Meeting the legislative regulations and rules while designing, building and operating water supply and wastewater disposal systems (for discussion)

Summary

The main aspects of amendments to the legislative and regulatory documents in the construction industry are considered, including the consideration of the developed regulatory documents by the relevant authorities before being approved by the Russian Ministry of Construction, as well as difficulties in the gradual transition to the parametric standardization. The problems of the regulatory framework in the field of designing the facilities for surface runoff removal and treatment are considered. Proposals for revising the Water Code of the Russian Federation with the introduction of environmental standards for the quality of surface waters and standards for the permissible impact of economic or other activities on water bodies are outlined and supported – to develop them on the basis of the water quality standards in accordance with the requirements of the current environmental legislation. To improve the quality of design documentation, imposing control over the professional training of designers with mandatory proficiency testing in accordance with the occupational standards is proposed. Further updating the system of regulatory documents in the field of design, construction and operation of water supply and wastewater disposal systems, using the current structure of the regulatory framework is also proposed.

Key words

water supply , designing , water disposal , construction , regulatory framework , updating regulatory documents , standards

Improving and updating the regulatory and technical framework for the design, construction and operation of water supply and wastewater disposal systems

Summary

The paper discusses the aspects of updating and approaches to improving the regulatory and technical documents – Codes of Practice, State Standards, methodological instructive regulations, as well as the directions of their improvement to enhance the efficiency of design, construction and operation of water supply and wastewater disposal systems in Russian cities and communities. The development of a method for switching over the system of regulatory and technical documents to the parametric standardization is analyzed. It is demonstrated that in recent years, the Russian construction sector has set a course for revising and updating the regulatory framework in the field of design and construction, thus reducing the statutory requirements in the Codes of Practice. It is noted that the planned transition from the prescriptive regulation system to a parametric one with specified quality criteria for the finished product is aimed at the development of the quality criteria for the finished project or product using any alternative approaches and methods, transferring a significant part of building codes and regulations to the voluntary category. Evidently, such amendments to the regulatory framework require a very detailed scientific and practical justification.

Key words

water supply , designing , water disposal , construction , regulatory framework , standards , improvement , updating

The current state of the water regulatory framework

Summary

The legal and regulatory framework of designing, building and operating water supply systems with surface and underground water abstraction (resource block), technical process solutions and equipment, development of sanitary requirements to the quality of water sources and of water supplied to the population, rules of operating water supply systems are considered. The development of the water legislation in the country is related to the introduction into force of the RF Water Code in 2006 and amendments to it. The use of underground waters is regulated by the Federal Law «On subsurface resources», «Classification of reserves and predicted resources of drinking, process and mineral underground waters» and by guidelines on its application. The drawbacks of the existing documents related to finding ground waters in natural conditions that meet the requirements of sanitary authorities to the drinking water are noted. The analysis of the formation of the regulatory framework of technologies shows that there are progressive trends related to the adoption of 416-ФЗ Federal Law «On water supply and wastewater disposal». At the same time it is shown that updating SNiP 2.04.02-84 in the form of 31.13330 Set of Rules has a number of drawbacks. When considering the sanitary safety of water sources the necessity of early adopting public health regulations related to water supply source selection (replacing GOST 2761-84), revising SanPiN 2.1.4.1110-02, developing legitimate recommendations on hydrogeologic methods of estimating the dimensions of sanitary protection zones, and developing the mechanism of adjustment of maximum permissible concentrations of components regulated by SanPiN 1.2.4.74-01 harmonized with WHO requirements is pointed out. It is shown that the robustness of water supply systems is ensured by the motivated selection of water supply sources and designs of water intakes, systems of water purification, supply and distribution. At the same time it is necessary to carry out process studies of remediation of water resources with account of the RF state standards of ISO 9000 and ISO 14000 series.

Key words

water supply system , regulatory framework , Building Code , set of rules , public health regulations , operating rules and regulations