June 1, 2012, each affected utility shall implement the emergency preparedness plan approved by the executive director.

  (5) An affected utility may file with the executive director a written request for an extension not to exceed 90 days, of the date by which the affected utility is required under this subsection to submit the affected utility's emergency preparedness plan or of the date by which the affected utility is required under this subsection to implement the affected utility's emergency preparedness plan. The executive director may approve the requested extension for good cause shown.

  (6) The executive director may grant a waiver of the requirements for emergency preparedness plans to an affected utility if the executive director determines that compliance with this section will cause a significant financial burden on customers of the affected utility. The affected utility shall submit financial, managerial, and technical information as requested by the executive director to demonstrate the financial burden.


Source Note: The provisions of this §290.39 adopted to be effective October 1, 1992, 17 TexReg 6455; amended to be effective November 3, 1995, 20 TexReg 8620; amended to be effective February 4, 1999, 24 TexReg 731; amended to be effective September 13, 2000, 25 TexReg 8880; amended to be effective May 16, 2002, 27 TexReg 4127; amended to be effective February 19, 2004, 29 TexReg 1373; amended to be effective January 9, 2008, 33 TexReg 198; amended to be effective December 10, 2009, 34 TexReg 8744; amended to be effective May 15, 2011, 36 TexReg 2860; amended to be effective November 8, 2012, 37 TexReg 8849

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