When is my backflow test due
The normal case
Annually, on the anniversary of the last test. Tested on 14 June, due by 14 June next year. If nothing on your notice says otherwise, this is you.
Exception one: a fixed date in the calendar
Some authorities want every device in the district done by the same date, whatever month yours was last tested. Testing in March does not buy you until next March — it buys you until the fixed date, which may be weeks away.
- City of North Vancouver — Annually, in July
- City of Terrace — By 1 March each year
Of the 46 we have screened, 2 work this way. It is rare, and it is the single most expensive thing to get wrong.
Exception two: the clock starts at the letter
The other one runs from the date the notice was sent, not from the date of the test. A tester who fits you in quickly has not bought you time if the letter has been on the counter for three weeks.
- Capital Regional District — Within 35 days of the notice to test
A related trap, and one an authority told us about directly: in the City of Nanaimo the thirty days run to the report being received, not sent. Posting it on day 29 is late.
Washington is different again
The state sets no filing deadline at all. It leaves “time frames for submitting completed test reports” to each water system, and not one of the purveyors we have read publishes a figure — the date is on the notice they send you. Washington State, in full.
How to find yours, in order of reliability
- The notice from your water supplier. Where there is a date, this is it, and it beats anything you work out yourself.
- Your last test report. It carries the test date, which is what an anniversary runs from.
- Your authority's page here — the rule, the deadline and the bylaw section it comes from, with the date we last read it. All 46.
If you have none of those, ask your water supplier. They know when they last received a report for your address, and that is the answer that counts.
Related
- I received a cross connection control notice — what happens now
- My backflow test failed — what happens now
We make the software testers use to file your authority's own form and keep the record — what that looks like. If something here is wrong, tell us.