Any organization that is accredited by the American National Standards Institute to certify products against NSF Standard 61 can test products against the NSF Standard. Currently 29 states have regulations requiring products to meet NSF Standard 61 and all of these states require products to be certified by an ANSI-accredited certifier.

NSF/ANSI Standard 61 is entitled Drinking Water System Components-Health Effects. This is the American National Standard for health effects of drinking water system components. It establishes the health effects requirements for the chemical contaminants and impurities that are indirectly imparted to drinking water from products, components and materials used in drinking water systems.

If you have been receiving medical care for some time for chronic kidney disease, and if you had an MRI or an MRA with an injected dye beforehand, then you may be at risk. So far, NSF has only been diagnosed in people with chronic kidney disease. If you have had no MRIs or MRAs done, you are not at risk, but should mention the risk possibility to your doctor if he decides to prescribe an imaging procedure for you.

Facility and vessel owners participating in the pilot test will purchase readers and other infrastructure. Port Security Grant (PSG) funds will be used to acquire readers and other infrastructure necessary to conduct the pilot test. The Government does NOT have final approval authority over the purchase of readers. That said, all readers purchased with PSG funds must meet TWIC test requirements. The Early Operational Assessment (EOA) reader test is under development.

NSF/ANSI Standard 61 is overseen by the NSF Drinking Water Additives Joint Committee. This committee has a balance of 1/3 public health regulatory members, 1/3 product manufacturer members, and 1/3 product user representatives. Any proposal to revise the standard is typically assigned to a task group composed of joint committee members and external experts. Task group members are assigned by the chairman of the joint committee. One standing group is the Health Advisory Board.

NSF/ANSI Standard 61 requires all metallic products and components to be evaluated for the leaching of lead as well as other metal contaminants. Metallic pipe, fittings, valves, and other mechanical devices are all tested with two specially formulated waters. One is pH 5 and another pH 10. The pH 5 test water is especially aggressive for copper, chromium, nickel, and antimony.

The standard was developed using voluntary consensus process. All interested parties were represented, including regulatory agencies, industry, water suppliers, consultants, and other users of products covered by the standard.

The NSF Standard limits the amount of lead from endpoint devices to 11ppb when normalized to 1 liter. This approach is based on the 15ppb action level established in the lead and copper rule, considering the 11ppb lead contributed from the endpoint device as well as from sources other than the endpoint device, which is assumed to be 4ppb.

To enable product users to meet bid specification requirements to use NSF 61 Certified products in drinking water applications. Use of NSF 61 Certified products protects public health safety and makes it easy for water utilities to install products that comply with the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) requirements. If you have additional questions relating to NSF/ANSI Standard 61 or NSF's certification services, contact Dave Purkiss at 734-827-6855 or purkiss@nsf.org.

The existing ISO 9001/ISO 9002/ISO 9003 standards has been replaced by the revised International Standard (ISO 9001:2000). Now that the ISO 9001:2000 standard has been issued, all registered/certified organizations will have three years to comply with the new standard.

Under NSF/ANSI Standards 14, 24, 50, 61, and the Mechanical Plumbing Program, NSF provides the plumbing industry testing and product certification services for items such as pipes, fittings, valves, pumps, chemical feeding equipment, water heaters, sinks, showers, toilets, faucets, controllers, filters, materials, and ingredients. NSF conducts testing, listing, certification, as well as enforcement of its trademark. [Back]

Application - NSF/ANSI Standard 61 requires a disclosure by the manufacturer of all water contact materials in the product and a disclosure by the manufacturer's material suppliers of all chemical ingredients in the materials. Formulation, toxicology and product use information - Client and suppliers complete and submit NSF's Product Information Form. This provides formulation, toxicology and product use information.

No. This misconception started when an article reported that a small lead device was tested to the NSF/ANSI Standard 61 test protocol and it passed for lead. A close reading of the article shows that the lead device was only tested with the pH 5 test water. It was not tested with the pH 10 test water, which is required by the standard.

Products certified against the NSF Standard carry a certification mark of the certifying organization. NSF International publishes listing books of products that it has tested and certified against the NSF Standard. NSF International also maintains these listings through its Internet site. One can obtain Listing books from NSF International at 1-800-NSF-MARK, or visit its website at www.nsf.org.