Chapter 590. Waterworks Regulations

A. In accordance with Chapter 4 (§ 54.1-400 et seq.) of Title 54.1 of the Code of Virginia, all drawings, specifications, and engineer's reports submitted for approval shall be prepared by or under the supervision of a licensed professional engineer qualified to practice in Virgi…

A. The design guidelines set forth in Part III Manual of Practice for Waterworks Design (12VAC5-590-640 et seq.) of this chapter (Manual of Practice) specify general criteria for the design and construction of waterworks. The commissioner may impose standards or requirements that…

A. Upon approval of the plans and specifications, the commissioner will issue a permit to the owner to construct or modify the waterworks in accordance with the approved plans and specifications. B. The construction permit shall be valid for a period of five years. If constructio…

A. Any deviations from the approved plans and specifications affecting capacity, hydraulic conditions, operating units, the functioning of water treatment processes, or the quality of water to be delivered must be approved by the department before any of these deviations are impl…

A. Upon completion of the construction or modification of the waterworks, the owner shall submit to the department a statement signed by a licensed professional engineer stating that the construction work was completed in accordance with the approved plans and specifications, rev…

A. Upon receipt of the statement of completion of construction, receipt of all required certifications and test results, inspection by the department to ensure that the project has been satisfactorily completed in accordance with the approved design documents, and verification th…

A. Before placing a new or modified waterworks into operation following construction, the owner shall test the water at the entry point to the distribution system in a manner acceptable to the department. The owner shall notify the department of the time and place of the tests. T…

(Repealed.)

A. Water treatment methods, processes, and equipment that are not covered by the design criteria of Part III (12VAC5-590-640 et seq.) of this chapter, and that in principle or application are new or nonconventional, are subject to a temporary permit application procedure instead …

(Repealed.)

A. Instead of obtaining a permit for each distribution main project, an owner may elect to obtain a general permit for the construction of distribution mains. These general permits are issued by the commissioner, but all requests for a general permit are directed initially to the…

A. The commissioner may amend or reissue an operation permit (i) when there is a change in the manner of storage, treatment, or supply of source water at the permitted location; (ii) when the existing permit is no longer valid; (iii) for any other cause incident to the protection…

A. The commissioner may revoke an operation permit in accordance with the APA. Reasons for revocation include: 1. The waterworks can no longer be depended upon to furnish potable water; 2. The capacity of the waterworks is inadequate for the purpose of furnishing potable water; 3…

A. The commissioner or department may require the owner to install, use, and maintain monitoring equipment for the control and testing of water flowing through the water treatment plant to: 1. Identify and determine the cause of operational problems; 2. Determine the necessary co…

A. All physical, chemical, bacteriological, or radiological analyses for the purpose of demonstrating compliance with the requirements of this chapter shall be performed by laboratories that have received certification by EPA or DCLS as specified in 12VAC5-590-440. The owner is r…

The commissioner, or the commissioner's designee, may perform any act of the board provided under this chapter, except as limited by § 32.1-20 of the Code of Virginia. Statutory Authority§§ 32.1-12 and 32.1-170 of the Code of Virginia.

A. Frequent assessments shall be made by the owner of the water supply and waterworks to locate and identify health hazards to the waterworks. The manner and frequency of making these assessments, and the rate at which discovered health hazards are to be removed, shall be the res…

A. The owner shall provide and maintain conditions throughout the entirety of the waterworks in a manner that will assure a high degree of capability and reliability to comply with Part II (12VAC5-590-340 et seq.) of this chapter. This requirement shall pertain to the source wate…

A. Bacteriological monitoring. 1. The owner shall collect total coliform samples at specific sites and according to a schedule that is representative of water quality throughout the distribution system, which shall be documented in a written BSSP. The BSSP shall be established or…

A. The owner of a community waterworks or a NTNC shall conduct monitoring to determine compliance with the PMCLs and SMCLs listed in Table 340.1 in accordance with this section. The owner of a TNC shall conduct monitoring to determine compliance with the nitrate, nitrite, and nit…

A. The owner of a community waterworks or a NTNC shall conduct monitoring to determine compliance with PMCLs listed in Table 340.2 in accordance with this section. Where two or more sources are combined before distribution, the owner shall sample at the entry point for the combin…

A. Unless otherwise noted, an owner of a waterworks that uses a chemical disinfectant shall comply with the requirements of this section as follows: 1. The owner of a community waterworks or a NTNC shall comply with this section. 2. The owner of a TNC that uses any combination of…

A. The owner of a community waterworks or a NTNC shall monitor for lead and copper in tap water (subsection B of this section), water quality (corrosion) parameters in the distribution system and at entry points (subsection C of this section), and lead and copper in water supplie…

