[Greenbuilding] permissible lead in "lead-free" faucets

[Chris Green]

The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) has a page about lead 
in faucets and fixtures.
http://www.mwra.state.ma.us/04water/html/Lead_Faucets.htm

> *Are there any faucets with no lead at all?*
> Some faucet manufactures produce plastic faucets that have virtually 
> zero lead. Other manufactures are substituting other metals for the 
> lead in the brass, inserting copper tubes inside the brass faucets, or 
> applying special coatings on the inside of the faucets in order to 
> minimize or eliminate lead leaching.
FWIW, lead is added to brass in order to make the machining processes 
easier.

The NSF (National Sanitary Foundation) page about faucets:
http://www.nsf.org/business/mechanical_plumbing/index.asp?program=MechanicalPluSysCom
This page has links to two search engines through which you can find out 
if your fixtures or plastic piping ( such as PEX ) are NSF certified.
>
>
>     Faucets
>
> The 1996 amendments to the U.S. Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) require 
> that pipe, fittings, and fixtures introduced into commerce after 
> August 6, 1998, be lead-free. For pipe, fittings, and devices, this 
> requires that the products not contain more than 8.0% lead.
>
> In addition, for devices that are intended by the manufacturer to 
> dispense water for human ingestion (faucets, drinking fountains, 
> etc.), these SDWA amendments also require that the product comply with 
> the lead leaching requirements of NSF/ANSI Standard 61, Section 9. 
> Under this standard, certified products are limited to 11 parts per 
> billion (ppb) of lead in water from endpoint devices.
>
> Endpoint devices subject to the lead leaching requirements of NSF/ANSI 
> Standard 61 include faucets, hot and cold water dispensers, drinking 
> fountains, drinking fountain bubblers, water coolers, glass fillers, 
> residential refrigerator ice-makers, supply stops, and endpoint 
> control valves.
>
> To receive NSF Certification, faucets must meet three basic requirements:
>
>    1. Review of materials and formulations
>    2. Inspection of the manufacturing facility
>    3. Testing of finished products selected at random during the
>       facility audit
>
> Only after successful testing and inspection can the NSF Mark be used 
> on the product packaging and product literature. Continued 
> certification involves annual inspections of the production facility 
> and repeat product evaluations to assure conformance to NSF/ANSI 
> Standard 61.
>
> Search the Drinking Water System Component Listings 
> <http://www.nsf.org/Certified/PwsComponents/> to determine which 
> faucet products are currently certified.
>
> Search the Plumbing and Related Products Listings 
> <http://www.nsf.org/Certified/Plumbing/> to determine which plastic 
> plumbing products are currently certified.
>
Compliance to NSF/ANSI Standard 61.is voluntary, and those products 
which are certified will have NSF 61/9 stamped on the box they come in, 
or elsewhere. From the MWRA page:
> The national standard for certifying plumbing fixtures "lead free" 
> status is determined by the National Sanitary Foundation (NSF) - the 
> standard is International Standard 61-Section 9. New faucets meeting 
> the NSF 61 standard will have NSF 61/9 stamped on the new faucet’s 
> cardboard box. 
Most sources advocate running the water for a while to flush out any 
lead that has leached into the water. Also, they recommend using only a 
cold water source for drinking and cooking water. Presumably this means 
hot water will leach more lead out.

Chris Green.