Texas Coffee School

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Texas Coffee School

June 5, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com

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Standards Texas

Texas Building Codes

Opening and operating a small coffee shop in Texas requires adherence to various codes and standards to ensure safety, legality, and quality service.  Students get a front row view of the competing requirements of safety and economy even before the cafe atmospheric and economic viability make their passion a going concern.

1. Business Licenses and Permits:

  • Business License: Obtain a general business license from your local city or county authority. Requirements and fees vary by location.
  • Certificate of Occupancy: This certifies that your building complies with zoning laws and is safe for occupancy. It’s typically issued after necessary inspections.
  • Food Handler’s License: All employees involved in food preparation or service must obtain this certification within 60 days of employment.
  • Seller’s Permit: Required for businesses selling tangible goods subject to sales tax. You can register for this permit through the Texas Comptroller’s Office.

2. Health and Safety Regulations:

  • Texas Food Establishment Rules: These rules outline standards for food safety, including employee hygiene, equipment sanitation, and food handling procedures.
  • County and City Health Department Regulations

3. Building and Construction Codes:

  • Building Codes: Ensure compliance with local building codes, which cover structural integrity, electrical systems, plumbing, and fire safety.
  • Zoning Regulations: Verify that your chosen location is zoned appropriately for a food establishment.
  • Accessibility Standards: Adhere to the Americans with Disabilities Act requirements to ensure your facility is accessible to all patrons.

4. Additional Considerations:

  • Signage Permits: Obtain permits for exterior signs, as many municipalities have regulations governing signage size, lighting, and placement.
  • Waste Disposal: Comply with local ordinances regarding waste management, including grease disposal and recycling.
  • Insurance: While not a code or standard, securing appropriate insurance (e.g., general liability, property, and workers’ compensation) is crucial for protecting your business.

There’s enough “content” in the foregoing list of considerations to meet the requirement for an Associates Degree at any community college.

Starting and running a privately held coffee shop within a building located in the campus proper — think the franchise chains like Starbucks — is another layer of complexity in our session on Joint Use Agreements.

“Mainely” Potato Salad

June 5, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com

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Standards Maine

Wild Blueberry Pie

Water 330

June 5, 2025
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“At the Water Trough” 1876 J. Alden Weir

 

“A flood is nature’s way of telling you

that you live in the wrong place.”

— Some guy

 

Water standards make up a large catalog and it will take most of 2023 to untangle the titles, the topics, proposals, rebuttals and resolutions.  When you read our claim that since 1993 we have created a new academic discipline we would present the best practice literature of the world’s most abundance as an example.

The Water 100 session takes an aerial view of relevant standards developers, their catalogs and revision schedules.

The Water 200 session we examine the literature for best practice inside buildings; premise water supply for food preparation, sanitation and energy systems.

The Water 300 session we examine water management standards in selected nations with specific interest in educational settlements with proximity to oceans.

The Water 330 session we examine water management standards for swimming pools, hot tubs and spas in hospitals and athletic departments.

ANSI/APSP/ICC-11 2019 Water Quality in Public Pools and Spas

NSF International Water Standard Catalog

The Water 400 session will run through best practice catalogs of water management outside buildings, including interaction with regional water management systems.

The Water 500 session is a study of case histories, disasters, legal action related to non-conformance.  Innovation.


Water safety and sustainability standards have been on the Standards Michigan agenda since the early 2000’s.  Some of the concepts we have tracked over the years; and contributed data, comments and proposals to technical committees, are listed below:

  1. Legionella mitigation
  2. Swimming pool water quality
  3. Fire protection sprinkler water availability and safety
    – NFPA 70 Article 695 Fire Pumps
  4. Backflow prevention/Cross-connect systems
  5. Security of district energy power plant and hospital water supply
  6. Electrical shock protection in pools, fountains, spas and waterfront recreational docking facilities
  7. Rainwater catchment
  8. Water in extreme weather events
  9. Flood abatement systems
  10. Building plumbing codes (ICC and IAPMO)
  11. Water Re-use
  12. Water heaters
  13. District energy water treatment
  14. Food service steam tables
  15. Greywater
  16.  Residence hall potable water systems
  17. Water use in emergency shower and eyewash installations
  18. Decorative fountains.
  19. Standard for the Inspection, Testing, and Maintenance of Water-Based Fire Protection Systems

