Laboratory Services

All laboratory and field activities conducted by ERD are covered by an internal Comprehensive Quality Assurance Plan which is updated on a routine basis. The ERD laboratory is also certified by NELAC (#E1031026) as a Basic Environmental Laboratory and for Heavy Metals. Quality control is very important at ERD for both laboratory and field operations. Quality control is continuously monitored on all work efforts and is frequently reviewed by the Quality Assurance Officer and the Project Director.

Since ERD performs water quality testing only for projects related to surface water and groundwater, laboratory procedures have been developed to optimize measurements within the range of values normally found in these water sources. This means that ERD can provide consistently lower detection limits for significant parameters, such as nutrients, than can be provided by other laboratories which measure a wide range of parameters from industrial wastes to drinking water. As an example, the minimum detection limits for orthophosphorus and (SRP) and total phosphorus in the ERD laboratory are 0.001 mg/l and 0.002 mg/l, respectively. Most other laboratories list detection limits of 0.005 mg/l and 0.050 mg/l for these parameters. Since typical concentrations of orthophosphorus and (SRP) and total phosphorus in surface water systems are less than 0.005 mg/l and 0.050 mg/l, the reported data from these laboratories is presented as <0.005 mg/l and <0.050 mg/l which is essentially useless data. ERD also conducts measurements of chlorophyll-a using the extremely accurate fluorometric technique which is based on actual chlorophyll-a standards instead of the spectrophotometric method, which is difficult to perform and replicate, does not utilize standards, and is valid only in fresh water systems.