Overview of the NSF 375 Draft Sustainability for the Water Treatment and Distribution Industry October 30, 2012

Water Sustainability Draft Starting point for stakeholders to shape based on existing body of work Placeholders and questions posed in various sections to be decided by water industry stakeholders Baselines for various criteria appropriate for water industry to be decided Inclusion of existing water product performance criteria and durability standards

Sustainability Assessment  Scope and purpose  Section 5 – Product design  Section 6 – Product manufacturing  Section 7 – Durability, longevity, and use phase  Section 8 – End of life management  Section 9 – Corporate governance

Scope of NSF Initiative Drinking Water Treatment Units Drinking Water Additives – Treatment Chemicals and Systems Components Plastics/Plumbing Wastewater Treatment Recreational Water Products

Purpose of a Sustainability Assessment Communication of data related to sustainability attributes for a product Transparency, credible and science based Inform a manufacturer’s decisions for design, supply chain modifications, material selection, performance improvements, end of life options Provide a means to track incremental improvements in the products’ sustainability profile Comparison of products that provide similar function Address more than environmental and human health impacts – includes Social Responsibility

Questions and Comments

Product Design What chemicals of concern are in typical products? Or packaging? Inventory of all materials at or above 1000 ppm of product Effort to reduce or eliminate chemicals of concern Supplier of materials – elimination or reduction of chemicals of concern Life Cycle Assessment (LCA), Environmental product declarations (EPDs) and USEPA’s Design for the Environment (DfE) – Are these appropriate for the industry? Environmental considerations in design of product

Material Selection Inventory of materials and chemicals of concern –1000 ppm for hazardous chemicals –10,000 ppm for other ingredients Environmentally sustainable inputs –Product –Packaging Chemicals of concern –Reduction –Elimination Material safety according to NSF drinking water standards –DWTU and DWA Suppliers criteria

Life cycle analysis and Design for the Environment Environmental considerations in design –Environmental assessment program for product design and development LCA or DfE –Design for the Environment assessment of the product –LCA using ISO 14040/14044 with 5 impact categories Life cycle assessment improvement –Using the LCA, show improvements in 2 impact categories Contributing to US Life Cycle Inventory –In an effort to show support, data is supplied to the USLCI database for LCA Environmental Product Declaration (ISO 14025) –A product category rule must exist in order to pursue an environmental product declaration

Questions and Comments

Product Manufacturing Corporate Policies for Environmental Management Energy use during production: Industry baseline or internal improvements? Allowance of types of renewable energy? Onsite power generated, carbon credits, green-e certificates, others Water use during manufacturing, water quality discharge Waste minimization, optimal use of resources, packaging GHG emissions, air resources protection, PBT reductions

Environmental Management Environmental policy –Starting point for tracking environmental impacts and pollution prevention ISO Environmental Management System –Points for having the EMS and having it third party certified EMS tracking –Showing improvements based on EMS program Quality management system (QMS) –Starting point for tracking quality management issues ISO 9001 QMS –Points for third party certified QMS

Energy Inventory of energy sources, quantity –Transportation for raw materials –Production energy use –Should this include administrative energy use? Reduction of environmental impact of energy input –Measured reductions in consumption –Conversion of energy inputs Renewable energy use (facility and suppliers) –ICROA –Green-e What percentages are reasonable for water products production for renewable energy or energy reductions?

Management of Water Resources Inventory of water use –Tracking water used, consumed, and sources Reduced water consumption –Percentage reduction versus year over year Water quality discharge –Discharged water quality is better than receiving water –Treatment is required before discharge

Optimization of material sources Waste minimization –Operational waste minimization plan Manufacturing waste minimization –Reduction 10% over 10 years –Annual average rate over 10 years less than 2% on weight basis Packaging minimization –Pallets waived if recycled or reclaimed –Packaging weight less than 2% of product by weight

Protection of air resources World resources institute GHG protocol - Should this be added? Greenhouse gas (GHG) loadings –GHG inventory according to ISO GHG reductions –Reduction from year 2000 or later OR –Year over year reduction Persistent, Bioaccumulative and toxic chemicals (PBT) reductions –Reduction of PBTs below reporting levels in Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA)

Questions and Comments

Durability and Longevity Fitness of purpose Recommended usage Durability-performance requirements such as in NSF and other product performance standards Energy efficiency during product usage Water efficiency during product usage

End of Life Recyclability and compostability? Post consumer collection programs? Reclamation: post consumer, investment in reclamation program During product design, are there materials that are selected to meet recycled content requests?

QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS

Corporate Governance Community involvement No forced or child labor Employee turnover, injury rate, collective bargaining, prevention of discrimination, living wages Local recruiting, financial investment and leadership Profitability, investment in R&D Vendor satisfaction

Public Disclosure and Employer responsibility Public commitment to sustainability –Preliminary disclosure –Comprehensive disclosure –Prerequisite for a policy against child and forced labor Employee turnover Employee injury rate Collective bargaining (optional criteria) Prerequisite – prevention of discrimination Plant level – prerequisite against child and forced labor Living wages

Community Engagement Financial investment Employee participation Local recruiting Financial leadership Profitability Investment in research and development Vendor/supplier satisfaction

Questions and Comments