Virginia Administrative Code › Title 1 - ADMINISTRATION › Agency 30 - DEPARTMENT OF GENERAL SERVICES › Chapter 41 - REGULATION FOR THE CERTIFICATION OF LABORATORIES ANALYZING DRINKING WATER › Part I - General Provisions › Section 1VAC30-41-40 - Definitions

Current through Register Vol. 40, No. 24, July 15, 2024
The following words and terms when used in this chapter
					 shall have the following meanings unless the context [ clearly ] indicates
					 otherwise:
"Analyst" means a chemist, microbiologist, physicist, or
					 technician who actually performs a test. The analyst may carry out the complete
					 test or participate jointly with other analysts.
"Certification officer" means a DCLS employee who has the
					 responsibility for evaluating drinking water laboratories for
					 certification.
"Contaminant" means any objectionable or hazardous
					 physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water.
					 Contaminants are the analytes for which drinking water laboratories test in the
					 drinking water samples they analyze.
"Corrective action" means the action taken to eliminate the
					 causes of an existing nonconformity, defect, or other undesirable situation in
					 order to prevent recurrence.
"DCLS" means the Division of Consolidated Laboratory
					 Services of the Department of General Services.
"Drinking water laboratory" or "laboratory" means a
					 laboratory that performs analyses to demonstrate compliance with primary or
					 secondary maximum contaminant levels or action levels or any combination of
					 these specified in 12VAC5-590.
"EPA" means the United States Environmental Protection
					 Agency.
"Findings" means factual, objective statements that provide
					 evidence of deficiencies in meeting the requirements of this chapter.
"Laboratory director" or "laboratory supervisor" means the
					 person who directs the operation of the drinking water laboratory on a
					 day-to-day basis.
"Manual" means the EPA Office of Water, Manual for the
					 Certification of Laboratories Analyzing Drinking Water: Criteria and Procedures
					 Quality Assurance, Fifth Edition, EPA 815-R-05-004 (January 2005).
"Manual Supplement" means the EPA Office of Water,
					 Supplement 1 to the Fifth Edition of the Manual for the Certification of
					 Laboratories Analyzing Drinking Water, EPA 815-F-08-006 (June 2008).
"Maximum contaminant level" or "MCL" means the maximum
					 permissible level of a contaminant in [ pure ] water that is delivered to any
					 user of a waterworks [ . MCLs are set as close to the MCLGs as feasible using
					 the best available treatment technology. ] Maximum contaminant levels may be
					 either "primary" (PMCL), meaning based on health considerations, or "secondary"
					 (SMCL), meaning based on aesthetic considerations.
[ "Maximum contaminant level goal" or "MCLG" means the
					 level of a contaminant in drinking water below which there is no known or
					 expected risk to health. MCLGs allow for a margin of safety.
"National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program"
					 or "NELAP" means the national program to establish and implement a program for
					 the accreditation of environmental laboratories. NELAP relies on consensus
					 standards representing the best professional practices in the industry to
					 establish the requirements for this program, which is then implemented by state
					 agencies recognized by the NELAC Institute (TNI) as accreditation bodies.
					 ]
"Owner" means any person who owns, operates, leases, or
					 controls a drinking water laboratory.
"Persistent" means to continue an activity without change
					 in spite of opposition or warning.
"Private laboratory" means a laboratory that is, or is part
					 of, a commercial entity.
"Proficiency testing sample" or "PT sample" means a sample,
					 the composition of which is unknown to both the analyst and the laboratory. The
					 PT sample tests whether the analyst or laboratory or both can produce
					 analytical results within specified acceptance criteria.
"Public laboratory" means a laboratory that is, or is part
					 of, a local, state, or U.S. governmental agency.
[ "Pure water" means water fit for human consumption and
					 domestic use that is sanitary and normally free of minerals, organic
					 substances, and toxic agents in excess of reasonable amounts for domestic usage
					 in the area served and normally adequate in quantity and quality for the
					 minimum health requirements of the persons served (see Article 2 (§ 32.1-167 et
					 seq.) of Chapter 6 of Title 32.1 of the Code of Virginia). ]
"Quality assurance" means an integrated system of
					 management activities involving planning, quality control, quality assessment,
					 reporting, and quality improvement to ensure that a product or service meets
					 defined standards of quality with a stated level of confidence.
"Quality assurance plan" or "QA plan" means a comprehensive
					 plan detailing the aspects of quality assurance needed to adequately fulfill
					 the data needs of a program.
"Quality control" means:
1. The overall system of technical activities
				  whose purpose is to measure and control the quality of a product or service so
				  that it meets the needs of the users.
2. The operational techniques and activities
				  that are used to fulfill requirements for quality.
"SDWA" means the Safe Drinking Water Act ( 42 USC § 300f et
					 seq.).
"VDH-ODW" means the Virginia Department of Health - Office
					 of Drinking Water.
Statutory Authority: §§ 2.2-1102 and 2.2-1105 of the Code
						of Virginia; 42 USC § 300f et seq.