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Holmen residents are receiving letters from the public works director seeking entry to homes as part of a state-mandated plumbing inspection process. “It’s another unfunded mandate the state dumped on us a while back,” Village President Nancy Proctor said.
While the law was enacted in 2003, the village has not had any luck gaining entry to homes to inspect the cross-connections and water meters. The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources has issued enforcement citations in the past two years.
The village has hired BZA Consultants of Delavan, Wis., to help in the inspection process. “The department has tried to do it on their own and it just doesn’t work,” Proctor said. Reserve funds for the public works department are being used to pay consultant costs of $17,500.
The inspections will occur in stages. “The regulation says once every 10 years we have to inspect every water connection,” Proctor said. “We are breaking the village into sections and will do a section a year. We picked three streets and the residents have all been notified.”
Proctor lives on one of the streets chosen in the first round of inspections.
The notification letter from Public Works Director Robert Haines explains the process of inspecting cross-connections. Cross-connections are where the house plumbing meets with city plumbing. At that connection, a vacuum breaker on a hose is required. The vacuum breaker keeps contaminants from flowing into city water supplies.
The most common plumbing code violations are relatively easy to fix, according to the letter. However, if problems or violations are found, the resident is responsible for paying to resolve the problem.
Haines’ letter states BZA Consultants will contact them soon to set up a time to gain entry to the home. Refusing to cooperate could result in water being shut off to the home.
“It’s an invasion of privacy, that might be true,” Proctor said. “But if you’re doing something with the water, then we have a right to know about it.”
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