Naperville neighbors plan mass sprinkler test to meet annual requirement
Matt Head spent Monday morning walking around Naperville's Tall Grass neighborhood, pausing for 10 minutes or so at some houses to hook up hoses to a sprinkler system and run a test.
He calls the work an ideal assignment - for a plumber.
"It's almost like Christmas, you could call it, because you're not dealing with sewers, you're walking around in a nice neighborhood," he said.
Head and two journeyman plumbers from Jay's Plumbing in Downers Grove spent the day testing outdoor sprinkler systems at roughly 100 homes to determine whether three parts that prevent outdoor water from entering the drinking water supply were functioning properly.
"There are two check valves and a relief valve, and we're testing to make sure any contaminants or anything that would be in your yard can't get into your home," Head said.
No one wants fertilizer residue in their drinking water, so that's why it's important to ensure the backflow prevention valves are keeping outside water where it belongs.
Annual testing is required by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency to protect the safety of drinking water. Municipalities or subcontractors administer the tests and most towns charge a fee ranging from $4.85 in Naperville to $22.95 in Melrose Park.
But that doesn't include what homeowners have to pay a certified plumber using a certified testing kit to complete the work.
Tall Grass homeowners Dawn Summers and Sara Laub said the test would cost them about $100, but they noticed it didn't take the plumber very long to complete. They figured there had to be a better way, so about a decade ago, they got a dozen neighbors to sign up for testing at once.
"We thought we could line up a few houses to get it done in a row and get a group discount," Summers said.
That small line of houses has grown to a neighborhood program that cuts the cost to $50 for each home.
"We don't even know most of the people now," Summers said.
At each house, plumbers attach hoses to the valves to make sure they hold steady pressure. When a system passes, they mark it with a testing receipt - a sign that sprinkling season can begin.