MWH Labs, a leading U.S. water testing laboratory, today announced that it has been certified by the EPA as an Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Rule 2 (UCMR2) approved laboratory for all required analytical methods (521, 535, 527, 529, and 525). UCMR2 is a new EPA water monitoring program that requires public water systems to be screened for up to 25 chemicals between 2008 and 2010.

MWH Labs is one of a limited number of laboratories nationwide that has demonstrated the capability for doing both Assessment and Screening monitoring under the UCMR2 program. This allows MWH Labs to perform Assessment and Screening monitoring for any impacted public water utility. 

“Being fully approved by the EPA as a UCMR2 laboratory is a significant achievement, and allows MWH Labs to remain the leader in providing a broad set of drinking water testing services to our clients,” said Dr. Andrew Eaton, Vice President and Laboratory Director for MWH Labs. “We look forward to helping utilities meet this important new requirement that further safeguards the best public water quality in the world.”

Under the UCMR2 program, laboratories proposing to conduct the testing must submit complete data packages to the EPA for review. Following acceptance of the data packages, the lab is eligible to participate in proficiency testing to gain final approval for conducting testing under the new regulation.

Utilities that need to perform UCMR2 monitoring must provide EPA's SDWARS system with its contact information by April 4, 2007. Monitoring schedules and inventory of sample sites must be finalized in SDWARS by August 2, 2007.  If a utility is proposing a “representative ground water monitoring plan”, that plan must be submitted to EPA for approval by May 4, 2007.

Beginning in January, 2008, surface water systems must conduct four consecutive rounds of sampling on a quarterly basis and groundwater systems must conduct two rounds of sampling, five to seven months apart. All systems serving more than 100,000 people must conduct both Assessment and Screening monitoring, and all systems serving over 10,000 people must conduct Assessment monitoring.

Additionally, a subset of 10,000-100,000 population systems must conduct Screening monitoring. A number of systems serving fewer than 10,000 people will do either Assessment and Screening or Assessment only monitoring under a separate contract managed by the EPA.

About MWH Laboratories
MWH Labs is the largest water testing laboratory in the United States, serving water quality professionals worldwide. The company’s 35,000-square-foot analytical testing facility is located in Monrovia, California, where more than 120 leading chemists, microbiologists and scientists are employed.  In addition to being a comprehensive source for UCMR2 compliance, MWH Labs can deliver a wide array of other analytical capabilities, ranging from low-level drinking water analyses to leading-edge work with emerging contaminants like nitrosamines, pharmaceuticals and personal care products. For more information about how MWH Labs can support UCMR2 compliance efforts, please visit www.mwhlabs.com or call 1-800-566-LABS (5227).