Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0400-45-01-.05 - SUPERVISION OF DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION

(1) Engineering - Plan documents for public water systems shall be submitted to the Department at least thirty (30) days prior to the date on which action by the Department is desired.

(2) Expiration of Approval - Approval of engineering reports, proposals, preliminary plans, survey and basis of design data shall be null and void after a period of one year from the date stamped on the documents, unless the general and detailed plan documents have been submitted to the Department. Approval of all other plan documents by the Department shall be null and void after a period of one year from the date stamped on the plan documents, unless the construction is either underway or completed.

(3) General Practice - All plan documents for public water system design and construction shall present all information in conformance with accepted engineering practices and the "Design Criteria for community Public Water Systems" as published by the Department.

(4) Revisions to Plan Documents - Any deviations from plan documents approved by the Department, which affect location, sanitary and/or mineral quality, capacity, hydraulic conditions, operating units, or the function of unit processes or distribution and storage, must be approved in writing before such changes are made. Any revisions must be made on the master work, i.e., the original tracings. Revised plan documents must be submitted in time to permit the review and approval of such revisions before any construction which will be affected by such revisions is begun.

(5) Copies of Plan Documents - Generally, only two copies of the engineering report and two sets of the preliminary plans shall be required by the Department for review and/or approval. At least four complete sets of the detailed plan documents shall be required for final review. Upon the granting by the Department of its approval for construction the documents shall be so stamped and two sets returned to the engineer's office, one set forwarded to the appropriate Field Office for filing or use in field inspection of construction, and one set retained for the Department files. Upon completion of the project, one set of "As Built" plans and one copy of the executed contract documents shall be submitted to the Department and one set each to the owner. In addition, shop drawings, instruction manuals, etc., on all equipment furnished by the project shall be compiled into one or more documents and given to the owner.

(6) Supervision of Construction - One set of the plan document stamped "APPROVED FOR CONSTRUCTION" shall be available at the job sites at all times during construction. The engineer or a person qualified other than the contractor or his representative, and approved by the public water system shall provide continuous adequate inspection during construction to assure that all work is done in accordance with approved plan documents. The Department's representative shall have access to the project at any time during construction. If the Department's representative observes work being done in a manner that does not conform to the approved plan documents, he shall have the authority, through the engineer's representative, the water system's agent or directly to the contractor, to order the cessation of all work affected by the nonconformity until such discrepancies are rectified.

(7) Engineer's Seal - Plan documents for non-transient non-community and community public water systems shall be prepared by a person qualified under T.C.A. §§ 62-2-101 et seq. and shall have the necessary professional seal affixed as required by T.C.A. § 62-2-306.

(8)

(a) Ownership and Operational Organization - No person shall operate a public water system without notifying the Division of Water Resources prior to placing the new system in operation. Any person operating a public water system other than an individual, a municipality, any agency or instrumentality of the United States, any facility owned and operated by the State of Tennessee, or any organization otherwise exempt by law must have a charter or appropriate authorization lawfully issued as set forth in one or more of the following:

Utility District Law of 1937 - T.C.A. §§ 7-82-101 et seq.

Tennessee Business Corporation Act - T.C.A. §§ 48-11-101 et seq.

Tennessee Nonprofit Corporation Act - T.C.A. §§ 48-51-101 et seq.

Regulation of Public Utilities by Commission - T.C.A. §§ 65-4-101 et seq.

Urban Type Public Facilities - T.C.A. §§ 5-16-101 et seq.

(b) All public water systems shall comply with all laws, rules and regulations, and policies of the Department. Construction modification and treatment processes must be approved in accordance with all federally designated best available technologies and Tennessee Laws. Every public water system shall, within thirty (30) days following any change in ownership or operation of the system, file a written report of such change in ownership or operation with the Department. Such report shall, at a minimum, contain the name, home address, business address, and home and business phone numbers of the person assuming ownership or operation of the system, and the date such change of ownership or operation became effective.

