R309-100-4. General

These rules shall apply to all public drinking water systems within the State of Utah.

(1) A public drinking water system is a system, either publicly or privately owned, providing water for human consumption and other domestic uses, which:

(a) Has at least 15 service connections,

(i) Delivery of drinking water, such as by a single well, to a portion of a platted subdivision or a portion of a contiguous development, either of which is under the same ownership or control, shall be considered a single public drinking water system; and

(ii) A platted subdivision or other contiguous development of 15 or more lots, under the same ownership or control, is considered to have the corresponding number of connections as there are lots; or

(b) Serves an average of at least 25 individuals daily at least 60 days out of the year.

(i) A ratio of 3.13 persons per connection shall be used to calculate the individuals served unless, at the time of operation, more accurate information is available. The ratio is based on the statewide average persons per residence in the 2000 census.

(ii) Notwithstanding the threshold for the number of service connections set forth in (a), a drinking water system consisting of at least 8 service connections is considered to serve 25 people, based on the ratio in (b)(i), and consequently is classified as a public drinking water system, unless, at the time of operation, more accurate data can be used.

(iii) The ratio in (b)(i) is only be used to determine whether, prior to construction or modification, any particular water system is considered to be a public water system.

(c) Any person or entity may request a review of the designation of a public water system by submitting documentation to the Director showing that the drinking water system, upon complete build out, falls below both thresholds listed in (a) and (b) above. All decisions made by the Director under this provision may be challenged as provided in Section 19-1-301.5 and R305-7.

(2) Submetered Properties.

(a) Submetered Properties means a billing process by which a property owner (or association of property owners, in the case of co-ops or condominiums) bills tenants based on metered total water use; the property owner is then responsible for payment of a water bill from a public water system.

(b) A property owner who installs submeters to track usage of water by tenants on his or her property shall not be subject to these rules solely as a result of taking the administrative act of submetering and billing.

(c) Owners of submetered properties shall receive all their water from a regulated public water system to qualify under the terms of R309-105-5 for exemption from monitoring requirements, except as to the selling of water.

(d) This is not intended to exempt systems where the property in question has a large distribution system (piping in excess of 500 feet in length and sized larger than the normal service lateral based on a fixture unit analysis) serves a large population or serves a mixed (commercial/residential) population (e.g. many military installations/facilities or large mobile home parks or P.U.D's) from regulation as a public drinking water system as pertains to notifying the Division of the persons indicated below in (5) or plan review of modifications or changes to their systems (refer to R309-500).

(3) The term public drinking water system includes collection, treatment, storage or distribution facilities under control of the operator and used primarily in connection with the system. Additionally, the term includes collection, pretreatment or storage facilities used primarily in connection with the system but not under such control (see 19-4-102 of the Utah Code Annotated).

(4) Categories of Public Drinking Water Systems

Public drinking water systems are divided into three categories, as follows:

(a) "Community water system" (CWS) means a public drinking water system which serves at least 15 service connections used by year-round residents or regularly serves at least 25 year-round residents.

(b) "Non-transient, non-community water system" (NTNCWS) means a public water system that is not a community water system and that regularly serves at least 25 of the same nonresident persons over six months per year. Examples of such systems are those serving the same individuals (industrial workers, school children, church members) by means of a separate system.

(c) "Transient non-community water system" (TNCWS) means a non-community public water system that does not serve 25 of the same nonresident persons per day for more than six months per year. Examples of such systems are those, RV park, diner or convenience store where the permanent nonresident staff number less than 25, but the number of people served exceeds 25.

(d) The distinctions between "Community", "Non-transient, non-community", and "Transient Non-community" water systems are important with respect to monitoring and water quality requirements.

(5) Responsibility

(a) All public drinking water systems must have a person or organization designated as the owner of the system. The name, address and phone number of this person or organization shall be supplied, in writing, to the Director.

(b) The name of the person to be contacted on issues concerning the operation and maintenance of the system shall also be provided, in writing, to the Director.