The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) is responsible for establishing general guidelines for public safety across a wide breadth of focus areas — among them, standards for Drinking Water System Components. Developed in conjunction with the National Science Foundation (NSF) and updated with Canadian requirements by the Standards Council of Canada (SCC), these standards are the code for how water utilities are developed, maintained, repaired, improved, modified, and otherwise managed, to ensure the health and wellness of the people who rely on them.
An introduction to ANSI/NSF/CAN 61 Standards
Pipe repairs and infrastructure rehabilitation aren’t just about making sure water flows through pipes without leaks — there’s also a health component. According to the ANSI/NSF/CAN 61 Standard, repairs and rehabilitation solutions are subject to “minimum health-effects requirements for the chemical contaminants and impurities that are indirectly imparted to drinking water from products, components and materials used in drinking water systems.”
In the context of water utility repair, this specifically pertains to materials or products that come into contact with drinking water — which, according to ANSI/NSF/CAN 61, includes “protective barrier materials” and “joint sealing materials.” These definitions encompass SIPP and CIPP materials, applied through trenchless approaches.
Put simply, the goal of ANSI/NSF/CAN 61 is to ensure that the materials used to preserve and remediate water utilities don’t introduce any new harmful contaminants into the municipal water supply.
ANSI/NSF/CAN 61 as it applies to trenchless technologies
ANSI/NSF/CAN 61 is one among many water quality standards that govern potable water quality in the United States, Canada, and across the world. It’s also one of the most important because it directly impacts how we preserve the aging infrastructure that supports water delivery.
Aging infrastructure is a problem in and of itself. Everything from lead contamination and hard water to chemical levels caused by inflow and infiltration (I/I) can trace itself back to a growing number of imperfections in aging water utilities. To combat these issues, there’s an increasingly robust range of repair products and application methods — each of which needs to conform to the “do no harm” parameters outlined in ANSI/NSF/CAN 61.
Trenchless SIPP and CIPP technologies not only represent a significant breadth of these topics, they’re also among the most scrutinized because of their chemical compositions and innovative modes of application. For example, Section 5.2.13 of the ANSI/NSF/CAN 61 Standard serves to classify SIPP/CIPP barrier materials as, “prefabricated materials applied, bonded, or attached to a surface that is subject to direct/indirect contact with drinking water.” These barrier materials must then conform to the approved criteria outlined within ANSI/NSF/CAN 61, which covers virtually all variables, from application thickness and cure time to chemical composition and exposure time.
ANSI/NSF/CAN 61 continues to keep pace with innovation
Trenchless repair products represent an evolving standard in the world of water utility repair. They’re measured against an equally progressive ANSI/NSF/CAN 61 Standard, which is continuously evolving to accommodate these products to safeguard health and wellness.
Recent iterations of the ANSI/NSF/CAN 61 (2019-2022) have sought to not only keep the standard current, but to clarify methodologies to accommodate new materials. This includes clarification of measurement methods, characteristic definitions, media classifications, and more. Ultimately, it’s the goal of this evolving standard to correctly classify new trenchless products and to create a clear standard for evaluating their efficacy, both in remediation success and in maintaining water quality.
It’s important to note that SIPP/CIPP materials aren’t rewriting the ANSI/NSF/CAN 61 Standard; they’re simply helping to refine it. ANSI/NSF/CAN 61 guidelines for maximum allowable levels (MALs) and maximum contaminant levels (MCLs) were established in the 1980s, and have since come to include the chemicals that comprise today’s trenchless liners.
Trenchless tech conforms to progressive standards
The perfect trenchless solution not only stands up to the duress of everyday wear and tear over time, it also meets and maintains minimum ANSI/NSF/CAN 61 standards to ensure the integrity of water utilities. Municipalities rehabilitating for long-term reliability need to work with a wet utility contractor that both has access to innovative trenchless solutions and understands the efficacy of these solutions within the realm of ANSI/NSF/CAN standards.