When you turn on the tap, you expect clean, safe water to come out. However, what if, whenever you turn the handle, contaminated water starts flowing instead? This is where backflow prevention comes into play—an important safeguard for your community’s water supply.
What Is Backflow?
Backflow occurs when the regular flow of water is reversed, allowing non-potable—possibly contaminated or hazardous—water into the clean water supply. This reversal can occur due to backpressure, when downstream pressure exceeds supply pressure, or back siphonage, which is an abrupt drop in water pressure, such as when firemen are using a nearby hydrant or when a water main bursts.
Why Backflow Prevention Matters
While backflow incidents are more common in commercial or industrial settings, they can also occur in residential dwellings. Garden hoses left submerged in a pool, defective irrigation systems, or pressure changes in the pipes can allow contaminants such as fertilizers, chemicals, or germs to infiltrate a clean water supply. This contamination isn’t simply unpleasant—it can be hazardous. Drinking or cooking with backflow-contaminated water can have major health consequences.
How Backflow Prevention Works
Vacuum breakers and backflow preventer valves are examples of backflow prevention devices that prevent contaminated water from entering the clean supply. These devices are especially useful for outdoor faucets, sprinkler systems, and other plumbing connections to external water sources.
Backflow prevention may not be glamorous, but it is an essential component of responsible homeownership. Working with us at Professional Plumbing & Heating Co. to ensure your home has backflow prevention keeps the municipal water supply clean, safe, and dependable.