Updated California Code Requires Underground Storage Tanks in Flood Prone Areas Be Anchored

December 30th, 2014 by Fiedler Group

The Department of Industrial Relations recently amended the California Code of Regulations (CCR’s) to require Underground Storage Tanks (UST’s) located in flood prone areas be anchored, weighted, or secured by an approved means.

According to a December 1^st letter from California State Water Resources Control Board, Title 8, section 5605 of the CCR’s has been amended “to ensure UST’s would not, in the event of a flood, contribute to a release of hazardous materials or displacement of the UST, which could result in contamination, fire, explosion, serious injury, or fatality of employees who could come into contact with the tank or its product.”

The amended regulations call for all underground storage tanks installed after October 1, 2014 in areas that may be subjected to flooding according to Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), to meet the provisions of National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) 30-2012.

Earlier editions of NFPA 30 had allowed for the use of water ballast to weight underground tanks in areas subject to flooding.

But the 2012 Edition has eliminated this option and now calls for tanks “to be anchored or secured by approved means to resist movement when subjected to hydrostatic forces associated with high groundwater or floodwater”.

For more details about the regulation, read the entire text at the Westlaw website.