CA-NV-AWWA Backflow Examination Prep Page
Eligibility Requirements
On submitting your application, downloadable above, you must include a diploma from a "semester length course" which has to be a minimum 36 hours, which sort of suggests a community college type course which would be two 1-1/2 hour sessions over 12 weeks, but almost all approved schools that people use in the industry are five 8-hour days for 40 hours, or some also offer four 9-hour day versions for 36 hours. If you need a tester course to fulfill this requirement, check out our program on our California Page - you must include this diploma in your application as of their 2025 Certification Guide, so you have to complete the course before you schedule your exam.
Also, an applicant has to demonstrate a "commitment to ethical practice" generally meaning you might get your certification revoked for having "unethical practices" which we go over in the classes. If you have criminal convictions for fraud, theft, etc., they may reserve the right to not approve your application, or if you start manipulating test reports or doing unethical things as a backflow tester in the field.
See Statement of Understanding Below:
Statement of Understanding
This basically means don't cheat on the exams, don't use your certification in a manner that would bring CA-NV-AWWA into disrepute, don't make misleading statements regarding the certification, generally don't fake test reports, don't cheat on exams, etc.
There is also a Section 5 in their handbook that goes over their Code of Conduct, specifically referring to unethical practices after the examinations.
Schedule your Practical Exam
On CA-NV-AWWA's website - linked here - about half way down on the left side it will list all practical examinations that are available for enrollment. They are typically administered throughout California very regularly. You have to pick an exam date & location, and a backup exam date & location on your application.
Due to proctor preferences and local tester counts, sometimes it is better to sit for the exam out of town, with AWWA this issue rarely comes up, but often with other providers and also AWWA in some instances, proctors will be extra particular and fail applicants for very simple mistakes that are sometimes even questionable that they are mistakes. Our 40-hour program takes into account specific preferences from proctors in certain areas to help prepare applicants, since often the proctors are affiliated with the schools and stress certain particular testing methods in their courses but often they are in reality local personal modifications to the USC 10th Edition.
We have found the most success recommending that you sit for the exam in Las Vegas, they have a very good setup over there and host other third party exams like ABPA, they are definitely third party and will pass you if you do it right, and fail you if you don't, and follow the USC 10th Edition verbatim without any special modifications as is seen in some exam locations.
Prepare for Your Practical Exam
Most reputable courses in backflow testing that are required for application cover the practical exam and what to expect extensively, our courses are usually more thorough than most, especially with regard to diagnostic failures and filling out test reports. The CA-NV AWWA packet does not cover what is included very specifically, but there is a practical examination where you test all four types of backflow preventers ( RP, DCV, PVB, and SVB ) with a simulated failure on two of the assemblies. Successful completion would mean testing all four types from memory, filling out the test reports correctly from memory ( including diagnostic failures ), and you cannot make any mistake that could effect the result of the test.
You want to develop your skills to the point that you are doing the USC 10th Edition testing procedures from "muscle memory" meaning you have just practiced over and over enough that you know what you are doing to a significant extent. If you are making simple order errors, you can correct them easily by just watching videos that do it properly, reading the textbook over and over, etc. Our courses go over in depth all things related to this, including extensive handouts, and we also have many YouTube videos which explain the process in more details. We also recommend that you purchase a copy of the USC 10th Edition - www.uscfoundationstore.com - and bring it with you to the exam in case you need to contest something that the proctor failed you for, so you can look it up together to determine if the error would effect the result of the test.
The application criteria with CA-NV AWWA require that the applicant brings a testing kit with them to the course. We would recommend the Midwest 845-2 ( two valve ) currently, can get this on www.backflowtestkits.com - We also have equipment for sale that are used in many states - www.krugerinstruments.com - hopefully they can review our application again but we submitted our testing kits to the organization in 2020/2021 but they refused to add the test kit to their list of acceptable equipment. Many of the testing sites also have Midwest 830 old style test kits that you can borrow for the exam, but often this is not avaialble.
Please support our continued commitment to provide backflow training services in the industry but watching our below videos and like / comment / subscribe :
The Complete Guide to Testing Backflow Preventers - USC 10th Edition Version
( this visual masterpiece brings the diagrams from the USC 10th Edition procedures to life and includes in depth details on the base test procedures and each diagnostic failure condition you may see on your exams, along with how to correctly fill out the exam test report, if the text is moving too fast, change the play speed to 0.75 or even slower )
General Tips and Tricks for the Practical Exam
Spill Resistant Vacuum Breaker ( SVB ) - Possible Failures & Diagnostics
Pressure Vacuum Breaker (PVB) Possible Failures & Diagnostics
Double Check Valve ( DCV ) Possible Failures & Diagnostics
Reduced Pressure Backflow ( RP ) Possible Failures & Diagnostics
Upon completion of the practical exam, you then schedule your written exam. CA-NV AWWA will inform you on how to schedule this, it is performed at a digital exam place in California or Nevada.
Prepare for Your Written Examination
For CA-NV AWWA, there are technically two written exams, one is the general exam which includes hydraulic theory ( 0.433 psi per foot of water column, siphon conditions, design and function of backflow assemblies, etc. This material is generally taken from the EPA Cross Connection Manual or the AWWA Manual M14 ( they have similar materials ) and this information is covered extensively in the 40-hour backflow course.
The troubleshooting portion is based on the testing procedures, so would be asking multiple choice questions but are related to USC 10th Edition testing procedures and the diagnostic failures ( also known as troubleshooting ) - so if you can do the practical exam and understand what you are writing down on test reports, this one should be easier than the general one.
Once you complete both exams, they will issue your certification and you can then submit this credential to get on whatever county or local water purveyor's tester list. We have submission information for each county on our California Page