Backflow prevention — Sebastian, Florida

Every backflow prevention device on Indian River County water in Sebastian must be inspected once a year by a Certified Backflow Tester hired by the water customer.

Sebastian's tap water comes from the county, not the city. Indian River County Utilities states that the county provides water, wastewater and reuse services to a major portion of the county's population, including the City of Sebastian (Indian River County Utilities). That makes the county's cross connection rules the ones that apply to a Sebastian meter, from Sebastian Highlands to the commercial strip on US 1.

The yearly rule is stated plainly. On the county Cross Connection Control Program page, it is a requirement that EVERY backflow prevention device be inspected annually by a Certified Backflow Tester, and the results must go into the county's recognized database maintained by BSI Online. The water customer arranges the test; the tester then submits the inspection results to BSI as part of the service.

Reminders come from the contractor that runs the program. Indian River County has contracted with Backflow Solutions Inc. (BSI) to manage its backflow inspection program, and customers with a known device will receive a notification and reminder directly from BSI Online that testing is due (Indian River County Utilities). A Sebastian device the county has never recorded is not exempt: the county notes that devices not currently in the database are added once inventoried and tested.

Indian River County lists restaurants, docks, marine repair shops, schools, pools with a piped fill line and irrigation fed by a well, canal, lake or reclaimed water among Sebastian properties needing a backflow preventer.

The county frames its list as a guideline, not a complete inventory. It names car washes, veterinary clinics, commercial laundries, paint and body shops, fuel stations, laboratories, nursing homes and manufacturing facilities, plus several categories that describe the Sebastian waterfront: Piers/Docks, Automotive/Marine Repair Facility and Restaurants (Indian River County Utilities). Along Indian River Drive, a dock or a riverfront kitchen on county water falls into those listed types.

Homes enter the list through what is connected to the plumbing. The county includes Irrigation with auxiliary water source (well, canal, lake, reuse/reclaim water), plain irrigation systems, and swimming pools with piped fill line (Indian River County Utilities). A Sebastian house that has county water inside and a sprinkler pump on a well or canal outside has exactly the kind of cross connection the program targets.

The county code backs this up for lawns. Section 201.32 of the Indian River County Code states that no cross connections between the county's water supply system and any other water supply system shall be allowed, and that all sprinkler systems using the county's water system as a source shall have a backflow preventer to prevent back drainage into the county system (Indian River County Code, Chapter 201). The same section says residential and commercial sprinkler systems shall be inspected and approved by the county building department before initial operation.

Where Indian River County reclaimed water serves a Sebastian property, the county code requires an approved backflow prevention device protecting the drinking water supply.

Chapter 202 of the Indian River County Code, the reclaimed water regulations adopted by Ord. No. 93-6 in March 1993, deals with this in Section 202.19. Where reclaimed water service is provided, the public potable water supply shall be protected by an approved backflow prevention device, and all devices and materials installed for cross connection control must be approved by the utility services department (Indian River County Code, Chapter 202). The section also bars any physical connection between reclaimed or other auxiliary water and the customer's drinking water piping.

Wells used to top up the reclaimed system face a stricter device. Section 202.21, on dual source irrigation systems, calls for an air gap separation or a reduced-pressure principle backflow prevention assembly at the well and at any surface water source (Indian River County Code). For a Sebastian irrigation setup that mixes county reuse water with a backyard well, those are the two options the code names.

Sebastian connections use the device types the Florida Department of Environmental Protection recognizes: reduced-pressure principle assemblies, pressure vacuum breakers, double check valve assemblies and residential dual check valves.

The state program page sorts them by strength. DEP names the reduced-pressure principle assembly, the pressure vacuum breaker assembly and the double check valve assembly as the principal mechanical types, with the residential dual check valve as a secondary type that is intended for use only in water service connections to single-family homes (Florida DEP). Whatever the device type on a Sebastian connection, the Indian River County program applies the same yearly testing rule to all of them.

The yearly test exists because the parts wear. DEP explains that mechanical backflow preventers have internal seals, springs and moving parts subject to fouling, wear or fatigue, and that mechanical backflow preventers have to be tested with properly calibrated gauge equipment (Florida DEP). That is why Indian River County asks for a Certified Backflow Tester rather than a visual check by the Sebastian owner.

Indian River County runs its Sebastian backflow program under Florida Administrative Code rule 62-555.360, Cross-Connection Control for Public Water Systems.

Indian River County Utilities states that every public drinking water system in Florida must have a cross connection control program, more commonly known as a backflow prevention program, and cites the DEP requirement in Florida Administrative Code 62-555.360 (Indian River County Utilities). The state register lists the rule under the Department of Environmental Protection with an effective date of 5/5/2014 (flrules.org).

The 2014 rulemaking aimed to ease residential requirements. A notice in the same register says the rules were being amended to significantly reduce the overall regulatory burden of cross-connection control requirements on community water systems and their residential customers, starting with allowing a dual check (flrules.org). The county program covering Sebastian rests on that rule, while the details, such as who manages the database, are set locally.

Sebastian customers reach BSI at 888-966-6050 for backflow testing questions, or the Indian River County Utilities Cross Connection Control Program at (772) 226-3433.

The county lists separate lines. Water customers call Backflow Solutions Inc. at 888-966-6050, testing companies call 800-414-4990, and the Indian River County Utilities Cross Connection Control Program answers at (772) 226-3433 (Indian River County Utilities). The same page links to BSI tools for finding a certified tester and checking the status of a registered device.

Account questions go to the nearest county utility counter. The Sebastian Customer Service Office is in Sebastian Corners Plaza, 1921 US Highway 1, phone (772) 770-5300, open 8:00 am to 5:00 pm (Indian River County Utilities). For Sebastian meters on county water, the county utility and its contractor handle notices, records and tester results.

Last verified: October 11, 2026, on the Indian River County Utilities website.