EPAL's laboratories - located in Lisbon (Lisbon Laboratory) - and the Water Treatment Plant of Vale da Pedra have their remote origin in the Laboratory of 100-year-old Companhia das Águas de Lisboa (CAL), which was founded in the 1930s in order to determine the 'quality of taken, disinfected, and distributed water' using the available means of the time.
They are a part of the EPAL's Laboratories and Water Quality Control Department (LAB) whose main mission consists in designing and carrying out the Water Quality Control Plan in EPAL's Supply System.
The analytical capacity of EPAL's laboratories is supported by the strict qualifications of technicians and resorting to automated equipment with a high capacity to deliver, hence enabling a rapid response within the scope of water quality control in EPAL's supply system as well as the commitment undertaken for the provision of analytical services to outside customers.
These laboratories are provided with state-of-art equipment and highly qualified human resources enabling compliance with most of the mandatory trials in the effective legislation based on strict analytical quality control criteria, hence ensuring accurate and precise results.
EPAL's Laboratories and Water Quality Control Department has been accredited since 1999 according to standard NP EN ISO/IEC 17025 -'General requirements for the competence to carry out tests and/or calibrations' for the following activities:
- Analysis of 110 water quality parameters (corresponding to 198 compounds) where some parameters/species have been accredited for more than one testing method
- Water testing 135 analytical methods
- Testing organic materials in contact with water for human consumption, which correspond to six methods/standards (with one of the two national laboratories holds this certification)