Backflow inspection vs testing
On a Greenville Water account, a site inspection and a backflow test are different steps. The state rule still asks the certified tester for one written report of the inspection and testing results.
Sources checked October 6, 2026.
The letter on your account says which step is due. If this page and that letter disagree, follow the letter and the manual it cites.
The state rule puts both words on one report
R.61-58.7(F) says that when a double check valve assembly, a pressure vacuum breaker, or a reduced pressure principle assembly protects the public system, a certified tester tests it. Section (7)(b) says the water system receives a written report of the inspection and testing results, and the certified tester who did the work submits that report. What is backflow testing covers how often that test is required.
SCDES’s sample form is titled a test and maintenance form. The certification line says the device was tested. The form also says many jurisdictions require their own form.
The same rule gives the water system a separate program duty: locate and eliminate unprotected cross connections, and keep records of each assembly and its test results. That locating work is the system’s program. It is not a second test you hire on your own.
What Greenville Water calls an inspection
Greenville Water’s backflow page lists “inspecting newly installed backflow preventers” as one part of the program, and enforcing annual test results as another. The same page says Greenville Water does not install or test backflow preventers.
The Cross Connection Control Manual (PDF created November 10, 2025; the policy inside was adopted September 6, 2022) uses “inspection” for a look at the premises or the installation:
- The program description includes on-site inspections, and, separately, notifying customers of required periodic testing.
- For a new installation, sections 3-1.5 and 3-1.6 say the customer notifies the Cross Connection Control Department at least two days before the required inspection. The number printed there is (864) 241-6100. Greenville Water inspects the site. If the installation is satisfactory, the meter or service is unlocked. If it is not, the customer corrects the deficiencies and a follow-up inspection happens before the service is turned on.
- Section 3-2.4 uses that same two-day notice for an existing connection that has just had an assembly installed.
- Section 4-1 says the customer opens the premises for inspections or surveys. Routine surveys are by appointment. The manual says emergency inspections may be conducted without advance notice.
- On the installation checklist, sections 5-4.9 and 5-4.10 say Greenville Water may require more thrust restraints or pipe support after that inspection.
Section 2-4 also says the customer obtains permits and inspections required by the plumbing official. That permit inspection is not the annual backflow test.
What Greenville Water calls a test
Section 7 of the same manual is titled “Testing.” It says assemblies are tested by certified testers. A new testable assembly is tested upon installation and before the customer uses it. The installer contacts a certified tester, and the manual says Greenville Water must receive that report within 10 days of starting the water service.
Existing assemblies are tested at least annually. The customer gets a letter and hires a certified tester. The 45-day timing and the $500 non-compliance fee in that manual are summarized on the Greenville Water page. Those figures belong to the test, not to the site inspection in section 3.
Section 7-3 says Greenville Water will randomly choose an assembly and retest it, and will notify the customer in advance. The manual says that retest checks tester information and compliance. It is not the installation inspection, and it is not the letter that tells you to hire your own annual test.
What to do with the paper you received
If the paper tells you to have a test by a date, hire a General Tester. Greenville County testers are copied from the SCDES list. Confirm the current card before you hire.
If Greenville Water asks you to schedule the inspection before the meter is turned on, that is the site inspection in section 3. The assembly still needs the tester’s report in section 7-1.
This page does not describe an inspection step for any other Upstate utility. If your water system is not Greenville Water, use the notice that utility sent.
Sources read October 6, 2026: R.61-58 on des.sc.gov, the SCDES sample test form, Greenville Water’s backflow prevention page, and Greenville Water’s Cross Connection Control Manual PDF.