Daniel Larson of the WCSAWWA CCC presents the prize to Justin Bage.
The American Water Works Association Western Canada Section (WCSAWWA) has handed out the awards for its 2018 Bad and Ugly Cross Connection Control photo contest.
Justin Bage, backflow tester, and Tayte Sutherland, cross connection control inspector, took home prizes for their photos of “Bad and Ugly” cross connections.
“Our water industry representatives, inspectors, plumbers, and testers all share a responsibility to protect our water supply,” the association said in a statement. “Cross connections do exist and are a potential to contaminate or pollute our potable water. Let’s do our best to find and correct these cross connections before the damage is done.”
During an inspection of a granite countertop, Sutherland–a cross connection control inspector at Epcor Water Services Inc.–found that the building did not have full premises isolation.
“The building’s water distribution is divided into two main feeds, only one of these feeds was isolated with a CSA approved double check valve assembly (DCVA),” he said. “I noticed that premises’ DCVA had been ineffectual after distribution tees had been connected the device’s test cocks.”
WCSAWWA CCC member Dylan Gerlack presented the gift certificate to Tayte Sutherland.
In a field conversation with the building and company representatives, he explained the tees were a code violation, and also explained the working and purpose of the DCVA.
“I also informed the building representative that the building did not have full premises isolation and presented a few options to correct the code violation and achieve full premises isolation,” he said.
Sutherland received a gift certificate from the backflow manufacturer representatives on the association’s Cross Connection Control (CCC) Committee.
Bage, a backflow tester based in Winnipeg, MB, was presented a new pressure differential gauge from Watts for his photo.
Contest details can be found here. www.wcsawwa.net
