Brochure

“All of this is very interesting,
but does it REALLY happen?”
you may ask. The answer
to that is an emphatic YES!
Below are listed some typical
cases of backflow that actually
occurred.
Case No. 1
The year was 1933. People
from all over the world were
crowding into one of America’s
largest cities to see the
“World’s Fair.” An epidemic
of Amoebic Dysentery broke
out and official records show
that 98 people died and 1,409
others became seriously ill.
Hundreds, possibly thousands
of other affected people were
never counted by investigat-
ing agencies since when they
became ill, they went home. A
special investigating commit-
tee of public health authorities
found the main reason of this
catastrophe to be “…old and
generally defective plumbing
and cross-connections poten-
tially permitting backsiphonage
from fixtures, such as bathtubs
and toilets…”
Case No. 2
In December, 1964, a hospital
in the State of Michigan had
its potable water system con-
taminated. The cause was an
unprotected autopsy table in
the hospital’s morgue.
Case No. 3
It was in July of 1955 in San
Pedro, California, a U.S. Navy
Destroyer pumped salt water
through five obsolete check
valves into the street mains in a
90 square block of the town.
Case No. 4
This unusual death was caused
by backsiphonage in a suburb
of one of California’s largest
cities. A man was spraying his
lawn with a commercial weed
killer that contained an arse-
nic compound. His applicator
was an aspirator device on his
garden hose, to which was
attached a bottle of the arsenic
poison. When he had finished
spraying, the man turned off
the hose, disconnected the
applicator, and since it was a
warm day, turned the hose on
again to get a drink of water. A
short time later, he was dead
from arsenic poisoning. At
some time while he was spray-
ing, a backsiphonage condition
had occurred and the arsenic
was carried back into the hose.
Case No. 5
In 1969 in Utah, raw irrigation
water was pumped through a
farm standby irrigation connec-
tion into over half of the entire
town’s potable water system.
The standby connection was
not protected with a backflow
prevention device.
Case Histories
City Main
2
Pump
Irrigation
Water