Backflow Testing in Scottsdale

Scottsdale runs backflow on a notice. The city mails the commercial customer a test notice when an assembly comes due, and Revised Code 49-65 gives you one yearly test, then three clocks that start from there. What changes the calendar is what the test finds.

• Pass: a certified tester files the record, and the city must have a copy within 7 days of the work.
• Fail: the assembly goes back to satisfactory condition within 45 days of the city's notice, not 45 days from the failed test. If the tester finds a bad check on day 20 of that window, you have 25 days left.
• Defect between tests: an assembly a landscaper clips or a relief valve that starts dumping in July is yours to repair right away. Subsection (c) gives no day count, so the sooner the better.

The numbers here come from the code text on Municode as of October 2026. The city has posted a 2026 updated backflow code that may change the 7-day record deadline and the 90-day install deadline, so confirm both with Scottsdale Water Quality before you plan around them. Arizona's state rule behind this, A.A.C. R18-4-215, sets the yearly minimum. Scottsdale adds the notice, the 45 days and the 7 days. Our page on the Scottsdale annual testing rule walks through each subsection.

Scottsdale does not wait for contamination to happen. Section 49-62(a) lists 54 uses and presumes a hazard for each one, so the assembly goes in at the service connection no matter how clean the business is. Restaurants, beauty shops, animal grooming shops, car washes, medical and dental buildings and food processing all get an RP. So does any building with plumbing more than 34 feet above the service connection, a house pump, a storage tank or a sewage ejector, and a shopping center served by a master meter.

Two listed uses on one service get the most restrictive assembly: air gap, then RP, then double check, then pressure vacuum breaker. A restaurant in a plaza is an RP twice over. Irrigation on a commercial site is a pressure vacuum breaker or an RP, depending on the layout. See the Scottsdale premises list and device types and hazard levels.

One more Scottsdale detail: a device must be lead free, carry an approved listing and have a local parts and service center. An assembly bought online that has no local service center can fail approval even if it tests fine.

Owners often treat a failed RP as maintenance. Scottsdale does not. Revised Code 49-68(b) requires a separate permit for each required assembly, including a replacement, and 49-63 gives you 45 days to finish the installation. The assembly goes in an accessible spot as close as possible to the service connection, and it has to be at least as large as the service.

If water cannot be off during a test, 49-63(c) calls for two assemblies in parallel. A medical office or a restaurant with a tight schedule usually books the test before opening, which avoids the second assembly. On a new project, the assembly must be on the plans, approved before the building permit, and tested before the temporary certificate of occupancy. If you lost an assembly to theft, the replacement still needs a permit. See stolen backflow assembly replacement.

The notice often goes to the account holder, which can be a landlord who forwards nothing. Under 49-62(c) an owner has 90 days to install a required device or 30 days to take another required action, like a test. After that the city can do the work and put the cost on the next bill, or shut off water. A customer designated non-compliant also sees the water rate adjusted by 150 percent for at least one billing cycle. The code does not say whether that means 150 percent of the current rate or an increase on top of it, so Utility Billing is the place to ask.

The shutoff route in 49-66 is slower but not forgiving: a notice with 30 days, a certified-mail notice with 10 more, then disconnection. Contamination of the public supply skips the notices. A fire sprinkler-only line is not disconnected under this section, though it can be cited. The turn-on fee after a shutoff is at least two hours of labor at the city's rate. See the shutoff process and the deadlines and surcharge.

Section 49-64 requires a double check assembly on a sprinkler-only connection for new commercial construction, a modified Class 1 or 2 system, or an old single check that is defective or lacks inspection records. HQ's certified techs test fire line backflow assemblies where the city's tester rules allow, and we confirm those rules before we schedule. Fire sprinkler system work, hydraulic calculations and flow tests are outside what HQ does, so those go to a fire sprinkler contractor. We handle the domestic and irrigation assemblies on the same property.

Send us the city notice or the assembly's size, make and location. We test domestic and irrigation assemblies, repair or replace what fails, and file the record with the city so it lands inside the 7 days. You get an upfront price before work starts and a free estimate on a replacement. For a property with several assemblies we group them into one visit when the due dates allow, and we schedule around your hours. If the city asks for a retest after repair, we do it on the same visit when the parts are on hand.

Related: commercial backflow testing across the Valley, backflow assembly repair, backflow assembly replacement, and Phoenix backflow testing. For our other Scottsdale work, see leak detection and repair in Scottsdale.