Niwot gets its water from Left Hand Water District, which requires commercial and high-risk properties to install backflow assemblies, test them every year and pay for maintenance and testing, with the district scheduling tests through a third-party contractor. For repairs, replacements or a new device, call the number on this page to be connected with a local plumber in Niwot.
What happens when you call
You'll be connected with an independent plumber who serves Niwot. Because Left Hand Water District schedules annual tests through its own contractor, many calls come after a test: a failed device that needs repair, or one that needs replacing. Homeowners also call about sprinkler devices that leak or froze. Describe the device and what the test report said, and the plumber can tell you whether a rebuild will work.
Cost factors
- Repair scope. Rubber parts and springs cost less than a whole new assembly.
- Device type. High-risk properties often need reduced pressure assemblies, which have more parts.
- Freeze damage. Split bodies can't be rebuilt.
- Retest. A repaired device needs to pass again.
- Permits. Unincorporated Niwot uses Boulder County's Building Safety and Inspection Services.
Water and backflow in Niwot
Niwot is an unincorporated community on State Highway 119 between Boulder and Longmont, with a historic downtown along 2nd Avenue. Water and sewer come from two separate special districts: Left Hand Water District for water and Niwot Sanitation District for sewer. Left Hand has served parts of Boulder, Weld and Broomfield counties since 1960. It disinfects with chlorine and blends its own treated water with water bought from Boulder, Longmont and Central Weld County Water District.
Left Hand's cross-connection program follows Colorado Regulation 11. Commercial and high-risk properties must install and maintain assemblies, testing is yearly, and customers pay for maintenance and testing while the district handles scheduling through a contractor. Shops and restaurants downtown and larger rural properties with irrigation or livestock connections are the likeliest to fall under it. Early Niwot residents relied on wells and cisterns before Left Hand's system arrived; current well use wasn't verified.
Left Hand's office answers at 303-530-4200 on weekdays. Niwot's open farmland along the Diagonal Highway gets hard winter freezes, and devices on rural irrigation or barn lines are often far from the house and easy to forget during a fall shutdown. Walk the property before the first cold night and drain each one.
Before the plumber arrives
- Have the district contractor's test report
- Find the device and clear access
- Know where the irrigation or main shutoff is
- Note any old well piping that might still connect to the house
Backflow Testing questions in Niwot
Who pays for the backflow device and its upkeep?
How often does a backflow assembly need to be tested here?
My property has a private well. Where does backflow fit in?
Is a permit needed to add or replace a backflow preventer?
More plumbing services in Niwot
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