What Happened to Berkey: The EPA Orders and What to Buy Now

What did the EPA actually do?

Most accounts of this say the EPA acted because Black Berkey elements contain silver. The orders themselves say something more specific, and the difference matters if you are trying to understand what happened.

An EPA inspector visited James Enterprise Inc., trading as Berkey Filters, in Pueblo, Colorado on 22 November 2022. The order records the labelling the inspector observed, including virus reduction above 99.999% and pathogenic bacteria reduction above 99.9999%, described as exceeding a Log 6 purification standard against a named anthrax surrogate. It also records website statements about removing 100% of pathogens and about classifying the systems as purifiers.

A separate statement about silver acting as an antimicrobial to self-sterilise the elements appears in that list too, as one item among several. The order’s conclusion names the claims collectively: these statements indicate the products are intended for preventing, destroying, repelling or mitigating a pest, and are therefore pesticides under the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

Two violations followed. Distributing an unregistered pesticide under FIFRA section 12(a)(1)(A), because the products were not registered with the EPA. And distributing a misbranded pesticide under section 12(a)(1)(E), because the labels carried no establishment registration number.

The two orders, and where they stand

Both orders are public on the EPA’s administrative enforcement docket. Here is what each one says.

The second order states that it remains in effect unless and until it is revoked, terminated, suspended or modified in writing by the EPA. As of 7 September 2026, neither docket records any filing after the original order in each case.

The orders also set out a process for exceptions. A recipient can ask the EPA in writing for permission to move or remove covered products, and must submit a written accounting of inventory within 30 days and every 30 days thereafter.

What the record does not tell you

We have read the orders and the docket entries. Several things people reasonably want to know are simply not answered by those documents, and we would rather say so than fill the gap.

• Whether Black Berkey elements are still manufactured anywhere. The orders bind their named recipients. No document we have seen states that production has stopped globally.
• When, or whether, standalone elements return. No filing on either docket sets a date, and we will not guess at one.
• The current state of the related litigation. Published accounts disagree with one another on which cases remain open. We have not verified the court records directly, so this page makes no claim about them.
• Whether any given element offered for sale is genuine. If provenance matters to you, buy from an authorised dealer and ask.

We are a review site, not a testing lab and not a law firm. Everything above about the orders comes from the EPA’s own filings, which are linked in the sources at the foot of this page so you can read them yourself.

Why “certified” on a gravity element is rarely what it sounds like

If you shop for replacement elements you will see certification claims on almost every listing. We checked each one against the certifier’s own database, and a consistent pattern emerged that changes how you should read them.

In this category, performance certifications are almost always issued against a complete system, naming a specific element as the replacement component inside it. They are not issued against the element as a standalone part that fits anything. So an element marketed as fitting Berkey, ProOne, Boroux and Alexapure housings may be genuinely certified, and that certification was still established in the maker’s own unit.

That is not a reason to avoid these filters. It is a reason to read the claim precisely, because the same words mean different things depending on what the certificate covers.

What each element is actually certified for

Certification records checked directly with NSF International and IAPMO R&T on 7 September 2026. IAPMO R&T and NSF International are different certification bodies; both certify products against NSF/ANSI standards, so a product certified by IAPMO is not “NSF certified” even when the standard number is the same.

Two further points on how these standards are described in the wild. NSF/ANSI/CAN 372 governs how much lead is in the product’s own materials, the lead-free plumbing requirement, and it is not a claim about removing lead from water. And figures like “reduces 200 or more contaminants” are third-party laboratory testing rather than certification, which is a meaningful difference: testing is a set of results, certification adds ongoing factory surveillance and audit.

What to buy if you need elements now

All three of these drop into a standard Berkey stainless housing. They differ substantially in what has actually been certified, and that is the basis for the order below.

Why MaxClear first

It holds four active IAPMO R&T certificates covering more ground than anything else we could verify in gravity filtration. Lead and total PFAS under NSF/ANSI 53, and under NSF/ANSI 401 a list that includes microplastics alongside four named pharmaceuticals and three pesticides. Nothing else in this category comes close on breadth of certified claim.

The honest caveat is the one that applies to the whole category. Those claims were certified in Culligan’s own MaxClear Venture and Scout systems, with the MCF701 named as the replacement component. Using the element in a Berkey housing is outside what the certificate covers, even though it fits.

The second caveat is capacity. The certified rating is 50 gallons per filter, which for a household drinking a couple of gallons a day is a matter of weeks rather than months. Running the element longer is not unsafe, but you are past the point the certificate speaks to.

Where the others fit

Phoenix Gravity is the element New Millennium Concepts endorses for use in Berkey systems, and it is the only one here whose element holds a certification in its own right rather than as part of a system. That certification is narrow: chlorine, taste and odour. If your water is municipally treated and taste is your concern, that is a reasonable match, and the tested capacity of roughly 1,057 gallons per element is far longer than the 50-gallon ratings above.

ProOne Big+ is the option if you would rather buy a system whose certification actually covers the way you are using it. Note that ProOne is being brought under the Culligan MaxClear brand, so this is the outgoing line even though the certificates remain active and the filters remain compatible.

British Berkefeld with Ultra Sterasyl candles is worth knowing about for a specific case. It is the only option here certified for cyst reduction, which matters more for untreated or emergency supplies than for city water. It carries no lead or PFAS claim.

If you are reconsidering gravity filtration altogether, our best gravity water filters roundup covers the category, and countertop reverse osmosis is the usual step up for anyone who wants certified health claims without a plumbing job.

Questions people ask about this