News
16-Jan-2007 - Compliant with EU Water Framework Directive? Call
for Aquacheck’s PT scheme for priority substances
LGC’s Proficiency Testing Group supports laboratories
monitoring environmental quality of inland and coastal waters to EU
standards with tailored PT scheme
Throughout Europe, laboratories are testing inland and coastal
waters for pollutants such as metals pesticides and weed killers.
The target is to make all such waters comply with specified EU
environmental standards for ‘good status’ by 2015 as laid down by
the EU’s Water Framework Directive (2000). This defines
environmental standards for bodies of water and specifies
milestones and timescales for achieving environmentally good
quality water in rivers, lakes, streams and wetlands. With effect
from 22 December 2006, member states should now be compliant, with
monitoring programmes in place in each river basin
district.
The laboratories carrying out the testing need to be sure that
their methods and reference materials are adequate for assessing
the extent to which inland and other waters meet the standards.
Aquacheck, a leading proficiency testing (PT) provider in the
water sector, has already conducted two rounds of the first EU-wide
PT scheme covering practically all of the priority substances in
the EU Water Framework Directive. The first round involved 17
laboratories from 12 countries testing 39 chemicals, all but two of
the priority substances in the current list. Ten of the 17
laboratories participating in the trial achieved a satisfactory
level of performance in more than 75% of the tests they performed.
A third round is about to get underway.
Aquacheck’s Water Framework Directive Priority Substances PT
scheme was launched in 2006 and is being expanded this year. It
includes a workshop for new entrants and previous participants
scheduled for April 2007 to share ways in which relevant techniques
can be improved and harmonised using exercises and case studies to
cover common analytical problems.
According to Dr John Marriott, LGC’s Director of Analytical
Technology: “Laboratories involved in monitoring the priority
substances specified by the EU Water Framework Directive face
technical challenges. LGC’s Proficiency Testing Group has
recognised that the required performance at the regulatory limits
of many of the substances is at the forefront of what chemical
analysis can achieve. We have included 95% of the priority
substances within this PT scheme so participating laboratories will
be able to test their capabilities across the range of key
analytes.”
Laboratories wishing to join Aquacheck’s Water Framework
Directive Priority Substances PT scheme should register their
interest by email to: aquacheck@lgcpt.com. The scheme
commences on 29 January 2007 and will continue with additional PT
rounds later in the year and into 2008.
Aquacheck is a member of the LGC Group. LGC’s combined PT
operation with Aquacheck and Quality Management encompasses over
4,000 participating laboratories from across the world, creating a
major international provider of PT services.
Notes to
Editors