(ANN ARBOR, Mich.) -- NSF International (www.nsf.org), The Public Health and Safety Company™, and state regulators disagree with recent Water and Wastewater Equipment Manufacturers Association (WWEMA) statements concerning the Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Drinking Water Systems Center. In a press release dated June 5, 2001, WWEMA stated opposition to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) funding of the Center. NSF is the world leader in food, water and environment-related certification and education services for public health and safety issues. State regulators are, in fact, increasingly reliant on ETV protocols and data in their decision-making process and strongly support EPA’s continued funding of the Center.
On October 1, 2000, NSF International entered into a cooperative agreement with the EPA to form the ETV Drinking Water Systems Center. Partial funding for the ETV Center is provided by the EPA Office of Research and Development (ORD). The Center fulfills an ORD core mission objective to evaluate and assess innovative solutions for important environmental problems. The Center is responsible for developing protocols for technology verification, managing verifications, providing project quality assurance and issuing final verification reports. ETV activity also addresses needs of the EPA-Office of Water to provide information in support of regulatory decision-making, which requires data on treatment effectiveness and cost implications. In independently-given interviews, manufacturers of recently-completed ETV reports indicated that the EPA’s involvement was of critical importance to the value of verification.
"States use NSF Protocols and Verification Reports on treatment plants to make decisions about appropriate technology and to reduce pilot testing requirements. In some cases, pilot testing is eliminated," commented Kevin Brown, President-Elect of the Association of State Drinking Water Administrators (ASDWA) and Chairperson of the ETV Stakeholder Committee.
"Although the stakeholders do not always agree on approaches, the program that has evolved has helped bring technology into the drinking water industry in a more expeditious manner," stated Richard H. Sakaji, PE, Ph.D., Senior Sanitary Engineer, California Department of Health Services. "As an example, the ETV report on UV disinfection technology has thrust UV technology into the commercial market and the U.S. EPA is now looking to include the technology in its toolbox to protect public drinking water supplies from microbiological contamination."
Bruce Bartley, ETV Manager for NSF, said, "These comments are consistent with a recent survey of ASDWA members on the ETV Stakeholder Committee. The survey reported a steadily-increasing reliance on ETV by the States. Given the fact that this program has just begun to produce verification reports, we consider the level of acceptance encouraging. With 14 new reports scheduled to come out this year, ETV support will only increase."
NSF International, a not-for-profit organization, is dedicated to improving public health, safety and protection of the environment. A global leader in standards development and product certification, NSF tests and certifies more than 130,000 products worldwide and continually develops new programs in response to public and environmental issues.NSF offers a broad range of services, including accredited food equipment certification; comprehensive food safety and quality systems auditing; HACCP-9000Ò registration and verification; certification for water distribution systems; certification for dietary supplements, bakery products and nonfood compounds; management systems registration; and toxicology consulting. NSF also provides learning opportunities through its Center for Public Health Education.NSF is a World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Food Safety and Drinking Water Safety and Treatment. Founded in 1944, NSF is headquartered in Ann Arbor, MI, with offices and laboratories around the world.
Source: NSF
