Reference
Backflow rules are set by the water system that serves your property — not by the town your mailing address is in. On the northern Outer Banks those two are frequently not the same thing, which is where most of the confusion starts.
This page is a general starting point compiled from each provider's own published material, with the date we last checked shown on every entry. Requirements change, and a provider can change its process without updating its website. Confirm current requirements directly with your water provider before relying on anything here. Nothing on this page is legal or regulatory advice, and it does not determine what your specific property requires.
Hammerhead Flow Co. is an independent private company. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or acting on behalf of any water provider, county, city, town or state agency named on this page.
Step one
Four separate water systems operate between Kitty Hawk and Oregon Inlet alone. Several towns run their own distribution system and bill their own customers while buying treated water wholesale from Dare County — so the county produces the water, but the town is your provider and the town sets your terms.
| If your property is in | Your water provider is |
|---|---|
| Moyock, Maple, mainland Currituck | Currituck County Water Department |
| Corolla, Carova, Currituck Outer Banks | Currituck County Water Department |
| Duck | Dare County Water Department |
| Southern Shores | Dare County Water Department |
| Kitty Hawk | Dare County Water Department |
| Colington | Dare County Water Department |
| Kill Devil Hills (other than Colington) | Town of Kill Devil Hills Water Department |
| Nags Head | Town of Nags Head |
| Manteo | Town of Manteo Water & Sewer |
| Roanoke Island outside Manteo, Wanchese | Dare County Water Department |
| Rodanthe, Waves, Salvo, Avon, Buxton, Frisco, Hatteras | Dare County Water Department |
| Virginia Beach | City of Virginia Beach Public Utilities |
| Chesapeake | City of Chesapeake Public Utilities |
Properties on private wells are outside every public system on this list and follow a different set of rules entirely.
Step two
Where a provider publishes its program, the essentials are summarized below with a link to the source. Where it does not, that is stated plainly rather than filled in with a guess.
Serves mainland Currituck including Moyock and Maple, and the Currituck Outer Banks including Corolla and Carova.
Serves Duck, Southern Shores, Kitty Hawk, Colington, Roanoke Island outside Manteo, Wanchese, Stumpy Point, and the Hatteras Island villages.
Serves Kill Devil Hills other than the Colington area, which Dare County serves. The town buys treated water from the Dare County regional system and operates its own distribution and billing.
Operates its own water system and bills its own customers, buying treated water from the Dare County regional system.
Operates its own water system serving the Town of Manteo, buying treated water from the Dare County regional system.
Serves City of Chesapeake water customers.
Serves City of Virginia Beach water customers under its Backflow Prevention and Cross-Connection Control Program.
Worth understanding
Several systems on this page run their backflow program entirely by phone, letter and paper form. That is normal for smaller utilities and it does not make the requirement any less real — a notice can still arrive, a report can still be overdue, and service can still be affected.
What it does mean is that you cannot look the answer up. Someone has to call, find out who administers the program, learn what form that person wants and where it goes, and then keep track of a due date that may exist only in the provider's own records. For a homeowner with one assembly that is an afternoon of phone calls. For a property manager with assemblies across three different providers, each with a different form, a different deadline and a different submission route, it becomes a standing administrative job.
That job is most of what this company does. The testing is the quick part.
Williamsburg and Hampton Roads through the Outer Banks. Every test is performed by a certified tester approved by your water provider. Tell us where your property is and we'll confirm scheduling.
Tell us where the property is and what is on it. Sorting out which provider governs it and what they require is the first step of every account we take on.
