Section 217.63 - Emergency Provisions for Lift Stations(a) A lift station must include a sign with the name of the wastewater treatment facility and 24-hour emergency contact information. The sign must be posted at the lift station so that it is visible and legible, with block lettering that is at least 1.5 inches tall.(b) A lift station must be designed to prevent the discharge of wastewater from the lift station and at all points in the upstream collection system during electrical power failures.(c) A lift station must include an audiovisual alarm system. The audiovisual alarm system must transmit alarm conditions through use of an auto-dialer system, Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) system, or telemetering system connected to a continuously monitored location. At a minimum, the alarm system must automatically activate to give warnings for power outages, pump failures, and high water levels. Audiovisual alarms are not required if the SCADA system alerts the operator about communication loss, in addition to the alarm conditions.(d) An alarm system must include self-testing capability at the control panel.(e) An owner shall determine the reliability of the existing commercial power service for a lift station using records from the past 60 consecutive months from the electric utility that serves the lift station. The entire record must be used if 60 months of records are not available. The owner must provide the power outage records and the reliability determination in the engineering report. The records must: (2) be on the utility's letterhead and bear a signature of an electric utility employee who has knowledge of data about power outages;(3) identify the location of the lift station;(4) list the total number of outages that have occurred during the past 60 consecutive months; and(5) indicate the date and duration of each recorded power outage.(f) The executive director may consider documentation of commercial power system upgrades and their effects on the reliability of commercial power. Documentation of upgrades and their effects on power reliability must be submitted in writing on the electric utility's letterhead and must bear the signature of an electric utility employee who has knowledge of the system upgrades.(g) Systems for preventing the discharge of wastewater must operate for a duration at least equal to the longest power outage on record for the past 60 months, or at least 20 minutes, whichever is longer. The design must be based on peak flows, inflow, and infiltration. If the longest power outage on record for the past 60 consecutive months is greater than 48 hours and generators will be used to provide backup power, then the owner must have a contract in place that guarantees fuel supply during an emergency. The owner must also have sufficient storage capacity at the wastewater treatment facility for the fuel for the duration of the emergency.(h) For calculation purposes, the owner must assume that the lift station wet well is full to the pump activation level when the power outage period begins.(i) Systems for preventing discharge of wastewater may include any combination of alternate power sources, on-site generators, portable generators, gravity relief sewers, bypass pumps, collection system storage, spill containment structures, and other systems approved in writing by the executive director. For purposes of this section, a gravity relief sewer is the part of a collection system built to manage the flow of wastewater that exceeds the capacity of the existing collection system by passively transporting the flow to a different part of the collection system or to another wastewater treatment facility. (1) The system or combination of systems must accommodate the firm pumping capacity of the lift station.(2) Collection system storage must not be used as a sole system for preventing unauthorized discharge of wastewater.(3) A spill containment structure must not be used as a sole system for preventing unauthorized discharge of wastewater.(4) Portable generators and pumps may only be used to guarantee service if: (A) a tested quick-connect mechanism or a transfer switch properly sized to connect to a portable generator is provided where the generator will be used; and(B) a licensed operator that is knowledgeable in operation of the portable generators and pumps will be on call 24 hours per day every day.(5) If portable generators and pumps are used to guarantee service, the engineering report must include:(A) the storage location of each generator and pump;(B) the amount of time that will be needed to transport each generator or pump from the storage location to the furthest lift station that will be served by the generator or pump;(C) how many lift stations each backup generator or pump serves; and(D) the type of routine maintenance and upkeep that will be done for each portable generator and pump to ensure that they will be operational when needed.(j) Systems for preventing discharge of wastewater at a lift station must be permanent features of the lift station or must be deployable during any electrical power outage. Deployable systems must be operational before any unauthorized discharge occurs. The owner must describe how a temporary power system will be deployed and operated in the engineering report, and must address deployment during all types of weather events that might reasonably cause power outage at the lift station.(k) Spill containment structures must be able to be cleaned and must have an intruder-resistant fence that meets the requirements in § 217.59(b) of this title (relating to Lift Station Site Requirements). The engineering report must include a detailed management plan for cleaning and maintaining each spill containment structure.(l) A lift station must be fully accessible during a 25-year, 24-hour rainfall event.(m) Lift station pump controls must prevent over-pumping and surcharge upon resumption of normal power after a power outage.30 Tex. Admin. Code § 217.63
The provisions of this §217.63 adopted to be effective August 28, 2008, 33 TexReg 6843; Adopted by Texas Register, Volume 40, Number 47, November 20, 2015, TexReg 8307, eff. 12/4/2015