Cross-Connection Definition
WHAT IS A CROSS-CONNECTION? According the Environmental Protection Agency, Cross-Connection Manual, February 2003, a Cross-Connection is any actual or potential connection between any part of a potable water system and any source of contamination or pollution.
There are many definitions of a cross-connection. The state drinking water regulations will have definitions of a cross-connection, as will the state plumbing codes.
The International Plumbing Code 2006 Editions states that a cross connection is an attachment or potential attachment of the potable waste supply to any other source or system where it is possible to contaminant the potable water supply with non-potable water, industrial fluids, gases or other substances.
The Uniform Plumbing Code, 2009, defines a cross-connection as any connection or arrangement, physical or otherwise, between a potable water supply system and any plumbing fixture or any tank, receptor, equipment, or device through which it may be possible for non-potable, used, unclean polluted and contaminated water or other substances to enter into any part of such potable water system under a condition.
The AWWA M14, Backflow Prevention and Cross-Connection Control, Recommended Practices, Fourth Edition, defines a cross as an actual connection or a potential connection between any part of a potential water system and any other environment that would allow substances to enter the potable water system.
Florida Department of Environmental Protection defines a cross-connection to mean any temporary or permanent connection between a public water system or consumer’s potable (i.e., drinking) water system and any source or system containing non-potable water or other substances. An example is the piping between a public water system or consumer’s potable water system and an auxiliary water system, cooling system, or irrigation system.
What do all the definitions have in common? — Cross-Connections exist in many facets of the plumbing system but cross-connection all have one aspect in common. The connection of potable water to non-potable water which if left unattended could cause harm to the consumers of water.