40 CFR § 141.92 – Monitoring for lead in schools and child care facilities

Since 2016 we have tracked other water-related issues:

  1. Safe water in playgrounds
  2. National Seagrant College programs
  3. Guide to Infection Control in the Healthcare Setting
  4. Electrical safety around water (cooling towers, swimming pools, spas)
  5. ASTM Water Testing Standards
  6. ASTM Standard for Water Distribution
  7. Electricity and Water Conservation on College and University Campuses in Response to National Competitions among Dormitories: Quantifying Relationships between Behavior, Conservation Strategies and Psychological Metrics

Relevant federal legislation:

  1. Clean Water Act
  2. Drinking Water Requirements for States and Public Water Systems
  3. Resource Conservation and Recovery Act
  4. Safe Drinking Water Act

Relevant Research:

Real Time Monitoring System of Drinking Water Quality Using Internet of Things

UNICON: An Open Dataset of Electricity, Gas and Water Consumption in a Large Multi-Campus University Setting

IoT based Domestic Water Recharge System

 

Send bella@standardsmichigan.com an email to request a more detailed advance agenda.   To join the conversation use the login credentials at the upper right of our home page.

More

IAPMO Publishes U.S., Canadian Standard for Detection, Monitoring, Control of Plumbing Systems

Standing Agenda / Water

Natatoriums 300: Advanced Topics

More

Solitude Lake Management for Universities and Colleges

There are several universities in the United States with campuses that have property frontage on an ocean:

  1. University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) – UCSB is located along the Pacific Ocean in Southern California.
  2. University of California, San Diego (UCSD) – UCSD is situated near the coast of the Pacific Ocean in La Jolla, California.
  3. University of Hawaii at Manoa – The main campus of the University of Hawaii is located on the island of Oahu and has oceanfront property.
  4. University of Miami – Located in Coral Gables, Florida, the University of Miami is situated on the Atlantic Ocean coast.
  5. University of Rhode Island – URI is located in Kingston, Rhode Island, and has oceanfront property along Narragansett Bay and the Atlantic Ocean.
  6. Florida Atlantic University – FAU has several campuses along the southeastern coast of Florida, with some campuses near the Atlantic Ocean.
  7. University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC) – UCSC is located along the California coast, offering stunning views of the Pacific Ocean.
  8. Pepperdine University – Pepperdine’s main campus is located in Malibu, California, right along the Pacific Ocean.
  9. University of California, Irvine (UCI) – UCI is located in Orange County, California, and is close to the Pacific Ocean.
  10. University of Southern California (USC) – USC is located in Los Angeles, California, and is not far from the Pacific Ocean.

 

When anxious, uneasy and bad thoughts come, I go to the sea, and the sea drowns them out with its great wide sounds, cleanses me with its noise, and imposes a rhythm upon everthing in me that is bewildered and confused. - Rainer Maria Rilke

Swimming, Water Polo and Diving Lighting

June 5, 2025
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“In swimming, there are no referees, no foul lines,

no time-outs, and no substitutions.

It’s just you and the water.” – Unknown

 

 

https://standardsmichigan.com/australia/

There are several specific problems that swimming pool overhead lighting aims to solve:

  1. Visibility: Swimming pool overhead lighting is designed to improve visibility in and around the pool. This is important for safety reasons, as it helps swimmers see where they are going and avoid obstacles or hazards.
  2. Aesthetics: Overhead lighting can enhance the appearance of the swimming pool by creating a visually appealing atmosphere. This is especially important for commercial pools where the aesthetics can be an important factor in attracting customers.
  3. Functionality: Overhead lighting can provide additional functionality by allowing the pool to be used during evening hours or in low light conditions. This can increase the usability of the pool and make it more appealing to users.
  4. Energy efficiency: Modern overhead pool lighting solutions are designed to be energy-efficient, reducing the overall energy consumption and operating costs of the pool.
  5. Longevity: Overhead pool lighting must be designed to withstand exposure to water, chlorine, and other harsh chemicals, as well as exposure to the elements. The lighting system must be durable and reliable to ensure longevity and prevent costly repairs or replacements.

Overall, swimming pool overhead lighting is an important component of a safe, functional, and visually appealing pool. It provides illumination for visibility, enhances aesthetics, and improves functionality, while also being energy-efficient and durable.

