Information and Resources for Certified Labs

If your laboratory is reporting lab results to the state for compliance, you must be currently certified by the State of Nevada Laboratory Certification Program. This includes laboratories that are subcontracted to perform analyses. Please see Nevada Administrative Code 445A for provisions, guidelines, and procedures guiding laboratory certification. Also see the Manual for the Certification of Laboratories Analyzing Drinking Water, Fifth Edition and the 2003 NELAC Standard which have both been adopted by reference.

Onsite Assessments

If you are an in-state laboratory you must pass an onsite assessment by our office every two years. 

If you are an out-of-state laboratory you must have your Certifying Authority or Accrediting Body send us your current scope and certificate as well as their most recent onsite assessment report and corrective actions. These must be emailed to NVLaboratoryCertification [at] ndep.nv.gov from your Certifying Authority or Accrediting Body directly and will not be accepted if your lab sends them to us.

• We are not a NELAC/TNI state and as such do not offer automatic reciprocity for all parameters on your TNI scope.
• All methods for which you are seeking certification for in Nevada, must have been assessed and granted certification/accreditation by a Certifying Authority or Accrediting Body recognized by the State of Nevada.

Documentation Required for Certification

We require the following documents for certification, though we reserve the right to request further documentation when needed:

• Quality Assurance Manual-This should be reviewed and updated annually
• Standard Operating Procedures for any prep methods-These should be reviewed and updated annually
• Demonstrations of Capability for any parameters for which a proficiency test does not exist from any provider. (See Proficiency Testing Information)
• Out of State Labs-current certificate/scope and last onsite assessment report as well as any associated corrective actions from your primary accrediting body(ies) covering all requested parameters

Fees Required for Certification

Annually and upon additions requests, laboratories will be required to pay a $700.00 application fee in addition to any applicable category fee. General fee breakdowns are available on the Fee Schedule. If you require a more accurate invoice picture please email Savannah Hash (shash [at] ndep.nv.gov) or Jasmine Curiel (jcuriel [at] ndep.nv.gov] and request a mock invoice.

Deterrence of Laboratory Fraud

Annually, labs should conduct or attend a training on preventing laboratory fraud. A PDF of a presentation put together by Don LaFara (former NV Laboratory Certification Program Supervisor) can be found here. You may also review the memo, Laboratory Fraud: Deterrence and Detection, from the EPA.

Toolbox

Here are some tools you can use to help prepare your lab to become Nevada Certified.

• The Certified Laboratory: Quality Assurance - Quality Control by Don LaFara
• Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) - If you are unfamiliar with SOPs we have an example SOP available here and a list of all the SOP criteria here.
• Solutions to Analytical Chemistry Problems with Clean Water Act Methods (also known as) The Pumpkin Book
• The Nevada Brownsfield Checklist
• 2003 NELAC Checklist

Other useful links

• US EPA Region 9 Home Page
• US EPA Ground Water and Drinking Water Home Page
• The NELAC Institute Home Page
• Nation Environmental Methods Index (NEMI)
• US EPA Collection of Methods
• Hazardous Waste Test Methods/SW-846

Any additional questions can be answered by our staff.