Some businesses and residences in the town of Mariposa have been getting a whopping plumbing bill after installing backflow prevention devices, to protect the local water supply from cross contamination.
The devices are required by state law.
But the fix is not cheap.
Some local businesses, especially hotels with pools and apartment complexes, have been getting a case of sticker shock.
Mariposa plumber Orin Good has done about 30 of the jobs and estimates the average residential cost is around $2,500. But some of the commercial jobs can run between $13,000 and $20,000.
“Unfortunately, this is the worst part for me as a plumber,” said Good.
“I want to help people have a worry free home, but this is something most people don’t want to be required to put in,” he said.
From March 1 to June 1, the Mariposa Public Utility District (MPUD), which services the town of Mariposa, has completed assessments of 122 connections in its cross-connection hazard assessment.
Half of those connection assemblies, 61, required installation of a new backflow prevention device.
The MPUD survey focuses mainly on commercial properties. Most residential properties in the district were asked to fill out a survey.
The backflow prevention device prevents water from crossing the meter and going back into the water system. This can happen anytime there’s an overflow.
It is a particular issue with properties that have an auxiliary water supply such as a pool, hot tub, water feature or a dedicated landscape irrigation system.
Other high-hazard locations include commercial laundries, car washes, mobile home parks, dental offices, hotels/motels, gas stations and fire stations.
“This is a state requirement. We’re required to enforce it,” said Susan Wages, General Manager of MPUD.
That said, the utility has felt people’s angst and has been cognizant of the cost.
“There are a few who cannot afford it. Some need more time. So, we say let’s put the date to August when you can afford it,” said Wages.
In one case, a multi-family housing complex, the cost of a retro fit was $70,000, she said.
Good, who has been a plumber for 15 years, said cross contamination has an important place in the history of the plumbing trade.
As an example, he mentioned typhoid and cholera outbreaks in Chicago in the 19th Century, when sewage runoff made its way into the water supply from Lake Michigan.
Backflow devices prevent that kind of contamination, he said.
“The reason that they are here is to protect the population. Not every home every day is going to have a back flow event. You can’t guarantee when it will, or if it will,” Good said.
But it only takes one event, in one part of a system, to potentially cause a public health crisis.
“Throughout the history of plumbing there are people who have gotten sick, from plague, improper water and sewage control mixing with potable water,” he said.
Good also mentioned more contemporary issues, like a meth lab, with hazardous and carcinogenic chemicals that could enter the water system.
MPUD provides public water and wastewater services to the town of Mariposa and currently has 683 water connections serving a population of around 2,000.
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