Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (ELAP)
ELAP provides evaluation and accreditation of environmental testing laboratories to ensure the quality of analytical data used for regulatory purposes to meet the requirements of the State's drinking water, wastewater, shellfish, food, and hazardous waste programs. The State agencies which monitor the environment use the analytical data from these accredited laboratories. The ELAP-accredited laboratories have demonstrated capability to analyze environmental samples using approved methods.
The National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (NELAP) granted recognition of ELAP on July 1, 1999, to be the NELAP Accrediting Authority for California.
What is New
Certified laboratories for Testing Nitrate in Drinking Water
A list has been posted below in "Procedures and Lists".
Certified laboratories for Testing Chromium-6 in Drinking Water
A list has been posted below in "Procedures and Lists". NOTE: Public water systems outside of California should be aware that California's method currently uses a 1-ppb detection limit for purposes of reporting (DLR). However, analytical results at concentrations below the DLR may be reported when laboratories have associated quality assurance data for their results. Any modification to California’s current DLR will be part of an MCL evaluation and development process. In addition, California concurs with USEPA’s temporary extension of the maximum holding time for properly preserved drinking water samples from 24 hours to 5 days. These recommendations may be revised once USEPA finalizes the re-evaluation of its hexavalent chromium analytical method for drinking water samples. Follow this link for further details on this information and California's activities related to the regulation of chromium-6 in drinking water.
Draft Regulations for Certification of Environmental Laboratories
Please see the latest version (March 8, 2010) of the draft regulations for Certification of Environmental Laboratories (PDF)
. This version shows draft additions and deletions to current regulations.
For Health & Safety Code statutes and current ELAP regulations, see "Statutes and Regulations," below.
Draft ELAP Regulations - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) (PDF)- March 25, 2009.