Attention: WQA Members,
The World Health Organization (WHO) will soon begin validating household water treatment products for use around the globe. The program is intended to aid populations in developing countries with limited capacity to subject manufacturers to rigorous, independent evaluations of product performance.
On February 21, WHO unveiled its International Scheme to Evaluate Household Water Treatment Technologies. The product evaluation procedures and protocols may be found here.
Under this fee-based program, manufacturers and products certified under the International Scheme will be listed as such on the WHO website. No certification mark will be issued, and the company will be prohibited from using the WHO name or logo in any manner.
WHO is currently gathering a list of companies wishing to participate in its first round of product testing. To join this list, a product manufacturer must complete the Expression of Interest Form and remit it to WHO on or before Monday, March 10.
Presently only two laboratories—U.S.-based NSF International and Netherlands-based KWR Watercycle Research Institute—are permitted to perform testing for WHO. The Water Quality Association (WQA) also seeks to become a WHO-designated testing laboratory sometime in the future. In the meantime, WQA plans to incorporate the WHO testing protocol into the scope of its Product Certification Program, thereby allowing clients to display the WQA Gold Seal for compliance with the WHO Scheme.
Questions about the WHO Scheme may be directed to Maggie Montgomery, Ph.D. at montgomerym@who.int. For more information on WQA’s Gold Seal Product Certification Program, please call 630-505-0160.