(c) All persons owning or operating a public water system shall keep the Department advised of their current address and must readily accept all mail sent to them by the Department. For purposes of this rule, registered or certified mail sent with proper postage to the registered owner or operator's last known address shall be considered adequate notification regardless of whether is accepted or returned unclaimed.

(d) Because of the Department's statutory duty to supervise the construction, operation, and maintenance of public water systems, and because written communication is a necessary aspect of such supervision, an owner or operator's refusal to accept mail or failure to claim registered or certified mail is a violation of this Chapter and may result in enforcement action.

(9) Interconnection of Systems - Insofar as feasible, public water systems shall be connected with a municipal, county, regional or other existing approved water system capable of supplying the demand. Where such connection is not feasible, other approved sources may be considered. Each public water system shall be designed in such a manner as will facilitate the connection of the system at an appropriate time to an expanding municipal, county or regional system. Each public water system shall be designed to provide service to all service areas anticipated or projected by the owner.

(10) System Capacity - Whenever a public water system reaches eighty (80) per cent of the design capacity based on average day usage, the supplier of water shall immediately obtain the services of a competent engineer to prepare plan documents for expansion of said system.

(11) Turbidimeters - All community water systems using ground water formations under the direct influence of surface water, and serving more than 50 connections or 150 individuals, shall be required to install turbidity monitoring equipment with power cutoff ability and recording unit. Those systems not included in the above may be required to install turbidity monitoring devices if the Department finds that the system cannot meet the microbiological standard, the turbidity can be seen without an instrument, or there is an outbreak of illness that may be water related. All filter plants serving community water systems shall be required to have continuous recording turbidimeters on the filter effluent line(s). Such instrumentation may be pen and ink, digital, computerized or other record keeping or recording devices approved by the Department. If pen and ink recorders are used they shall be limited to two pens and two filters and shall use a scale of 0 to 2.0 NTU unless specific alternatives are approved in writing by the Department.

(12) Monitoring of new sources - All new surface or ground water sources added to an existing water system or proposed for use by a new water system shall have the required biological and chemical water quality monitoring completed prior to being placed in service. The parameters to be monitored shall be those required for drinking water for the specific type of system involved.

(13) Delegation of Plans Review Authority - Under T.C.A § 68-221-706, any unit of local government may petition the Commissioner for certification to review and approve plans for water distribution facilities within its jurisdiction. The unit of local government must have adequate experience and expertise in water distribution and must adopt standards and impose requirements which are at least as stringent as the Department's. The request for certification must be in writing and contain at least the following:

(a) The names of the individual(s) responsible for the review and approval together with his/her experience and education. This person(s) must be employed by the unit of local government and be a registered professional engineer in Tennessee.

(b) A copy of the standards, requirements and design criteria legally adopted and enforceable by the unit of local government.

(c) The type of projects the unit of local government wishes to receive certification to review. This may include but is not limited to water lines, distribution pumping stations and distribution storage tanks.

(d) Procedures for maintaining records of all projects reviewed and approved by the unit of local government.

(e) The wording to be used on the approval stamp.

(f) Plans review authority fee.

The Division of Water Resources will be responsible for reviewing the application for certification and shall have up to 60 days from the receipt of the complete application to make a written response. Units of local government will not be certified to review projects involving state or federal funds, raw water pump stations, new water sources, treatment facilities, sludge handling facilities, or any project designed by the staff of the local government. Any unit of local government which receives certification for plans review shall submit one copy of any plan documents it has approved to the Division of Water Resources. This shall be done within 10 days of the local government's approval. The commissioner may periodically review the unit of local government's plans review program and prescribe changes as deemed appropriate. The Division of Water Resources may execute a written agreement with a unit of local government which has received plans review certification. Failure to comply with the terms of the agreement may result in revocation of the plans review certification.

Notes

Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0400-45-01-.05

Original rule filed August 1, 2012; effective October 30, 2012. Rule was previously numbered 1200-05-01. Amendments filed November 19, 2018; effective 2/17/2019.

Authority: T.C.A. §§ 4-5-201, et seq. and 68-221-701, et seq.