CWQA Position Statement

Catalytic, Electromagnetic and Magnetic Devices Claimed to Treat Drinking Water

CWQA Position:

CWQA has long maintained that all product performance and benefit claims for all products that purportedly alter the hardness characteristics of water be based on factual data obtained from tests conducted by professional competent personnel following established test procedures. Such data should be recent, reputable and verifiable and should substantiate all product performance and benefit claims.

CWQA knows of no generally recognized scientific or technical evidence which proves that magnetic, electromagnetic or catalytic devices sold to treat water have any measurable physical or chemical effect of water quality.

Comment:  

CWQA represents the water quality improvement industry. Industry products are those that either improve the quality of water or are supplied to those who manufacture or sell water quality improvement products.

CWQA is becoming increasingly concerned over the rapidly escalating level of federal and provincial law enforcement activity involving water treatment devices. Many of which these federal and provincial agencies believe do not have any effect on the quality of water and therefore, certainly do not improve it. Prime examples are various types of catalytic, electromagnetic and magnetic devices. Published claims that these devices alter the hardness characteristics or improve the quality of water in other ways have been successfully challenged by enforcement officials.

CWQA continues to favour full public disclosure of all facts regarding catalytic, electromagnetic and magnetic devices claimed to treat drinking water including all documentation which would shed light on the accuracy of the performance or benefit claims being made for them. CWQA cooperates fully with provincial and federal regulatory officials, as well as, with private organizations such as the Better Business Bureaus, in their efforts to prevent false and misleading advertising claims by various manufacturers of these and other products. This means, among other things CWQA will:

1) satisfy requests from government regulatory officials, as well as private organizations and persons, for published materials in its possession; or 2) bring to the attention of the government regulatory officials, as well as private organizations and persons concerned with such matters, promotional material coming to its attention which the published material in CWQA’s possession suggests may be either false, misleading or both.In research study commissioned and published by CWQA, Dr. Larsen3 found that the catalytic device he studied did not provide the benefits of soft water and did not reduce the hardness of water. He said, "As a water softener this product is utterly useless". Also, in a similar CWQA commissioned research study Dr. Johnson4 testified that a catalytic bar would not soften water.

The federal department of Consumer and Corporate Affairs Canada research study by Dr. H. Gesser5 described a catalytic unit as a fraud that does not work and cannot work.

In a research commissioned and published by WQA, Gruber1 found that there was no change in the physical and/or chemical properties of water treated with permanent magnetic devices and AIIeman2 found that none of the six permanent magnetic water conditioners tested were able to uniformly affect a statistically, verifiable, beneficial change in the assayed physical or chemical qualities of the applied water or its related scaling characteristics.

REFERENCES:

1. Gruber, Carl E., Carda, Dan D., Performance Analysis of Permanent Magnet Type Water Treatment Devices — a WQA Research Report, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, Rapid City, South Dakota, July 1981.

2. Alleman, James E., Quantitative Assessment Effectiveness of Permanent Magnetic Water Conditioning Devices -- a WQA Research Report, Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana,November 1985.

3.Testimony presented in Federal Court by Dr. D.W. Larsen,University of Regina, 1988.

4. Testimony presented in Federal Court by Dr. Keith Johnson, University of Regina, 1988.

5. Testimony presented in Federal Court by Dr. Hyman Gesser,University of Winnipeg, 1988

Click the links below for more information:

Catalytic water treatment pseudoscience

WQA Magnetics Task Force Report