For testing the assemblies that stop contaminated water flowing back into the public supply, and for the specialists who run a cross-connection control program. California's Cross-Connection Control Policy Handbook requires those assemblies to be field tested at least annually by a certified tester, and requires a water system with 3,000 or more service connections to keep a certified specialist on staff or under contract. The two levels ladder: the specialist exam assumes you already hold an active tester certificate.
Start studying Backflow Prevention and Cross-Connection Control| Grade | Eligibility summary |
|---|---|
| Backflow Prevention Assembly Tester (BPAT) | A course of instruction of at least 36 hours covering the Backflow Prevention Assembly Tester (BPAT) Expected Range of Knowledge. |
| Cross-Connection Control Specialist (CCCS) | An active California-Nevada American Water Works Association (CA-NV AWWA) BPAT certification. A course of instruction of at least 36 hours covering the Cross-Connection Control Specialist (CCCS) Expected Range of Knowledge. |
CA-NV AWWA publishes the content domains for both certifications but NOT their weightings, so the split of questions across topics here is this app's own and is not the exam's. The Specialist outline is the Tester outline plus surveys, shutdown testing, emergency response and public relations, at a higher cognitive level on the shared material.
Topic coverage follows 2025 Certification Candidate Handbooks for Backflow Prevention Assembly Tester and Cross-Connection Control Specialist, with their Expected Range of Knowledge documents (California-Nevada American Water Works Association, issued 3 February 2025). Practice questions are written only from publicly available sources (that outline and the regulations and references it cites); they are not real exam questions, which are confidential. Check current application requirements, fees and exam dates on the certifying body's own page: official certification page.
Questions, flashcards, and explanations are AI-written from publicly available sources only: the exam content outlines and candidate materials each certifying body publishes without restriction, and the regulations and technical references they cite. No confidential material is used, including actual exam questions, recollections of any exam sat by the author, or any handbook or document released under a confidentiality agreement. Content is then put through repeated review — regulatory values checked against primary sources, every calculation recomputed, and errors corrected — plus spot checks by the author, who holds California water operator certifications and a California civil engineering licence. Those spot checks are sampling, not a professional review: nothing here is stamped, sealed, or offered as engineering advice, and not every item has been individually verified, so mistakes can still slip through.