Backflow testing in Uxbridge

Uxbridge’s building stock, from a backflow point of view

Uxbridge is a small urban core in a large rural township. The properties inside the by-law are concentrated in and around the town:

• Downtown commercial along Brock and Toronto Streets: restaurants, cafes, offices, retail. The township has been investing in the downtown through its revitalization project. Restaurants carry RPZs; offices a DCVA. After-hours slots for restaurants.
• Institutional. Schools, places of worship, the arena and community facilities, care and retirement homes. Usually a DCVA on domestic and RPZs on boilers and kitchens. See the institutional page.
• Light industrial and agricultural service in and around the town and Uxville: equipment dealers, fabrication, feed and supply, contractors’ yards. Where they are on Regional water, they are in the program, often with more than one device.
• Small multi-residential: apartment buildings and townhouse condos over six units.
• Farms and hamlets (Goodwood, Zephyr, Leaskdale, Sandford and the rest) are largely on private wells and outside the by-law.

The rule is Regional

By-law 24-2018 was passed by Durham Regional Council and administered through BSI Online. Uxbridge does not run its own program and its notices are identical to Oshawa’s. The notice page explains the letter.

Water context: groundwater, and why it matters here

The town of Uxbridge and Uxville are served by Regional groundwater wells rather than the Lake Ontario plants that serve the lakeshore towns. It is Regional supply and the by-law applies identically. The practical difference is that groundwater is typically harder than lake water (the Region’s annual water quality report for the Uxbridge system gives the measured figure), and scale on check seats, discs and springs is one of the common reasons devices fail. Where the tester sees a marginal check on an Uxbridge device, it is worth budgeting for a rebuild before next year rather than after. Our post on why backflow preventers fail goes into it.

Properties on private wells only are outside the program.

Scheduling in north Durham

Uxbridge, Scugog and Brock are grouped into shared northern days. That is how a small number of properties spread across a large area gets tested at a sensible price: the drive is shared, and one day covers a downtown restaurant before open, a school on a PA day, and an agricultural-service yard mid-morning.

Situation	What we do
Due date flexible by a week or two	You go on the next northern day; price reflects the shared drive
Due date tight	We fit it, on its own if necessary
Several properties in the township	One route, one day
Restaurant	Before open or after close on the northern day
Institutional	Around the building’s calendar (PA days, weekday daytime for churches)
Irrigation	Spring start-up northern run

What it costs and what you get

Per device, per property, $25 BSI filing fee included, report submitted within the by-law’s 28-day window, tag, report copy for the five-year file, filing confirmation, and a reminder 30 days before next year. Details on the cost page.

Scheduling in Uxbridge

Uxbridge is part of our north Durham run with Scugog and Brock. We group northern properties into shared days so the drive is spread across several buildings, which keeps pricing sensible. If your due date is flexible by a week or two, say so and you go on the next northern day; if it is tight, we fit it. Downtown restaurants get before-open or after-close slots; institutional buildings are booked around their calendars.