ANN ARBOR, MI - Changes in
the American National Standards Institute/NSF International Standard
58 expected to take effect in August will require recertification for
many reverse osmosis (RO) units.
To date, the standard has required removal of all postfilters during
inorganic contaminant testing, but ignored prefilters. After testing
showed that carbon prefilters removed a significant amount of mercury
and fluoride, an NSF joint committee voted to update the standard by
excluding prefilters, a decision that is now being balloted.
By 60 days after approval of the standard change, RO manufacturers
must drop mercury and fluoride removal claims on the affected units,
validate those claims with carbon prefilters under Standard 53, or
retest the units without prefilters.
The organization has set up two test dates, July 16 and August 13,
for RO mercury and fluoride retesting. Companies that take advantage
of these dates will be charged $1,995, rather than the normal fee of
$3,100 or more. Test dates will be filled on a first come,
first-served basis, and samples must reach the NSF laboratory in
Sacramento no later than the day before the test date.
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