Nexus eWater First to Recieve NSF/ANSI 350 Standard

Nexus eWater First Company Ever to Obtain NSF/ANSI Certification for Residential Grey Water Treatment The 'NEXtreater', a home water recycler by Nexus eWater, has received certification to the NSF/ANSI 350 Global Standard for residental grey water treatment

Nexus eWater, maker of the world's first home water and energy recycler, today announced that it is the first company ever to receive certification to theNSF/ANSI 350 global standardfor residential grey water treatment for its ‘NEXtreater' home water recycler.

The certification enables California builders, water & sewer agencies and homeowners to build drought-resilient homes by safely recycling two out of every three gallons in the home for non-potable, approved uses. The 2013 California Plumbing Code allows grey water treated to the stringent NSF/ANSI 350 standard to be reused in a wide range of applications.

"Certification of our NEXtreater is an historic milestone for residential water conservation and the War on Drought; the drought-resilient home has now arrived," said Mark Petroff, CEO of Nexus eWater. "Homes in California and other water scarce states can now safely and inexpensively recycle two out of every three gallons in their home. Despite California's declared Drought Emergency, there were no certified products on the market - until today. Safe, affordable and reliable home water recycling is here at last."

Grey water is drain water from showers, laundry and hand sinks and is the largest potential source of on-site water in homes. Typically, two-thirds of indoor water is grey water.

The potential water savings associated with in-home grey water recycling are unprecedented. Because the majority of indoor water is being reused a second time, it achieves four times the water savings of more efficient water fixtures. For example, current water-efficient homes with all EPA WaterSense fixtures save 10,000 gallons a year compared to standard homes. On-site recycling of grey water saves 40,000 gallons - four times as much. Existing homes could see savings of almost 80,000 gallons

The NSF/ANSI standard was jointly developed by Federal, State and local Health authorities, advocacy groups such as the NRDC, Alliance for Water Efficiency and others, as well as plumbing code bodies and leading water treatment companies.

Water and sewer agencies and the cities they serve can benefit by stretching scarce water resources considerably further.

R. Rex Parris, Mayor of the City of Lancaster in Los Angeles County, is a visionary proponent of on-site water reuse. Parris was instrumental in establishing the first demonstration of the Nexus system in his high-desert community.

"On-site water reuse is critical to maintaining California's economy and abundant lifestyle amid a number of increasingly challenging circumstances. The Nexus system is a stunning innovation to make this happen now," said Mayor Parris. "In the future, I believe every home will need to recycle water, which is why the City of Lancaster has established incentives for such systems to be installed in every new home."

Home water recycling can have significant potential benefits for homebuilders, too. For example, compared to building conventional water-efficient homes, homes with water recycling could use almost half as much water, while generating only one-sixth the peak sewage. This could lead to lower fees for water rights and sewer tie-in fees for builders, while significantly stretching reduced water allocations.

"As an industry leader in utilizing state-of-the-art sustainable building practices, KB Home has taken many steps to make our homes more water and energy efficient," said Dan Bridleman, Senior Vice President of Sustainability, Technology and Strategic Sourcing for KB Home (NYSE: KBH). "We are proud to have been the first US homebuilder to introduce the NEXtreater grey water recycling system at our Double ZeroHouse 2.0 in Lancaster, California, in February 2014, and we look forward to offering this technology at KB Home communities in the future."

Environmental groups also welcomed news of the NSF/ANSI 350 certification. "California needs to ensure maximum water reuse cycles, and on-site water recycling is a very smart way forward," said Dennis Murphy, Chair, US Green Building Council, California. "The technologies, the products, the global standards and certifications such as NSF/ANSI are all right here, right now. Now our regulations and codes need to catch up with our resource conservation goals."

The rigorous NSF/ANSI 350 certification process involved:

• Six months of continuous, third-party testing with regularly scheduled sampling throughout;
• No routine service or maintenance of the appliance was allowed during the test period;
• Extensive stress testing; and
• A review of compliance with design specifications and literature.

"Our Australian engineering team did what many thought impossible," said Nexus eWater's Petroff. "We built a reliable, affordable home water recycling solution that could meet the highest applicable water quality standards over a grueling six-month test -- and all without maintenance. Not only did our NEXtreater pass these stringent water quality tests, we passed with flying colors. The majority of the measurements were below the threshold of detection for Suspended Solids, e.coli and CBOD. The pH was spot on, and the turbidity was in the same range as typical tap water."

Additionally, a sister product, the NEXheater, is a low-cost add-on module that recycles the heat from grey water and generates as much energy in a new home as a standard 1.5 kW solar panel, at a fraction of the cost.

"Our full solution is essentially a ‘triple play' for sustainability," said Petroff. "The Nexus system dramatically reduces three core sustainability components: water, sewage and energy".

Source: NexusWater

Read More Related Content On This Topic - Click Here

Media

Taxonomy

• Treatment
• Water Reuse & Recycling
• Water Treatment & Control