| (q) Special precautions, protective measures, and boil
water notices. Special precautions, protective measures, and boil
water notices shall be instituted by the public water system as specified
in this subsection in the event of low distribution pressures (below
20 pounds per square inch (psi)), water outages, microbiological samples
found to contain Escherichia coli (E. coli) (or
other approved fecal indicator), failure to maintain adequate disinfectant
residuals, elevated finished water turbidity levels, or other conditions
which indicate that the potability of the drinking water supply has
been compromised. Special precautions, protective measures, and boil
water notices are corrective or protective actions which shall be
instituted by the public water system to comply with the requirements
of this subsection.
(1) Boil water notices and rescind notices. A public
water system shall issue a boil water notice to customers throughout
the distribution system or in the affected area(s) of the distribution
system as soon as possible, but in no case later than 24 hours after
the public water system has met any of the criteria described in paragraphs
(2) - (5) of this subsection. Boil water notices shall be issued to
customers by using one or more of the Tier 1 delivery methods as described
in §290.122(a)(2) of this title (relating to Public Notification)
and using the applicable boil water notice language and format specified
in Figure: 30 TAC §290.47(c)(1) and (2) of this title. A copy
of this notice shall be provided to the executive director within
24 hours or no later than the next business day after issuance by
the public water system and a signed Certificate of Delivery shall
be provided to the executive director within ten days after issuance
by the public water system in accordance with §290.122(f) of
this title. The boil water notice shall be multilingual where appropriate
based upon local demographics. Once the boil water notice is no longer
in effect, the public water system shall notify customers throughout
the distribution system or in the affected area(s) of the distribution
system that the boil water notice has been rescinded using the language
and format specified in Figure: 30 TAC §290.47(c)(3) of this
title. A public water system shall not rescind a boil water notice
and/or notify customers that the boil water notice has been rescinded
until the public water system has met all of the applicable requirements
as described in paragraph (6) of this subsection.
(2) Boil water notices for low distribution pressures.
The flowchart found in §290.47(e) of this title shall be used
to determine if a boil water notice shall be issued by the public
water system to customers in the event of a loss of distribution system
pressure.
(3) Boil water notices for E.
coli (or other approved fecal indicator) maximum contaminant
level (MCL) violations. A public water system shall issue a boil water
notice to customers for a violation of the MCL for E. coli (or other approved fecal indicator)
as described in §290.109(b)(1) of this title.
(4) Boil water notices for turbidity requirements.
A public water system shall issue a boil water notice to customers
if the combined filter effluent turbidity of the finished water, produced
by a treatment plant that is treating surface water or groundwater
under the direct influence of surface water, is above the turbidity
level requirements as described in §290.122(a)(1)(B) of this
title, specifically:
(A) a combined filter effluent turbidity level above
5.0 NTU;
(B) a combined filter effluent turbidity level above
1.0 NTU at a treatment plant using membrane filters;
(C) a combined filter effluent turbidity level above
1.0 NTU at a plant using other than membrane filters at the discretion
of the executive director after consultation with the public water
system; or
(D) failure of a public water system with treatment
other than membrane filters to consult with the executive director
within 24 hours after a combined filter effluent reading of 1.0 NTU.
(5) Actions which may be required by the executive
director. Special precautions, protective measures, and boil water
notices may be required at the discretion of the executive director
and shall be instituted by the public water system, upon written notification
to the public water system, and shall remain in effect until the public
water system meets the requirements of subparagraph (C) of this paragraph
and paragraph (6) of this subsection.
(A) Circumstances warranting the exercise of such discretion
may include:
(i) the public water system has failed to provide any
of the required compliance information to the executive director as
described in §290.111(h)(2) of this title and the failure results
in the inability of the executive director to determine compliance
as described in §290.111(i) of this title or the existence of
a potential or actual health hazard, as described in §290.38
of this title;
(ii) a waterborne disease outbreak, as defined in 40
Code of Federal Regulations §141.2, or other waterborne emergencies
for situations that do not meet this definition, but that still have
the potential to have serious adverse effects on health as a result
of short-term exposure. These could include outbreaks not related
to treatment deficiencies, as well as situations that have the potential
to cause outbreaks, such as failures or significant interruption in
water treatment processes, natural disasters that disrupt the water
supply or distribution system, chemical spills, or unexpected loading
of possible pathogens into the source water; or
(iii) the public water system has failed to maintain
adequate disinfectant residuals as described in subsection (d) of
this section and as described in §290.110 of this title.
(B) The executive director will provide written notification
to the public water system in the event a public water system is required
to institute special precautions, protective measures, or issue boil
water notices to customers at the discretion of the executive director.
Upon written notification from the executive director, the public
water system shall implement special precautions, protective measures,
or issue boil water notices to customers within 24 hours or within
the time period specified by the executive director.
(C) The public water system shall provide any required
information to the executive director to document that the public
water system has met the requirements for special precautions, protective
measures, and boil water notices required at the discretion of the
executive director under this paragraph.
(6) Required actions prior to rescinding a boil water
notice. A public water system shall notify customers throughout the
distribution system or in the affected area(s) of the distribution
system that a boil water notice has been rescinded after the public
water system has met the requirements of this paragraph. A boil water
notice issued under the requirements of this subsection shall remain
in effect until the public water system has provided required compliance
documentation to the executive director which establishes that the
public water system has met the following requirements, as applicable:
(A) water distribution system pressures in excess of
20 psi are consistently being maintained throughout the distribution
system in accordance with the flowchart found in §290.47(e) of
this title;
(B) affected area(s) of the distribution system have
been thoroughly flushed until a minimum of 0.2 mg/L free chlorine
residual or 0.5 mg/L chloramine residual (measured as total chlorine)
is present and is consistently being maintained in each finished water
storage tank and throughout the distribution system as described in
subsection (d) of this section;
(C) finished water entering the distribution system,
produced by a treatment plant that is treating surface water or groundwater
under the direct influence of surface water, has a turbidity level
that is consistently being maintained below 1.0 NTU;
(D) actions required by the executive director under
paragraph (5) of this subsection have been met and the public water
system is operating in accordance with §290.111(h)(2) of this
title as described in paragraph (5)(A)(i) of this subsection; and
(E) water samples for microbiological analysis, marked
as "special" on the laboratory sample submission form, were collected
from representative locations throughout the distribution system or
in the affected area(s) of the distribution system after the public
water system has met all other applicable requirements of this paragraph
and the water samples collected for microbiological analysis are found
negative for coliform organisms. The water samples described in this
subparagraph shall be analyzed at laboratories in accordance with §290.119
of this title (relating to Analytical Procedures).
Cont'd... |
