Supervision of Cross-Connections by the New Jersey State Department of Health

Abstract

In approaching the subject of cross-connections in public water supplies, it is with a belief that water works officials, and others associated in the water works field, are more or less familiar with the potentialities involved, that is, the advantages gained through flexibility of operation but more frequently the risks and hazards to public health produced. The matter of cross-connections is by no means a new issue. It attained national recognition in water works practice and public health supervision of public potable water supplies many years ago. It has remained, nevertheless, a live issue, growing in importance, with various national, sectional and state organizations and associations of persons engaged in water works and public health activities intensely interested in the sanitary protection of public potable water supplies. Departments of health of the various state governments, equipped with legal authority, have not been idle in the performance of duty in regard to this important phase of public health protection. For purposes of clarity, it is important to define cross-connections or physical connections as they are referred to in this paper. The New Jersey State Department of Health has established that