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S 2803Water Resources

Waters and Navigation - Public Drinking Water Supply

This bill prohibits the state from requiring inspections of water safety backflow devices more than once every ten years.

Held for study
Population
Affected
35
Email Legislator
Introduced Mar 4, 2026Committee Senate Environment & Agriculture

Plain-English Summary

This legislation amends Rhode Island's public drinking water supply laws regarding cross-connection controls (devices that prevent dirty water from flowing back into the clean water supply). Specifically, it restricts the state from creating regulations that require the inspection or certification of backflow prevention devices more often than once every ten years. Exceptions are allowed only if there is an emergency or a specific public health situation. This change effectively reduces the mandatory maintenance schedule for these water safety devices for property owners and businesses.

For younger readers

Buildings have special valves in their pipes to make sure dirty water doesn't flow backward into the clean drinking water. Right now, there are rules that say these valves have to be checked by an expert to make sure they are working. This new law says that the government cannot make building owners check these valves more than once every ten years. The only time they can check them sooner is if there is a big emergency or a health problem that needs to be fixed right away.

Who & Where It Applies

Impacted groups
Property OwnersPublic Water SystemsPlumbers and InspectorsBusiness OwnersRI Department of Health
Impacted communities
All

Constitutional & Fiscal Check

None Likely

Estimated cost
None
Estimated revenue
None

Bill Analysis

Both viewpoints
For Progressives
  • Reduces the financial burden of frequent, mandatory professional inspections on low-income homeowners and small non-profit community organizations.
  • Prevents potential predatory practices by private inspection companies that might lobby for excessive testing requirements to increase their own profits.
  • Focuses regulatory resources and government attention on actual emergencies and public health crises rather than routine, bureaucratic compliance monitoring.
  • Significantly weakens public health protections by allowing mechanical safety devices to go unchecked for a decade, increasing the risk of contaminating the public water supply.
  • Undermines the authority of environmental agencies to set safety standards based on scientific best practices rather than arbitrary legislative timelines.
  • Prioritizes cost savings for property owners over the collective welfare and safety of the community, potentially exposing vulnerable populations to waterborne illnesses.
For Conservatives
  • Reduces government overreach by limiting the power of unelected bureaucrats to impose frequent, burdensome, and costly regulations on property owners.
  • Lowers operating costs for businesses and commercial property owners by removing the expense of frequent, state-mandated inspections.
  • Protects private property rights by restricting the state's ability to mandate entry and inspection of private premises without a specific emergency justification.
  • Could lead to infrastructure failures that damage property values and disrupt local commerce if water systems become contaminated due to lack of oversight.
  • Interferes with the efficient management of public utilities, potentially shifting liability costs to taxpayers if a major contamination event occurs due to equipment failure.
  • Creates a rigid statutory limit that prevents local water authorities from managing their systems based on specific local risks, potentially compromising law and order in a crisis.

Votes

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Full Bill Text

Changes to existing Rhode Island law · 5 additions

SECTION 1. Section 46-13-22 of the General Laws in Chapter 46-13 entitled "Public Drinking Water Supply" is hereby amended to read as follows: 46-13-22. Cross-connection control.

(a) The director is hereby authorized to adopt consistent statewide regulations governing the content of cross-connection control plans and to require that all community public water systems and all non-transient, non-community public water systems prepare a cross-connection control plan. The purpose of these plans shall be to protect the public water system distribution and transmission infrastructure from contamination through cross-connections. All community public water systems and all non-transient, non-community public water systems shall certify to the director that said plan complies with the regulations in accordance with the following schedule:

(1) Community and non-transient, non-community public water systems serving more than five hundred (500) people shall submit certification of compliance no later than June 30, 2011, and implement said plan immediately thereafter.

(2) Community and non-transient, non-community public water systems serving five hundred (500) people or fewer shall submit certification of compliance no later than June 30, 2012, and implement said plan immediately thereafter.

(b) The regulations governing cross-connection control plans adopted by the director shall at a minimum include: the installation of cross-connection control valves at all newly constructed service connections prior to the provision of water service; the installation of cross connection control valves at all commercial and industrial service connections. The installation of cross- connection control devices shall not be made a mandatory condition of a transfer of a residential property that exists as of the effective date of this act [June 27, 2007].

(c) Public water supply systems shall be authorized to terminate water service to any customer who fails to install the appropriate cross-connection control device upon due notice.

(d) The cross-connection control devices required to be installed shall be models approved by the Foundation for Cross-Connection Control and Hydraulic Research of the University of Southern California (FCCCHR, USC), the American Water Works Association (AWWA), and/or the American Society of Sanitary Engineers (ASSE).

(e) The director may also adopt and enforce standards including the establishment of fees for certification of persons engaged in cross-connection surveying or backflow prevention, assembly training, repair and maintenance testing; provided, however, that no regulation or rule shall be promulgated or enforced which requires the inspection or certification of any backflow prevention device or system more frequently than once every ten (10) years except in response to an emergency or public health situation.

(f) Any regulations and/or standards promulgated, amended and/or administered pursuant to the provisions of this section shall conform to the requirements of chapter 35 of title 42 (“The Administrative Procedures Act.”)

SECTION 2. This act shall take effect upon passage.