Do you need a permit to install a backflow preventer in Scottsdale?

Section 49-63(a) puts installation on the user, at the user's expense, to the standards and specifications the division adopts. The user gets a permit for the assembly and finishes the installation within 45 days. The assembly must be at least as large in diameter as the service connection.

Section 49-63(b) says the assembly goes in an accessible location as close as possible to the service connection, with proper clearances above ground as shown in the division's current standard details. Subsection (c) covers a user who needs a continuous water supply: two or more assemblies go in parallel, so one can be tested while the other carries water, and their combined cross-sectional area must at least equal the customer supply line.

Section 49-68 covers plans and permits:

• Plans (a): every assembly that will be installed is shown and specified on all required building and engineering plans. The city must approve the intended installation before it issues any building or encroachment permit.
• One permit per assembly (b): installation permits are required before installation, and a separate permit is needed for each required assembly, including a replacement.
• Certified test before TCO (c): assemblies must meet the division's current standard details, be tested by a certified tester and shown to be operating correctly before the city issues a temporary certificate of occupancy.
• Permit revocation (d): the division may suspend or revoke a permit in writing if it was issued in error or on incorrect information.

• Customer supply line: the water line between the city meter and the property's plumbing. The assembly protects the city side from what happens beyond it.
• Encroachment permit: the city's permit for work in the public right-of-way. Section 49-68(a) requires backflow approval before it is issued too.
• Temporary certificate of occupancy (TCO): the city's permission to occupy before every item is final. A backflow assembly that has not passed its test can hold it up.

Anyone installing or replacing a required assembly: owners, general contractors and the certified contractor doing the work. It covers new construction and retrofits. The city's commercial services page says any contractor working on an assembly must be a certified backflow tester, and the same page says every new meter requires a backflow device that the city inspects and approves before the meter is delivered.

A new restaurant. The designer shows the RP on the plumbing plans, the city approves the sheet before the building permit, and the certified contractor pulls an assembly permit. The test report is ready before the TCO inspection.

A two-assembly hospital wing. The hospital cannot lose water during testing, so it installs two assemblies in parallel. Each needs its own permit, and the pair's combined area must match the supply line.

The edge case: the 45 days run out. The code sets the install window but does not say what happens on day 46. The non-compliance rules in Sec. 49-62(c) and 49-66 apply instead, and they are laid out on our surcharge page.

1. 1Confirm the required assembly type and size from our premises list page or the city's notice.
2. 2Hire a certified backflow tester who can install it. The city's list is on its commercial services page.
3. 3Get the assembly on your plans, or file the permit in the city's online permitting system if this is a retrofit.
4. 4Ask the city which date starts the 45-day installation window on your permit or notice. Section 49-63 names the interval without expressly stating its starting date; do not substitute the separate Sec. 49-62 notice deadline.
5. 5Get a certified test done and send the report to the city within 7 days, as the testing page explains.

• "A replacement is maintenance, so no permit." Section 49-68(b) says a separate permit for each assembly, including replacement.
• "The plumber will figure out the permit later." Plans must show the assembly before the city issues the building permit.
• "The certificate of occupancy comes first." The test comes first. The code says the assembly must be tested and working before a TCO.

This page summarizes the code. The adopted text on Municode governs.