MEMBERSHIP
Testing and Program Support
SELS is comprised of the following units:
Lab Customer Assistance, Statewide
Sample and Data Management, General
Chemistry, Environmental Microbiology,
Environmental Metals, Radiochemistry,
Organic GC, and Organic GC/MS. The
Quality System Unit oversees all testing
and the Laboratory Accreditation Program,
as well as the method and quality
assurance requirements for a myriad of
EPA programs.
The laboratory provides technical and
analytical support to four different EPA
programs: Safe Drinking Water Act, Clean
Water Act, Resource Conservation and
Recovery Act and CERCLA, also know as
Superfund. It is also the EPA Principal
Laboratory for drinking water. “We
test drinking water for the state and
certify public and private labs to ensure
analytical capacity,” says Armstrong,
which encompasses over 1,600 public
water supply (PWS) systems. And as
oil and gas production—as well as
seismicity—have increased, so have
private well water issues and related
assistance “We also have a lot of small
communities, with very little means,
that rely on us for water testing.” In fact,
requests for private water issues have
quadrupled over the past five years, with
the laboratory responding to over 12,000
requests in 2018.
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL
The laboratory also runs a Laboratory
Accreditation Program to insure the
quality of analytical data received by
the DEQ Water Quality Division and
other state agencies for compliance
and decision making purposes. The
overarching goal is to provide standards
for accreditation of privately and publicly
owned laboratories for performance of
analyses of water, wastewater and sludge.
Through a state legislative requirement,
DEQ is responsible for investigating
environmental complaints across the
state with the laboratory providing sample
collection and analytical support. SELS
provides in-depth technical assistance
for complex complaint investigations and
fish kills with analyte selection, sampling
assistance, data interpretation and risk
assessment. These may become criminal
investigations requiring laboratory
sampling assistance and are routinely an
analytical challenge.
SELS also provides technical and
analytical support for the Air Quality,
Well Water Quality, Land Protection, and
Environmental Compliance and Local
Services divisions of DEQ. It performs
PWS compliance testing as well as
ambient surface water monitoring and
groundwater monitoring. It performs
hydrocarbon and inorganic testing to
support the Oklahoma Corporation
Commission, and its Harmful Algal Bloom
Program performs sample identification,
enumeration and toxic testing for
threatened public water supplies.
SELS provides fish testing for 97 lakes
across the state, testing for mercury
levels, and is responsible for issuing
consumption advisories as needed. In
2011, the state found itself involved
in its first large harmful algal bloom
on Grand Lake, but SELS was able to
respond because of its existing sample
identification, numeration and toxin
testing program. SELS is in the process of
implementing qPCR for surface water and
source water monitoring to assist with
these efforts.
The laboratory also serves as a first
responder during emergency events,
providing free well testing for private
citizens and PWS testing at no charge.
“Emergency response might be a herbicide
back siphoned into a PWS, fire pollutants
headed downstream toward PWS intakes
from Neodsha, KS to the Veridgris
River, or pathogenic E. coli isolates from
contaminated ground water.”
Successes
• The Laboratory Accreditation Program
is now The NELAC Institute (TNI)
Accreditation Body in the state of
Oklahoma
• Increasing the technical capability and
expertise of the Microbiology Section
• Re-implementing and expanding
radiochemistry program: “We’ve really
expanded the program over the last 12
years.”
APHL.org
Performing electrofishing for the mercury testing program.
Photo: SELS
• Implement a new LIMS system: “For
the first time, we’re able to actually
interface instrumentation and quality
control.”
• Improving data quality and
reproducibility
Challenges
• Lack of understanding of public
health and, more specifically,
of environmental public health.
“Sometimes it’s difficult to convey the
scope of the work that we do, and its
effect on the public.”
• Funding: “We’ve had state funding cuts
every year for the past 10 years. But I’m
thankful that our director has really
made an effort to pay our staff market
value. Couple that with increases in
instrumentation expenses and training
requirements, and we’re sometimes
straining to cover all programs.”
• Succession planning: “We’ve been staff
stable for a good period of time, but
over the last four years we’ve seen
some turnover. As folks leave and new
staff come on board, we need to plan
for those transitions now.”
• Centralized systems: “IT and
purchasing support have been
challenging under a centralized
state system. A laboratory has very
specialized systems needs that are
sometimes hard to convey in a memo
or purchase order.”
• As downtown Oklahoma City continues
to thrive, there is a lot of real estate
interest in the current building. “The
only thing that is preventing the sale of
the building is the laboratory.” n
Summer 2019 LAB MATTERS
35