NSF Completes Testing of Household Drinking Water Products to Provide Homeland Security

NSF International in conjunction with the U.S. EPA National Homeland Security Research Center and Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program has recently completed verification tests of three residential point-of-use water treatment systems. The test results indicate that the three residential drinking water treatment systems could reduce waterborne bacteria and viruses in the event of intentional contamination within a municipal or private water supply during a homeland security event.

Through an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) grant, the NSF/EPA ETV program provides independent performance evaluations of drinking water technologies. Technologies were tested for their ability to remove waterborne bacteria and viruses similar to those that could be used in an intentional biological contamination event. The Kinetico Purefecta(tm), Sears Kenmore Ultrafilter 500, and Watts Premier Ultra 5 were tested at the Ann Arbor, Mich. laboratories of NSF International, an independent, not-for-profit organization.

All devices tested reduced biological agent surrogates that represent possible biological contaminants. The surrogates were selected by experts from government agencies and academia working on water security. The units were tested using five different microorganisms, and the ability of the devices to reduce the concentration of each was measured and verified. All three products use reverse osmosis, a membrane separation technology, to remove microorganisms. The results are available on the ETV website http://www.nsf.org/business/ETV_EPA_NSF/index.asp?program=ETVEPANSF.

Source: NSF