Iowa Admin. Code r. 199-19.5 - [Effective 7/16/2025] Engineering practice
(1)
Requirement for good engineering practice. The gas plant of
the utility shall be constructed, installed, maintained, and operated in
accordance with accepted good engineering practice in the gas industry to
ensure, as far as reasonably possible, continuity of service, uniformity in the
quality of service furnished, and the safety of persons and property.
(2)
Standards incorporated by
reference.
a. The design,
construction, operation, and maintenance of gas systems and liquefied natural
gas facilities shall be in accordance with the following standards where
applicable:
(1) 49 CFR Part 191,
"Transportation of Natural and Other Gas by Pipeline; Annual Reports, Incident
Reports, and Safety-Related Condition Reports."
(2) 49 CFR Part 192, "Transportation of
Natural and Other Gas by Pipeline: Minimum Federal Safety Standards."
(3) 49 CFR Part 193, "Liquefied Natural Gas
Facilities: Federal Safety Standards."
(4) 49 CFR Part 199, "Drug and Alcohol
Testing."
(5) ASME B31.8 - 2022,
"Gas Transmission and Distribution Piping Systems," published December 22,
2022.
(6) NFPA 59 - 2024, "Utility
LP-Gas Plant Code," published January 1, 2023.
(7) At railroad crossings, the engineering
standards for pipelines rule in 199-Chapter 42.
b. The following publications are adopted as
standards of accepted good practice for gas utilities:
(1) ANSI Z223.1/NFPA 54 - 2024, "National
Fuel Gas Code," published January 26, 2024.
(2) NFPA 501A - 2021, "Standard for Fire
Safety Criteria for Manufactured Home Installations, Sites, and Communities,"
published January 1, 2021.
(3)
Adequacy of gas supply. The natural gas regularly available
from supply sources supplemented by production or storage capacity must be
sufficiently large to meet all reasonable demands for firm gas
service.
(4)
Gas
transmission and distribution facilities. The utility's gas
transmission and distribution facilities shall be designed, constructed and
maintained as required to reliably perform the gas delivery burden placed upon
them. Utilities will be capable of emergency repair work on a scale consistent
with its scope of operation and with the physical conditions of its
transmission and distribution facilities.
In appraising the reliability of the utility's transmission and distribution system, the commission will consider, as principal factors, the condition of the physical property and the size, training, supervision, availability, equipment and mobility of the maintenance forces.
(5)
Inspection of gas
plant. Utilities will adopt and follow a program of inspection of its
gas plant in order to determine the necessity for replacement and repair. The
frequency of the various inspections shall be based on the utility's experience
and accepted good practice. Utilities will keep sufficient records to give
evidence of compliance with its inspection program.
Notes
State regulations are updated quarterly; we currently have two versions available. Below is a comparison between our most recent version and the prior quarterly release. More comparison features will be added as we have more versions to compare.
(1) Requirement for good engineering practice. The gas plant of the utility shall be constructed, installed, maintained and operated in accordance with accepted good engineering practice in the gas industry to assure, as far as reasonably possible, continuity of service, uniformity in the quality of service furnished, and the safety of persons and property.
(2) Standards incorporated by reference.
a. The design, construction, operation, and maintenance of gas systems and liquefied natural gas facilities shall be in accordance with the following standards where applicable:
(1) 49 CFR Part 191, "Transportation of Natural and Other Gas by Pipeline; Annual Reports, Incident Reports, and Safety-Related Condition Reports."
(2) 49 CFR Part 192, "Transportation of Natural and Other Gas by Pipeline: Minimum Federal Safety Standards."
(5) ASME B31.8 - 2016, "Gas Transmission and Distribution Piping Systems."
(6) NFPA 59-2018, "Utility LP-Gas Plant Code."
(7) At railroad crossings, rule 199-42.7 (476), "Engineering standards for pipelines."
b. The following publications are adopted as standards of accepted good practice for gas utilities:
(1) ANSI Z223.1/NFPA 54-2018, "National Fuel Gas Code."
(2) NFPA 501A-2017, "Standard for Fire Safety Criteria for Manufactured Home Installations, Sites, and Communities."
(3) Adequacy of gas supply. The natural gas regularly available from supply sources supplemented by production or storage capacity must be sufficiently large to meet all reasonable demands for firm gas service.
(4) Gas transmission and distribution facilities. The utility's gas transmission and distribution facilities shall be designed, constructed and maintained as required to reliably perform the gas delivery burden placed upon them. Each utility shall be capable of emergency repair work on a scale consistent with its scope of operation and with the physical conditions of its transmission and distribution facilities.
In appraising the reliability of the utility's transmission and distribution system, the
(5) Inspection of gas plant. Each utility shall adopt a program of inspection of its gas plant in order to determine the necessity for replacement and repair. The frequency of the various inspections shall be based on the utility's experience and accepted good practice. Each utility shall keep sufficient records to give evidence of compliance with its inspection program.