GUC’s Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) laboratory recently passed its annual Quality Assurance Study with flying colors.  

The Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) Discharge Monitoring Report Quality Assurance Study is conducted annually through a third-party vendor in order for wastewater treatment laboratories to keep their certification that allows them to continue operating.  

The vendor sends a box of 16 samples with compounds of unknown concentrations to our lab staff. They run these samples with our regular sample testing schedule and then report the concentration results back to the vendor. Our results are compared with the true value for each compound. To pass, results must be within the vendor’s specified range, which varies for each test. All of our results were within 96-100% of the true value, which shows that GUC has an excellent lab staff! 

“These results are equivalent to a student receiving all A’s and A+’s on a report card,” said JoEllen Gay, WWTP Environmental Compliance Coordinator. “I attribute this achievement to having skilled lab technicians. They do outstanding, careful, and methodical work, which comes with years of experience.” 

Congratulations to our WWTP Laboratory Staff on this important accomplishment.