NSF Updates Requirements for Lead in Drinking Water - NSF/ANSI 61
October 1, 2007 // Published as a news service by IHS
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An NSF International/American National Standards Institute (ANSI) standard was updated to further help protect the public from exposure to lead.
Changes to the evaluation criteria for lead extraction testing in the NSF/ANSI 61 - Drinking Water System Components - Health Effects were adopted by the NSF Drinking Water Additives Joint Committee.
These changes include a reduction in the standard's total allowable concentration (TAC) of lead from 15 µg/L to 5 µg/L.
Other changes to the lead evaluation criteria in the standard include:
- More than a 50% reduction of the Q Statistic from 11 to 5 for all end point devices other than supply stops, flexible plumbing connectors and miscellaneous components.
- More than a 75% reduction of the Q Statistic from 11 to 3 for supply stops, flexible plumbing connectors and miscellaneous components.
- A three-fold reduction of the single product allowable concentration (SPAC) for lead from1.5 µg/L to 0.5 µg/L.
NSF/ANSI 61 contains procedures to evaluate products that come into contact with drinking water and to screen out those which might contribute excessive levels of contaminants into drinking water.
Most U.S. states and many Canadian provinces require products used in municipal water distribution systems and building plumbing systems to comply with the requirements of NSF/ANSI 61, according to NSF International.
The standard has an implementation date of July 1, 2012, which was established to allow industry sufficient time to design and produce products from alternate materials to comply with both the revised NSF standard and other physical performance standards.
Updates to NSF/ANSI 61 are contained in Annex F and available at www.nsf.org/info/standard61-FAQ.
Source: NSF International.
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NSF 40
Residential Wastewater Treatment Systems - Printed 8/15/2005 |
NSF 41
Non-Liquid Saturated Treatment Systems - Printed 04/12/2005 |
NSF 42
Drinking water treatment units Aesthetic effects - Printed 4/12/2005 |
NSF 44
Residential ... water softeners - Printed 6/29/04 |
NSF 46
Evaluation of components and devices used in wastewater treatment systems - Printed 10/07/05 |
NSF 53
Drinking Water Treatment Units - Health Effects - Printed 7/11/05 |
NSF 55
Ultraviolet microbiological water treatment systems - Printed 12/17/04 |
NSF 60
Drinking Water Treatment Chemicals - Health Effects - Printed 1/18/2005 |
NSF 61
Drinking Water System Components |