AWWA ACE94222

NSF International (NSF) Drinking Water Additives Standards 60 and 61 are the principal tools today for manufacturers, and regulators to ensure that products/materials used to treat, store, transmit, and distribute water do not impart contaminants at levels that are not acceptable for drinking water. ANSI/NSF Standard 60 (Drinking Water System Components - Health Effects) and its companion, ANSI/NSF Standard 61 (Drinking Water Treatment Chemicals - Health Effects) are the new health effects standards upon which the NSF Certification Program is based. The recent awareness and concern about the toxicological effects of low levels of lead exposures, especially in children, has resulted in new federal and state regulations, such as the USEPAs Lead and Copper Rule and Californias Proposition 65. A short term high level exposure to lead is suspected to result in long term chronic effects. As a result, the contaminant lead has received special attention in Standard 61, especially in endpoint devices such as faucets. In the Lead and Copper Rule, the USEPA set 15 ug/L lead in water as the action level for water suppliers to take steps aimed at reducing human exposure to lead. NSF has taken the additional steps of setting 15 ug/L as NSFs Maximum Contaminant Level (MCL), and prohibits the intentional addition of lead in any material or product that it certifies. Lead containing materials without current alternatives, such as brasses and bronzes, are currently exempted. Canada has set a lead MCL of 10 ug/L, as has the European community. The State of California currently regulates lead at 0.5 ug/L per person per day, which translates to a very low 0.25 ug/L of lead in water if a person consumes two liters of water per day.



Keywords: Lead; Health Effects; Standards; Plumbing Systems; Fittings ; Regulations