Berkey® filters and the NSF standard

Categories : Berkey® purification

Definition

This is a standard that guarantees that the product subject to it complies with certain safety and public health standards.

More specifically, with regard to water filters, they must meet certain criteria:

  • The filtration system must be able to reduce certain contaminants, a list of which must be provided by the manufacturer,
  • The filtration system has a coherent structure and does not add harmful substances to the filtered water,
  • The advertising and documentation associated with the product contains only real and not misleading information,
  • The place of production is subject to NSF control and each model must be tested.

NSF/ANSI Standards 42 & 53

These are the standards that apply specifically to water filters that claim to be NSF. Here is a summary.

NSF/ANSI Standard 42

  • Organoleptic effects: filters must reduce contaminants that are not related to health: (chlorine, taste and odour, particles) likely to be present in drinking water of public or private origin,
  • This standard uses carbon filtration in particular,
  • There are different classifications in this standard depending on the rate of elimination of chlorine or particles. The best classification for chlorine claims a reduction of more than 75% (Class I). The best classification for particle reduction corresponds to an 85% reduction in particles between 1 and 5 microns (Class I).


Standard NSF/ANSI 53

  • Concerns the reduction of health-related contaminants. These include Cryptosporidium, Giardia, lead, volatile organic compounds (VOCs) and MTBE (methyl tertiary butyl ether) likely to be present in public or private drinking water.
  • This standard uses carbon filtration,
  • in particular.
  • To comply with this standard, the system must effectively reduce lead content,
  • The system must be able to reduce cysts such as Cryptosporidium, Giardia, Toxoplasma and Entamoeba by up to 99.95%,
  • The standard certifies that the product effectively reduces VOCs such as: alachlor, atrazine, benzene, carbofuran, chlorobenzene, 2,4-D, odichlorobenzene, p-dichlorobenzene, lindane etc.

What about Berkey® filters?

The manufacturer Berkey® has chosen not to subscribe to this standard. This does not mean that the Black Berkey® filters fitted to Berkey® filtration systems do not comply with the standard. On the contrary, tests based on NSF42/53 standards show that Black Berkey® elements far exceed the standards of this standard.

Why this choice?

Berkey® systems are not just water filters designed to filter tap water, but effective purifiers for untreated water. Their deployment by NGOs and the army in emergency situations is proof of this.

- With regard to standard 42: it would be quite pointless to have it certified because the capacity of the filters exceeds it. The strictest class of NSF Standard 42 calls for a 75% reduction in chlorine. Black Berkey® filters score 99.9% for chloramines, 99.9% for free chlorine, 99.6% for chlorides and 99.9% for fluorides. The strictest standard in this norm calls for an 85% reduction in particles between 1 and 5 microns. Black Berkey® filters operate on a scale of 24 to 26 nanometres, which is equivalent to 0.024 microns.

- Concerning standard 53: Black Berkey® filters eliminate 99.9% of lead, perfectly meeting and even far exceeding what is recommended by the NSF standard. For Cryptosporidium, Black Berkey® filters score 99.997%, 99.99% for Giardia, 99.8% for leptospirosis... Here too, the results speak for themselves. The same goes for VOCs: 99.9% for alachlor, atrazine, benzene and its derivatives, lindane and dozens of others.

But Black Berkey® filters are also effective against viruses, bacteria, pharmaceutical residues, petroleum products, dozens of pesticides, herbicides and heavy metals, alpha and gamma radiation and uranium.

Finally, it's important to remember that Black Berkey elements are not simply water filters, but water purifiers. The NSF standard requires "purifier" type elements to filter twice their nominal capacity of contaminated water through the filter before any measurements are taken. To put it plainly, the NSF standard would require 45400 litres of water to be filtered to take test results, where the life of the Black Berkey® has been established at 22700 litres, which makes absolutely no sense.

This means that Berkey would have to announce a lifespan of Black Berkey® halved, just to get NSF certification when they have the capacity to purify twice as much.
This is insane and explains why there are no NSF standard gravity water purifiers, and makes the Berkey® gravity filter all the more unique on the purifier market.

The results of the tests carried out on the Black Berkey® filter elements are therefore well above the NSF standard recommendation.

All the tests published by Berkey® were carried out by accredited and independent laboratories and were conducted in accordance with standards 42 and 53.

Applying for accreditation to this standard is therefore not only completely pointless, as it would totally reduce the true capacity of systems equipped with Black Berkey®, but would also generate costs estimated at approximately 1 million dollars for all the pollutants that Berkey® has had tested.

It is for all these reasons that Berkey® has not considered it necessary to certify its systems to the NSF standard, and not because they would not meet the expected results. Black Berkey® filters are far more efficient than other simple NSF-certified water filters, last much longer and, ultimately, cost less per litre.

Check out the results of the tests carried out on Black Berkey® elements
You can also find the various analysis results in our dedicated section.

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