Aside from the risk of fines and termination of water service enforced by your utility company for not testing, listed below are a few incidences where backflows have effected people’s lives.
IN MAY OF 2000, residents living around the subdivision in Pineville, North Carolina, known as Walden Pointe discovered that their drinking water had become contaminated with raw sewage. The contamination reached around 60 homes and more than 100 Walden Pointe residents fell ill. The affected citizens sued their municipality and received a $1.2 million settlement to cover their damages and medical expenses.
In June, 2004, thousands of residents living in the Detroit, Michigan, suburb of Novi were issued a ‘boil water alert,’ even though municipal water systems were supposedly EPA compliant. The alert forced Novi schools to shut off sinks and drinking fountains and purchase hundreds of cases of bottled water. There are no reliable estimates of how many people may have been hurt by the contamination.
In 2006, a Georgia man stepped into his shower to get ready for work. Due to a caustic contaminant in the water supply from a nearby plant, the spray from the showerhead seared nearly 80 percent of the skin off his body.
Three different locations. Three separate public health incidents. One common cause: contaminated backflow.
Unfortunately, these incidents are not uncommon. Commercial and residential irrigation sites are a frequent source of water contamination—so frequent, in fact, that a number of companies have dedicated years of engineering research and development to creating backflow prevention devices that shield property owners and contractors from liability while protecting the public health. The good news for irrigation contractors is that contamination can be contained with adequate backflow devices and a better understanding of backflow prevention.
Cross Connection Blamed in Illness — September 19, 2014
FLORIDA: Homeowners complained of an unusual taste and odor from their water. An investigation by the utility found that a neighbor was mixing chemicals to use as fertilizer on his farm.
All local mains and service lines had to be flushed and chlorinated. A backflow preventer was installed because of a cross connection between the chemicals and the drinking water.
To read more stories, visit www.BackflowCases.com