FEBRUARY 2020
Water quality industry updates distilled into what matters.
Australian Standards to Know
In Australia, water filters connected to the potable water supply system must be WaterMark certified to be legally installed – it's a mandatory requirement of the Plumbing Code of Australia and the Australian Building Codes Board WaterMark Product Certification Scheme. AS/NZS 4020, which prescribes tests for analyzing the suitability of products for use in contact with drinking water in regard to their effect on the quality of the water, is a mandatory requirement in the application for WaterMark certification. In the past, water filters and water filter components, where connected to the potable water supply, were able to use test data from NSF/ANSI 61 to meet these requirements. However, this is no longer the case. Below is a summary of the most important AS/NZS standards related to water filtration and material that are in contact with potable water.
AS/NZS 4020:2018
Testing of Products for Use in Contact with Drinking Water

AS/NZS 4020 specifies requirements for the suitability of products for use in contact with drinking water, with regard to their effect on the quality of water. These products include pipes, fittings, components, and materials used in coating, protection, lining, jointing, sealing and lubrication applications in the water supply and plumbing industry. The standard requires that products intended for use in contact with drinking water be tested by exposure to test water. Where specified in the product standard, a scaling factor is applied to such tests to compensate for differences between the end use surface area to volume ratio where a product is intended to be used “in-line”; to that of the laboratory testing of the individual product or material. Testing focuses on wetted parts only and is applicable to metallic and non-metallic products and materials.

AS/NZS 3497:1998
Drinking Water Treatment Units – Plumbing Requirements

AS/NZS 3497 is the product standard referenced in the WaterMark Scheme Schedule of Products for water filters and water treatment appliances where specific performance claims of contaminant reductions are made (e.g. 99.95% Cyst reduction, 98.9% lead reduction, etc.). These claims must be validated against laboratory testing undertaken to the relevant ANSI/NSF Standards referenced in AS/NZS3497. Currently, ANSI/NSF laboratory test reports undertaken by an ILAC MRA ISO 17025 accredited test lab may be able to be utilized for WaterMark certification.

The 2020 revision of AS3497 (not yet published) is expected to allow components to be individually certified. Structural testing of components subject to permanent hydrostatic pressure and AS/NZS 4020 material testing of all water contact components will be required.

WMTS-103
Water Treatment Systems (other than those specified in AS/NZS 3497)

WMTS-103 is the product standard referenced in the WaterMark Scheme Schedule of Products for water treatment system componentry, other than those specified in AS/NZS 3497, for use on domestic drinking water supply (private or public). It covers filtration system components such as storage tanks, deionizing tanks, strainers, water sanitizers, water treatment units (upstream of appliances for performance verification in accordance with AS/NZS3497 referenced ANSI/NSF Standards), and UV (for non-drinking water purposes, e.g., bathing).

For more information about WaterMark certification and these standards, contact IAPMO Oceana's Glenn Tate at glenn.tate@iapmooceana.org or Paul Bonsak at paul.b@iapmooceana.org.
We're Hiring Product Review Engineers
Since you will be working directly with these review engineers, we're seeking your referrals
IAPMO R&T is hiring Product Review Engineers for its Water Systems Certification department in Mokena, IL. Product Review Engineers will perform product review including test reports, drawings, calculations, supporting information to assure compliance, work closely with customers to ensure that certification requirements and procedures are understood, provide technical assistance, work closely with support staff to coordinate timely distribution of application documents, work with clients to prepare quotes, prepare lab submittals, etc.

Ideal candidates will have a Bachelor’s Degree in engineering or combination of similar education and work-related experience, excellent project management skills, and working knowledge of product certification, product performance standards, and model codes.

IAPMO offers a competitive salary and benefits package, such as employer sponsored health, dental, and life insurance, 401k and profit sharing, plus much more.

  • Those with 0-3 years of relevant work experience within the water systems industry or product certification field should apply HERE for the Product Review Engineer I position.
  • Those with 3+ years relevant work experience within the water systems industry or product certification field should apply HERE for the Product Review Engineer II position.
Standards Updates
Certified Water Treatment Devices Must Meet Stricter Requirements
The joint committee governing NSF/ANSI 53 and NSF/ANSI 58 for drinking water treatment units recently lowered the maximum allowable concentration of lead in treated drinking water to 5 parts per billion.

NSF/ANSI 53: Drinking Water Treatment Units - Health Effects and NSF/ANSI 58: Reverse Osmosis Drinking Water Treatment Systems now require drinking water treatment units to reduce the lead in drinking water to 5 ppb or less—a 50% drop from the previous 10 ppb—and a threshold that matches Health Canada’s new maximum allowable concentration level of 5 ppb.

In March 2019, Health Canada lowered the national regulatory maximum allowable concentration of lead in drinking water from 10 ppb to 5 ppb. The European Union has also proposed a revision to its Drinking Water Directive to lower lead concentrations to 5 ppb.

Previously, a water treatment system could be certified if it reduced lead to 10 ppb or lower and met other requirements set by the standard, such as material safety and structural integrity. These other requirements remain unchanged.

To be certified, drinking water filters and treatment devices are tested with challenge water containing 150 ppb lead, 10 times the U.S. Environmental Protection agency’s action level of 15 ppb.

The World Health Organization and other public health organizations have concluded there is no safe level of lead, and that even low concentrations can cause adverse health effects, especially for infants and children.

Source: NSF International
Filtered Media is a free newsletter published by IAPMO R&T Water Systems. Its mission is to keep manufacturers of water quality products informed about the latest updates in the industry, including new contaminants, regulatory items, updates to codes and standards, requirements from individual sellers, and other pertinent industry information.
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