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What is a backflow prevention device?


Backflow prevention devices prevent contaminated water and chemicals from flowing back into the public drinking water supply system.

 


Why are backflow prevention devices required?


Backflow prevention devices are an important component of the New York City Department of Environmental Protection’s drinking water protection program and are legally mandated under the New York State Sanitary Code and the Rules of the City of New York for those businesses identified as posing a risk to the public water supply

 

 

What types of properties are required to install a backflow prevention device?

 

Unless they receive a specific exemption from DEP, the following types of businesses are required to use backflow preventers:

  • Metal plating, cleaning, processing or fabricating facilities

  • Photo-processing facilities

  • Laundries and dry cleaners

  • Commercial car washes

  • Greenhouses

  • Hospitals, Clinics and Laboratories (including veterinary hospitals)

  • Medical and Dental Offices

  • Funeral Parlors

  • Food processing plants and meat / fish packers

  • Dye Plants

  • Paper processors

  • Auto Repair Shops

  • Breweries

  • Tanneries

  • Exterminators

  • Large residential dwellings with water boilers that use rust-inhibitors or other water treatment chemicals, (“treated water boilers”)

  • Sewage treatment plants or handling facilities

  • Premises with multiple water service lines;

  • Premises with roof tanks and elevated storage lines

  • Canneries

  • Slaughterhouse / Live Poultry Processing Facilities

  • Ice Manufacturing Facilities

  • Printing Facilities

  • Supermarkets

  • Premises with large boilers or chemically treated boilers

  • Warehouses (with toxic chemical storage)

  • Premises with Commercial or Public Kitchens

  • Premises with water cooled equipment or chillers

  • Premises with Groundwater Wells

  • Premises that Reuse or Recycle Water

  • Shipyards and Marinas

  • Schools and Colleges

  • Food Preparation Facilities

  • Nursing Homes

  • Barber Shops & Beauty Salons

  • Properties with in-ground irrigation sprinklers

 

 

 

 

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