Backflow Preventer Testing and Repair in Peoria, Arizona

Peoria runs its own Backflow Prevention and Cross Connection Control Program, written into Chapter 18 of the City Code and carried out under the Arizona Administrative Code. How it touches a home depends on who supplies the water and what kind of device sits on the line.

How Peoria's program works

The City of Peoria says required backflow devices must be tested at least annually, or more often if the manufacturer or the city's Environmental Division recommends it, and all costs for tests, repairs and replacements fall on the owner. Test notices go out 60 days before an assembly is due. Completed reports must reach the Environmental Division no later than 30 days after the test, and failing to do the annual test is subject to water service termination. Assemblies must be installed to the City of Peoria Backflow Details and inspected by the Environmental or Building Safety Division. Every new installation must be tested and pass with a City of Peoria Recognized Tester, from a list the city updates at the start of each month. To be recognized, a tester company must carry at least $1,000,000 in liability cover, hold a Plumbing, Irrigation, Fire or CR-5 backflow-restricted Arizona Registrar of Contractors licence, and hold a City of Peoria business licence. Backflow correspondence goes to the Environmental Division at 19980 N. 111th Ave., or to backflow@peoriaaz.gov.

What it means for a house

Peoria says its program applies to and is primarily enforced on commercial businesses, though circumstances can require devices on non-commercial property. When a device is installed at a home, the city recommends annual testing by a certified tester. The City Code reflects the same split: Section 18-117 requires double check and reduced pressure assemblies to be tested at installation and at least annually, and names commercial pressure vacuum breakers for annual testing. Peoria's own FAQ names the pressure vacuum breaker as the device that can be installed on the supply line to a landscape irrigation system, and the hose bibb vacuum breaker as the small device on outdoor faucets. City Code Section 18-116 adds the physical rules: every assembly must be a testable unit with test cocks, at least the size of the service line it protects, placed in an accessible spot as close to the service connection as practicable, and each service connection needs its own assembly. The program applies to City of Peoria water customers; homes served by Sunrise, Rose Valley or EPCOR, which the city's water quality report says serve parts of Peoria, follow their own provider. The residential backflow guide covers notices and testers in more detail.

Repairs, replacements and licensing

The city notes that the cost of testing varies and is set by whoever performs the test, with repairs or replacement charged separately. A failed device is usually rebuilt and retested; a damaged or unsupported one is replaced, and a replacement in Peoria has to meet the installation, inspection and recognized-tester rules above. Arizona law exempts small jobs from contractor licensing only where no local building permit is required, and the Registrar of Contractors states that a licence is generally required once labor and materials exceed $1,000 or a permit is needed. No testing procedure is given here: the tester and the water provider set it. The general method is on the backflow service page. The zone valves further into the yard are a separate job, covered on valve and solenoid repair in Peoria. All Peoria services are on the Peoria hub.