Annual Testing
Commercial & non-residential services
Avion Water Co. provides a yearly reminder letter to commercial and non-residential services with a list of the backflow assemblies which are due for testing and the following list of backflow testers. Customers are given 30 days to have their assemblies tested. The backflow tester is required to provide Avion with the completed test reports.
Residential services
Avion Water customers have recently reported notices left at their homes regarding the annual testing of their backflow device. Please be advised that Avion ONLY sends out letters via the U.S. Postal Service and will not use any other method of delivering the letter to water customers.
If you have received any other means of communication, such as a door hanger, flyer, posted notice, or a phone solicitation, please be advised that these are individual vendors soliciting/advertising to gain your business. There are many State Certified Backflow Testers in our area.
If you have any concerns about the backflow testing requirements or communications you have received, please call Avion's Cross Connection Services Manager at 541-382-5342.
What is a Cross Connection?
A cross connection is a permanent or temporary connection between potable drinking water and anything which can pollute or contaminate the water supply. For example, without backflow protection, attaching a fertilizer sprayer to a garden hose or even placing your hose in a soap bucket for car washing can create a cross connection and possible health hazards.
In 1989, Redmond High School had ethylene glycol antifreeze from an air conditioner backflow into the water piping, sending eight teachers to the hospital. Several incidents have occurred where a car wash cross connected their plumbing and pumped dirty, soapy water through several city blocks. In a town in Arkansas a worker hooked up a hose to a nearly empty propane tank to flush out the tank. The residual pressure of the propane was greater than the water pressure and several homes exploded and burned.
Cross Connection Specialists can help the water user identify these potential problems and suggest ways to eliminate them or recommend the proper backflow prevention assembly as required by the State of Oregon.
What is Backflow?
Backflow is the undesirable reversal of flow of non-potable water or other substances through a cross connection and into the piping of a public water system or consumer's potable water system. This reversal of flow or "backflow" can allow contaminated water to flow backward, drawing a contaminant into the water supply. There are two types of backflow - backpressure backflow and back-siphonage backflow.
What can cause backflow?
Backflow can be caused when an unforeseen change in water pressure allowing the water to flow backwards within the water supply piping system from a contaminated source to a drinking water supply. A drop in pressure could be caused by a variety of things, including a water main break or the need to fighMulti-family, Commercial & Industrial Customers