NSF International and PIA Expand Ten Years of Collaboration in the Wastewater Treatment Sector

New memorandum of agreement offers clients the ability for European and American wastewater system testing and certification from one location

BRUSSELS, Belgium and AACHEN, Germany – Global public health organization NSF International and PIA - Prüfinstitut für Abwassertechnik GmbH (PIA GmbH), located in Germany, are celebrating their 10th anniversary of collaborating on both North American and European standards for the European wastewater treatment system industry, allowing European manufacturers to access testing services close to their facilities.

Working with PIA, the largest testing laboratory in Europe for the decentralized wastewater industry, NSF International has successfully expanded services throughout Europe specifically to test to the NSF/American National Standard Institute (ANSI) and European standards for wastewater treatment facilities.

Based on the success of this collaboration, NSF International and PIA have signed an additional memorandum of understanding (MOU) to declare a mutual intention to further develop this collaboration to cover consultancy and certification projects.

The NSF and PIA collaboration includes testing for these standards:

  • NSF/ANSI 40: Residential Wastewater Treatment Systems for materials, design, construction and testing procedures of small and residential treatment plants for the North American market.
  • NSF/ANSI 245: Wastewater Treatment Systems - Nitrogen Reduction associated with the requirements to meet the growing demand for nutrient reduction in coastal areas and sensitive environments.
  • NSF/ANSI 350: Onsite Residential and Commercial Water Reuse Treatment Systems which establishes materials, design, construction and performance requirements for onsite residential and commercial water reuse treatment systems, and also sets water quality requirements for the reduction of chemical and microbiological contaminants for non-potable water use.
  • European Standards – PIA tests against European standards for NSF customers which include:
    • EN 12566 for small wastewater treatment plants and wetlands
    • EN 12050 for wastewater lifting plants
    • BS 8525 for domestic greywater treatment equipment – requirements and test methods
    • EN 1825 for testing of grease separator systems
    • EN 858 for testing of separator systems for light liquids

“Through this collaboration with PIA, NSF International has been able to strengthen our expertise in the testing and certification of products to North American and European wastewater standards,” said Tarik Bellahcene, Managing Director, EMEA, NSF International. “This successful 10-year collaboration has provided our clients with an established testing facility and development laboratory as well as the shared expertise from NSF International’s technical and scientific professionals and PIA engineers and experienced employees. NSF International is pleased to expand this collaboration with PIA with the latest MOU for consulting and certification services.”

“PIA is happy to be the first testing institute for NSF/ANSI wastewater standards in Europe,” said Elmar Dorgeloh, General Manager, PIA. “For PIA customers it is important to have the ability to get the testing for the European and American market at one place. We are glad to celebrate 10 years of partnership between NSF International and PIA this year.”

Editor’s note: For media interested in more information or to request an interview with Tarik Bellahcene, Managing Director, EMEA, NSF International, contact Liz Nowland-Margolis at or +1 734-418-6624.

About NSF International: NSF International is a global independent organization that writes standards, and tests and certifies products for the water, food, health sciences and consumer goods industries to minimize adverse health effects and protect the environment (nsf.org). Founded in 1944, NSF is committed to protecting human health and safety worldwide. Operating in more than 165 countries, NSF International is a Pan American Health Organization/World Health Organization Collaborating Center on Food Safety, Water Quality and Indoor Environment.

NSF’s Global Water Services include testing, certification and auditing for municipal water treatment components and chemicals, plastic piping systems, plumbing fixtures and fittings, point-of-use and point-of-entry water systems and filters.

NSF Sustainability offers a range of standardized and proprietary methods of measuring sustainability for organizations, products, processes, supply chains and services. Certification, testing and claims validation help reduce investment risk, instill marketplace confidence and promote the acceptance of more sustainable products and services.

About PIA: PIA is a European testing and development body for decentralized water treatment technologies on land and on sea. Our services include testing of wastewater facilities including small wastewater treatment systems, sewage pumping stations, ship wastewater treatment systems, greywater treatment systems and storm water treatment systems. PIA also offers support and consultation for CE ("Conformité Européenne") marking. PIA also provides compliance testing according to American standards.

Aktuelle News

 

News

On June 1, 2021, additional requirements for discharging wastewater into the Baltic Sea enter into force!

