Backflow Services in Chapel Hill, NC

A backflow preventer is a one-way gate between your property and the public water supply. If pressure in the main drops — a hydrant opens, a line breaks — water can be pulled backwards out of your irrigation system, pool, or boiler and into the drinking water. The assembly on your service line is what stops that happening, and the only way to know it still works is to test it.

Who needs backflow protection in Chapel Hill

Under OWASA’s current requirements, every new service line needs backflow protection except domestic service to a single-family home with no swimming pool, hot tub, spa, in-ground irrigation, fire suppression, auxiliary water supply, or other hazard OWASA identifies. In practice that means most Chapel Hill homes with irrigation or a pool have an assembly, and every commercial property does.

New assemblies must now be high-hazard testable types — reduced pressure principle assemblies, or the detector version for fire lines. Existing services without a known high hazard are not required to add protection during a remodel unless the property appears on the state’s High Hazard Service Connections list or the plumbing or building code requires it.

What we handle

We test assemblies and file the results, repair and rebuild them when they fail, replace units that are beyond repair, and advise on freeze protection. Mohammed is our certified backflow technician and does this work every week across Chapel Hill, Carrboro, and Hillsborough.

Requirements described here come from OWASA’s August 2025 update to its cross-connection control requirements. Rules change — we confirm what applies to your property before any work.

OWASA revised its cross-connection control manual and ordinance in 2024 and again in August 2025, following changes to state law under Session Law 2024-49. Several of the changes are worth knowing about as a property owner.

Two of those changes matter most to property owners here, and each has a page of its own. Qualifying year-round irrigation assemblies can now move to a three-year testing interval — the conditions are set out on our Chapel Hill backflow testing page. And the freeze-protection rules were relaxed, so many residential assemblies no longer need an enclosure at all, which we explain on our backflow enclosures page.

And any new irrigation system now needs its own dedicated water service and meter, for permits started after 1 October 2025.