Kentucky’s environmental regulators have presented their final regulations describing the laboratory certification program developed over the past year.  These regulations are not yet scheduled to pass through final approval and legislative oversight.  As with any birthing process, there will be people who are happy with this regulation and those who want changes.  No matter what your view, it is an important step to establish acceptable levels of competence.

The requirements of this set of regulations will roll in over the next year.  Certification is required only for samples you will use for compliance reporting under the KPDES program.  Traditional laboratories must file for certification and specify what types of analysis they will be providing.  There are fees, reports, test and schedules that are part of the process.

There are a few ways this can impact anyone with a KPDES permit that you may not be aware of.  For example, if you take your own samples, do the field screening parameters and then send the samples off to a traditional lab for analysis – you will have to become certified for field testing.  That means filing and passing a third party competency test.  The costs associated with being certified to take your own samples are not great, but there are requirements that must be met.  If you have an on-site laboratory and analyze all parameters, your certification requirements will be greater.

Make sure you have confirmed with your laboratory that they are certified or are on track to be certified in compliance with the regulations.  If you are taking field measurements or even just picking up the samples, read the regulation carefully and be sure you get certified.