Code of Maryland Regulations › Title 26 - DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENT › Part 2 - SUBTITLES 08-12 › Subtitle 08 - WATER POLLUTION › Chapter 26.08.05 - Certification of State Water Quality Laboratories › Section 26.08.05.03 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 51, No. 14, July 12, 2024
A. "Analyst" means
				  a person responsible for performing tests and reporting analytical
				  results.
B. "Certification
				  Authority" means the Secretary or the Secretary's designee who has signature
				  authority for all certification decisions.
C. "Certification officers" means the
				  Department personnel who have the responsibility of certifying water quality
				  laboratories under their purview.
D. "Denial" means a refusal of certification
				  for a specific method or the analysis of specific parameters, or refusal of
				  initial certification for a water quality laboratory.
E. "Department" means the Department of the
				  Environment.
F. "Director" means
				  director of a laboratory.
G.
				  "Laboratory" means a water quality laboratory.
H. "Laboratory quality assurance" means an
				  integrated system of management activities involving planning, quality control,
				  quality assessment, reporting, and quality improvement to ensure that
				  laboratory results meet defined standards of quality with a stated level of
				  confidence.
I. "NELAP" means the
				  National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program, a program operated by
				  TNI to provide certification for environmental laboratories.
J. "Person" means an individual, corporation,
				  company, association, partnership, state, county, municipal corporation,
				  federal agency, special taxing area, or any other entity.
K. "Provisionally certified" means a
				  certification status for a laboratory that has deficiencies but demonstrates
				  its ability to consistently produce valid data within the acceptance limits
				  specified in the National Public Drinking Water Regulation (NPDWR), and within
				  the policy required by their certification authority.
L. "Quality Assurance Manual" means a
				  document that describes the water quality laboratory's Quality Assurance
				  Program, which includes the organizational structure, policies, and procedures
				  for training, sampling, reporting, corrective action, ethics, preventative
				  maintenance, pollution control, and disposal.
M. "Quality assurance officer" means the
				  laboratory personnel responsible for keeping the laboratory's Quality Assurance
				  Manual updated, and ensuring that the quality assurance practices are
				  implemented.
N. "Revocation" means
				  a cancellation of a valid laboratory certification or for a specific approved
				  drinking water method.
O.
				  "Secretary" means the Secretary of the Department of the Environment.
P. "TNI" means The NELAC Institute. The
				  institute is a nonprofit organization for the development of standards for the
				  accreditation of laboratories and the evaluation and approval of accreditation
				  bodies.
Q. "Water quality
				  laboratory" means a facility that examines public drinking water for the
				  purpose of identifying or measuring microbiological, chemical, physical, or
				  radiochemistry parameters to determine its compliance with, or produces
				  laboratory data for enforcement of, the federal Safe Drinking Water Act or
				  State standards or public drinking water.
R. "Water quality laboratory supervisor"
				  means a person who directs the day-to-day activities of a water quality
				  laboratory and is responsible for assuring the quality of laboratory
				  results.