Senate hears bill to exempt low‑hazard buildings from backflow‑device rules; water advocates urge caution

Senator Pardee presented House Bill 458 (with House Amendment 1) to the Senate Executive Committee on June 30, describing the measure as an exemption for "low hazard" buildings from installing backflow prevention devices until regulations can be updated.

Pardee said the bill aims to avoid unnecessary retrofit costs for residential and small commercial properties, describing small residential backflow valves priced "anywhere from $400 to maybe as much as $1,200," plus installation and annual testing. He said the bill will include a sunset tied to the Department of Public Health updating its regulations.

James Barrihel of the Department of Health and Social Services told the committee the existing administrative regulation references "low risk" users but does not define the term, and that the bill as written does not align with the department's definitions. He said the bill's listed categories (lines 11–18) create a sufficiently high bar to avoid immediate public‑health concerns while the department revises its regulations, and recommended defining "low hazard" in administrative code.

Public commenters were split. Phil McGinnis of the Delaware Association of Realtors said the Department of Public Health's regulation had been poorly worded and agreed to be reopened for refinement, argued the EPA recommendation is not a federal requirement, and urged action to prevent heavy retrofit costs for small businesses and homeowners. By contrast, Heather Warren, executive director of the Dillard Rural Water Association, opposed the bill and warned that Kent and Sussex County aquifers could be contaminated by commonplace sources such as garden hoses; she noted modern laboratory detection limits of "1 part per billion" and said contamination remediation costs would fall on municipalities and taxpayers.

When asked to clarify her position, Warren said she was not for the bill and wanted the Department of Public Health's regulations to remain in place. The committee took no final vote on HB458 at this hearing; Pardee said regulations are expected to be updated and a sunset provision in the amendment would tie the bill's provisions to that regulatory process.