BackFlow Prevention
Many of our commercial customers are aware of the Town of Bar Harbor
Water Dept. mandate for the installation of testable BackFlow
Preventers. This action is actually required because of Federal EPA
guidelines within the Clean Water Act.
BackFlow Preventers are
an important device installed in structures that are tied into a
municipal water system. People are usually not aware of the hazards of
not having BackFlow Preventers. Essentially they protect the waters
main drinking supply from becoming contaminated by activities going on
within a structure. Imagine your neighbor mixing up a pesticide
solution at their home using a garden hose, and the hose is left in a
bucket of chemicals. Certain conditions can occur (such as a water main
break, or water being shut off on municipal water main) which can cause
the chemicals to be siphoned out of the bucket and into the water main,
and into an unsuspecting neighbors home. Since the inception of
municipal water systems, hundreds of thousands of people have been
poisoned (and I'm not making this number up) due to cross-connections
and lack of BackFlow Prevention (BFP) devices.
There are many different
types of BFP's to suit different situations. The authority having
jusidiction will determine what type is appropriate. This is usually
based upon the degree of hazard posed by the structure into which the
water is piped. The average home requires only a simple "Double Check
Valve," where as a facility that regularly works with hazardous
materials will require a more sophisticated "testable Reduced Pressure
Zone Backflow Preventer," and will require annual testing by a
certified BFP tester.
Most people take for
granted that their drinking water coming out of
their tap is safe. The list of documented cases of cross-connection is
huge. Everything from chemically-treated boiler water from a school
contaminating a water supply to car wash chemicals being introduced
into a drinking water supply. BFP's can help prevent the dangerous
situatons. (Click Here for
some scary situations).
Randy will be attending an intensive 4-day training and certification class in May so that we can start offering a testing service to our customer offerings. The tools, materials, parts, and course -- will cost several thousand dollars, but Randy feels it is an important service to offer our customers.