Washington County Service Authority Revenue and Competitors

The Washington County Service Authority (WCSA) is committed to supplying safe drinking water to all our customers. However, this is a shared responsibility between the WCSA and our customers. Recently, WCSA established a program designed to contain one of the many threats to our drinking water supply-the uptake of contaminants into the water line through hazardous connections known as "cross connections". As a WCSA customer you have a responsibility to help protect your water system. A cross connection is a point at which a non-drinking water substance can possibly come in contact with drinking water. A cross connection may be generated through such common connections as a garden hose with its outlet submerged; springs, hot-tubs, or swimming pools connected to the house plumbing system. Customers who formerly had private wells need to make sure that their old well system is completely separated from the public water system. Connections such as these can easily enable contaminants to enter the water lines through a process known as backflow. Backflow is the undesirable reversal of flow of non-drinking water substance through a cross connection and into the piping of a public water system or consumer's drinking water supply. Backflow is caused by a change in pressure in a water line. Such pressure changes can be the result of work on the water main or large water usage, as in the case of a fire hydrant in use. When pressures drop it becomes possible for liquids to siphon back from a residence, or commercial plumbing system, into the public water system. Backflow can allow bacteria, chemicals or physical contaminants to enter the water system and contaminate the water supply of not only the residence at the contamination site but also for customer's who might drink water from sources down the line from the contamination site. For this reason cross connections must be controlled. As a customer of the WCSA and under the regulations of the Va. Dept. of Health you have a responsibility to ensure containment of backflow at your residence if a hazardous connection is established.