Successful Completion of the MCERTS (water) pilot programme
The United Kingdom Accreditation Service (UKAS) has been working in partnership with its customers and the Environment Agency for England and Wales for over 2 years to deliver a framework for accreditation to satisfy the Agency’s Monitoring Certification Scheme performance standard for organisations undertaking sampling and chemical testing of water, MCERTS (Waters).
In accordance with the timeline published on the UKAS website in September 2008, UKAS is delighted to report that on 1st June 2010, accreditation was granted to 18 applicants for a range of wastewater sampling and testing activities meeting the requirements for MCERTS (Waters).
Mike Healy, Technical Advisor for Releases Monitoring from the Environment Agency said ‘The Water Companies have permits that require them to use organisations accredited for MCERTS (Waters) for sampling and analysis of effluents by 1st July 2010 and the feedback I have received from Agency Officers so far has been positive regarding effluent sampling.’
The MCERTS Standard is an application of ISO/IEC 17025 (General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories) specifically for the sampling and chemical testing of untreated sewage, treated sewage effluents and trade effluents.
The stated aims of the MCERTS (Waters) Standard are;
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· To ensure that accredited bodies, the public and other organisations involved in the analysis of untreated sewage, treated sewage effluents and trade effluents can be confident that the information being provided is reliable.
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· That everybody in the competitive market of untreated sewage, treated sewage effluents and trade effluents testing will be working towards meeting the same standard. The standard sends the message that the chemical testing of untreated sewage, treated sewage effluents and trade effluents is a critical component in producing reliable information for regulatory purposes;
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· To promote and raise the professional reputation of staff and organisations involved in the testing of untreated sewage, treated sewage effluents and trade effluents.
For further information, or if you have any queries about being accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 for this MCERTS Standard please contact either Paul Greenwood (paul.greenwood@ukas.com) or Debbie Hudson (debbie.hudson@ukas.com).