NSF International is seeking approval from the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) for a new standard, NSF 375 – Standard for Sustainability Assessment of Water Contact Products. The Water Quality Association (WQA) and American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE) will be submitting comments in opposition to NSF 375 as it is currently written. Please see the appended letter template which expresses WQA’s and ASPE’s core concerns with this standard.

WQA urges its members to also comment in opposition to the adoption to the current draft of NSF 375. Additionally, we hope you will support the standards projects that have already been developed by WQA and ASPE (with significant industry involvement) and which are specifically designed for drinking water treatment systems and process media.

Here are three possible options for lending your voice in support of the WQA/ASPE position:

First Choice: Draft your own comment letter, drawing from the talking points listed in the WQA/ASPE template. Then, send the message to NSF International, with mcostello@nsf.orgin the “To” field, psa@ansi.org in the “CC” field, and smann@wqa.org in the “BCC” field. Your comments must be received by ANSI on or before Monday, July 21.

 

Second Choice: Copy the content of the letter template provided below and insert your information in the highlighted spaces. Then, send the message to NSF International, withmcostello@nsf.org in the “To” field, psa@ansi.org in the “CC” field, and smann@wqa.org in the “BCC” field. Your comments must be received by ANSI on or before Monday, July 21.

 

Third Choice:

Simply reply directly to this email with your name, job title, and company, to add your name to the collective comment letter from WQA, ASPE, and our respective member companies. If this is your choice, please reply to WQA no later than Wednesday, July 16.

Thank you for adding your company’s voice regarding this important issue.

Sincerely,

Tom Palkon, Interim Executive Director

Water Quality Association

4151 Naperville Road

Lisle, Illinois 60532

________________________________________________________________________________

lettertemplateLetter Template for Submitting Comments

Subject:

Comments: NSF 375 -Sustainability Assessment for Water Contact Products

Body Copy:

Attention: Mindy Costello,

Please accept the following comments regarding the recently circulated draft of NSF 375 –Sustainability Assessment for Water Contact Products.

YOUR COMPANY’S NAME HERE strongly objects to NSF 375, and the process through which it was developed, for three main reasons:

 

(1) Lack of industry representation: Manufacturers of drinking water treatment units (DWTUs) do not have adequate representation on the consensus body. The Water Quality Association (WQA), as the trade association that represents manufacturers of drinking water treatment systems, applied to represent the industry on the consensus body, but was denied voting status. Similarly, the consensus body is conspicuously devoid of individual DWTU manufacturers with voting status.
(2) Impropriety of scope: The standard simply lacks the specificity necessary for it to be effective. NSF 375 addresses a wide variety of “water contact products” in extremely broad strokes. Drinking water treatment units are lumped in with everything from pipe and plumbing fixtures to wastewater treatment equipment. However, NSF 375 fails to provide any specific criteria for drinking water treatment products, despite a clear mandate to that effect by the DWTU manufacturing companies that have already been participating in the WQA/ASPE standards development process for some time.
  
(3) Standards Already in Existence: WQA has been working on the development of sustainability standards for drinking water systems and process media since 2011 WQA S-802: Sustainable Activated Carbon Media for Drinking Water Treatment and WQA S-803: Sustainable Drinking Water Treatment Systems have already been published and in use by WQA since 2013. WQA partnered with the American Society of Plumbing Engineers (ASPE), an ANSI accredited Standards Development Organization (SDO), in developing these standards, which are currently in the final stages of being adopted as American National Standards. In addition, these standards include product-specific criteria, developed with substantial input from across the water treatment industry, thereby rendering NSF 375 superfluous at best.

 

YOUR COMPANY’S NAME HERE will not support the acceptance of NSF 375 until drinking water treatment systems and media are removed from the scope. There is no need for NSF to pursue a general standard for sustainability covering drinking water treatment systems and process media when product specific standards have already been developed by WQA and ASPE.

 

Sincerely,

 

YOUR NAME HERE

 

 

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