Environmental Science & Engineering - www.esemag.com - January 2006
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Residential filtration system certified as 'Microbiological Water Purifier'
By Andrew Benedek and Tony Kobilnyk
 |
| The
Homespring™
Purifier
|
The Homespring Central Water
Purifier can be used for treated
municipal water or untreated
well or lake water. It can be
used for cottages or country homes
where homeowners rely on their own
water treatment system to provide
purified water. On municipal water
sources, the system can provide chlorine-
free, bottled water taste to every
faucet in the home, with the added
peace of mind that it will continue to
do so even in the event of a boil water
alert or if pathogens are picked up
along the distribution lines.
Homespring Purifiers were developed
as a two-stage whole home water
filtration system. The first stage uses
granulated activated carbon (GAC) to
pre-filter the water and remove unwanted
taste and odours, such as chlorine.
The second stage uses thousands of
strands of ZeeWeed hollow fiber membranes,
which filter down to 0.02
microns (nominal) and physically
remove turbidity, bacteria, viruses and
cysts from water. Using only inlet water
pressure, the systems can filter up to 11
gallons of water per minute without
electricity and have a built in daily self-cleaning
cycle.
Through independent testing,
ZENON's whole home Homespring™
UF200 series ultrafiltration systems
have now been certified to meet the
United States Environmental Protection
Agency's (USEPA) 'Guide Standard and
Protocol for Testing Microbiological
Water Purifiers'. It is believed to be the
first series of whole home water filtration
systems to be certified.
The USEPA Guide Standard and
Protocol for Testing Microbiological
Water Purifiers tests the ability of a
microbiological water purifier to
remove pathogens, such as bacteria,
viruses and cysts from contaminated
wells and surface water sources during
normal and emergency situations (boil
water alerts and natural disasters).
The Homespring UF200 system was
independently tested by BioVir
Laboratories and certified by the Water
Quality Association (WQA). "The
USEPA's Guide Standard for Testing
Microbiological Water Purifiers is one
of the toughest, if not the toughest, testing
protocol for water treatment devices
in the world today," said Craig Johnson,
President of BioVir Laboratories. No
microbiological organisms were detected
after being filtered by the membranes.
Tom Palkon, Director of
Product Certification for the WQA,
said "the systems have gone through
rigorous testing to meet the Water
Quality Association's ANSI accredited
Gold Seal Certification program. The
Homespring systems are the first Point
Of Entry Filtration systems we have
certified as a microbiological water
purifier."
The Homespring UF200 systems
are also certified by NSF and WQA to
ANSI/NSF Standard 42 (Aesthetic
Effects) and ANSI/NSF Standard 53
(Health Effects). The same family of
certified products is sold under the
Maytag brand in select stores throughout
Canada and the U.S.
The systems have been used in
developing countries to provide
potable water for homes, apartments,
villages and schools. They were also
deployed for use in both the Asian
Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina disasters
for aid relief where they were used
to supply potable water to thousands of
residents and relief workers.
Andrew Benedek and Tony Kobilnyk
are with Zenon Environmental Inc.
Contact: akobilny@zenon.com
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