The state of Iowa has established regulations and procedures for the sale of water systems. Under this regulation, the state of Iowa requires that any water treatment system that is sold in the state first be certified by an independent, third-party testing agency, such as NSF, before the system can be considered eligible for sale in Iowa. NSF Standard 42 (aesthetic effects) and Standard 53 (health effects) would specifically apply to our filtration elements.
NSF Standard 42 covers systems designed to reduce specific aesthetic or non-health-related contaminants such as chlorine, taste and odor, and particulates that may be present in public or private drinking water. NSF Standard 53 addresses systems designed to reduce specific health-related contaminants, such as lead, Volatile Organic Chemicals, MTBE that may be present in public or private drinking water.
The tests we have conducted are much more rigorous than those required by NSF for the certifications mandated by the state of Iowa. Our filtration systems have been rigorously tested by third-party independent accredited labs far surpassing the above standard of taste, odor and chlorine reduction. For example, Black Berkey® Elements utilized in our systems have been tested for the removal of hundreds of contaminants including heavy metals, pesticides, herbicides, pharmaceuticals and more. These test results are published and available to all our consumers on our website as well as published in our printed literature. In addition, there has also been other highly publicized and notable testing of our water filters against other similar water filtration systems which clearly back up our third-party testing. Although our extensive testing is sufficient for 49 states in the US, it is currently not acceptable for residents of the state Iowa.
Once NSF certification has been obtained, the state of Iowa additionally requires that systems further be registered with the Iowa Department of Public Health One major problem arises because each flexible configuration we offer is considered by the state of Iowa to be a distinct and separate system that must be certified independently. Under Iowa legislation the expense required to certify each system is $800.00 per configuration.
While this may not be a problem for companies that are inflexible with respect to the systems they offer or have few product offerings, such requirements place a huge burden upon companies that do offer such flexibility, (i.e. multiple variations of water filter systems).
In the end, we have concluded that the additional taxes, certifications and red tape have created too large of a barrier for our firm to offer our systems in the state of Iowa.
The only Berkey® products that may be sold in Iowa are accessories, replacement items, disaster preparedness items. These products are listed at this link .