In the Federal Register for Proposed Rule Development publication (USEPA, 2017, 82 FR 4805 (January 17, 2017)), EPA sought comments on a number of specific questions regarding the provisions of the proposal and possible alternative provisions or criteria. In response to public requests, the EPO extended the 90-day deadline for public comments by 30 days; comment period ended May 17, 2017 (82 FR 17406, April 11, 2017). The EPA received 25,858 comments, of which 25,751 were identical or nearly identical because they were submitted as part of a public comment campaign (5,212 of 25,751 comments contained not only the identical comment, but also page 54239 printed on the home page). For a detailed list of public comments received and EPO`s responses to comments, see File ID EPA-HQ-OW-2015-0680 under www.regulations.gov. These regulations will become federal law on January 1, 2014. The only other states that have strict lead-free laws are Louisiana, Maryland, and Vermont. Overall, by amending the Safe Drinking Water Act, the Lead in Drinking Water Reduction Act will reduce the permitted lead content of brass products from 8.0% to 0.25%. This is a 30-fold reduction, while the term “unleaded” remains the same. For HBS, we always recommend indicating the phrase “100% lead-free”. This ensures that the solder/flux does not contain lead. EPA held discussions with representatives from PMI industry associations and the American Foundry Society (AFS) and hosted a webinar with stakeholders in 2015 to learn about current practices in the sanitary parts manufacturing industry regarding product packaging labeling, labeling of sanitary products themselves, and the technical feasibility and costs associated with changes to product labelling and labelling. In addition, PMI and AFS provided the EPA with information on product identification methods, including the estimated percentage of products that currently contain lead-free identification and general information on the costs of changes to package labelling and product labelling.
Information on the feasibility and time required to replace production forms in response to potential regulatory requirements was also discussed, as well as turnover rates for sanitary products. Professional associations also provided information on the use and costs of third-party certification in the industry. What is lead-free? The EPA`s guideline rule sets an action level of 15 parts per billion (ppb) and estimates that more than 40 million U.S. citizens use water “that may contain more than 15 ppb of lead. If tests show that the lead content of drinking water is in the range of 15 ppb or more, it is advisable – especially if there are young children in the house – to replace old pipes, filter the water or use bottled water. To clarify the requirements set out in the RLDWA and this Final Rule, EPA defined in 40 CFR 143.11 terms such as “pipes,” “fittings,” “fasteners,” “brazing,” “flows,” and several subcategories of these components used in the Act but not defined in Section 1417 of the SDWA. The EPO has included these and other definitions in order to clarify the provisions of this final rule. Other terms defined in this final rule are: “third-party accredited certification body”, “administrator”, “connected”, “alloy”, “coating”, “custom product”, “drinking water cooler”, “importer”, “commercial importation”, “lead-free”, “coating”, “manufacturer”, “non-potable services”, “person”, “piping connection”, “sanitary fittings”, “point-of-use treatment equipment”, “purposes drinking water”, “product”, “public Water System”, United States and “Water Distribution Head”. The EPO defines “product” as a pipe, fitting or device. This term has been defined to reduce the number of repetitive references to pipes, fittings and devices that would otherwise be required in this final rule. For similar reasons of brevity, EPA has defined the term “fitting” as a pipe fitting or sanitary fitting. The latter rule requires manufacturers or importers to keep documentation proving product certification for at least five years from the date of the last sale of the product by the manufacturer or importer.
The manufacturer or importer must maintain records of all products certified by an accredited independent certification body that contain at least documentation of the certification, certification data and process. This documentation must be provided to the administrator upon request in accordance with 40 CFR 143.20(b). For self-certified products, manufacturers or importers must maintain certificates of conformity and sufficient documentation at a primary facility in the United States to confirm that the products meet the lead-free requirements of this subsection. Sufficient documentation may include detailed schematic drawings of products (indicating dimensions), records for calculating the weighted average lead content of the product, documentation of the lead content of materials used in the manufacture of the product, and other documents used to verify the lead content of a sanitary facility. This documentation and certificates of conformity must be provided to the administrator upon request in accordance with 40 CFR 143.20(b) and must be retained for at least five years after the last sale of the product by the manufacturer or importer. In this change in the size of companies eligible for self-certification, from companies with fewer than 100 employees to companies with fewer than 10 employees, the EPA has taken these comments into account and has also tried to avoid large burdens for smaller plumbing manufacturers with fewer than 10 employees. EPA made this decision at the same time as the decision not to require the marking and marking of lead-free pipes, fittings, or devices, as EPA had originally proposed. The EPA anticipates that the certification provisions of the final rule that increase the volume of third-party certified products, combined with the widespread practice of voluntary labeling by companies that obtain third-party certification, will likely lead to the marketing of sanitary products for drinking water in a manner that communicates the product`s lead-free status to the purchaser. without the burden of regulatory labelling requirements.
The LFS used a number of data sources to characterize the plumbing industry. GMP Research, Inc. provided EPA with a report in 2014 that included data on the total number of non-beverage drinking water and sanitation products sold in 2013, broken down into 40 product subcategories, and the market share of major suppliers by each subcategory of products that may be subject to the EPA`s final rule. These data were supplemented by information from various additional sources. Dun & Bradstreet data were obtained for firms identified by the North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) and Standard Industrial Classification (SIC) industry classification codes as likely to produce products that would be affected by the final rule. Additional data on plumbing manufacturers and transformers was obtained from ThomasNet, a comprehensive online database that provides information on manufacturing companies in the United States. EPA also used NSF International`s Certified Drinking Water System Components database, which contains a list of manufacturers using NSF to certify their products to NSF/ANSI Standard 61, including the subset of products certified to Schedule G of that standard to reflect the 0.25% lead limit later established as the new NSF/ANSI Standard 372. More information was gathered on the website of Plumbing Manufacturers International (PMI), an industry association for the plumbing industry.
The LFS used data on the number of employees and annual revenues of businesses from the U.S. Census Bureau`s statistics on U.S. businesses. The information used in the development of the industry`s production growth comes from both the GMP Research, Inc. report as well as the housing growth forecast of IHS Global Insight in the United States. These data sources are referenced in the Final Rule Technical Support Document and other supporting documents listed under Record Identification Number. EPA-HQ-OW-2015-0680 www.regulations.gov. The latter rule codifies the legal exemption for certain products specifically in the SDWA, Section 1417(a)(4)(B) to include toilets, bidets, urinals, filling valves, rinse knife valves, bathtub fillers, fire hydrants, shower valves, service saddles, and water distribution main slides 2 inches or more in diameter.
In addition to the specific sanitary equipment excluded in the SDWA, the final rule is also the exclusion of washing machines, emergency showers, emergency face washers, eye washers, fire extinguishers, steam dryers and sump pumps, as these products are not designed or used for drinking water applications as defined in this final rule. These products do not provide water for human ingestion. The prohibitions on the use of 40 CFR 143.13 or the prohibitions on introduction into commerce of 40 CFR 143.15 do not apply to these specifically exempted products; Therefore, these exempted products do not have to meet the 40 CFR 143.12 definition of lead-free, and manufacturers and importers of these products do not have to meet the certification requirements of 40 CFR 143.19. The certificate of conformity must contain the following information: contact details of the manufacturer and any importers, list of products, statements showing that the products meet lead-free requirements and that the right of the manufacturer or importer to self-certify the product complies with the regulations (e.g. the manufacturer has fewer than 10 employees or the product is custom-made), a statement of how the manufacturer or importer has verified conformity and the information provided by the signatory.