Sandpoint backflow ordinance in limbo
SANDPOINT - An ordinance aimed at protecting Sandpoint's water system is in limbo after the City Council failed to reach an agreement Wednesday on the program.
The ordinance was drafted in response to a 2008 survey conducted by the Idaho Department of Environmental Quality, which found a number of deficiencies in Sandpoint's water system. According to DEQ, the most glaring problem was the lack an adequate program to track backflow prevention devices.
Backflow devices and assemblies work to protect water supplies from contamination or pollution by eliminating reverse flows of water from individual systems into the public water source.
The proposed ordinance would require annual backflow prevention testing for a group of home and business owners inside the Sandpoint water system.
While nearly every home and business has some sort of backflow prevention, the ordinance would only require a sliver of them to be tested, said assistant city engineer Matt Mulder, who spearheaded the program.
Based on DEQ recommendations, Mulder implemented a program last year to search out units needing to be tested, and the new ordinance was designed around that program.
After completing the program's first year, Mulder said the vast majority of the 450-plus individuals required to undergo the $50 test did so with only minor complaints.
According to Mulder, all but 80 of those required to test their system did so by the deadline, and the remaining 80 eventually completed the testing.
Sandpoint's Ken Sanger grudgingly had his two backflow devices tested, but has been a staunch opponent of the program since its inception.
Sanger called the wording of the proposed ordinance "onerous," specifically as it pertains to city employees entering private property to conduct the test. The ordinance says the Public Works director or his designated agent have the right to enter any building during reasonable hours to inspect the plumbing system.
"The idea that a city employee has the right to come into mine or anyone else's home any reasonable time he feels like it doesn't seem American to me," Sanger said.
Defending the document, Mulder said it is not the city's intent to enter a home without invitation, but added that if a homeowner refuses to comply with the city, they would face consequences.
"I wouldn't force my way into their house by any means, but if they're unwilling to cooperate with inspections then, ultimately, we could turn off their water," Mulder said.
City Councilwoman Helen Newton, who voted against the ordinance, raised numerous concerns about the program.
"This is yet another unfunded mandate from our state and it's a burden for property owners," Newton said. "I want to know that every one of the other 199 cities in the state of Idaho has this ordinance and they are pursuing it and enforcing it, and then Sandpoint can come on board."
Mayor Gretchen Hellar said forcing inspections might appear to be a Draconian measure, but said the safety of the water system requires it.
"It seems to me that we're talking about whether an individual, for the lack of wanting to pay $50, has the right to potentially contaminate our water supply," Hellar said.
In order to become law, an ordinance has to be read in full on three separate occasions, unless the council votes to suspend the rules.
On the first reading, Councilmen Michael Boge, Stephen Snedden, Doug Hawkins and Councilwoman Carrie Logan voted to pass the ordinance. Newton voted against it and Councilman John Reuter was absent from the meeting.
Both Newton and Boge voted not to suspend the rules for the second and third reading of the ordinance, which means it will have to be read two more times before it becomes law.