Industry & Applied R&D
Environmental testing laboratories: methods, accreditation, data and societies
Environmental testing laboratories produce the analytical data behind regulatory compliance, site remediation and monitoring programmes, so their research practice is organised around method compendia and accreditation more than around journals. The US Environmental Protection Agency publishes those compendia by programme. SW-846 serves the hazardous waste programme under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, with chapters from quality control to incineration and method series for stack sampling, leaching, preparation, inorganics and chromatography. The Clean Water Act methods page covers approved chemical, microbiological, whole effluent toxicity and radiochemical methods under 40 CFR Part 136, plus the Alternate Test Procedure for modified or new methods. Drinking water laboratories must use EPA-approved methods.
Quality systems matter as much as methods. The NELAC Institute writes consensus laboratory accreditation standards through expert committees, runs a national proficiency testing programme that supports NELAP, and maintains NEFAP for field sampling organisations. NVLAP assesses laboratories against ISO/IEC 17025:2017 and has an Asbestos Fiber Analysis programme. The EPA Contract Laboratory Program supplies Superfund data of known and documented quality, with National Functional Guidelines for data review, and MARLAP guides projects that depend on radionuclide analysis.
The Air Quality System holds ambient monitoring data from thousands of monitors, the Water Quality Portal combines data from USGS, EPA and over 400 other agencies, and the CompTox Chemicals Dashboard covers over one million chemicals. SETAC, AWWA and WEF are the main societies, and Environmental Science & Technology and Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry carry much of the peer-reviewed work. Researchers and administrators in this field must check which method version a permit names, whether a laboratory is accredited for that analyte and matrix, and how data will be validated.
Reviewed 5 November 2026 by CASRAI Editorial Board
- EPA SW-846 Compendium(read 5 November 2026)
- EPA SW-846 landing page(read 5 November 2026)
- EPA CWA Analytical Methods(read 5 November 2026)
- EPA Drinking Water Analytical Methods(read 5 November 2026)
- EPA AMTIC(read 5 November 2026)
- The NELAC Institute(read 5 November 2026)
- EPA Contract Laboratory Program(read 5 November 2026)
- Water Quality Portal(read 5 November 2026)
- NIST NVLAP(read 5 November 2026)
- NVLAP accreditation programs(read 5 November 2026)
- EPA AQS(read 5 November 2026)
- EPA MARLAP(read 5 November 2026)
- EPA Quality Program(read 5 November 2026)
- SETAC(read 5 November 2026)
- AWWA(read 5 November 2026)
- WEF(read 5 November 2026)
- CompTox Chemicals Dashboard(read 5 November 2026)
- ES&T (Wikipedia)(read 5 November 2026)
- ET&C (Wikipedia)(read 5 November 2026)
- ChemRxiv (Wikipedia)(read 5 November 2026)
Field at a glance
Journals
- Environmental Science & Technology
- American Chemical Society journal founded in 1967, covering environmental science, environmental technology and policy.Website ↗
- Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry
- Monthly peer-reviewed journal founded in 1982, affiliated with SETAC, covering environmental toxicology and chemistry.Website ↗
Societies
- SETAC (Society of Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry)
- Not-for-profit society of about 10,000 members in over 90 countries; publishes Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry and Integrated Environmental Assessment and Management.Website ↗
- American Water Works Association (AWWA)
- Water community organisation that publishes over 200 consensus standards and Journal AWWA for drinking water professionals.Website ↗
- Water Environment Federation (WEF)
- Not-for-profit body for water quality professionals, with more than 31,000 community members and the annual WEFTEC exhibition.Website ↗
Funders and programmes
- EPA Contract Laboratory Program
- Supports Superfund by providing analytical data of known and documented quality to the 10 EPA Regional Offices; lists National Functional Guidelines for data review.Website ↗
- EPA Quality Program
- Sets agency-wide quality directives and information quality guidelines for collecting and using environmental information.Website ↗
- EPA Drinking Water Analytical Methods
- Requires EPA-approved methods; hosts the Alternate Test Procedure, expedited approval and the LCMRL calculator.Website ↗ · Our guide →
Archives, facilities and data
- EPA Air Quality System (AQS)
- EPA repository of ambient air data, monitor descriptions and QA information, reachable by API, Data Mart and AirData.Website ↗
- Water Quality Portal
- Cooperative service combining USGS, EPA and over 400 state, federal, tribal and local agency water-quality data.Website ↗
- CompTox Chemicals Dashboard
- EPA tool covering over one million chemicals with properties, fate, exposure and toxicity data.Website ↗
Standards and formats
- EPA SW-846 Compendium
- Hazardous waste test methods: chapters 1-13 and method series 0010-0100 through 9000, from stack sampling to leaching and determinative methods.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- EPA Clean Water Act Analytical Methods
- Approved chemical, microbiological, whole effluent toxicity and radiochemical methods under 40 CFR Part 136, and the ATP programme.Website ↗
- The NELAC Institute (TNI)
- Nonprofit writing laboratory accreditation standards; runs NELAP, a national PT programme and NEFAP for field sampling.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- NIST NVLAP
