Backflow News
California Overhauls Its Backflow Prevention Framework: What the 2024 CCCPH Means for Property Owners and Testers Statewide
California’s cross-connection control and backflow prevention landscape changed fundamentally on July 1, 2024, when the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) replaced the long-standing Title 17 regulations with a new, comprehensive Cross-Connection Control Policy Handbook — the CCCPH. Adopted by the State Water Board on December 19, 2023, and effective July 1, 2024, the CCCPH represents what water industry observers have called the most significant overhaul of California’s backflow prevention framework in decades. For property owners across California, for the more than 3,000 public water systems operating in the state, and for every certified backflow assembly tester working in the California market, the CCCPH changes the rules of the game — in some cases dramatically.
The Core of the CCCPH: From Optional to Mandatory
The single most consequential shift in the CCCPH is the transition from a cross-connection control plan being a ‘nice to have’ element of a water system’s operations to a legal mandate. Under the new handbook, every California public water system is required to develop, implement, and document a comprehensive cross-connection control plan. The plan must address customer notification, hazard identification and assessment, cross-connection eradication or protection, tester certification requirements, test result documentation, and incident reporting. Systems serving 200 or fewer connections and systems serving 201–999 connections received State Water Board template plans to assist in developing their programs. Systems serving 1,000 or more connections received no template as of early 2025 and must develop their own plans from scratch.
Under the CCCPH, all California water systems must maintain records that go significantly beyond simply tracking backflow preventer tests. Required records include the two most recent hazard assessments conducted at each premise, details on every backflow prevention assembly in the system (including hazard or application, location, owner, type, manufacturer, model, size, installation date, and serial number), records of replacements, relocations, and repairs, the most current cross-connection tests (including shutdown tests and dye tests), and descriptions of and follow-up actions related to all backflow incidents. Test result records must be retained for a minimum of three years.
Installation Changes: Above-Ground Only for New and Replacement Assemblies
The CCCPH established new mandatory installation standards for backflow prevention assemblies. Effective July 1, 2024, for any property undergoing a change in ownership, use, or building modification, any new or replacement commercial backflow device must be installed above ground. The same above-ground installation requirement applies to all new or replacement residential backflow devices. This standardization eliminates the buried pit installations that have been common in California for decades — particularly for residential irrigation systems where PVBs and DCVAs were frequently installed in ground-level enclosures. Above-ground installation makes assemblies accessible for annual testing, facilitates proper drainage from RPZ relief valves, and enables visual inspection without excavation.
Tester Certification: A Phased Tightening Through 2027
The CCCPH also introduced a phased tightening of tester certification requirements that creates a compliance runway but ultimately narrows who can legally test in California. Effective July 1, 2025, all backflow assembly testers in California must be certified by a Water Board-recognized organization. Public Health-issued certifications that were previously accepted are no longer valid after this date. The requirement becomes even more stringent effective July 1, 2027: all certification programs must achieve ANSI accreditation, ensuring a nationally recognized, standardized level of competency.
Practically, this means the California-Nevada Section AWWA (CA-NV AWWA) certification — historically the dominant credential in California — must be verified as SWRCB-recognized for 2025 compliance and ANSI-accredited for 2027 compliance. Some local agencies, including those in Orange and Ventura counties, were already requiring ANSI-accredited certifications for testers to appear on their approved lists ahead of the statewide deadline. The California Rural Water Association offers a five-day certification course that satisfies SWRCB requirements. ASSE International certifications — which require certification through nationally recognized third-party certification bodies — are also accepted under the CCCPH framework.
Fire Sprinkler Systems: New and Updated Requirements
Effective July 1, 2025, LADWP and other California water systems announced that both commercial and residential fire sprinkler systems are now subject to new and updated cross-connection control requirements under the CCCPH. This is a significant expansion — residential fire sprinkler systems, which have proliferated in California new construction under the state’s fire sprinkler mandate for single-family homes built after January 1, 2011, are now within the cross-connection control scope in a more explicit way than under the previous Title 17 framework.
What Property Owners Need to Do
For California property owners, the CCCPH changes several practical elements. Annual testing by a SWRCB-recognized certified tester (verified against the current list) is required. Test results must be submitted to the water provider within 10 business days of testing using the provider’s approved format. If your assembly is currently installed below ground and you are subject to a change of ownership, use, or building modification, you may be required to relocate it above ground. Residential irrigation assemblies on above-ground installations should be tested annually. And from a documentation standpoint, property managers should ensure they retain not just test reports but all maintenance records, as California’s expanded record retention requirements now apply at the water system level for all connected premises.
California Backflow Testers: Check Your Credential Against the New Timeline
If you are a backflow assembly tester working in California: confirm your certification is issued by a SWRCB-recognized organization (required as of July 1, 2025). Plan for ANSI accreditation requirements that take effect July 1, 2027. If you were certified under a Public Health-issued program, that credential is no longer valid in California as of July 1, 2025. Confirm your credential status with the SWRCB directly or through the Ca-NV AWWA program.
Source: California State Water Resources Control Board — Cross-Connection Control Policy Handbook (December 2023); Las Virgenes Municipal Water District — CCCPH program page; HydroCorp — California Cross-Connection Control Compliance Guide (November 2025); Title 22 Newsletter; Pacific Backflow — California Requirements Update (2026). Published at getyourbackflowtested.com/backflow-news