For the past several years, there has been quite a debate about the need for backflow preventers on fire protection systems. This debate culminated in an American Water Works Association (AWWA) study published in 1998. The purpose of this article is not to expand on that study, but to pick up with design requirements of backflow preventers, specifically those meeting ASSE 1013, 1015, 1047 and 1048 and discuss improvements for fire protection systems. The American Society of Sanitary Engineering (ASSE) is an ANSI accredited standards writing organization, and with that accreditation comes the responsibility of a five-year review of standards to see if they are current or need to be updated.
Because of all the controversy in the past several years on backflow protection on fire sprinkler systems, a list of industry concerns from the fire industry has been developed with respect to the use of backflow preventers on these systems. The list of issues centers around the main question of whether current standards were written with the application of fire sprinkler systems in mind. I think the answer to this question is that current backflow preventers do indeed work on fire sprinkler systems. However, when the standards were developed, no special consideration was given to the operating modes of these fire protection systems. It is therefore important in ASSE's review of these backflow standards that they now take very seriously the concerns that have been voiced by the fire protection industry. The list of concerns can be summed up as follows: