Backflow Testing

Backflow testing is just as important for commercial buildings, if not more so. Because many commercial spaces are open to the public, there’s a greater responsibility to keep the water safe from any potential contaminants. Most municipalities will require regular backflow testing if you want to operate a business in the area, so it’s important to stay on top of the testing schedule. If you have a commercial HVAC system, you can often kill two birds with one stone and have your HVAC technician perform backflow testing during a regular maintenance appointment.

Backflow prevention is especially important for businesses like restaurants that work with food and drinks. Dishes are washed in the water from the main water supply, food is cooked in it, and customers are served water from the main line as well. If backflow occurs, it’s easy to see how contamination could spread to all these areas and cause a public health concern. Yearly backflow inspections and tests are typically required by law for exactly this reason.

If you own any kind of business, it’s essential to stay on top of your water supply and pay attention to any potential signs of backflow. Drinking water tainted by backflow can cause severe illnesses in your customers, which can have serious consequences for public health and your business. The most obvious sign of backflow is discolored or cloudy water coming from any fixtures in the building. If you’re getting brown or yellow water from the bathroom sinks, immediately calling a plumber is kind of a no-brainer. It’s still possible to get backflow if you have preventers installed, so it’s a good idea to keep an eye out.

There are also some less obvious signs of potential backflow. Low water pressure could point to backflow, as well as water that’s slow to drain, especially if it’s only in certain drains. A strong sulfur smell can also indicate backflow due to sewer gas or bacteria living in the pipes. Sometimes you can see small flakes of rust or sediment in the water, which could indicate either backflow or a problem with old pipes. Being able to recognize the potential signs of backflow before people get sick could be the difference between closing your business for a few days to get it fixed and closing it for good if you get a bad reputation.

Backflow has been an issue dating back to the first rudimentary plumbing systems, but modern prevention techniques have their origin in the fallout from a backflow disaster at the 1933 World’s Fair in Chicago. During the fair, a dysentery outbreak that led to almost 100 deaths and over 2,000 additional illnesses was eventually traced back to a pair of hotels that shared a water system. It was discovered that the hotels were using a single supply of water for both air conditioning and drinking water, and contaminants from the A/C system were responsible for the outbreak.

Backflow prevention prototypes began to emerge almost immediately after the World’s Fair, and by the 1940s they were available to install in homes across the country. Much of this research was done by the Foundation for Cross Connection Control and Hydraulic Research (FCCCHR) at USC. The foundation was created in 1944 after the discovery of an unprotected cross-connection between the drinking water in Los Angeles and water from the harbor. The rules and guidelines we use today to prevent backflow mostly trace back to the research done by the FCCCHR.

In the 1940s, the first Uniform Plumbing Code was created to standardize plumbing procedures throughout the nation. The International Plumbing Code was created about ten years later for similar purposes. Today, both standards are still used across the US and have been adopted by a number of local municipalities. For most of the 20th century, water safety measures were mostly under state and local control. That finally changed in 1970 when the Environmental Protection Agency was created by President Nixon.

The EPA was created both to protect the environment from damage and to protect public health. In 1973, they released their first Cross Connection Control manual that provided guidelines on how to prevent contamination issues like backflow. While they didn’t issue any federal mandates, the guidelines in the manual were adopted all across the country by various state and local governments. The year after, the federal government followed up the control manual with the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The SDWA was intended to preserve the quality of the nation’s drinking water through a number of improvements. It also mandated certain standards for water quality to make sure there were no communities being forced to drink subpar water. While the bill doesn’t specifically address backflow, it did provide a series of guidelines for states to follow when it comes to cross-connection and preventing backflow. Today, California and many other states have enacted laws following the guidelines set by the SDWA concerning cross-connections and backflow. While the bill and its later amendments have created several federal mandates on water safety, backflow and cross-connection control still remain under state jurisdiction. It’s a good idea to look up the backflow laws for your state. If backflow preventers aren’t mandated where you live, we highly recommend you get one anyway.

We’ve alluded a little bit to the health effects caused by drinking backflow. Anything that normally goes down the drain can end up in your drinking water if backflow occurs, including rotting food, shampoo and soap, and stale standing water from boilers and fire suppression systems. However, the greatest health threat derived from backflow is the risk of drinking sewage water. Here are just a few examples of the diseases that can be lurking in sewage water and spread to you or your family if you drink backflow:

• Campylobacteriosis – One of the more common causes of diarrhea, this disease will make your next few days extremely uncomfortable but won’t cause long-term problems.
• Cryptosporidiosis – Often referred to only as crypto, cryptosporidiosis is caused by waterborne parasites that are common in sewage water. The disease can cause intestinal distress and a mild fever, and will likely keep you in bed until it runs its course.
• E. coli – While most of us have some form of E. coli living harmlessly among our gut bacteria, drinking sewage water can expose you to a more severe form of the bacteria that carries a Shiga toxin. This can cause symptoms similar to food poisoning including vomiting, severe stomach cramps, and bloody diarrhea, and can even be deadly in serious cases.
• Gastroenteritis – This is the official name for your everyday stomach flu. Symptoms include fever, headaches, cramps, and vomiting.
• Hepatitis A – While this isn’t the deadliest form of Hepatitis, Hep A is extremely contagious and can make you sick for weeks if not treated. In severe cases, Hep A infection can cause long-term damage to your liver.
• Dysentery – Once one of the most common causes of death, dysentery is thankfully much more treatable with modern medicine – though still an extremely uncomfortable condition. The 1933 World’s Fair backflow incident caused an outbreak of dysentery in Chicago that killed 98 people.
• Typhoid Fever – Though modern antibiotics have made Typhoid much less common, you can still catch it from drinking backflow water. Even with treatment, Typhoid carries a risk of death between 1% and 4%, and that number jumps to about 20% if left untreated. The risk of serious illness from Typhoid has been gradually rising as contemporary strains develop higher resistance to antibiotics.

Many of these diseases have all but disappeared from day-to-day life due to modern water treatment and hygiene practices, but backflow is still one of the few ways to catch them. In addition to the diseases found in sewage, backflow can also contaminate your drinking water with fertilizer and pesticides from the lawn, leading to nitrate poisoning.