If you're shopping for a whole-house water filter in Australia and the seller can't show you a WaterMark certificate, walk away. Not because the unit is necessarily bad — but because installing an uncertified plumbing-connected product is a code violation that voids your home insurance and exposes the installing plumber to deregistration. Here's the short, practical version.
What WaterMark is
WaterMark is the certification scheme operated by the Australian Building Codes Board (ABCB) for products that connect to mains water plumbing. It's mandatory under the Plumbing Code of Australia (PCA) — Section A5.4 — for any product that contacts drinking water on the supply side.
Certification means an independent test lab has verified the product meets the relevant Australian Standards (AS/NZS) for:
- Material safety in contact with drinking water (no leaching of harmful substances)
- Pressure tolerance and structural integrity
- Flow rate accuracy
- Backflow prevention if applicable
- Connection compatibility with Australian plumbing fittings
Why it matters legally
Three concrete consequences if a non-WaterMark product is installed in your home:
- Your plumber loses their licence (or worse). Plumbing licensees in every state have a duty to install only WaterMark-certified products. Knowingly installing uncertified gear is a deregistration-level offence.
- Your home insurance won't cover related damage. If the uncertified unit fails and floods your house, your insurer can — and usually does — refuse the claim citing "non-compliant alteration to plumbing".
- Building inspections at sale time flag it. When you sell, a building/pest inspection will identify uncertified plumbing. Buyers either back out or renegotiate down.
How to check certification yourself
Two routes:
- Look for the WaterMark logo — a stylised "W" on the product itself, plus a license number. Real one looks like this: WMKA##### or AS/NZS####.
- Search the official register. The ABCB publishes a public list at watermark.abcb.gov.au. Type the license number or brand and you'll see the certification scope and expiry.
If a seller can't tell you their WaterMark licence number off the top of their head, that's your answer.
Common products that need WaterMark
- Whole-house water filters (yes — the unit and every cartridge)
- Under-sink filters that plumb into the cold water line
- Backflow prevention devices
- Tap fittings, mixers, hoses
- Hot water systems
- Toilet cisterns
What doesn't need it
- Standalone water dispensers / atmospheric water generators like the Forever Water A10 — these don't connect to mains, they make water from the air, so WaterMark doesn't apply
- Brita-style countertop jugs
- Shower-head filters that screw onto an existing fitting (some grey-area exceptions)
Forever Water and WaterMark
Our HPF-3 whole-house system carries WaterMark certification (and so do the cartridges). It's installed only by licensed Queensland plumbers, who lodge a Form 4 plumbing notification with their state authority on completion. You receive a copy as part of the install paperwork.
Translation: when you sell, the install is documented. When you make an insurance claim, it's compliant. When something goes wrong, it's covered.
The takeaway
WaterMark certification adds 10–15% to the cost of plumbing products and is the reason cheaper imports are sometimes 30–40% cheaper than the proper Australian-compliant equivalents. The savings are real but the risk is also real. For a $3,999 whole-house system, the WaterMark line is non-negotiable. For a $30 shower-head filter, less so.
Read next: Whole-house vs. under-sink · What each filter stage does