LABORATORY ACCREDITATION/PROFICIENCY TESTING

NABL Accreditation of CPCB Laboratories Meeting ISO / IEC-17025 (1999) Requirement

National Accreditation Board for Laboratories (NABL) has granted Accreditation to CPCB Laboratories as per ISO/IEC-17025 (1999) during April, 2004. The NABL Surveillance Assessment was held during 20th – 21st December, 2004. The NABL assessment team in its report has highlighted that "CPCB Laboratories are equipped with State of the art equipment maintained under valid calibration and these are operated by authorized persons to generate valid and reliable results. Laboratory personnel are well experienced and qualified in their relevant fields".

Performance of the CPCB laboratory participated in Inter-Laboratory Proficiency Testing (PT) programme" conducted under UN-GEMS/Water programme during February, 2004

Under United Nations GEMS (Global Environment Monitoring System) Water programme, an inter-laboratory proficiency testing (PT) programme was conducted by GEMS authority during February, 2004. A set of QC (Quality Control) samples of water quality parameters was received through Analytical Products Group Inc. (APG), USA, an accredited laboratory by National Institute of Standard and Technology (NIST), a proficiency testing provider. This QC samples carrying the known values were meant for practicing the analysis of the required parameters prior to take up actual unknown set of PE (Performance Evaluation) samples covering the same set of parameters. The QC and PE samples were analyzed and reported to GEMS authority during February, 2004. The salient features of the performance of laboratories based on the PE (Performance Evaluation) samples are given below:

All the 19 parameters reported were found as qualified under PT programme. The performance of the various parameters is presented in following table.

List of parameters covered under GEMS/Water PT programme and its relative performance

S.No.

Analyte

Relative performance

1

Ammonia Nitrogen as N

Excellent

2

Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD)

Excellent

3

Chloride

Excellent

4

Magnesium

Good

5

Nitrate Nitrogen as N

Good

6

Total Hardness as CaCO3

Satisfactory

7

Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD)

Satisfactory

8

Total Dissolved Solids

Satisfactory

9

Alkalinity as CaCO3

Satisfactory

10

Potassium

Satisfactory

11

Total Phosphorus and P

Satisfactory

12

Orthophosphate as P

Satisfactory

13

Conductivity

Satisfactory

14

Sulphate

Satisfactory

15

Total Organic Carbon (TOC)

Satisfactory

16

pH

Satisfactory

17

Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen (TKN)

Point of concern

18

Calcium

Point of concern

19

Sodium

Point of concern


The performance among the various participated laboratories for various parameters, according to ranking, CPCB laboratory was assessed as Rank # 1 in the case of COD. Similarly in case of Ammonical Nitrogen, Magnesium and Chloride, these were # 2, 4 and 6 respectively. The team of analysts of CPCB laboratories who carried out the analysis of various parameters are highly appreciated.

Proficiency Testing (PT) programme conducted for NABL accredited laboratories:

Proficiency Testing (PT) is one of the main components of Quality Assurance system, wherein the quality of analytical data being generated in any laboratory is controlled through minimizing or controlling errors to achieve a target accuracy. Participation in proficiency testing programme, involving inter-laboratory test comparisons, provides valuable information with regard to status of performance of laboratories participating in the programme.

National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India has assigned the task of conducting Proficiency Testing (PT) programme under the tile (Chemical testing of Water : TC 29) to Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB). This programme was conducted during September, 2004 covering sixty two laboratories accredited by NABL.

The main objectives of this PT programme are

  1. To assess the status of analytical competence of participating laboratories in view of Laboratory accreditation.

  2. To identify the serious constraints (random & systematic) in the working environment of laboratories.

  3. To promote the scientific and analytical competence of the concerned laboratories to the level of excellence for better output.

The parameters covered under this PT programme are: 1. Conductivity , 2. Total Hardness, 3. Fluoride, 4. Nitrate – N and 5. Iron – Total

The performance of the laboratories under this PT programme has been reported to the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India.