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Virginia Administrative Code
Title 12. Health
Agency 5. Department of Health
Chapter 590. Waterworks Regulations
12/30/2024

12VAC5-590-640. General design considerations.

A. Waterworks shall conform to the Public Water Supply Law, Article 2 of Chapter 6 of Title 32.1 of the Code of Virginia. Community waterworks shall be designed to provide for the estimated water demand for 10 to 30 years hence under predicted growth conditions. All waterworks shall be designed so that they can readily be increased in capacity except where circumstances preclude the probability of expansion. Expansion by modular steps should be considered.

B. Waterworks design shall be based on sound engineering practice substantiated in the engineer's design and approved by the department. Historical data or typical usage figures of waterworks with similar service area characteristics and appropriate peaking factors shall be used to support the design. USBC and design standards may be referenced for noncommunity waterworks, as appropriate.

1. Community waterworks shall be designed to meet or exceed the estimated maximum daily water demand of the service area at the design year. The design shall account for diurnal demand patterns and special demands placed on the waterworks such as firefighting, industrial use, and wholesale customers.

2. Noncommunity waterworks shall be designed to meet or exceed the peak hour demand of the proposed services. Either pump capacity or storage capacity or both may be utilized to meet the peak hour demand.

3. Effective storage.

a. Community waterworks shall provide sufficient finished water effective storage to enable the waterworks to meet the estimated maximum daily water demand at the design year. Compliance with this requirement is normally determined by the use of a hydraulic model. In the absence of a hydraulic model, effective storage shall be a minimum of one-half of estimated maximum daily water demand of the waterworks at the design year.

b. There is no minimum finished water effective storage requirement for noncommunity waterworks.

c. Effective storage of atmospheric storage tanks shall be the volume available to store finished water in atmospheric reservoirs or tanks, measured as the difference between the overflow elevation, or the normal maximum operating level, and the minimum storage elevation. For atmospheric tanks that use a portion of their volume to generate distribution system pressure, the minimum storage elevation is that elevation of water in the tank that can provide a minimum pressure of 20 psig throughout that tank's service area under distribution system-wide maximum daily water demand.

d. Effective storage of pressure storage tanks shall be one-third of the nominal pressure vessel storage capacity.

C. Waterworks shall be designed to provide a minimum residual pressure of 20 psig at all service connections. Design shall be based on the most restrictive conditions, defaulting to the greater of peak hour demand or maximum daily water demand plus applicable fire flows. Fire flow design values shall be identified by the engineer after coordination among the owner, local and state building officials, and fire officials. Distribution system hydraulic modeling may be used to demonstrate compliance with this requirement.

D. Materials used in the construction of waterworks that are in contact with the product water shall comply with NSF/ANSI/CAN Standard 61-2020 or an approved equivalent.

Statutory Authority

§§ 32.1-12 and 32.1-170 of the Code of Virginia.

Historical Notes

Derived from VR355-18-007.01 § 3.1, eff. August 1, 1991; amended, Virginia Register Volume 9, Issue 17, eff. June 23, 1993; Volume 37, Issue 20, eff. June 23, 2021.

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