City of Sunnyvale – Environmental Laboratory

Operations Overview

The City’s Environmental Laboratory is comprised of a team of nine (9) staff members performing over 30,000 analyses a year to demonstrate compliance and provide feedback to operations for both Wastewater and Water. The Laboratory is certified by the State Water Resources Control Board under the Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (ELAP). The ELAP certification is renewed every two years following an extensive audit of the lab’s facilities, equipment, safety program and methods performed. The Lab is required by OSHA to develop and implement a Chemical Hygiene Plan to comply with the Laboratory Standard (29 CFR 1910.1450), the purpose of which is to protect the laboratory workers from harm due to hazardous chemicals.

The Lab uses a state of the art Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) which is currently the X-LIMS system purchased from Ethosoft,Inc. based in Atlanta, GA. . The purpose of the LIMS is to maximize the integration of data collection from individual laboratory instruments and feed that data into an integrated system. The LIMS automates and integrates workflow in the laboratory right from sample login to batching, analysis, result entry, data validation, data approval and reporting. The Laboratory currently has ten workstations supporting LIMS implementation.

Lab Org Chart:

The Lab performs a variety of chemical, physical, biological and microbiological analyses. The chemical analyses can be grouped into wet chemistry, inorganic and organic analyses.

Wet Chemistry: Analyses in this area use simple equipment such as Ion Selective Electrode meters, titration burettes, ovens, UV VIS spectrophotometers, and analytical balances which are mostly counter top. Some of these analyses need to be performed under fume hoods to capture the hazardous fumes generated during the analyses.

Analysis & Equipment in Wet Chemistry Area:

ANALYSIS / EQUIPMENT / HOOD/COUNTER TOP / Instrument Computer
1.  Turbidity / Turbidimeter / Counter Top
2.  Alkalinity / Titration - Burette / Hood
3.  Hardness / Titration - Burette / Hood
4.  Conductivity / Conductivity Meter / Counter Top
5.  Total Chlorine Residual / Chlorine Amp.Titrator / Counter Top
6.  Fluoride / Fluoride ISE Meter / Counter Top / Yes (Network)
7.  pH / pH ISE Meter / Counter Top
8.  Volatile Residue / Oven / Counter Top
9. Phenols, Total / Spectrophotometer / Counter Top / Yes (Network)
10.Total Dissolved Solids / Oven / Counter Top / Yes (Network)
11.Total Suspended Solids / Oven / Counter Top / Yes (Network)
12.Total Cyanide / Spectrophotometer / Hood / Yes (Network)
13.Ammonia as N / Ammonia ISE Meter / Counter Top / Yes (Network)
14.Ortho Phosphate / Spectrophotometer / Counter Top / Yes (Network)
15.Total Phosphorus / Spectrophotometer / Counter Top / Yes (Network)
16.BOD / DO Meter / Counter Top
Total Organic Carbon / TOC Analyzer / Counter Top / Yes (Network)
Chemical Oxygen Demand / COD Analyzer / Hood

Inorganic Analysis: Analyses in this area use sophisticated equipment such as an Ion Chromatograph – Mass Spectrometer (ICP-MS) and Ion Chromatograph (IC) that perform multi-component analyses. All these equipment need a dedicated computer to run the equipment and dedicated/specialized hoods to perform the analyses. Areas need to be clean and away from contamination, preferably separated from other areas of the lab.

Analysis and Equipment in Inorganic Area:

ANALYSES / EQUIPMENT / HOOD/COUNTER TOP / Instrument Computer
1. Metals (22) / ICP-MS / HOOD-COUNTER TOP / Yes (Network)
2. Chloride, Nitrate & Sulfate / IC / HOOD-COUNTER TOP / Yes (Network)
3. Mercury / Mercury Analyzer / HOOD-COUNTER TOP / Yes (Network)

Organic Analysis: Analysis in this area use sophisticated equipment such as a Gas Chromatograph – Mass Spectrometer (GC-MS) to perform multi-component analysis. The equipment needs dedicated computers, specialized hoods and clean areas to perform the analysis.

ANALYSES / EQUIPMENT / HOOD/COUNTER TOP / Instrument Computer
1. Volatile Organics (EPA 624) – Waste Water / GC-MS / HOOD-COUNTER TOP / Yes (Network)
2. Volatile Organics (EPA 524) – Drinking Water / GC-MS / HOOD-COUNTER TOP / Yes (Network)

Microbiology: Analysis in this area use equipment such as incubators, colony counters, microscopes, and waterbaths. This area needs two Biological Safety Hoods with UV Lamps to perform the analyses in an aseptic manner to prevent contamination of samples and the tests. The work area needs to be clean and separated from other work areas to prevent contamination and maintain aseptic environment.

ANALYSES / EQUIPMENT / HOOD/COUNTER TOP / Instrument Computer
1.Total Coliforms/E.coli PA / Incubator / Biosafety Hood
2. Enterococcus / Incubator / Biosafety Hood
3. Heterotrophic Plate Count / Colony Counter / Biosafety Hood
4. Total Coliform/E.coli Enumeration / Quantitray Sealer & UV Box / Biosafety Hood

Please use the following reference book. It has very useful information on how laboratories should be designed.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK55867/