On June 20th, assistance was offered to a public water system with testing their backflow devices. Four backflow devices were checked that day, one at their wastewater treatment plant, one at their boat harbor at two at the cruse ship dock. It was discovered that the two backflow devices at the cruse ship dock had failed. The two devices were taken apart and several large rocks were removed from the devices. The operator remembered that a line break had happened the previous year, and the rocks must have made their way from there, through the distribution system, and into the devices. One backflow device was able to be brought back on line, while the other had sustained enough damage that it had to be brought out of service until new parts arrived.

Backflow devices cost as much as $100 to test per unit, and for the public water system to get a qualified backflow tester onto the island may have cost them well over a thousand dollars, after paying travel expenses. Discovering these problems is a huge step toward protecting public health and has to be done on an annual basis.