Pollution board readies plan to get NABL certs for its labs

Jaipur: All laboratories for testing air, water, waste water and noise run by the Rajasthan State Pollution Control Board (RSPCB) will follow uniform practices for effective environmental monitoring and surveillance purposes. RSPCB has prepared a roadmap for getting all its laboratories accredited under the National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL), a constituent board of Quality Council of India.
RSPCB currently has a central laboratory in Jaipur and 13 regional laboratories across the state for monitoring of environmental samples. Out of those, only the central laboratory and the regional laboratory at Bhiwadi is NABL accredited.
In the first phase, the RSPCB aims to get its Class-B regional laboratories in Alwar, Jodhpur, Udaipur, Bhilwara and Kota accredited for at least 30 parameters of air, waste water and noise by December 31. In the second phase, it is being envisaged to get Class-C regional laboratories in Sikar, Kishangarh, Pali, Balotara, Chittorgarh, Bharatpur and Bikaner accredited for at least 30 parameters of air, waste water and noise by May 31, 2024.
In the third phase, RSPCB aims to expand the scope of the central laboratory from the currently certified 46 parameters to at least 150, and the regional laboratory in Bhiwadi from certified 11 parameters to at least 100 in air and water, waste water and noise at the time of renewal of certification in 2024.
“Accreditation of all laboratories in the state board will define uniform laboratory practices and decision rule for effective environmental monitoring and surveillance purposes. The state board plans to review and monitor progress of each laboratory closely at the head office level to ensure timelines are met with respect to submission of applications at NABL and subsequent accreditation processes,” said Naveen Mahajan, chairperson, RSPCB.
In order to achieve this target and for capacity building of the RSPCB officials as per requirements of the International Standard ISO 17025:2017, a training programme has already been organised by RSPCB for its officials from February 20 to 23 at its headquarters.