350-h. Water treatment units. 1. No person shall sell, offer for sale, rent, lease or possess for the purpose of resale or distribution any water treatment unit for use in this state unless each water treatment unit has a conspicuous and legible label stating, "IMPORTANT NOTICE, Read the Performance Data Sheet." and is accompanied by a performance data sheet placed on, in, or otherwise made a part of the containers or wrappers of such units.
2. No person, firm or corporation shall engage in the following practices in the sale, offer for sale, rental, lease or other distribution of water treatment units, as defined in section three hundred fifty-g of this article:
a. Make materially false or misleading claims concerning the quality of a prospective purchaser's public water supply or private well water;
b. Make materially false or misleading claims which state the kind and degree of problems caused by water from a public water supply;
c. Make materially false or misleading claims that state or clearly imply scientific certainty regarding the relationship between acute or chronic illnesses and water quality, unless based on valid scientific studies;
d. Make product performance claims and product benefit claims unless such claims are based on factual data obtained from tests conducted by a qualified laboratory following scientifically valid test procedures, and for which data is in existence at the time such claims are made;
e. Make uses of pictures, exhibits, graphs, charts or other graphic portrayals in advertisements in a materially false or misleading manner;
f. Make materially false or misleading claims that state or clearly imply that serious harm may or will occur or be prevented if the product is not purchased, or may or will be prevented if the product is purchased;
g. State or clearly imply that the water flowing from a water treatment unit is pure unless such water meets or exceeds all federal or state drinking water guidelines and maximum contaminant levels;
h. Make claims that state or clearly imply that a water treatment unit would provide a health benefit or diminish a health risk unless reasonably defined;
i. Make materially false or misleading statements that the contaminants reduced by a water treatment unit are present in excess of permitted levels in the drinking water of the person to whom the statement is made;
j. Make use of endorsements or testimonials which do not state the qualifications of the person giving them; are materially false or misleading; or which do not accurately reflect the context in which they were made or given;
k. Knowingly omit facts from advertisements to mislead or to misrepresent;
l. Make use of tests or test results of a consumer's drinking water in a materially false or misleading manner in order to induce a person to purchase a water treatment unit; or
m. Make materially false or misleading claims that the following characteristics are in and of themselves health-threatening contaminants or contaminations: color, odor, taste, corrosivity, pH, total dissolved solids, turbidity, hardness, iron, manganese, sodium, chlorine, sulfate, zinc, copper, foaming agents, or chloride, unless designated to be a primary contaminant by the United States Environmental Protection Agency, or if existing characteristics exceed any federal or state drinking water guidelines or maximum contaminant levels.
Last modified: February 3, 2019