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Plumbing Engineer’s REPORT
Reduction in lead bill signed into law
RoLLING MeADoWS, ILL. — The national Reduction of Lead in Drinking Water Act was passed on December 17, 2010, during the lame duck session of Congress and was signed into law by President Barack obama on January 4, 2011. The bill becomes effective January 4, 2014, allow- ing ample time for manufacturers to comply. This bill lowers the national standard for lead in
faucets, pipes and pipefittings to 0.25%. “The previous national standard was 8.0%, which the industry consid- ered too high,” explained PMI executive director Barbara Higgens. “Many in the plumbing manufacturing industry are already meeting these reduced standards. However, without a uniform national standard, a patchwork of requirements could have emerged.” According to Higgens, “This bill harmonizes lead stan-
dards across the country. These standards were already achieved in California, Maryland and Vermont through PMI’s active lobbying efforts.
Canadian plumbing industry concerned about low lead policies
The Canadian Institute of Plumbing & Heating (CIPH) members are concerned about developing policies and standards regarding lead for plumbing products in
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Canada. The NSF Drinking Water Additives Joint Committee has approved the release of NSF 372 Drinking Water System Components — Lead Content. This new standard allows product to be evaluated to only a low-lead criteria without having to be fully NSF 61 certified. NSF 61 - Annex G now refers users to the new standard. Currently in Canada, certified plumbing products are
already required to conform to NSF 61 for material safety. The new NSF 372 standard is a method that could be
used to demonstrate compliance to a 0.25% weighted average lead requirement. To the best of our knowledge, there is no regulation in Canada that requires compliance to this standard. However, CIPH is in constant communi- cation with all provinces and territories should any changes occur. In the meantime, the Institute has received reports that
some municipalities, building managers and school dis- tricts have begun to inquire on low-lead plumbing prod- ucts to manage their local, site-specific lead concerns. Contacts at Health Canada continue to inform that there
are no new lead regulations planned for the plumbing industry in the near future. In Canada, the National Plumbing Code already references CSA B125, which cur- rently stipulates a maximum lead content criteria of 8%. The Institute is aware that Health Canada has been
working on the lead issue by monitoring changes to U.S. regulations and continuing to reevaluate its own base sci- ence and key policies. In November, Health Minister Leona Aglukkaq announced tough new regulations with stricter lead content criteria for children’s toys (90ppm or 0.009%). For more info,
www.ciph.com.
February 2011
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