FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: 2008-07-02

SCC renews commitment to helping ensure the safety of drinking water in Ontario

The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) today announced that it has signed a new agreement with the Ontario Ministry of the Environment (MOE) for the accreditation of environmental laboratories tasked with conducting drinking water testing.

In 2002, the Ontario provincial government passed the Safe Drinking Water Act (OSDWA) that made accreditation and licensing of drinking-water testing laboratories mandatory.  The following year, the Province signed a tripartite agreement that tasked the SCC and the Canadian Association for Environmental Analytical Laboratories (CAEAL) with jointly accrediting laboratories to test drinking water. That tripartite agreement comes to an end July 31, 2008.  The newly signed Accreditation Agreement Accreditation of Drinking-Water Testing Laboratories enables both SCC and CAEAL to individually offer accreditation services to drinking-water testing laboratories, effective August 01, 2008.

"Under the 2003 agreement, laboratories were assessed by CAEAL and accredited by SCC. That meant that labs were required to pay fees to both CAEAL and SCC," noted David Dulmage, Manager, Laboratory Accreditation for the SCC. "Now, laboratories accredited by SCC will see a reduction in costs as they will no longer have to deal with a separate organization for assessment. This new arrangement also represents a substantial cost savings to those labs that conduct other testing in addition to drinking water because the OSDWA portion of the accreditation will now come under the SCC fee schedule as an additional program specialty area."

Additional enhancements to the program include the new "2 x 2" Performance-Based Proficiency Testing (PT) Program.  This initiative reduces the number of required proficiency tests samples required by accredited laboratories that consistently perform well. Labs that meet the criteria set out in CAN-P-1585 Requirements for the Accreditation of Environmental Testing Laboratories, will still have to conduct two rounds of PT per year for each test listed in their environmental scope, however they will only be required to test two samples per round, rather than four. This will result in additional cost savings.

Laboratories that choose to seek accreditation through the SCC benefit from internationally recognized credentials.  As a signatory to several international and regional arrangements, SCC accreditation is recognized around the globe.  Under these arrangements, each organization recognizes the equivalence of accreditations performed by its counterparts, and promotes the acceptance of test results from such accreditations within its own country.  Linkages are maintained with numerous laboratory accreditation organizations through the Asia Pacific Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (APLAC) and the International Laboratory Accreditation Cooperation (ILAC).

SCC’s accreditation services for environmental testing laboratories are offered under the Council’s Program for the Accreditation of Laboratories - Canada (PALCAN). The requirements for accreditation by SCC, under the PALCAN program are based on ISO/IEC 17025, the international standard for technical competence and quality in all areas of testing and calibration.

Laboratories affected by the new Drinking Water agreement may direct specific inquiries to the Manager, Laboratory Accreditation at [email protected].  

The Standards Council of Canada (SCC) is a Crown corporation that promotes efficient and effective voluntary standardization in Canada. The SCC is involved in coordinating Canada's participation in the development of international standards and, as Canada's national standardization body, oversees the efforts of the National Standard System.  Its Program for Accreditation of Laboratories - Canada (PALCAN) has accredited about 400 laboratories in a variety of general testing and specialty areas. For more information on the Standards Council, visit www.scc.ca or e-mail [email protected].
 

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