In Austria, groundwater and surface water samples have been taken regularly in a nationwide network of measuring points since the beginning of the 1990s, and the water quality is analyzed for a wide range of inorganic and organic parameters.
Since people were interested in the high quality of this data - in order to be able to recognize limit value violations as well as trends - a system to carry out regular surveys, comissioned in 1994 by the Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, Environment and Water Management (now BMLRT), was set up for interlaboratory comparisons of water analysis at IFA-Tulln.
Starting in 1995 with 7 participating laboratories and PT samples with just a few basic parameters; today, this offer is used by over 900 laboratories worldwide.
Over time, the range of offered parameters was expanded almost annually. Thanks to the cooperation with the Umweltbundesamt GmbH since 2013, the IPS has been able to offer both synthetic and real water PT samples with a variety of inorganic and organic parameters.
Over the course of one year 20 PT rounds are carried out for these parameters. All propositions can be found at www.ifatest.eu . It is possible to participate for all laboratories. The IPS team looks forward to your registration.
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