Regulation 11, the Colorado Primary Drinking Water Regulations, requires public water systems to receive department approval prior to initiating construction of waterworks. The specific regulatory citation is Regulation 11.4(1)(b) which states:
The requirement to get department approval prior to construction is important for many reasons including but not limited to: ensuring sources and treatment systems provide safe drinking water in a reliable and consistent manner, ensuring the state and the public water system are on the same page regarding what is installed and in operation, ensuring that the facility has an operator at the appropriate level, and ensuring that designs are well thought out and completed by the properly qualified individuals (in most cases a Professional Engineer or Certified Operator).
Sometimes, water systems install new sources, tanks, or treatment processes without department approval. If this is discovered during a routine sanitary survey, a violation will be issued requiring public notice. The system will be required to submit the design after the fact and get department approval. This can lead to expensive modifications to make sure the design meets our design standards (Policy 5 - Design Criteria for Potable Water Systems).
If a violation gets cited, the water system is then on a schedule to get department approval. Many times, the department inspector follows up with the public water system until a design is submitted, then the project is handed over to the Engineering Section to finish the approval. On many of the design submittals, the Engineering Section must issue one or more request-for-information letters to the public water system because elements of the design documents are missing or inadequate.
For systems that are in violation of the regulations by constructing infrastructure without our approval, we are now including deadlines within the request for information letters from the Engineering Section. These deadlines are binding in nature per the regulations and require a response. If a response is not received, the department will issue a reminder, but the system remains in danger of enforcement while there are open violations.
Resources:
- To determine if your system has open violations, please check your monitoring schedule at which will show you open violations.
- To obtain more information about system design approval, please visit the division's design approval website.
Thank you for working with us to get your designs approved efficiently!
➽ Tyson Ingels, P.E Lead Drinking Water Engineer
➽ Melanie Criswell, P.E. Corrosion Control Engineer
