How Brisbane's backflow program works
Under Queensland's Plumbing and Drainage Regulation, Brisbane City Council runs a program to register, maintain and test every testable backflow prevention device in the city. Water supply is Urban Utilities' job, but this register sits with Council.
Early each year, Council sends owners an Annual Registration Fee Notice and a Testing Reminder Notice. The reminders keep coming until the test is done and the fee is paid, and unpaid fees roll into the next year's. The test date itself is up to you and your licensed contractor, and many owners book the same month every year.
Backflow devices in Brisbane
Where they turn up
Council lists irrigation systems on mains water, fire hose reels and hydrants, commercial and industrial machinery, outlets near grease traps or chemicals, and underground rainwater tanks with mains backup. Its fact sheet adds cooling towers and chemical cleaning areas.
Testable means a higher hazard
The hazard level, low, medium or high, decides the device. A testable one is required when the risk of contamination is medium or high.
Your notice says where it is
The device's location is recorded when it's first registered and printed on Council's reminder notices. Hand the notice to the tester.
Not the river kind
Council also runs 66 stormwater backflow devices at 16 spots along the Brisbane River to hold back floodwater. They're flood infrastructure and have nothing to do with your test notice.
From reminder to done
Book an endorsed tester
Council's fact sheet says each device must be tested by an endorsed backflow plumber. Ask to see the endorsement before you book.
Expect a short shutdown
The supply through the device is isolated while it's tested, so warn tenants or staff.
The result goes to Council
The plumber lodges a Queensland Government Form 9 test report with Council within 10 business days of the test. Ask for your own copy.
Pay the annual fee
There's a fee for each registered device every year, billed by Council on the notice.
New, replaced or removed devices
A new device must be fitted by a licensed plumber and carries a registration fee. Whenever a plumber installs, replaces or removes one, they lodge a Form 4 with the QBCC and a Form 9 with Council. Some installs also need a Council plumbing permit.
A device should only come out if the hazard it guards against no longer exists, and Council may audit removals. Watering systems downstream of a backflow device are on the QBCC's list of unregulated work you can do yourself, but the device isn't.
If the notice gets ignored
Council's fact sheet cites section 102 of the Plumbing and Drainage Regulation 2019: up to 20 penalty units may apply for each device that isn't tested or registered. Booking early leaves time for repairs if a device fails.
Questions to ask the backflow tester
- Do you hold the backflow endorsement, and what's your QBCC licence number?
- Will you lodge the Form 9 with Brisbane City Council, and send me a copy?
- If a device fails, can you repair and retest it on the same visit?
- Is this still the right device for what's connected here?
- Can you test every device on the property in one trip?
What we would do
Book the test as soon as Council's reminder lands, not in December. Give the tester the notice so they can find each device, and ask them to confirm in writing that the Form 9 has gone to Council. Pay the fee on the same day so the reminders stop. If you think a device is no longer needed, have a licensed plumbing contractor assess the hazard before anyone removes it.