CONTROLLING OUR DESTINY INFLUENCING THE NELAC STANDARDS IMPLEMENTATION IN VIRGINIA

摘要

Environmental Laboratories throughout the nation are faced with one of the greatestrnchallenges in their history. The National Environmental Laboratory Conferencern(NELAC) has spent recent years developing comprehensive standards designed tornlevel the playing field and ensure the quality and reliability of all laboratoriesrngenerating data used for compliance with environmental regulatory programs. InrnVirginia, legislation has already been passed that mandates that the NELAC standardsrn(whatever their final form), be adopted as the accreditation standards for allrnenvironmental laboratories.rnIn reality, the standards potentially enhance the prospects for some laboratories whilernthreatening the survival of others (public and private). The laboratory communityrnreaction varies from stunned to jubilant, from paranoid to mildly apprehensive. Therernare many labs that are not aware of what is coming. Regardless of stance, manyrnlaboratories have joined forces to influence the content of the standards and theirrnimplementation in Virginia, and to spread the word throughout the laboratoryrncommunity. Rather than idly complain about what is proposed, a growing contingencyrnof Virginia抯 environmental laboratories are actively participating in the process.rnThis presentation will outline the efforts to date. Included will be the educational,rnstandards review, and draft regulatory efforts of the Virginia Water EnvironmentrnAssociation/American Water Works Association (VWEA/AWWA) LaboratoryrnPractice Committee (LPC), the Virginia NELAC Workgroup (VNW), and thernCommonwealth抯 Ad Hoc Advisory Group. The efforts are dynamic and ongoing. Thisrnpresentation will describe how the grassroots effort was born, gained momentum, andrnis continuing to influence the destiny of laboratory accreditation nationally as well asrnin Virginia. The goal of this presentation is to reach additional laboratories withrninformation about NELAC as well as inspire participation in the process.