A. The owner of a waterworks that uses a surface water source, a GUDI source, or both and provides filtration treatment shall monitor in accordance with this section. B. Turbidity measurements shall be performed on representative samples of the filtered water every four hours (or…

A. Monitoring to determine compliance with the SMCLs for color, odor, pH, and total dissolved solids as specified in Table 340.3 shall be conducted as follows: 1. The owner shall collect one sample at each groundwater source entry point during each compliance period. 2. The owner…

A. The location of sampling points, the radionuclides measured in community waterworks, the frequency, and the timing of sampling within each compliance period shall be established or approved by the department. The department may increase required monitoring where necessary to d…

A. General monitoring requirements. 1. The owner of a groundwater system, including consecutive and wholesale waterworks, shall conduct monitoring in accordance with this section, except that requirements do not apply to waterworks that combine all of their groundwater sources wi…

A. The owner needs only to determine the presence or absence of total coliforms and E. coli for routine bacteriological monitoring at entry points or distribution system locations. B. PMCLs for microbial contaminants. 1. A waterworks is in compliance with the PMCL for E. coli unl…

A. When the results of sampling for antimony, arsenic, asbestos, barium, beryllium, cadmium, cyanide (as free cyanide), chromium, fluoride, mercury, nickel, selenium, or thallium exceed the applicable PMCL, the owner shall collect a confirmation sample at the same sampling point …

A. When the results of sampling indicate positive results for contaminants listed in Table 340.2, the owner shall collect a confirmation sample at the same sampling point within two weeks of notification of the analytical results of the first sample. B. The results of the initial…

A. General requirements. 1. Where compliance is based on an RAA of monthly or quarterly samples or averages and the owner fails to monitor for TTHM, HAA5, or bromate, this failure to monitor shall be treated as a monitoring violation for the entire period covered by the annual av…

A. The lead AL is exceeded if the concentration of lead in more than 10% of tap water samples collected during any monitoring period conducted in accordance with 12VAC5-590-375 B is greater than 0.015 mg/L (i.e., if the 90th percentile lead level is greater than 0.015 mg/L). B. T…

A. MCLGs for radionuclides are listed in Table 546.1 of 12VAC5-590-546 B. B. PMCLs for radionuclides are applicable to community waterworks only and are listed in Table 340.4. Compliance with PMCLs will be determined based on the analytical results obtained at each entry point. I…

A. Color, odor, pH, and total dissolved solids. 1. When the sampling results for color, odor, pH, or total dissolved solids exceed the applicable SMCL, the owner shall collect a confirmation sample at the same sampling site within two weeks of notification of the analytical resul…

A. When it is not technically or economically feasible to monitor for a particular PMCL or a contaminant, one or more specific treatment techniques that lead to a reduction in the concentration level of that contaminant shall be required. The application of that treatment techniq…

A. Assessments shall be conducted in accordance with subsections C, D, and E of this section after exceeding treatment technique triggers. B. Treatment technique triggers. 1. Level 1 treatment technique triggers: a. For the owner required to collect 40 or more samples per month, …

A. Surface water and GUDI source treatment techniques. 1. The filtration and disinfection provisions of this section are required treatment techniques for a waterworks supplied by a surface water source, a GUDI source, or both. These treatment technique requirements are in place …

A. The board is responsible for promulgating, amending, and repealing regulations to ensure a supply of potable water. B. The commissioner is vested with all the authority of the board when it is not in session, subject to such rules and regulations as may be prescribed by the bo…

(Repealed.)

A. A waterworks using a surface water source, a GUDI source, or both shall comply with the requirements of this section based on their population or if the waterworks is a wholesaler, based on the population of the largest waterworks in the combined distribution system. B. The ow…

A. Lead and copper corrosion control techniques. 1. Corrosion control treatment requirements. The owner of a community waterworks or a NTNC shall install and operate optimum corrosion control treatment by completing the corrosion control treatment requirements described below whi…

(Repealed.)

A. Treatment technique for control of DBPPs. 1. Applicability. a. The owner of a community waterworks or a NTNC shall comply with treatment techniques for the control of DBPPs. b. A waterworks that uses a surface water source, a GUDI source, or both using conventional filtration …

A. A waterworks with uncovered finished water storage facilities shall comply with the requirements to cover the facility as described in this section. B. The owner shall immediately notify the department of the use of each uncovered finished water storage facility. C. All uncove…

(Repealed.)

A. The owner of a groundwater system that (i) has a confirmed E. coli contamination as described in 12VAC5-590-379 B or (ii) has been notified in writing of a significant deficiency as described in 12VAC5-590-350 D shall meet the requirements of this section. Failure to meet any …

(Repealed.)