BATTLE CREEK, Mich. - Starting next year, the city workers who come to upgrade home water meters for Battle Creek residents will also check to make sure that home water pipes aren't set up in a way that would allow sewage or chemical solutions to backflow into the drinking water system.
The pipe arrangements in question are called cross connections. Battle Creek water customers will start to receive pamphlets next month that explain the city's residential cross-connection control program.
"We are now going to start addressing potential cross connections within residential homes utilizing our current metering staff," Battle Creek Utility Administrator Perry Hart said. "The idea being when we are in home to upgrade a meter, we will also conduct cross-connection control survey."
Battle Creek water customers will soon receive this pamphlet on cross connection. (Photo: Provided)
A cross-connection survey will involve city staff finding where a hose can be connected in the house and checking to see if it has a backflow prevention device. City employees can then recommend cost-effective solutions to fix any issues they may find.
Hart expects the survey of residences to start in January, after customers receive the pamphlet and after an educational meeting takes place sometime at the end of November. Details on when and where the meeting will take place have not been finalized.
The residential cross-connection control program will likely take a decade to complete, he said.
"We are not going to pick a street and go up and down the street," Hart said. "We will be doing it when we are given access to people’s homes for meter work."
Cross connection control is mandated by the federal and state governments and by Battle Creek's ordinance that states the Department of Public Works should inspect "all properties served by the public water supply where cross connection with the public water supply is deemed possible."
The city's inspection department handled cross connection control until the Department of Public Works took over the program in 2015.
In 2016, the city contracted with a company called HydroCorp to evaluate industrial and commercial properties. HydroCorp has also provided cross connection survey training to the city staff in preparation for the residential cross connection control program.
At a meeting on Tuesday, Battle Creek City Commissioners approved a new three-year contract with HydroCorp to continue the industrial and commercial cross connection surveys. The contract will cost the city $178,920 with unit prices prevailing, and any pre-approved expenses outside the scope of work at the contracted hourly rate plus materials.
"They’ve done a really admirable job of getting to facilities and making corrections and administering the entire program for us," Hart said of HydroCorp.
Vice Mayor Sherry Sofia was the only commissioner who opposed the resolution to approve the contract.
"I understand that it is something we have to do," Sofia said. "I just wish we would have more conversations because what does this mean for people. How much is this going to cost them?"
Contact Kalea Hall at (269) 966-0697 or khall@battlecreekenquirer.com. Follow her on Twitter at @bykaleahall.
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