danger
Winter weather: office closure, emergency shelters and city services
  • City offices, community centers, arts centers, and city recreation facilities are closed Thursday, Feb. 13, due to winter weather.
  • Shelters are open until at least noon Friday. More information: Multco.us/Cold.
  • City services information
information
Portland is a Sanctuary City

Find sanctuary city resources from the City of Portland's Immigrant & Refugee Program, including free legal services and state resources for reporting hate crimes, bias incidents, discrimination, and violations of Oregon's sanctuary laws.

Submitting backflow assembly test reports

Service
Commercial and residential customers with backflow assemblies must hire a company to test their backflow assemblies once a year. After testing is complete, the test reports need to be mailed to the Water Bureau.

Mailing your test reports will only take a few minutes.

On this Page

Testing requirements for residential customers

Residential customers who have irrigation systems, fire sprinkler systems, or other uses requiring backflow protection will have backflow assemblies protecting our drinking water. You must arrange to have your assembly or assemblies tested at least once a year. You're responsible for arranging for a state-certified contractor to test your assembly.

We prefer that residential customers test their backflow assemblies in the spring before the summer irrigation season. While we don't test assemblies, we do keep a record of where backflow prevention assemblies are installed. We'll mail you a reminder letter each year with sticker labels to give to your backflow tester.

Testing requirements for commercial customers

Commercial buildings will have different types of backflow assemblies to protect our drinking water from a variety of uses, including fire sprinkler systems, irrigation systems, and water collection and reuse systems. You must arrange to have your assembly or assemblies tested at least once a year. It is your responsibility for arranging for a state-certified contractor to test your assembly.

We provide commercial property owners an annual schedule for testing all their assemblies. While we don't test assemblies, we do keep a record of where backflow prevention assemblies are installed. We'll mail you a reminder letter each year with sticker labels to give to your backflow tester.

Sticker label requirements

We include sticker labels with your annual testing reminder letters. These sticker labels have important backflow assembly information we need to process your test reports.

You must provide the sticker labels to your backflow tester when they test your backflow assembly. Your test reports will not be processed if they don't have the Water Bureau-provided sticker label on them.

Submit test reports

Currently, we only accept hardcopy test reports by mail. After testing is complete, your certified backflow tester will put your sticker labels on your report and mail the completed test report to us at:

Portland Water Bureau
Attn: Backflow Assembly Records
1120 SW 5th Avenue, Bldg. B320
Portland, Oregon 97204‐1926

Important: Test reports will not be processed if they do not have the Water Bureau-provided sticker label on them.

Back to top