Quality assurance and accreditation
The Quality Management System at the Marine Monitoring Department of Latvian Institute of Aquatic Ecology was established in 1999. The laboratory was established in 2007 and is compliant with the standard LVS EN ISO/IEC 17025:2017 “General requirements for the competence of testing and calibration laboratories”.
As an official confirmation of the compliance of the management system and its competence to perform the activities included in the scope of accreditation (sampling and testing) in accordance with the requirements of this standard, Marine Monitoring Department has been granted the status of an accredited body with accreditation certificate number LATAK-T-169-16-99.
Current scope of accreditation
Accreditation covers sampling and physicochemical, hydrobiological and ecotoxicological testing of seawater, freshwater, marine and freshwater soils; physicochemical testing of soils and biological objects; ecotoxicological testing of effluents and chemicals.
Accredited methods
1999 – standard chemistry methods for nutrients and dissolved oxygen, as well as water sampling for testing these parameters.
2000 – method for determining the pH of water.
2001 – hydrobiological methods: sampling and testing for chlorophyll a, phytoplankton, mesozooplankton and soft-bottom macrozoobenthos. The original method for measuring mercury was replaced by a more environmentally friendly alternative.
2001 – 2003 – methods for metal content determination in sediments, soil and biological samples for dangerous metals, including mercury (Hg), lead (Pb) and cadmium (Cd).
2017 – 2019 – acute toxicity methods for freshwater, wastewater and detection of acute chemical toxicity using Daphnia magna Straus and unicellular green algae test organisms were added.
For more information on the current scope and methods of accreditation, see the website of “Latvian National Accreditation Bureau”. For a list of all accredited bodies, see the link to the Marine Monitoring department scope of accreditation (No T-169).