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Clear Lake reviews hydrant-testing rules after pilot with local water providers
Summary
City staff presented pilot findings and proposed edits to the fire-hydrant inspection, testing and maintenance ordinance, recommending allowing D2-certified water-purveyor staff to perform most flow tests under city review and offering calibrated hydraulic models as an alternative to full-field testing.
City staff and consultants on Nov. 20 updated the Clear Lake City Council on a year-old ordinance that requires inspection, flow testing and maintenance of fire hydrants and requires reported data be submitted to the city and the local fire district.
Mr. Roscoe, who led the technical briefing, said the ordinance follows National Fire Protection Association Standard 291 and calls for annual maintenance, flow testing every five years, color-coding hydrants by expected fire-flow capacity and submission of results to city records. He explained that accurate flow testing requires driving residual pressure toward the NFPA benchmark of 20 pounds per square inch and recommended field tests that produce at least a 25% pressure drop; tests that produce less than a 10% drop are not considered accurate.
The council heard results from a pilot program conducted by the three water purveyors serving Clear Lake. Roscoe said Conoctet County Water District reported testing about 25 of roughly 108 hydrants in its system; Highlands Mutual Water Company told staff it had largely completed testing and painting but was awaiting board authorization to release all data. Golden State Water said it relies heavily on a calibrated hydraulic model and offered to demonstrate that model to city staff.
Highlands’ representative Jeff Davis described the purveyor’s field work and technology: "We've spent probably $10,000 on equipment and training, probably dumped about a half million gallons of water in testing, and probably 5 to 600 man hours," Davis said, urging the council to accept D2-certified purveyor employees doing tests with city review.
Staff proposed redlines that would do three things: remove a handful of NFPA-listed professions that don’t fit local practice; allow a D2-certified employee of a water purveyor to perform testing (with a city reviewer such as a civil engineer or Mr. Roscoe to confirm validity); and create an alternative compliance path where a calibrated hydraulic model would allow reduced field testing (roughly 10% of hydrants per zone annually) if the model is maintained and validated with shared test data.
City Manager Flores (audio referenced both "Flores" and "Flora") said the redline language is preliminary, that a D3→D2 typographical error in the uploaded redline would be corrected, and that staff expects comment from purveyors before bringing a first reading to council. Several council members said they were comfortable moving toward a first reading at the next meeting after staff refines the language and receives purveyor comments.
The council gave direction to staff to continue refining the ordinance but took no final legislative action on Nov. 20; staff emphasized that any changes would come back for formal readings.