- Third-party accreditation of testing laboratories against ISO/IEC 17025:2017, including an Asbestos Fiber Analysis programme.Website ↗ · Our guide →
- MARLAP manual
- Multi-Agency Radiological Laboratory Analytical Protocols: guidance for planning, implementing and assessing projects needing radionuclide analysis.Website ↗
- EPA AMTIC
- EPA information centre for ambient air monitoring networks, approved methods and quality assurance.Website ↗
Preprints and indexes
24 pages across 6 topic areas
Laboratory Operations & Safety
- 40 CFR Part 136: Guidelines for Water Analysis
40 CFR Part 136 establishes EPA-approved test procedures, preservation rules, and QA/QC requirements for Clean Water Act wastewater and ambient water…
- A2LA Accreditation: What It Covers and How to Evaluate an A2LA-Accredited Supplier
A2LA (American Association for Laboratory Accreditation) accredits U.S. testing, calibration, and clinical labs against ISO/IEC standards. This guide…
- ANAB Accreditation: What It Covers and How to Verify It
What ANAB (ANSI National Accreditation Board) accredits, how it compares to A2LA/CAP/CLIA, how to verify a supplier's ANAB accreditation before you si…
- Continuous Emission Monitoring (CEMS): What It Measures and How It Is Checked
What a continuous emission monitoring system (CEMS) measures, how it differs from COMS and PEMS, and how Part 75 QA checks keep its data valid.…
- EPA Method 200.8, 200.7, and 6020: What They Require and How to Evaluate a Lab
EPA Method 200.8 (ICP-MS), 200.7 (ICP-OES), and 6020 (SW-846 ICP-MS) are the trace-metals testing methods most often specified in water-quality permit…
- EPA Method 537.1: PFAS Drinking Water Testing Guide
What EPA Method 537.1 covers, how it compares to EPA Methods 533 and 1633, and what to evaluate when qualifying a lab or vendor for PFAS testing.…
- EPA Method 8270, 8260, and 624: A Buying Guide to VOC/SVOC Testing
What EPA Methods 8270 (semivolatile organics), 8260/8260C/8260D (volatile organics), and 624/624.1 (Clean Water Act purgeables) actually measure, how…
- Volatile Organic Compound Detection: Methods Guide
Explore volatile organic compound detection methods, comparing EPA TO-15 canister GC-MS, NIOSH 2549 thermal desorption, and photoionization detectors.…
Scholarly Publishing
- Chemosphere Journal: Indexing and Review Guide
An objective guide to Chemosphere journal indexing, single-anonymized peer review policies, Clarivate Web of Science delisting, and article verificati…
- CompTox Chemicals Dashboard: EPA Data Guide
A technical guide to the EPA CompTox Chemicals Dashboard, detailing substance curation, QSAR properties, ToxCast bioassays, and batch data workflows.…
- ECOTOX Database: EPA Ecotoxicology Data Guide
A comprehensive guide to the EPA ECOTOX Knowledgebase, covering curation criteria, query workflows, export limits, and environmental risk assessment u…
- Envirofacts: Guide to EPA Environmental Data API
Guide to EPA Envirofacts: REST data service API, multi-system environmental database integration, FRS entity matching, and research analytical limits.…
- Environmental Science & Technology Guide
An operational guide to Environmental Science & Technology (ES&T): peer-review model, author guidelines, MEDLINE indexing, and article verification st…
- Journal of Hazardous Materials Review Guide
An operational guide to the Journal of Hazardous Materials: peer review, MEDLINE indexing, sister titles, and manuscript submission criteria.…
- SETAC: Environmental Toxicology & Chemistry Guide
A complete guide to SETAC: tripartite governance, Pellston consensus workshops, flagship journals ET&C and IEAM, and annual meeting navigation.…
- Toxics Release Inventory: Guide to EPA TRI Data
Research guide to EPA Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) data: statutory authority, Form R and Form A reporting, longitudinal CSV downloads, and data limi…
Laboratory Compliance & Quality
- Calibration Certificates and Metrological Traceability: What "NIST-Traceable" Actually Means
What a compliant calibration certificate must contain, what metrological traceability (VIM) actually requires, why "NIST-traceable" is widely misused,…
- ISO/IEC 17025: What It Actually Accredits and How It Differs from ISO 9001
ISO/IEC 17025:2017 accredits a laboratory’s technical competence for a defined scope of tests or calibrations — it does not certify the organization a…
- Proficiency Testing & External Quality Assessment (EQA) for Accredited Labs
How proficiency testing (PT) and external quality assessment (EQA) schemes work under ISO/IEC 17043 and CLIA, including how PT samples must be handled…
- Type I, II and III Laboratory Water: Grades, Standards and Uses Compared
ASTM D1193, ISO 3696 and CLSI GP40 define laboratory water grades (Type I/II/III, Grade 1/2/3, CLRW) with overlapping but non-identical resistivity, T…
Laboratory Equipment & Instrumentation
- High-Resolution Mass Spectrometry: How Much Resolving Power and Mass Accuracy You Actually Need
Resolving power and mass accuracy specified by job rather than by datasheet: the resolving power needed to separate named isobaric pairs, how many can…
- SPE Cartridge Selection and Method Optimization: Sorbent Choice and the Wash-Step Trade-Off
A method-development guide to solid phase extraction: choosing a sorbent from analyte pKa and log D, the strong-versus-weak exchanger rule, and how to…
Grants Management & Research Funding
- QAPP: Quality Assurance Project Plan Explained
What a QAPP is, whether the EPA 2024 Standard or QA/R-5 applies by award date, the plan elements, and the approval sequence.…
Research Tools & Software
- What Is a LIMS? Laboratory Information Management System Explained
A Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) tracks lab samples, workflows, and results with a full audit trail. This guide explains what a LIMS…
