DOVER, Del.- Dover officials are contemplating a temporary halt on a costly plumbing requirement.
The city has been requiring property owners to install and maintain backflow preventers, looking to safeguard the city’s water supply from contamination.
Backflow preventers, one-way valves attached to water pipes, ensure that water flows only in the intended direction. They let water into the public supply but block any reverse flow that could taint the city’s system.
Mayor Robin Christiansen noted that the requirement originates from state and federal regulations.
“This is something that came down from DNREC and the federal government,” Christiansen said.
Local business owners are raising concerns about the high costs associated with these devices. Scott Kidner, from C.S. Kidner Associates Inc., a government relations firm based in Dover, describes the expense as excessive.
“We’re talking thousands of dollars,” he explained.
Kidner argues that his business, which uses minimal water, poses no significant threat to the city's water supply.
“If there is a back siphonage of water out of our property, that we would somehow degrade the city’s water system, we think that is not quite possible,” Kidner said. “To place this burden on residential and low-hazard commercial properties is quite frankly beating a flea with a hammer.”
Mayor Christiansen said Kidner may be right.
“The way the regulation reads to me, it is not correct because most people, particularly homes and businesses that do not have a sprinkler systems, do not really need a backflow prevention device and I think we have misinterpreted the regulation,” Christiansen said.
Tonight’s City Council Committee of the Whole will consider the proposed moratorium. Dover's utility committee supports the measure.
Meanwhile, State Rep. Sean Lynn (D-Dover), who introduced a bill in June to alleviate the cost burden of backflow preventers, stated that he will hold off on reintroducing the bill if the city adjusts its regulations.