Can Mesa shut off your water for backflow violations? City Code 8-1-13

Subsection (A) lets the Department terminate service to a property or premises if any of these conditions is present:

• backflow protection is not installed as the chapter requires,
• it has been removed or bypassed,
• it is not functioning as designed,
• it has not been tested annually, or testing records were not timely provided, or
• unprotected cross connections exist on the property.

Subsection (B) covers the fast path. If any of those conditions presents "an imminent hazard to the health or safety of the public water supply or the public," the Department may issue an Immediate Notice of Termination, terminate service and take other steps to correct the problem. Service is not restored "until such conditions or defects are corrected and all penalties and other fees and charges are paid," or a hearing under Title 1, Chapter 27 results in a final finding of no violation.

• The Department. Defined in 8-1-1 as the City Water Resources Department, or a successor the city names to enforce the chapter.
• Imminent hazard. The section does not define it. Read plainly, it means the condition could contaminate the water supply now, not someday.
• Immediate Notice of Termination. A notice that skips any correction period.
• Hearing. The route to contest a finding under Title 1, Chapter 27.

Backflow rules only work if someone can enforce them. Mesa's chapter puts the duties on the customer: install the assembly, test it yearly, repair it and file the report. Section 8-1-13 is the last step, and it applies when those duties are skipped. The city's backflow page and the 8-1-7 correction clock are where the softer steps live, and the hearing route in Title 1, Chapter 27 is where a customer contests the city's finding.

Every customer on Mesa's water system, commercial or residential, including landscape meters. The section names "property or premises," and it makes no exception for fire service in its text.

The section sets no number of days before termination in (A), and it does not say how the city decides between a notice period and immediate action beyond the imminent hazard test in (B). The testing deadlines in 8-1-11 and the 60-day correction clock in 8-1-7 are the timelines the code gives.

A restaurant misses its test. The notice date passes and no report is on file. The city can begin termination. The owner's fastest fix is a test by a recognized tester and a filed report.

A landscape meter with a bypass. Someone added a pipe around the assembly to work on it and never removed it. That is a bypassed assembly, and the city can act.

The edge case. A failed assembly starts leaking contaminated water into the building's supply. With an imminent hazard, the Department can terminate immediately, and service returns only after repairs and unpaid penalties are settled.

1. 1Keep the annual notice date and book the test with room to repair and retest.
2. 2Confirm the tester filed the report, and keep your own copy.
3. 3Never bypass an assembly, even for a day of maintenance.
4. 4If you get a termination notice, ask the Backflow Prevention program what is required to restore service: 480-644-6462 or backflow@mesaaz.gov.
5. 5If you dispute the finding, ask about the Title 1, Chapter 27 hearing.

• "A missed test just means a fee." The code lists it as a ground for termination.
• "The city always gives 30 days." Under (B) an imminent hazard gets an immediate notice.
• "Once fixed, water comes right back." Penalties and fees must be paid too, unless a hearing finds no violation.
• "Filing is the tester's job." The customer is the responsible party under 8-1-11.