Global Connect Advisor Lee Mercer, IAPMO – California’s AB 100 Impacts Sales Of Drinking Water Products
If you’re a manufacturer of water system products intended to convey or dispense water for human consumption and you plan to sell them in the United States, specifically in California in the coming year, you will want to continue reading this post.
In October, California Gov. Gavin Newsom signed legislation mandating lower lead levels for drinking water end point devices. This legislation lowers the allowable lead leach levels in drinking water endpoint devices from the current (5 μg/L) five micrograms per liter to (1 μg/L) one microgram per liter.
The law defines a drinking water endpoint device as:
“… a single device, such as a plumbing fitting, fixture, or faucet, that is typically installed within the last one liter of the water distribution system of a building.”
Examples of covered products include lavatory, kitchen and bar faucets, remote chillers, hot and cold water dispensers, drinking fountains, drinking fountain bubblers, water coolers, glass fillers and residential refrigerator ice makers.
Additionally, the law makes effective the following requirements:
Endpoint devices manufactured on or after Jan. 1, 2023, and offered for sale in the state, must be certified by an ANSI-accredited third party as compliant with the Q ≤ 1 requirements in the NSF/ANSI/CAN 61 – 2020 Drinking Water System Components – Health Effects
Establishes a sell through date of July 1, 2023, for depletion of distributor inventory for devices that do not comply with the Q ≤ 1 requirements in NSF/ANSI/CAN 61 – 2020.
Requires that consumer-facing product packaging or product labeling of all compliant products must be marked “NSF/ANSI/CAN 61: Q ≤ 1” in accordance with the NSF 61-2020 standard.
While the AB 100 requirements will be mandatory in California in 2023, the current lower lead requirement in the NSF/ANSI/CAN 61 – 2020 standard is voluntary. However, it will become mandatory for all U.S. and Canadian jurisdictions that reference the standard on Jan. 1, 2024.
Understanding Certified Products and Why They Matter to Consumers
Product certification, which includes product listing and labeling, is essential in the plumbing industry. This helps protect the public’s health and safety. Third- party certification agencies ensure the products that bear a certification mark have met the industry standards and plumbing codes that include critical safety requirements.
Given the surge in online shopping, it is more important than ever for the public to understand product certification. In the past when purchasing products, most people would go to a few well- established stores. Those stores would go through the process of ensuring the products they sell are certified to the appropriate requirements.
Now with online shopping, people can easily purchase items from sellers that may not check these requirements or from manufacturers themselves who may not have gone through the certification and have no way to show the product complies with the applicable standards and plumbing codes. Understanding product certification helps one to ensure the product purchased complies with the appropriate requirements.
For products to become listed, the manufacturer contacts a third-party certifier to obtain the certificate of listing and approval to use the certifier’s mark to label their product. There are several certification agencies accredited for plumbing product certification, and each one is slightly different; however, in general there are three important components to product certification that everyone should understand — the certification mark, the certificate of listing, and the standard. To further explain each component, let’s use an example:
You have purchased a new lavatory faucet model, “Lavatory 1” from “Manufacturer X,” and want to confirm it is third-party certified. The easiest way to do this is to look for the mark on the product, as that is one of the listing requirements. If the mark is not visible on the product, it may be shown on the online specification sheet. For our example, the following certification mark was found on the lavatory faucet that was recently purchased.
Post time: Nov-04-2022