News

Failing to evaluate the market for certification service providers could be a costly mistake for your company, causing you to spend too much for certification while getting inadequate service. Read More

ALS Environmental has made significant advances in sample size reduction, leading the industry towards safer and more sustainable practices. Lower water sample volume requirements can significantly reduce sampling times; and smaller, lighter coolers reduce the risk of strain injuries in the field. Read More

Acid Rock Drainage (ARD) forms when sulfide-bearing materials are exposed to oxidizing conditions. Potential sulfide-bearing materials include waste rock overburden, processed ore (tailings) as well as exposed rock from either an open pit or underground mine. Sulfide minerals such as pyrite, pyrrhotite, and chalcopyrite in mine waste material can react with water and oxygen to produce sulfuric acid, which may in turn leach metals from the same material and introduce them into the environment at potentially high concentrations.  Read More

As most of our Canadian clients are aware, ALS has led a strategic review of sample bottle sizes over the last two years. The feedback from clients has been extremely positive. With new smaller sample containers now fully rolled out, this now allows further change as part of our initiative. Aligning with the ALS core value of Safety as a Priority, phase two will now see ALS Canada reducing the size of the sample coolers that we will be supplying to clients using ALS custom made coolers. Read More

In order to adequately certify water system components to ANSI/ NSF Standard 61, it is best to utilize a certifier accredited through The American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and the Standards Council of Canada (SCC). By “leveling the playing field” through a standardization of accreditation, quality control issues are no longer a driving force for specifiers and regulators, and their focus for selecting a third-party certifier can be based on those that best align with their service requirements and price point. Product certifications by ANSI/SCC accredited certifiers are required to be equally accepted by regulators, specifiers and manufacturers.  Read More

A leachate is a liquid (normally water) that, when contacting or passing through soil, waste, or other materials, will dissolve or incorporate soluble substances from those materials. In the context of environmental monitoring and waste management, leachate most commonly refers to drainage from a landfill or stockpile.  Read More

Three methods frequently cited for the analysis of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in air are EPA TO-14, TO-14A and TO-15. The following traces the chronology of their publication and identifies the principal differences among them. Read More

Perfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) are a class of synthetic compounds widely used in industrial applications that are characterized by a highly fluorinated hydrophobic linear carbon chain attached to a hydrophilic functional group. PFAS’ are of interest due to their extreme persistence in the environment, ability to bioaccumulate, toxicity potential, and adverse human health effects. Read More

Chemical testing of environmental water samples for nutrients (including phosphorus, ammonia, and other forms of nitrogen) is important due to their potential to cause eutrophication or “over-enrichment” of natural water bodies – often triggered by contamination from phosphate detergents, fertilizers, or sewage. These types of events can lead to algal blooms and aquatic toxicity due to oxygen depletion.  Tests for aggregate organics such as Total or Dissolved Organic Carbon (TOC/DOC) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD) are closely related, predicting risk and potential for oxygen depletion of aquatic ecosystems. Read More

Workplace Hazardous Materials Information System (WHMIS) is Canada’s national hazard communication standard. The key elements of the system are hazard classification, cautionary labelling of containers, the provision of (material) safety data sheets ((M)SDSs) and worker education and training programs. Read More