Plastic Pipes Conference Association # 2023 Lake Buena Vista
Kathryn Foster
NSF/ANSI/CAN 61: Drinking Water System Components: Health Effects1 (NSF 61) is North America’s flagship standard for drinking water system components. This standard establishes health-based criteria to address the potential contaminants and impurities that are directly imparted to drinking water from the wetted surfaces of the products, components, and materials that make up drinking water systems. The standard covers water contact products used across the entire water distribution system, from source to tap. 49 U.S. states and the majority of Canadian provinces/territories have requirements that water system components comply with NSF 612 . Since NSF 61 was first published in 1988, plastic pipe and fittings have been evaluated against the rigorous requirements of that standard, demonstrating their suitability for use with potable water.
NSF 61 is a dynamic standard maintained by a consensus body that continually works to improve and update the standard in response to updates in technologies available on the market, updates in regulations, and the current state of toxicological science. This continual revision cycle allows the standard to maintain and increase its rigor and ensure public health and safety even as new public health concerns arise. This continuous improvement in the standard is exemplified by the increasingly stringent requirements for lead leaching from drinking water system components over the years, with allowable lead limits decreasing to only fractions of the levels that were allowed when the standard was first published. Today, the joint committee that oversees the standard is working on initiatives that address some of the most pressing concerns in the water industry today, including nanotechnology, PFAS compounds, and microplastics. This paper provides a high-level refresher on the requirements of NSF 61 and illustrates how NSF 61 and the closely related lead content verification standard, NSF/ANSI/CAN 372 provide assurance that plastic piping products tested and certified under the standards will not have a negative impact on public health. The paper also reviews the manner in which testing to the standards is mandated via national and international regulations. Finally, the paper addresses the ways in which the standards are constantly being revised in order to address future needs and concerns of both the plastics pipe industry and the regulators, public health officials and members of the public who together seek to ensure and maintain the quality of the water we all drink.
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