Newmarket water customers should have the greatest confidence that all steps are being taken to ensure that our drinking water supply continues to be clean and safe.
The Town is legally responsible under the
Safe Drinking Water Act, Section 19, Standard of Care to do its due diligence. Installation of backflow preventers is required under Section 7 of the
Ontario Building Code and the Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks expects the Town to implement a backflow prevention program. This is considered to be a necessary industry best practice.
The new backflow prevention program will help the Town to protect human health and drinking water quality, manage risks, maintain system security and achieve regulatory compliance. The program will involve a new By-Law and standard operating procedures that also require certain members of the community to take action.
Industrial, Commercial and Institutional and multi residential property owners will be required to:
- Conduct a cross connection survey of the water systems to assess risk of contamination and send the Town the results by no later than October 31, 2019 and every five years after that. Please send email to [email protected].
- Install backflow prevention devices at each property by Spring 2020
- Test backflow prevention devices and file test reports with the Town annually beginning in Spring 2020
Residential property owners won't be impacted by this new by-law because of limited cross connections and lower risks. However, any property may be subject to the by-law if it poses a high contamination risk.
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