NSF Releases Compositional Standard for Faucets
NSF International on Jan. 15 announced the development of a new compositional standard for products that come in contact with drinking water, including faucets. The new requirements are incorporated into the NSF/ANSI American National Standard for Drinking Water Products to help protect the public from exposure to lead.
Annex G – Weighted Average Lead Content Evaluation Procedure to a 0.25 Percent Lead Requirement allows manufacturers to demonstrate compliance to recently enacted legislation in California that limits the weighted average of lead content in plumbing products, which come in contact with drinking water, to 0.25 percent.
The annex was recently incorporated into NSF/ANSI Standard 61: Drinking Water System Components -- Health Effects, a standard that includes procedures to evaluate products that come in contact with drinking water and to screen out those that could contribute excessive levels of contaminants into drinking water.
The inclusion of Annex G (www.nsf.org/media/enews/AnnexG.pdf) is important for manufacturers selling products in California who must comply with the new lead content requirements in addition to the current chemical extraction requirements of NSF/ANSI Standard 61. California recently passed legislation that requires manufacturers to meet the 0.25 percent weighted average lead content. Other states are considering low-lead content legislation.
"Annex G is a consensus standard that took into consideration comments from key stakeholders in California and nationwide. It gives companies a valuable tool for assessing compliance with California's lead content standard. California is leading the way on getting toxic chemicals out of products. Companies that meet the standard will be at a competitive advantage. In conjunction with applicable verification testing, this standard provides valuable information for our laboratory to use in our work,” said Bruce La Belle, chief, California Department of Toxic Substances Control, Environmental Chemistry Laboratory.