Include, but not limited to, Reduced Pressure Zone Assemblies (RPZ), Double Check Valves
Newsletter - Texas Turf Irrigation Association
Formally - Texas Natural Resource Conservation Commission.
Currently - Texas Commission on Environmental Quality.
A Keller Texas homeowner was surprised to find dozens of squiggly little worms in his upstairs
toilet bowl recently. Later as he was pouring water into his coffee maker, he noticed something
moving in the water, another little worm. He collected samples of the worms and presented them
to Angela Wallis, Environmental Services Coordinator for the City of Keller, Water Utilities Dept.
Angela, who is also a Certified Backflow Prevention Assembly Tester, advised him they were
nematodes and that they most likely came through his landscape irrigation system. It turns out the
irrigation system had a nine-year old Double Check Valve Assembly (DC) that had not been tested
since it was installed. When the homeowner tried to turn off the water to the irrigation system at
the device, both gate valve handles crumbled. He was able to turn one valve off with a wrench,
though. The story gets a little more interesting. When the homeowner contacted a company to test
the DC, the person who arrived to do the test told him it would be cheaper to replace the device
than to test it. $275 later, he had a new DC. However, the homeowner later discovered that the
company did not obtain a permit from the city, nor had they tested the new device. At the time of
this writing, Ms. Wallis is investigating possible City of Keller ordinance violations.
TNRCC Landscape Irrigation Program is inquiring into possible violations of State law.