NSF International has announced new requirements inNSF/ANSI
Standard 61: Drinking Water System Components -- Health Effectsfor
regenerated and reactivated media used to treat public drinking water supplies.
Most U.S. states currently require media and other products used to treat
public drinking water to be certified to NSF/ANSI Standard 61 in order to
verify that they will not contribute harmful levels of contaminants into
drinking water.
“Considering that most state laws require compliance with
NSF/ANSI Standard 61 for products used in public water supplies, drinking water
utilities have additional options for their treatment media needs now that
NSF/ANSI 61 addresses regenerated media,” says Dave Purkiss, general manager,
NSF Water Treatment and Distribution Systems Program. “State regulatory
officials worked with media manufacturers, water utility representatives and
NSF to develop the new criteria to make this option
possible.”
The requirements recently were incorporated into NSF/ANSI
Standard 61, a standard that includes procedures to evaluate products that are
used to treat and distribute public drinking water supplies and to screen out
those products that could contribute excessive levels of contaminants into
drinking water.
Products covered in the standard include pipes and related
products; protective and barrier materials (including cements/coatings);
joining and sealing materials (including gaskets, adhesives, lubricants);
process media (including carbon, sand, zeolite, ion-exchange media); mechanical
devices (including water meters, in-line valves, filters, process equipment);
mechanical plumbing devices (faucets, drinking fountains, and components); and
potable water materials (non-metallic materials).
The new requirements establish criteria for the inspection
of regeneration facilities and periodic testing of regenerated media by
certification organizations. NSF/ANSI Standard 61 also requires that the
regeneration and reactivation facilities have a robust quality system, which
includes ongoing evaluation of contaminants in the raw source water being
treated and an evaluation of the regeneration process to verify removal of
these contaminants.
NSF/ANSI Standard 61 originally addressed only
virgin media, and did not contain criteria for facilities to use regenerated or
reactivated media capable of achieving the same treatment objectives at a
reduced operating cost. Spent process media generated by drinking water
treatment plants can be readily treated and processed at licensed regeneration
facilities and returned for several regeneration cycles to the water treatment
facility. While NSF/ANSI Standard 61 sets strict traceability requirements to
help ensure utilities receive back the same media they sent to be treated, the
standard also allows for commingling of media from several utilities as long as
the purchasers agree.