La. Admin. Code tit. 48 § V-7717

Current through Register Vol. 50, No. 9, September 20, 2024

Section V-7717 - Existing Systems

A. Business Plan. All existing public water systems shall be required to submit a shortened and simplified business plan to the department to aid in the department's determination of technical, managerial, and financial capacity. Required information for the business plan will be provided by the department. The department and the concerned parties will revise the content of the business plan, as necessary, to adapt it to the needs of existing system capacity requirements. A grant or a loan from either RUS and/or LCDBG programs will not trigger the requirement for submission of the business plan. Prioritization for the required capacity assessment of existing systems, including submission of the business plan, will be based on whether the existing water system has been issued an administrative order, and/or is on the significant non-compliers list and/or has had primary Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL) violations during the past three years. However, the Office of Public Health (OPH) will exempt from the requirement for submission of the business plan all existing public water systems actively seeking funding by the RUS programs, provided those public water systems are certified by RUS as meeting their minimum capacity requirements. Such plan must be submitted to the department within six months after the initial visit by the designated party of the state who is providing assistance to the public water system in preparation of the business plan.

B. Operator Requirements. All such public water systems meeting the population requirements to require a certified operator must have an operator who holds a certificate in the appropriate classes(es) of certification for the population served by the system. The system must have an operator on duty at all times, or the operator must be available to respond and be on-site within an hour of notification. Any such public water system not meeting the population requirements at the time of submission of the business plan must have an operator who has had at least 16 hours of operator training which meets the guidelines of the State Committee of Certification, and must have at least 16 hours of continuing training yearly. The system must provide such an operator on duty at all times, or the operator must be available to respond and be on-site within an hour of notification. Such requirement of systems not meeting the population requirements for a certified operator shall remain in effect until such time as the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) requires that all public water systems have certified operators or the state requires same, whichever occurs first. At such time, the then current requirement would be applied.

C. Management Training. As a part of meeting the managerial capacity requirements, all appropriate staff of existing public water systems shall attend a training session provided by the state, its contractors or other state recognized trainers for board members, council members/mayors/owners, etc. Management training for all board members/council members/mayors/owners of existing public water systems will be based on whether their water system has been issued an administrative order, and/or is on the significant non-complier's list and/or has had primary MCL violations during the past three years. The department will continue to encourage attendance on a voluntary basis at management training sessions by board members/council members/mayors/owner' of other public water systems. Training sessions shall be provided periodically and appropriate parties as noted above will have the opportunity to attend one of the scheduled sessions within six months after the system has been notified that is it being evaluated for technical, managerial, and financial capacity.

D. Financial Audit. A financial audit will be conducted on the system as one means of determining financial capacity of the public water system.

La. Admin. Code tit. 48, § V-7717

Promulgated by the Department of Health and Hospitals, Office of Public Health, LR 24:1768 (September 1998), amended LR 27:1521 (September 2001), repromulgated LR 27:1692 (October 2001).

AUTHORITY NOTE: Promulgated in accordance with R.S. 40:4.