Puerto Rico Department of Health
Puerto Rico drinking water lab certification, the Department of Health.
Who certifies your lab for Puerto Rico drinking water work, what the program evaluates, how labs outside Puerto Rico appear on the certified list, and what auditors look for in your initial calibrations.
At a glance
How drinking water lab certification works in Puerto Rico.
Puerto Rico is not a NELAP accreditation body. The Puerto Rico Department of Health holds primacy for drinking water and certifies the labs that analyze drinking water samples, while EPA issues all NPDES permits in the territory.
Drinking water lab certification
- Drinking water certification
- The Certificación de Laboratorios de Higiene area of the Department of Health’s Instituto de Laboratorios de Salud Pública. EPA’s August 2025 list of drinking water certification programs names the Puerto Rico Department of Health (Departamento de Salud) for Puerto Rico.
- Primacy
- EPA granted the Department of Health primacy for the Safe Drinking Water Act in Puerto Rico in 1980. The territory’s drinking water law is Law No. 5 of 1977, and the program applies 40 CFR 141.
- Legal basis
- The Department of Health lists 40 CFR 140 to 142, Regulation No. 6090 of January 31, 2000, and EPA’s certification manual (EPA 815-R-05-004) as the basis for the process.
- Scope
- Separate sub-areas certify labs for chemistry and radiochemistry in water, and for microbiology and Cryptosporidium in water. The same area also certifies drinking water sample collectors and accredits milk labs.
- What is evaluated
- The area evaluates and audits drinking water labs, including their facilities, procedure manuals, instrumentation, quality control and analytical methodology.
- Labs outside Puerto Rico
- The Department of Health’s certified lab list, revised August 2025, includes labs outside Puerto Rico. Several are listed as certified only for chemicals, by reciprocity.
- Wastewater and NELAP
- EPA issues all NPDES permits in Puerto Rico, so compliance analyses follow 40 CFR 136. No Puerto Rico agency appears on TNI’s list of NELAP accreditation bodies, as of October 2026.
The accreditation cycle
What drinking water certification asks of a lab.
The steps below summarize the Department of Health’s certification pages and EPA’s drinking water laboratory certification pages. Your certificate and Department of Health correspondence govern the specifics for your lab.
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Certify for compliance analyses
Most drinking water compliance samples count only if a laboratory certified by EPA or the State analyzed them (40 CFR 141.28), with field tests such as pH and turbidity excepted. In Puerto Rico, the Department of Health runs that certification.
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Certify by discipline
Labs are certified by sub-area, chemistry and radiochemistry or microbiology and Cryptosporidium, and the certified list shows each lab’s scope.
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Proficiency testing
EPA’s program pages say certified labs successfully analyze PT samples at least annually for each method and analyte.
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Evaluation and audit
The Department of Health evaluates and audits labs, covering facilities, procedure manuals, instrumentation, quality control and analytical methodology.
Initial calibration
What auditors check in your initial calibrations.
Puerto Rico bases drinking water lab certification on federal rules and EPA’s certification manual, and EPA issues the territory’s NPDES permits, so the calibration expectations come from the federal methods and 40 CFR.
A range that brackets what you report
The lowest standard should sit at or below your reporting limit and the highest at or above the top concentration you report. Results outside the calibrated range need to be qualified.
Error at the low end, not r² alone
A correlation coefficient of 0.999 can still hide a low standard that back-calculates 30 percent off. Auditors look at relative error, especially at the lowest levels.
Records that rebuild the curve
Raw responses, the model and weighting used, any excluded points with the reason, and the verification that followed. An auditor should be able to reconstruct every initial calibration from the record.
Calibration in the federal QC rule
40 CFR 136.7 requires suitable QA/QC procedures for NPDES compliance analyses by part 136 chemical methods. Where a method lacks them, the listed elements include initial and continuing calibration, QC acceptance criteria and corrective action.
Source: 40 CFR 136.7; Puerto Rico Department of Health, Certificación de Laboratorios de Higiene
For drinking water work, the Department of Health’s evaluation covers instrumentation, quality control and analytical methodology. Keep each approved method’s calibration requirements next to your records when the evaluator visits.
Self-check
Are your initial calibrations ready for a Puerto Rico assessment?
Tick what your lab could show an auditor today. Nothing you select is saved or sent anywhere.
6Checks to work through
Select each item your lab could show an auditor today.
