WEF Discussion Forums : Laboratory Management and Technical Issues : Becoming a certified lab

A new permit for groundwater discharge for a small package plant that we operate requires that "all tests and analytical determinations...shall be performed by a state certified laboratory."  The tests are the typical ones (BOD, TSS, F. Coliform, etc.) that we have been performing here for years. 

 

Does anyone have a good source for guidelines for setting up SOP's and QA/QC protocols that we could acquire?  We have our own protocols but they are not quite a specific as may be required for certification.  Any hints for PT  testing???

 

Thanks.

 

Ann


]]> Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:15:27 GMT

You are going to have to ask the permit writer what it means to be a State Certified lab. Different States want different things, different departments in a State will want different things.

 

Good luck,

 

Mark


]]> Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:05:06 GMT You definitely want to contact the state where you will be certified.  They probably have a good outline for the certification process.  The only real good advice we could give you here would be for national certifications such as TNI or some other such program.


]]> Thu, 04 Feb 2010 16:31:09 GMT

 

Taking a chance that you might be from Massachusetts, Ann, you could start here...

 

 

http://http://www.mass.gov/dep/water 

 

...and click on "Lab Certification" toward the bottom of the page. If you aren't from MA, see if you can find the web site for your state's environmental regulatory agency (DEP, DEQ, whatever) and then search it for "lab certification".

 

 

 


]]> Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:16:52 GMT I agree with Mark, go back to your permit writer and see what they meant. They may consider your existing lab to be "certified" for the tests in your new permit.


]]> Fri, 05 Feb 2010 19:40:27 GMT

 http://www.nelac-institute.org/aboutus.php is the place to check if you are in a NELAC state.

 

Good luck


]]> Fri, 05 Feb 2010 23:06:14 GMT