Facility piping systems are complex. While that’s not surprising, we’d do well to remember how that complexity should inform the way we approach maintenance, documentation, and contamination prevention. What does it look like to effectively manage facility piping systems? What information and processes do you need in place to do so?
Your First Step: Survey & Identify
First things first, map out your system. Every facility’s piping systems are different—and your cross-connection control and water management programs will look different depending on the size of your facility, the systems in place, and the complexity of your pipes.
Surveys reveal a whole slew of critical data points about your piping systems: from basic information like flow direction and an inventory of backflow preventers to serious problems that could create hazardous conditions for your people and your operations. You might find dead legs that threaten water quality, missing pipe labels that jeopardize compliance, or unprotected cross-connections that pose contamination risks.
Let’s focus in on backflow preventers: A survey allows you to identify and document the entirety of your plumbing system and where backflow preventers do (and don’t) exist. If you don’t look for problems, you won’t find them. All too often, our team identifies things like:
- Inappropriate backflow prevention for the piping configuration
- Backflow preventers that are improperly installed
- Missing backflow preventers
When you conduct a survey, you can find these problems and correct them. Then, you’ll know what backflow preventers you need and where so you can install them, protecting the internal distribution system and complying with regulations and accreditation standards.
What’s Next? Document & Implement
We don’t survey just for surveying’s sake. The point is to gather, record, and act on what you find. Some facilities simply create (or receive, when surveys are conducted by a third-party contractor) reports with corrective actions identified and stop there. But the best thing a facility can do is develop detailed piping schematics that act as a roadmap for navigating and maintaining its complex piping systems.
From a maintenance and compliance standpoint, this level of documentation allows you to get a pulse of your water distribution system—where problems exist and where changes are required. On an ongoing basis, these schematics can help you prevent the creation of cross-connections, dead legs, and other hazards when you modify your piping systems. Schematics also make these modifications cheaper (since contractors know what they’re getting into) and ensure safe, continued operations. Having this level of detail up front, you can better manage your system from every angle.
Maintenance Goes On: The Testing Question
We’ve talked about compliance a few times, and you may be thinking: The only thing I need to comply with, according to state plumbing codes, are backflow testing requirements. And even that, often, only requires testing of containment backflow preventers. Where do surveying and schematics fit in?
Backflow prevention assembly testing—which needs to be conducted upon installation or modification and (typically) on an annual basis according to local ordinance—can be relatively quick and easy, or it can be a time-consuming, resource-draining headache. Proper documentation is the difference maker. As you trace your piping systems, documenting everything about them, you’re also identifying where the assemblies are.
If your facility has dozens of backflow prevention assemblies that need to be tested, but you don’t know where they are, your backflow tester needs to essentially conduct a survey just to find the assemblies. That adds significantly to the cost of testing, which is often already steep depending on the size of your facility.
A subcontractor or internal site plumber can test anywhere from 30 to 50 backflow preventers in a week—if they know where they are. If the location is a mystery, that time easily doubles or triples.
Containment backflow prevention assemblies are obvious and almost always need to be tested in compliance with local regulations. But what about the sneaky assemblies hiding behind a paint booth or the boiler sample cooler? Without a list (and a map), there’s no guarantee your tester will be able to find every backflow preventer—at least, not without a significant time investment. That means your facility misses tests, risks non-compliance, and, most importantly, faces the threat of contamination. But, when you have a true map of your piping systems, you can easily locate the assemblies, saving time in the field and simplifying protection of your drinking water.
A Proactive Mindset
Regardless of whether your municipality requires testing of all backflow prevention assemblies in your facility, it’s still a good and safe practice. Your employees and visitors consume water past the containment backflow preventer. What’s protecting that water from cross-connection contamination?
Your facility operates a water distribution system in its own right: a microcosm of the public water system at large. Proper and functional backflow prevention internally protects the people in your facility, ensures continuity of operations, and keeps you ahead of liability risks.
Ready to learn more about how HydroCorp can support your facility’s cross-connection control and water management efforts through program development, on-site surveys, and piping schematic development?