After athletic arena life safety obligations are met (governed legally by NFPA 70, NFPA 101, NFPA 110,  the International Building Code and possibly other state adaptations of those consensus documents incorporated by reference into public safety law) business objective standards may come into play. For almost all athletic facilities,  the consensus documents of the Illumination Engineering Society[1], the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers[2][3] provide the first principles for life safety.  For business purposes, the documents distributed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association inform the standard of care for individual athletic arenas so that swiftly moving media production companies have some consistency in power sources and illumination as they move from site to site.  Sometimes concepts to meet both life safety and business objectives merge.

During water sport season the document linked below provides information to illumination designers and facility managers:

NCAA Best Lighting Practices

Athletic programs are a significant source of revenue and form a large part of the foundation of the brand identity of most educational institutions in the United States.   We focus primarily upon the technology standards that govern the safety, performance and sustainability of these enterprises.  We collaborate very closely with the IEEE Education & Healthcare Facilities Committee where subject matter experts in electrical power systems meet 4 times each month in the Americas and Europe.

See our CALENDAR for our next colloquium on Sport facility codes and standards.   We typically walk through the safety and sustainability concepts in play; identify commenting opportunities; and find user-interest “champions” on the technical committees who have a similar goal in lowering #TotalCostofOwnership.

Issue: [15-138]*

Category: Electrical, Architectural, Arts & Entertainment Facilities, Athletics

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Jim Harvey, Jack Janveja, Jose Meijer, Scott Gibbs

More

Watersport Time Standards

Sport Lighting

Water Safety & Sustainability

June 5, 2025
mike@standardsmichigan.com

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AWWA COMMENT PERIOD ON AWWA G480, Water Conservation and Efficiency Program Operation and Management Closes June 23

Harvard University Art Museum | In the Sierras, Lake Tahoe | Albert Bierstadt

The American Water Works Association is one of the first names in accredited standards developers that administer leading practice discovery in backflow prevention consensus documents; usually referenced in local and state building codes; and also in education facility design guidelines and construction specifications.

The original University of Michigan standards enterprise gave highest priority to backflow standards because of their central importance of backflow management to education communities; especially large research universities nested within a municipal water system.  Backflow prevention; an unseen technology that assures a safe drinking water supply by keeping water running in one direction by maintaining pressure differences.  Analogous to the way we want electrical current to run in one direction, failure of backflow prevention technology poses a near-instantaneous health risk for the contamination of potable water supplies with foul water.  In the most obvious case, a toilet flush cistern and its water supply must be isolated from the toilet bowl.  In a less obvious case, but at greater scale, a damaged backflow prevention technology at a university research building can contaminate an host-community potable water supply.

There are other ANSI accredited standards developers in the backflow prevention technology space — the International Code Council, the IAPMO Group and ASSE International — for example.

Backflow Preventer

At the moment no AWWA redlines relevant to our objective are open for consultation.  Several relatively stabilized product standards are marked up but none dealing specifically with interoperability issues.  When they are uploaded you may access them at the link below:

AWWA Standards Public Comment Home Page

Students and Young Professionals

AWWA is the first name in US-based water standards so we maintain the AWWA catalog on our Plumbing & Water colloquia.   See our CALENDAR for the next online meeting; open to everyone.

Issue: [11-57]

Category: Water Safety, Plumbing, Mechanical

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Richard Robben, Steve Snyder, Larry Spielvogel

 

LEARN MORE

Workspace / AWWA

 

Pool, Spa & Recreational Waters

June 5, 2025
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“Innenansicht des Kaiserbades in Aachen” | Jan Luyken (1682)

Education communities provide a large market for recreational and therapeutic water technology suppliers.  Some of the larger research universities have dozens of pools including those in university-affiliated healthcare facilities.  Apart from publicly visible NCAA swimming programs there are whirpools in healthcare facilities and therapeutic tubs for athletes in other sports.   Ownership of these facilities requires a cadre of conformance experts to assure water safety.

NSF International is one of the first names in this space and has collaborated with key industry stakeholders to make pools, spas and recreational water products safer since 1949.   The parent document in its suite is NSF 50 Pool, Spa and Recreational Water Standards  which  covers everything from pool pumps, strainers, variable frequency drives and pool drains to suction fittings, grates, and ozone and ultraviolet systems.  

