Friday, October 17, 2008

Revised Backflow Preventer Standards Published

The American Water Works Association (AWWA) has published revised standards for double check valve backflow prevent assemblies (ANSI/AWWA C510-07) and reduced-pressure principle backflow prevention assemblies (ANSI/AWWA C511-07). The standards cover the materials, design, manufacture, testing and delivery of these assemblies.


Backflow prevention assemblies protect drinking water supplies from potential contamination from various activities in a customer’s facility. Reports to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicate that about one-fourth of water-borne disease outbreaks associated with community water systems can be traced back to a backflow event.


I had the privilege to serve on this committee. I learned more from my service than I contributed to these standards. The hard work of revising these standards was carried out by the committee’s more longstanding members. If your interested in backflow prevention, check out the AWWA manual and standards or visit the American Backflow Prevention Association. I’ve presented on the topic and you can find copies of my presentations here.

2 comments:

  1. I am together with you, guys, in pushing through the limits to have safe drinking water for everyone by preventing backflow.

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  2. Thank you for sharing this post. It is important to have a backflow inspection in order to avoid water contamination.

    ReplyDelete