Louisiana Administrative Code
Title 48 - PUBLIC HEALTH-GENERAL
Part V - Preventive Health Services
Subpart 28 - Drinking Water Laboratories
Chapter 80 - Certification of Laboratories Performing Drinking Water Analyses
Subchapter D - Criteria and Procedures for Radiological/Radiochemical Testing and Analysis
Section V-8077 - Quality Assurance for Radiochemical Testing [Formerly Section 8075]

A. Laboratories which have received certification or are seeking certification to perform any of the required radiological/radiochemical analyses, shall have established quality control procedures pursuant to Chapter VI of the USEPA Manual for the Certification of Laboratories Analyzing Drinking Water.

B. The laboratory shall implement the essential quality controls procedures in Chapter VI of the USEPA Manual for the Certification of Laboratories Analyzing Drinking Water.

C. The laboratory shall perform all quality control procedures at the frequency required in the approved reference method(s) specified in 40 CFR Parts 141 and 143 for the analysis of drinking water parameters. In addition, the laboratory shall meet the acceptance criteria specified in the applicable, approved reference method(s) specified in 40 CFR Parts 141 and 143 for the analysis of drinking water parameters.

D. Laboratories which have received certification or are seeking certification to perform any of the required radiological/radiochemical analyses, shall maintain control charts for each instrument and method used by the laboratory for compliance monitoring sample measurements. Instrument initial calibrations and all efficiency and instrument background checks shall be maintained in a permanent record. Control charts shall be maintained as specified in Chapter VI of the USEPA Manual for the Certification of Laboratories Analyzing Drinking Water. Until sufficient data are available from the laboratory, usually a minimum of 20 to 30 test results on a specific analysis, the laboratory shall use the control limits (if specified) in the method. When sufficient data becomes available, the laboratory shall develop control charts from the mean percent recovery (x) and the standard deviation (S) of the percent recovery for the Quality Control (QC) checks specified in the above Subsections of this Section (also, see Chapter VI of the Handbook for Analytical QC in Water and Wastewater Laboratories, EPA-600/4-79-019 or Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater, 20th Edition, Part 1020B, or similar laboratory analytical QC reference texts for further information). These data are used to establish upper and lower control limits as follows:

E. After every 20 new recovery measurements, new control limits should be calculated using the most recent 20-30 data points. These calculated control limits shall not exceed those established in the method. If any of these calculated control limits are tighter than the control limits specified within the method, the laboratory shall use the tighter criteria.