Millions of dollars are spent every year to protect our drinking water sources, water delivery systems, and treatment facilities – good clean water is important to us all.  However, even with the best infrastructure, the quality of our water can be compromised by a single cross-connection.  A cross-connection occurs where the treated and protected potable water meets with the outside environment.  Hence, any bathtub, sink, clothes/dish washer, or toilet is a potential or actual cross connection.  There are basically two types of cross connections:  low hazard and high hazard.  Low hazard is any form of contamination that degrades the quality of water but has no health risks.  Therefore, a low hazard contamination may change the color, taste, and/or smell of our water, but will not pose any harm to a person’s health.  When a contaminant poses the ability to harm health it is then considered a high hazard.  High hazards may range from minor irritations to the extreme situation of hospitalization or even death.

For the most part, cross connections are seldom dangerous because our potable water system is pressurized.  Most of our system at ERW&SD has pressures well above 100 PSI.  Such a high pressure is our first and best defense against contaminants from entering our clean drinking water.  However, even in the best system there are situations where high pressure can drop quickly to dangerous levels.  When the public water system’s pressure does get low, it is then possible for a consumer’s system to have greater pressure than the public water supply.  In other words, there are situations where water can flow from the consumer (possibly unsafe) to the public water system.  There are situations where backflow can occur.

Backflow can occur in two ways.  The most common situation is called backsiphoneage.  Backsiphoneage is where the pressure in the potable water system goes below zero and actually begins to pull on the consumer’s personal water system.  A possible example of this occurrence is when a main line breaks at the bottom of a residential area.  The demand for water by the break is greater than the pressure pushing water up to the homes.  Consequently, the water running up to and in the homes is being pulled down to feed the break.  Another example is the high demand for water needed to fight a fire.

The other way backflow can occur is from what is called backpressure.  Backpressure is where the system of the consumer has greater pressure than the public water system.  Though uncommon, this is one of the most dangerous forms of backflow because of its high correlation with industrial equipment.  All plumbing systems should never have any plumbing where backpressure can occur according to plumbing codes and inspectors.  However, after an inspection a consumer may, unbeknownst to authorities, change the system where backpressure can occur.  Such an example would be when a person or persons hook up a pump to increase water pressure.  In an industrial setting or special situation in a residence (e.g., solar panel) a consumer may end up actually creating such a high pressure that water is pushed from the consumer to the public water system.  Unfortunately, many changes of a plumbing system as these involve dangerous contaminants (e.g., glycol, solvents, etc.).

Article VII - Cross-Connection Control

Backflow Tester Criteria

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Due to the increased awareness, both publicly and professionally, there has been many strides to protect our water from the risk of backflow and cross-connections.  One such stride is the development of backflow programs by local water purveyors.  Universally there are two basic steps to a successful backflow program.  The first step is having a backflow device installed at the connection from the public water system to the consumer.  A proper containment backflow device has two or more valves designed to prevent the reverse direction of the water – prevent backflow.  Most of the valves are simple design in which they open when the flow of water is from public water system to the consumer.  If the flow is reversed, the valves shut stopping backflow.  Having two or more valves ensures the safety of our public drinking water.  To be safe each device needs to be carefully selected by its specific intended purpose and needs to be testable to ensure and maintain its working order.  All backflow devices are mechanical in nature and, therefore, all devices will eventually fail.  Testing, therefore, is crucial to ensure the safety of our public water.

The next step in a successful backflow program is having devices routinely tested to ensure proper working order.  Since the valves are mechanical in nature, they will eventually fail.  In order to repair before a failure occurs, the State of Colorado insists on an annual testing of all devices that are protecting a known risk.  It is the water purveyor’s job to assess which connections are at risk and to enforce that those devices are tested annually.

Here at Eagle River Water & Sanitation District it is our mission to ensure the quality of our water – it is our mission to have a successful backflow program.