EPA selects MWH Labs to provide water quality testing

MONROVIA, CA, Oct. 22, 2007 -- MWH Laboratories, a leading U.S. water testing laboratory, announced today that it has been selected by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to provide water quality testing services to communities with populations below 10,000 people. This EPA-funded contract has a potential value to MWH Laboratories of up to $5 million.

Specifically, MWH Laboratories will provide Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring Regulation 2 (UCMR2) List 2 (Herbicides, Herbicide Degradation Products, and Nitrosamines) testing services for small systems under this contract. UCMR2 is a federal monitoring requirement sponsored by the EPA as part of a program that investigates chemical, radiological and microbiological contaminant occurrence in an effort to characterize drinking water threats.

Approximately 800 small water systems serving U.S. communities with populations of less than 10,000 people will be required by the EPA to comply with this requirement, which will take effect in January 2008. MWH Laboratories was previously approved by the EPA to provide large-system testing -- communities with more than 10,000 people -- and has already been selected by nearly 100 large utilities to provide analytical support for all required UCMR2 methods.

"We are excited to once again partner with the EPA to ensure UCMR2 is successfully implemented in small systems around the country," said Dr. Andrew Eaton, vice president and laboratory director for MWH Laboratories. "MWH Laboratories has been at the forefront for testing many of these compounds for years and is dedicated to providing participants in this program with meaningful and consistent monitoring to prevent future health risks and problems."

Only EPA-approved labs can perform monitoring under UCMR2. MWH Laboratories is currently approved for all five UCMR2 analytical methods (EPA Methods 527, 529, 521, 525.2 and 535).

UCMR2 was established under the Unregulated Contaminant Monitoring (UCM) program, which the EPA uses to collect data for contaminants suspected to be present in drinking water, but that do not have health-based standards set under the Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA). The five-year, cyclical monitoring program allows the EPA's Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW) to base future decisions regarding contaminant regulation on sound science. Every five years, the UCMR is redefined; UCMR2 was developed in response to findings from UCMR1.

From 2001 to 2005, MWH Laboratories served as an EPA contractor for small systems under UCMR1. During that time, MWH Laboratories provided UCMR testing services for approximately 400 small systems and also worked directly for over 100 large systems around the country.

MWH Laboratories is the largest water testing laboratory in the United States, serving water quality professionals worldwide. In addition to offering testing of UCMR compounds, MWH Labs can deliver a wide array of other analytical capabilities, ranging from low-level drinking water analyses to leading-edge work with emerging contaminants like PFCs, Nitrosamines and Pharmaceuticals and Personal Care Products (PPCPs).

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