Washington Chamber of Commerce
Main Street Washington
WEDG
City of Washington
Introduction
The city of Washington is responsible for the quality of water it provides to its customers and is dedicated to maintaining that quality throughout the distribution system.
According to the Environmental Protection Agency cross-connections and backflow represent a significant public health risk. The EPA publishes guidance to assist communities in the implementation and management of a backflow prevention program.
The city of Washington’s Backflow Prevention Program follows EPA guidelines and protects the public water supply from contamination through unprotected cross-connections. This is accomplished by assessing the customers type of use and requiring the installation and annual testing of approved backflow prevention assemblies.
All costs associated with the installation, maintenance and testing of all backflow assemblies are the responsibility of the customer.
The city of Washington will notify customers by mail when the annual backflow assembly test is due. This will consist of a First Notice mailed 40 days prior to the annual test due date and a Final Notice mailed 5 days after the due date.
All backflow assembly test reports must be submitted to the website: https://aquaresource.app
Backflow assembly test reports submitted in any other manner will not be accepted and will be considered non-compliant.
The Backflow Prevention Program consists of the following components:
- Identification of all connections that present an actual or potential risk of contamination to the distribution system.
- Require installation of approved backflow assembly at the water service entrance.
- Maintain records of all testable backflow prevention assemblies.
- Notify customers annually of the required test due date.
- Enforce compliance of installation and annual testing by terminating customers that do not to comply.
Links & Resources:
https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2015-09/documents/epa816r03002_0.pdf
https://www.awwa.org/portals/0/files/publications/documents/m14lookinside.pdf
https://www.awwa.org/Policy-Advocacy/AWWA-Policy-Statements/Cross-Connection
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXBCrJ7uCkk&t=509s
See below file for answers to frequently asked questions.
