Mature plumbing practices such as backflow prevention and scald protection will always be critical to the health of the user. Newer practices need to be codified and standardized so that plumbing engineers, inspectors and owners understand how to treat new products that give added benefits to plumbing systems. With a small army of new and existing experts, ASSE International has branched outside of its traditional wheelhouse and into new areas where product performance needs to be better defined.
Water treatment standards have received a big boost of definition in the upcoming Uniform Plumbing Code (UPC). For decades, the plumbing aspects of commercial water treatment products have gone unaddressed as exemplified in the model plumbing codes. For example, there always was a mismatch between the plumbing codes serving all types of installations versus the standards making a distinction between residential and commercial installations. There are large capacity commercial water softeners on the market, and NSF/ANSI 44 covers the cation exchange requirements well for most installations. However, the standard is intended only for residential products.