Greetings Group members,
On March 16th we held the annual BAT Forum virtually. The BAT Forum was designed to encourage communication and share information between the Department of Health, Washington Certification Services, Cross Connection Specialists and Backflow Assembly Testers. We had a very good turnout, there we 60 participants.
The meeting started out with Megan Brech from Green River College giving us an update regarding professional growth exams:
Megan is in the need of new proctors to help with testing. If you are interested, send her an email. There will be a quick interview process via zoom. They basically just want to know your history as a bat and the experiences you’ve had.
As of March 16th, there are 916 BATs who still need to pass their Professional Growth Exam to meet their 12/31/2022 deadline. WCS has extended hours in Spokane, added Saturday exams in Auburn, re-opened Vancouver, and is hoping to have a location in Yakima secured this summer. Even with all of those additions, if exams don’t fill every month there won’t be room to accommodate everyone trying to register at the end of the year. If your Professional Growth cycle deadline is 12/31/2022 schedule your exam as soon as possible. Interested in becoming a proctor? Please contact Megan Brech: mbrech@greenriver.edu.
See her power point presentation here: Bill’s presentation is also here.
Next up from the Department of Health was Bill Bernier. He spoke of L & I rules regarding USC approved test kits. There is information out there that the kits must be USC approved and he would like all to know that IS NOT REQUIRED. The battle is on again with the soda machine dual checks. Soda companies tell their customers that dual checks are appropriate for backflow when we all know they require an RPBA. (WAC 51-56)
He still is encouraging BATS to report failures. It is critical to reflect the need to keep testing on an annual basis. There is a testing trends graph in the power point that shows the CCC Trends are down across the state due to the covid problem. Bill spoke about two recent backflow incidents: One at a church using a rainwater catchment system and a restaurant using rainwater to flush toilets. He also included some pics of bad installations, which are always kind of funny!
Scott Hemingway from Washington Environmental Training Resource Center (WETRC) spoke about backflow tester’s, DOH, and CCS responsibilities.
It is the BATs responsibility to report if the assembly is not installed correctly and the CCS’s is responsible to get it rectified. There was a long discussion about flipping a disk. Is that considered a repair? RPBAs are no longer allowed in vaults but the ones that were installed before the code change can be grandfathered in. CCSs are allowed to inspect air gaps and AVBs to insure they are properly installed. There was discussion about winterization, stop and waste yard hydrants being a problem at RV camp sites.
Below are pictures of hydrant meter design and set ups courtesy of Chris Aronson from the City of Spokane. The last two pics were given to us from Scott Hemingway at Green River College. Thanks guys, these are always fun to see and possibly plagiarize😊
From Chris at the City of Spokane:
These are our hydrant cages. We don’t make stands for them; we inform the contractor that it needs to be at least 12” off the ground. We allow them to modify the cages to fit their trucks that will be carrying the cages as long as they return them the same way they checked them out. We send out a laminated procedure sheet and a hydrant wrench with each cage. The parts list is for if the contractor breaks or freezes the assembly or does not return the cage in its original condition. The blue cages are for capital projects which contractors just sign out and not pay the deposit. We build yellow and blue cages in the 1” size as well.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us at watercrossconnection@spokanecity.org
More pictures below…………………
