(1) Public water system shall mean any system providing water for human consumption through pipes or other constructed conveyances, excluding a system serving only one single-family residence and a system with four or fewer connections all of which serve residences on the same farm. This term includes:
(a) Collection, treatment, storage, and/or distribution facilities under control of the purveyor and used primarily in connection with the system; and
(b) Collection or pretreatment storage facilities not under control of the purveyor, but primarily used in connection with the system.
(2) The rules of this chapter shall apply to all Group A public water systems except those systems meeting all of the following conditions:
(a) Consists only of distribution and/or storage facilities and does not have any source or treatment facilities;
(b) Obtains all water from, but is not owned by, a public water system where the rules of this chapter apply;
(c) Does not sell water directly to any person; and
(d) Is not a passenger-conveying carrier in interstate commerce.
(3) Group A public water systems meeting all of the provisions under subsection (2) of this section may be required by the department to comply with such provisions of this chapter as are necessary to resolve a public health concern if the department determines a public health threat exists or is suspected.
(4) A Group A system shall be defined as a public water system providing service such that it meets the definition of a public water system provided in the 1996 amendments to the federal Safe Drinking Water Act (Public Law 104-182, Section 101, subsection b).
(5) Group A water systems are further defined as community and noncommunity water systems.
(a) Community water system means any Group A water system providing service to fifteen or more service connections used by year-round residents for one hundred eighty or more days within a calendar year, regardless of the number of people, or regularly serving at least twenty-five year-round (i.e., more than one hundred eighty days per year) residents.
Examples of a community water system might include a municipality, subdivision, mobile home park, apartment complex, college with dormitories, nursing home, or prison.
(b) Noncommunity water system means a Group A water system that is not a community water system. Noncommunity water systems are further defined as:
(i) Nontransient (NTNC) water system that provides service opportunity to twenty-five or more of the same nonresidential people for one hundred eighty or more days within a calendar year.
Examples of a NTNC water system might include a school, day care center, or a business, factory, motel, or restaurant with twenty-five or more employees on-site.
(ii) Transient (TNC) water system that serves:
(A) Twenty-five or more different people each day for sixty or more days within a calendar year;
(B) Twenty-five or more of the same people each day for sixty or more days, but less than one hundred eighty days within a calendar year; or
(C) One thousand or more people for two or more consecutive days within a calendar year.
Examples of a TNC water system might include a restaurant, tavern, motel, campground, state or county park, an RV park, vacation cottages, highway rest area, fairground, public concert facility, special event facility, or church.
(c) A Group B water system is a public water system that does not meet the definition of a Group A water system. (See Table 1 and chapter 246-291 WAC for further explanation of a Group B water system.)
(6) A Group A system meeting more than one of the categories described in this section shall be classified by the department in the following order:
(a) Community water system;
(b) NTNC water system; or
(c) TNC water system.
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