In order to reduce nutrient discharges from ships into the Baltic Sea the HELCOM - Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission proposal to designate the Baltic Sea as MARPOL Annex IV special area was sent to International Maritime Organization in 2010. Although the designation of the Baltic Sea already entered into force in 2013 the applicable date of enforcement has been set for June 1, 2021 for existing IMO registered passenger ships. For direct passages between St. Petersburg and the North Sea there is an extension until 1 June 2023.​

In the meantime, it has been recognized that further measures are needed to ensure the effectiveness of the environmental protection measures in MARPOL Annex IV. In addition to the revision of the type approval in MEPC.227(64), this also includes methods for inspection of installations and discharges on board during operation.

For more information and assistance on how to comply with these new requirements, please feel free to contact us.

PIA GmbH approved by U.S. Coast Guard as Independent Laboratory for testing of Ballast Water Management Systems

PIA GmbH expands maritime testing services as an Independent Laboratory (IL) and received a letter of acceptance by the United States Coast Guard Office for Operating and Environmental Standards for testing of Ballast Water Management Systems (BWMS) to meet the requirements in 46 CFR 162.060.

 IL Acceptance

PIA provides this service in collaboration with its sub-laboratories:

  • Ankron Water Services GmbH, Germany
  • Bureau Veritas Marine & Offshore SAS, France
  • Golden Bear Facility at California State University Maritime Academy, USA
  • Phoenix Testlab GmbH, Germany

In addition, PIA is accepted by the U.S. Coast Guard for testing of marine sanitation devices and oily water separators:

  • Recognized Facility for evaluating, inspecting and testing marine sanitation devices for compliance with the standards and regulations in 33 CFR Part 159 as promulgated under section 312 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1322).
  • Qualified Facility for evaluating, inspecting and testing of sewage treatment plants for compliance with the standards and regulations in IMO Resolution MEPC.227(64) and in 33 CFR Part 159 as promulgated under section 312 of the Clean Water Act (33 U.S.C. 1322).
  • Recognized Facility for collecting and testing effluent in certain Alaskan waters from cruise vessel operations for compliance with the standards and regulations in Subpart E to 33 CFR Part 159 as promulgated under section 1(a)(4) in Pub. L. 106-554.
  • Designated Facility for performing approval testing on pollution prevention equipment (PPE) for compliance with the standards and regulations contained in IMO Resolutions MEPC.107(49), MEPC.108(49) & MEPC.240(65) and 46 CFR 162.050, as promulgated under the Act to Prevent Pollution from Ships (33 U.S.C. 1901 et seq.). PPE includes 15 ppm bilge separators and 15 ppm bilge alarms.

Joint paper on non-conformities with marine sewage regulations for greywater

The paper explores non-conformities with marine sewage rules. It follows previous joint-papers on chlorination disinfection without de-chlorination, no-sludge and recirculation-via-influent. These non-conformities are widening the gap between rules and realities.

The article Opinion: Grey Water Related Non-Conformities Need to be Addressed can be accessed via the following link:
https://maritime-executive.com/editorials/opinion-grey-water-non-conformities-need-to-be-addressed 

For further information, please refer to the following related publications:

 

 

Seventh HELCOM Cooperation Platform on PRF in the Baltic Sea

Seventh HELCOM Cooperation Platform on Port Reception Facilities (PRF) in the Baltic Sea meeting will be held at the premises of the Federal Maritime and Hydrographic Agency (BSH) on Wednesday, 13 September 2017. Contracting Parties to the Helsinki Convention, Observer Organizations as well as other public sector institutions and relevant stakeholders are invited to the meeting of HELCOM Cooperation Platform.

The meeting will particularly focus on the ongoing project of the developement of a “Best Practice Guidance for the handling of wastewater in Ports" for the Special Area Baltic Sea, as well as the results of the CLIA simulation exercise on MARPOL Annex IV Special Area and practical case studies of specific ports, including proposals for next steps for consideration by HELCOM MARITIME 17-2017.

Practical information for participants and the provisional programme are available on the CP PRF 7-2017 Meeting Site in HELCOM Meeting Portal.

Amendments to resolution MEPC.227(64) adopted

On its seventieth session the Marine Environmental Protection Committee (MEPC) adopted resolution MEPC.284(70) on Amendments to the 2012 Guidelines on implementation of effluent standards and performance tests for sewage treatment plants. The resolution includes new forms of certificates of the type approval for sewage treatment plants. Compliance with the special area requirements in regulation 9.2.1 of MARPOL Annex IV is now certified on a separate certificate of type approval.
The Baltic Sea Special Area will take effect on:
- 1 June 2019 for new passenger ships;
- 1 June 2021 for existing passenger ships other than those specified below; and
- 1 June 2023 for existing passenger ships en route directly to or from a port located outside the special area and to or from a port located east of longitude 28˚10' E within the special area that do not make any other port calls within the special area.