| (A) The following conditions, if attributable to the
alternative capacity requirements, may constitute grounds for revocation
or revision of established alternative capacity requirements or for
denial of new requests, if the condition occurred within the last
36 months:
(i) documented pressure below 35 psi at any time not
related to line repair, except during fire fighting when it cannot
be less than 20 psi;
(ii) water outages due to high water usage;
(iii) mandatory water rationing due to high customer
demand or overtaxed water production or supply facilities;
(iv) failure to meet a minimum capacity requirement
or an established alternative capacity requirement;
(v) changes in water supply conditions or usage patterns
which create a potential threat to public health; or
(vi) any other condition where the executive director
finds that the alternative capacity requirement has compromised the
public health or resulted in a degradation of service or water quality.
(B) If the executive director finds any of the conditions
specified in subparagraph (A) of this paragraph, the process for revocation
or revision of an alternative capacity requirement shall be as follows,
unless the executive director finds that failure of the service or
other threat to public health and safety is imminent under subparagraph
(C) of this paragraph.
(i) The executive director must mail the public drinking
water system written notice of the executive director's intent to
revoke or revise an alternative capacity requirement identifying the
specific reason(s) for the proposed action.
(ii) The public water system has 30 days from the date
the written notice is mailed to respond to the proposed action.
(iii) The public water system has 30 days from the
date the written notice is mailed to request a meeting with the agency's
public drinking water program personnel to review the proposal. If
requested, such a meeting must occur within 45 days of the date the
written notice is mailed.
(iv) After considering any response from or after any
requested meeting with the public drinking water system, the executive
director must mail written notification to the public drinking water
system of the executive director's final decision to continue, revoke,
or revise an alternative capacity requirement identifying the specific
reason(s) for the decision.
(C) If the executive director finds that failure of
the service or other threat to public health and safety is imminent,
the executive director may issue written notification of the executive
director's final decision to revoke or revise an alternative capacity
requirement at any time.
(h) Affected utilities. This subsection applies to
all affected utilities and is in addition to any other requirements
pertaining to emergency power requirements found in this subchapter.
(1) Affected utilities must provide one of the following
options of sufficient power to meet the capacity requirements of paragraph
(1) or (2) of this subsection, whichever is applicable, and in accordance
with the affected utility's approved emergency preparedness plan:
(A) the maintenance of automatically starting auxiliary
generators;
(B) the sharing of auxiliary generator capacity with
one or more affected utilities;
(C) the negotiation of leasing and contracting agreements,
including emergency mutual aid agreements with other retail public
utilities, exempt utilities, or providers, or conveyors of potable
or raw water service, if the agreements provide for coordination with
the division of emergency management in the governor's office;
(D) the use of portable generators capable of serving
multiple facilities equipped with quick-connect systems;
(E) the use of on-site electrical generation or electrical
distributed generation facilities;
(F) hardening of the electric transmission and electric
distribution system against damage from natural disasters during an
extended power outage;
(G) for existing facilities, the maintenance of direct
engine or right angle drives; or
(H) any other alternative determined by the executive
director to be acceptable.
(2) Each affected utility that supplies, provides,
or conveys surface water to wholesale customers shall install and
maintain 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) Emergency generators used as part of an approved
emergency preparedness plan must be maintained, tested, and operated
in accordance with the manufacturer's specifications.
(4) An affected utility may adopt and is encouraged
to enforce limitations on water use while the utility is providing
emergency operations.
(5) As soon as safe and practicable following the occurrence
of a natural disaster, an affected utility must operate in accordance
with its approved emergency preparedness plan, which may include using
elevated storage. An affected utility may meet the requirements of
Texas Water Code, §13.1395, including having a currently approved
emergency preparedness plan, in lieu of any other rules regarding
elevated storage requirements, provided that, under normal operating
conditions, the affected utility continues to meet the pressure requirements
of §290.46(r) of this title and the production, treatment, total
storage and service pump capacity requirements of this subchapter.
(6) An affected utility must maintain on-site, or make
readily available during emergency operations, an amount of fuel necessary
to operate any required emergency power equipment necessary to maintain
emergency operations.
|
| Source Note: The provisions of this §290.45 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 January 30, 2003, 28 TexReg 697; 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 September 11, 2014, 39TexReg7145; amended to be effective July 30, 2015, 40 TexReg 4769 |
