The Tarheel Pipeline, Winter 2015

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Winter 2015 31
feature
From National Environmental Laboratory
Accreditation Program (NELAP) and EPA
regulations in the U.S. to increasingly more
stringent European Commission requirements,
laboratories in the water industry rely heavily
on accurate and well organized sample data
collection, management and reporting. More
importantly, water and wastewater labs must
be able to demonstrate—at any time and
with certainty—that their data is traceable
and defensible.
In an environment with persistent and
increasing regulatory reporting requirements,
environmental and water testing labs must
be able to prove data quality at all times,
and they must do so without constraining
productivity. Simply put, a lab’s findings
must be defensible based on proven processes
and robust supporting data.
The Importance of Data Management
A single laboratory test result doesn’t exist
in vacuum: even a commonly executed gas
chromatography result is the sum of many
complementary parts, from supplier shipment
data and staff training records to carrier gas
and reagent quality checks. Ideally, all of
these pieces of data work together to prevent
errors and make results more defensible.
Integrated informatics enable labs to execute
and manage all lab processes easily, with the
data rigor and intelligence that lab managers
require to drive efficiency and profitability—
for the lab and for the business.
By Trish Meek
ENSURING
DEFENSIBLE
DATA IN
THE WATER
INDUSTRY