OAKVILLE, Ontario, Canada, Oct. 25, 2005 -- Through independent testing, Zenon's whole home Homespring™ UF200 series ultrafiltration systems are now certified to meet the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (USEPA) Guide Standard and Protocol for Testing Microbiological Water Purifiers. It's the first series of whole home water filtration systems to be certified as a Microbiological Water Purifier.
The UF system can be used on treated municipal water and untreated well or lake water. It's the ideal solution for cottages or country homes where the homeowner has to 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.
The purifier was developed by Zenon 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 Zenon's ZeeWeed® hollow fiber membranes, which filter down to 0.02 microns (nominal) and physically remove turbidity, bacteria, viruses and cysts from the water. Using only the 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.
"There are various systems on the market today that treat your water at a single faucet," stated Ron Ing, general manager of consumer products for Zenon. "Or you can try to select and combine multiple products and technologies to address taste and disinfection issues for the whole home. The Homespring Central Water Purifier is the only product on the market that addresses taste and odor while purifying the water using a single product. The result with the Homespring is great tasting purified water to every faucet in your home."
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 "The Zenon Homespring systems preformed admirably throughout the entire test program. No microbiological organisms were detected after being filtered by the Zenon membranes."
According to Tom Palkon, WQA product certification director, "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 systems also are 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 United States.
They've 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.
Zenon (www.zenon.com) is a world leader in providing advanced membrane products and services for water purification, wastewater treatment and water reuse to municipalities and industries worldwide. Canada's Top 100 Employers ranked it in their top 100 list for the last six years.
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