Napa Sanitation District (NSD) owns and operates the water recycling facility laboratory. The NSD is required to meet many stringent water quality regulations. NSD operates a laboratory that constantly monitors the wastewater as it undergoes the many treatment processes and after it is thoroughly cleaned and disinfected. The District laboratory also uses commercial laboratories with high tech equipment that perform analyses capable of detecting some pollutants down to parts per trillion.

Over ten thousand tests are conducted each year to identify a variety of wastewater constituents, including conventional pollutants, metals, toxic organic compounds, and pathogens. NSD treatment plant is not designed to remove most toxic materials, and when these pollutants enter the plant, in significant amounts, they are capable of disrupting the treatment process and eventually ending up in the Napa River. NSD's Pollution Prevention and Source Control Program works closely with the laboratory staff, striving to prevent toxics from entering the collection system in the first place.

The laboratory maintains a quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) program adhering to the standard operating procedures (SOPs) of the NSD Water Recycling Facility Laboratory. NSD has developed an extensive QA/QC program to insure the accuracy and validity of all results generated by the laboratory, to meet the specific needs of this laboratory, and to comply with Federal, State and Local government requirements. The program and supporting SOPs comply with Title 22, Division 4 Environmental Health Chapter 19 Certification of Environmental Laboratories Article 9 Laboratory Personnel.

The key objectives and purpose of the Laboratory Quality Assurance Program is to ensure that data meets the requirements of the laboratory by producing accurate and precise analytical data that is representative, reproducible, comparable, and complete. Laboratory staff is dedicated to the achievement of excellence in sampling, sample preservation, sample handling, analysis, data generation, data handling, and reporting. The District provides all the necessary tools and the environment to achieve this goal. Employees at NSD are encouraged to participate in decision-making on quality.

The NSD laboratory is certified and registered as an environmental testing laboratory pursuant to the provisions of the California Environmental Laboratory Improvement Act of 1988 (Health and Safety Code, Division 1, Part 2, Chapter 7.5, commencing with Section 1010). Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (ELAP) is administered and approved by the Department of Health Services and the Fish and Game Department. The Certificate Number for Napa Sanitation District Laboratory is 1992. The District also employs the services of commercial laboratories that maintain the high standards of Department of Health Services certification.

"The most important aspect of Quality Control is the availability of skilled technical personnel and quality of performance." Each and every member of the staff has responsibility for successfully carrying out all quality assurance program activities. The requirements are as set forth in Title 22, Division 4 Environmental Health Chapter 19, Certification Of Environmental Laboratories, Article 9, Laboratory Personnel.