Backflow Testing in Cleveland, NC

Cleveland's water system

Cleveland is a very small town on US 70 between Statesville and Salisbury, and it does something unusual for its size: it runs its own water and wastewater systems. Drinking water comes from three town-owned wells inside town limits, serving roughly 389 connections, with an interconnection to Salisbury-Rowan Utilities for emergency purchases. Town drinking water lines were replaced between 2008 and 2019.

No cross-connection or backflow testing program for the Town of Cleveland turned up in its water quality report or on its water and sewer page. That doesn't prove the Town has no requirement, only that none is published. If you're on town water and planning irrigation, a pool fill line or a business connection, call Town Hall first and ask whether it wants an assembly and how it tracks tests.

Outside town, rural parts of the 27013 ZIP likely rely on private wells, though no source counts them. A well-only home isn't feeding a public system, so there's usually nothing to file. Plumbing permits in Cleveland go through Rowan County Building Inspections, with zoning approval from the Town first.

Signs you should have a plumber look

• You're installing sprinklers and nobody has said what device to use
• An old well is still connected somewhere in a house on town water
• A hose bib has no vacuum breaker and often runs into buckets or sprayers
• An existing assembly drips, leaks or cracked in the cold

Timing

Talk to the Town before work starts, not after, since a device added later can mean re-plumbing. Above-ground assemblies and exposed irrigation piping are most at risk in January and February cold snaps, so cover or drain them in late fall.