A General Approach to Accreditation of Environmental Laboratories in Turkey

Abstract

In this study, the accreditation of environmental parameters and types of laboratories accredited by ISO 17025 Standard were compared. In Turkey, environmental laboratories were classified as public, private and university laboratories. Furthermore, environmental parameters considered in this study are water quality parameters and air quality parameters. In current study, 43 water quality parameters in university and 47 water quality parameters in public and private institutions were examined with regard to accredited laboratories in Turkey. Accredited water quality parameters in public and private institution as different from universities are Total Solid, Ammonia/Ammonia Nitrogen, Total Nitrogen, and Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen. As for air quality parameters, the number of air quality parameters accredited in public and private institutions is approximately twice as air parameters accredited in universities (42 and 26, respectively). The most accredited water parameter is pH, with total of 65, where 44 of them are private, 11 are public and 10 are university laboratories. Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) and Suspended Solid (SS) are placed in the second order with total of 56. Here, 39 private, 10 public and 7 university laboratories are accredited in terms of COD and 40 private, 10 public and 6 university laboratories are accredited in terms of SS. Conductivity is next remarkable parameter with total of 53 institutions (37 private, 8 public and 8 university laboratories). In air parameters, the most accredited one is the SO2, with total of 52 (49 private, 2 public and 1 university laboratory).