Bel Aire council reviews water-code revisions and keeps biennial irrigation backflow reporting

At a Bel Aire City Council workshop, staff presented a comprehensive revision of the city's water code focused on backflow-device rules, enforcement and fee structure, and the council signaled it will keep the existing biennial reporting cycle for residential irrigation backflow devices rather than requiring annual testing. Jay, the presenter, said the draft revises Article 4 to clarify that the community development director will perform initial residential plumbing inspections to confirm backflow devices are present but will not conduct functional testing, which the city presumes the installing plumber has completed.

The revisions would also give the city engineer authority to approve unusual connections (for example, certain commercial dishwashing units), adopt future, more stringent plumbing-code standards automatically, and clarify that the account holder is responsible for maintaining and reporting backflow devices. Jay told the council he contacted KDHE for definitive guidance on inspection intervals but received no definitive response; his review of other jurisdictions showed inspection cycles ranging from one to three years in some places.

Council members debated whether the code should require annual inspections for irrigation systems. One council member said the proposed change to annual inspections would be "a more burdensome change" and not merely an administrative clarification; others noted staff generally favors stricter rules but acknowledged local practice and research support keeping a two-year (biennial) cycle. With what Jay described as a consensus and direction to the city manager, the council asked staff to return the draft with the current biennial inspection language retained for irrigation systems.

On fees, staff recommended removing or changing the $5 filing reference (Jay said administering the fee costs more in staff time than it collects and sprinkler contractors often batch-submit forms). Councilors supported striking the specific "annual" wording tied to that fee so the administrative burden is reduced.

The draft also aligns Article 5 with the city's 2025 municipal water plan, recognizes contractual obligations under wholesale water agreements, and codifies graduated water-supply response levels ("water watch," "water warning," and "water emergency") that trigger information sharing and, if needed, voluntary or mandatory restrictions. Article 6 would create an enforcing-officer role (the community development director, city engineer, police chief or designee) and narrow municipal-court prosecution to intentional violations subject to city-attorney approval; intentional violations are listed as misdemeanors with penalties up to $2,500.

Jay said the code would authorize the city to abate certain violations that threaten public health, safety or welfare and to use third-party contractors for immediate abatement when necessary. He emphasized the city's regulatory inspections are observational (confirming equipment and installations are present) and do not amount to functional testing of plumbing or backflow devices.

A council member thanked Jay and staff for the research and drafting; Jay said he will return a unified final draft incorporating council direction and prior-session changes for the council to accept, modify or reject. The workshop concluded with brief scheduling notes for the next meeting.