The workspace for this committee is linked below:

Joint Committee on Recreational Water Facilities

(Standards Michigan is an observer on this and several other NSF committees and is the only “eyes and ears” for the user interest; arguably the largest market for swimming pools given their presence in schools and universities.)

There are 14 task groups that drill into specifics such as the following:

Chemical feeders

Pool chemical evaluation

Flotation systems

Filters

Water quality

Safety surfacing

The meeting packet is confidential to registered attendees.  You may communicate directly with the NSF Joint Committee Chairperson, Mr. Tom Vyles (admin@standards.nsf.org) about arranging direct access as an observer or technical committee member.   

Almost all ANSI accredited technical committees have a shortage of user-interests (compliance officers, manufacturers and installers usually dominate).  We encourage anyone in the education facility industry paying the bill for the services of compliance officers, manufacturers and installers to participate. 

We maintain this title on the standing agenda of our Water and Sport colloquia.  See our CALENDAR for the next onine meeting; open to everyone.

Fullerton College

Issue: [13-89]

Category: Water, Sport

Colleagues: Mike Anthony, Ron George, Larry Spielvogel

More

Model Aquatic Health Code

IAPMO Swimming Pool & Spa Standards 

UL 1081 Standard for Swimming Pool Pumps, Filters, and Chlorinators | (UL Standards tend to be product standards so we rank them lower in our priority ranking than interoperability standards.)

Aquatic Health Code

Red, White and Blue Smoothie

June 4, 2025
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University System of Maryland | $12.225B

Strawberries

Blueberries

University of Maryland Extension

Standards Maryland

The choice of red, white, and blue in national flags often carries historical, cultural, and political significance. Here are some reasons why various nations have chosen these colors:

  1. Historical Connections:
    • United States: The colors were chosen for their flag in 1777 and have been interpreted to symbolize valor (red), purity (white), and justice (blue). The colors were influenced by the British Union Jack.
    • France: The Tricolour flag adopted during the French Revolution represents liberty (blue), equality (white), and fraternity (red).
    • United Kingdom: The Union Jack combines elements from the flags of England (red and white), Scotland (blue and white), and Ireland (red and white).
  2. Cultural and Political Significance:
    • Russia: The flag’s colors were adopted from the Dutch flag, symbolizing pan-Slavism (red for bravery, blue for faithfulness, and white for honesty).
    • Netherlands: The Dutch flag’s colors (originally derived from the Prince’s Flag) have historical roots, symbolizing the struggle for independence and liberty.
    • Czech Republic and Slovakia: Both countries use red, white, and blue to represent their Slavic heritage.
  3. Influence and Inspiration:
    • Chile, Costa Rica, and Panama: These countries were influenced by the colors and symbolism of other flags (e.g., the French and American flags) during their independence movements.
    • Australia and New Zealand: Both countries incorporate the Union Jack in their flags, reflecting their colonial history with the United Kingdom.
  4. Symbolism:
    • Croatia, Serbia, and Slovenia: The colors are traditional pan-Slavic colors, representing freedom and national unity.
    • Iceland and Norway: The colors reflect their historical and cultural ties to other Scandinavian countries.

The exact reasons can vary, but often the colors reflect a mix of historical alliances, cultural heritage, and political ideals.

 

The Chemistry of Fireworks

June 4, 2025
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Readings / PYROTECHNIC ARTS & SCIENCES IN EUROPEAN HISTORY

Brewed Awakening

June 4, 2025
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A Latte Learning: UNK coffee shop gives students a taste of business management

June Revision Cycle

June 4, 2025
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Owing to the proposal deadline at 5 PM EST today’s Open Office Hours will not be hosted online as usual. We are busy writing proposals. You may, however, call the office at 888-748-3670 for any question. Normal sessions resume tomorrow.

Until the Public Consultation period closes on Wednesday, June 4th EST, we will examine transcripts of previous revisions where we have an interest and prepare fresh proposals to advance our safety and sustainability agenda for educational settlements.   Topmost: NFPA 70E, NFPA 72, NFPA 78, NFPA 110&111 and 1078.  Complete titles are expanded in the link below.

Electrical Safety

 

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