A self-assessment to help you prepare, not a compliance determination.
Puerto Rico specifics
The Department of Health certifies drinking water labs. EPA issues the permits.
The Puerto Rico Department of Health has held primacy for drinking water since 1980. Its Instituto de Laboratorios de Salud Pública houses the Certificación de Laboratorios de Higiene area, which evaluates drinking water labs for chemical, microbiological and radiological analyses and serves as the liaison office with EPA on quality assurance.
Wastewater follows a different pattern. EPA issues all NPDES permits in Puerto Rico, so compliance analyses follow 40 CFR 136 methods and their QC, with the 40 CFR 136.7 elements, including initial and continuing calibration, available where a method lacks QA/QC procedures. No Puerto Rico agency appears on TNI’s list of NELAP accreditation bodies, as of October 2026.
Labs outside Puerto Rico can appear on the Department of Health’s certified list. The list revised in August 2025 shows several mainland labs certified only for chemicals by reciprocity. Check the current list and confirm your scope with the Department of Health before reporting compliance data.
How WLTR helps
Calibration evidence ready for a Puerto Rico evaluation.
WLTR independently reviews the calibration your instrument software produced. Your analyst still makes the final call. What changes is that the evidence is complete, consistent across analysts, and ready before the auditor asks for it.
- Each analyte reviewed one at a time in the instrument software.
- The model and weighting are whatever the batch was processed with.
- r² is the number most people look at, even though it does not measure error at the low end.
- QA signs off without an independent check on the curve.
- Every analyte and every candidate model side by side in the Calibration Intelligence dashboard.
- Diagnostics run automatically and the best fit curve is identified, with the reasons recorded.
- Relative error at every level, including the lowest standard, shown on one screen.
- A traceable record your QA manager can review, sign and hand to a Department of Health evaluator.
See how your own ICAL data looks when every analyte and model is laid out for review.
Questions
Puerto Rico accreditation FAQs
Is Puerto Rico a NELAP state?
No. No Puerto Rico agency appears on TNI’s list of NELAP accreditation bodies, as of October 2026.
Who certifies drinking water labs in Puerto Rico?
The Puerto Rico Department of Health, through the Certificación de Laboratorios de Higiene area of its Instituto de Laboratorios de Salud Pública. EPA’s list of drinking water certification programs names the Department of Health for Puerto Rico.
Who issues wastewater discharge permits in Puerto Rico?
EPA. EPA Region 2 states that it issues all NPDES permits in the territory of Puerto Rico, so compliance analyses follow 40 CFR 136.
Can a lab outside Puerto Rico be certified?
The Department of Health’s certified lab list, revised August 2025, includes labs outside Puerto Rico, several of them certified only for chemicals by reciprocity. The list does not describe the reciprocity requirements, so confirm them with the Department of Health.
Does Puerto Rico have its own calibration rule?
The Department of Health bases certification on 40 CFR 140 to 142 and EPA’s certification manual, so calibration requirements come from the approved methods. For NPDES work, 40 CFR 136.7 lists initial and continuing calibration among the QC elements that apply where a method lacks its own QA/QC.
Sources
Primary sources for this page.
- PR Department of Health, Certificación de Laboratorios de Higiene (opens in a new tab)
- PR Department of Health, Instituto de Laboratorios de Salud Pública (opens in a new tab)
- PR Department of Health, drinking water supervision program (opens in a new tab)
- PR Department of Health, certified laboratories list (August 2025) (opens in a new tab)
- EPA, state drinking water laboratory certification programs (August 2025) (opens in a new tab)
- EPA Region 2, NPDES permit program (opens in a new tab)
- 40 CFR 136.7, quality assurance and quality control (eCFR) (opens in a new tab)
- TNI, NELAP recognized accreditation bodies (opens in a new tab)
This page summarizes public program information to help labs prepare. Requirements change, and the agency’s current rules and guidance always take precedence. WLTR is not affiliated with or endorsed by the Puerto Rico Department of Health. Spot something out of date? Tell us at admin@wltr.tech.
Before your next assessment
See your Puerto Rico ICALs the way an evaluator will.
Bring a recent initial calibration. We will walk you through every analyte and candidate model in the Calibration Intelligence dashboard, the best fit, and the record your QA manager would sign.
Request a demoHow the methodology works
Running environmental methods? See how WLTR works for environmental testing labs and water and wastewater utility labs.