The city of Washington is responsible for the quality of water it provides to its customers and is dedicated to maintaining that quality throughout the distribution system. According to the Environmental Protection Agency, cross-connections and backflow represent a significant public health risk. The EPA publishes guidance to assist communities in the implementation and management of a backflow prevention program. The city of Washington’s Backflow Prevention Program follows EPA guidelines and protects the public water supply from contamination through unprotected cross-connections. This is accomplished by assessing the customer’s type of use and requiring the installation and annual testing of approved backflow prevention assemblies. All costs associated with the installation, maintenance and testing of all backflow assemblies are the responsibility of the customer. The city of Washington will notify customers by mail when the annual backflow assembly test is due. This will consist of a First Notice mailed 40 days prior to the annual test due date and a Final Notice mailed 5 days after the due date. You can find more information on the test with the link with this news story at KCIIradio.com.