The laboratory of the Hydrometeorology and Monitoring Centre under the Armenian Ministry of the Environment's recently received ISO/IEC 17025 accreditation, issued by the National Accreditation Body of Armenia (ARMNAB), which is now valid for four years. This accreditation covers a wide range of inorganic parameters for monitoring surface and groundwater, including mineral water, industrial wastewater, treated and untreated running water, as well as atmospheric precipitation of metals and other elements. Certified analyses can be provided also for sulphates, nitrates, chlorides, fluorides, bromides, ammonium, nitrites, phosphate ions, electrical conductivity, pH and many other indicators (Home (armmonitoring.am))
The laboratory underwent major refurbishment of its infrastructure between 2018 and 2019 and was upgraded thanks to substantial support from the European Union over more than seven years. This support was provided through the EUWI+ (2016-2021) and EU4Water&Data (2022-2024) projects, under the continued expert guidance of the Environment Agency Austria. The Armenian Deputy Director, Ms. Gayane Shahnazaryan, underlined the crucial role of this international cooperation in achieving this high level of performance.
Over the past two years, the EU support focus has been on training in the analysis of EU priority substances, including groups of organic parameters such as pesticides, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), volatile organic carbons (VOCs) and phthalates. This training aims to prepare the laboratories of the Hydrometeorology Centre as well as those of Kyiv-Vyshgorod, Chisinau, Tbilisi and Baku for the next phase of accreditation and for full compliance with the Water Framework Directive (WFD).
Learn more:
- Success in Water Quality Monitoring with EU Support
- EU-Supported Additional Surveys on Surface and Groundwater Status in Moldova
- Training on Surface Water Data Analysis for Eastern Partnership Countries
- Laboratory in Ukraine Achieves International Accreditation with EU Support, Ensuring Quality in Water Monitoring.
