Who decides how often a backflow preventer is tested?

The water provider. Rules differ between utilities and between commercial and residential properties, and the provider usually requires the test to be done by a tester it recognizes, who then files the report. Check the provider named on your water bill before assuming a test is or is not required.

Can a failed backflow assembly be repaired?

Often. A check that will not seal or a relief valve that discharges can usually be cleaned or rebuilt with a kit for that make and size, then retested. A cracked body or an unsupported model is replaced, and a replacement may need to meet the provider's installation and inspection rules.

Backflow Preventer Testing and Repair

Arrange testing, rebuilding or replacement of the backflow assembly that protects the drinking water supply.

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What the assembly guards against

An irrigation system is a cross connection: drinking water on one side, heads and emitters sitting in soil and fertilizer on the other. The City of Peoria explains the two ways water can run backward. Back siphonage happens when supply pressure drops suddenly, as during firefighting or a main break, and draws water from the property side into the public system. Backpressure happens when pressure on the customer's side pushes water back.

The city lists the approved protections as reduced pressure principle assemblies, double check valves, pressure vacuum breakers and air gaps, and names the pressure vacuum breaker as a device that can be installed on the supply line to any landscape irrigation system. City Code requires assemblies to be testable units with test cocks, placed in an accessible spot as close to the service connection as practicable, with each service connection carrying its own assembly. The water provider decides which device a connection needs and how often it is tested.

Testing, rebuilding and replacing in Peoria

Peoria's program sends test notices 60 days before an assembly is due, requires the test from a City of Peoria Recognized Tester, and wants the report at the Environmental Division within 30 days. The city says the program applies to and is primarily enforced on commercial businesses, and recommends annual testing by a certified tester when a device is installed at a home. Homes served by Sunrise, Rose Valley or EPCOR follow their own provider's rules.

A failed test usually means a fouled or worn check, a relief valve that discharges, or a cracked part. Many assemblies can be rebuilt with a kit for their make and size and then retested; others are replaced, and a Peoria replacement has to be installed to the city's backflow details, inspected and passed by a recognized tester. Arizona's small-job licensing exemption does not apply where a local permit is required, so ask who holds the contractor licence and who files the report. Related: valve and solenoid repair and irrigation system installation.

Source: City of Peoria, Backflow Prevention, Checked Oct 1, 2026