EASTHAMPTON – The city’s failure to test its cross-connection devices has resulted in a $5,000 fine and changes in testing protocol.
An audit by the state Department of Environmental Protection in January found that the city had failed to conduct all the required testing of its cross-connection control system as required by federal law, and levied the fine as part of a May 22 consent order with MassDEP.
A cross-connection control program ensures that there is no contamination to drinking water from a reverse flow of water from a building, or as Easthampton Department of Public Works Director Joseph I. Pipczynski put it, “It ensures clean water stays clean.”
A backflow of contaminated water from commercial or industrial buildings could jeopardize the cleanliness of the city’s public water supply. Under the Safe Drinking Water Act, cities are required to test devices responsible for preventing that backflow.
It was “simply an oversight,” Pipczynski said, of the devices not tested.
The DEP’s audit found that from 2012 to 2017, the city failed to do all the required testing of cross-connection-control devices and did not repair or retest failed devices during three of the five years reported, according to the consent order.
MassDEP agreed to suspend $12,500 of the penalty on the condition that the city completes a survey of all industrial, commercial, institutional and municipal service connection within 180 days, as well as annually completing all tests.
Pipczynski said nearly two-thirds of the testing of devices has been completed and the city plans to complete all testing before the required 180 days. The DPW has changed its protocols to ensure this does not happen again, Pipczynski said.
“We will make sure that we are up to date,” he said. “It’s something we have to do.”
“We have to learn from this and move on,” he added.
Luis Fieldman can be reached at lfieldman@gazettenet.com