As your water supplier, Montgomery Water & Light is committed to providing all our water members with safe drinking water. It is our responsibility for cross-connection control that begins at the water supply source and ends at the point of delivery to the water user’s premise, but we need your help to prevent contamination through backflow from the member side to keep our water safe throughout the system.
Residential members who have potential cross-connections are responsible for preventing contaminants from entering the public water system from their individual plumbing systems by installing and maintaining approved backflow prevention assemblies.
What is a Cross-Connection?
A cross-connection is a point in the plumbing system where the public potable water supply is connected or has the potential of being connected directly to a source of non-potable substances. Under certain hydraulic conditions, pollutants or contaminants can enter the public potable water system (backflow) through these unprotected connections. Cross-connections are installed each day because people are unaware of the problems they can create.
Examples include:
- Residential fire system
- Lawn irrigation system
- Swimming pool or hot tub
- Pond or water feature
Does Water Ever Flow Backward?
Drinking water normally flows in one direction, the public side to the member side, however, under certain circumstances it can flow in the opposite direction. This is known as “backflow”. A significant drop in public side water pressure possibly caused by a water main break or extreme high usage on the water system, or due to a pump or thermal expansion on the property side are backflow conditions. Under these conditions, a connection not protected could allow pollutants to be siphoned back into the public water system.
Why is Backflow Prevention So Important?
Clean drinking water is not something you should take for granted. We all need to do our part to ensure that our homes and businesses have clean water every day.
What Can be Done to Help?
Fortunately, you can help prevent contamination of the public water system due to backflow. If your irrigation system does not have a backflow prevention assembly, you need to install an approved assembly or device as required by your specific situation.
If your system does have a backflow device, ensure that it is in good working order by having it tested annually and the test results forwarded to the Montgomery Water & Light Quality Department.
If a water hose is used to fill a pool, hot tub, pond, water feature, even a wash bucket make sure it is protected with a hose bibb vacuum breaker installed on the faucet.