We have an in-house ELGA water system (something like MilliQ water system). We need to check its quality? Can we do it in-house? If so, how?
Unless you have a certified water quality lab, best to either pay for this, or see if free through possible goverment resources (eg, county, state generally). If you are in medical field, it may be the responsibility of the facility to check to insure quality care and limit liability of causing issues by using poor quality water. Most water treatment systems do well at routine pollutants, but may not be selective enough to remove others. There are various other levels of water treatment that might address concerns based on where water comes from and how it is delivered. If a reverse osmosis drinking system removes cysts to 2 microns, are there enen smaller contaminants of potential concern? If you sample and anayyze from a confined aquifer well, you are relatively assured of stable conditions. But if water supply from stream or river, treated and delivered, check to see how often and type of tests they conduct. There are a variety of things to consider, and always important to observe and report anything unusual, as water lines can have breaks with potential for pollutant entry, and if from a lake, migration of birds, beavers or entry of dissolved organics may temporarily need added treatment. Most hospitals have sterilization procedures and under some conditions, that might be appropriate, especially in areas with water borne sickness or diseases. Local residents may be accustomed to some things that outsiders are not.
There are several things that can be done for QA of laboratory reagent water. Here is a summary of requirements:
http://puretecwater.com/laboratory-water-quality-standards.html
Some of these tests are rather simple: heterotrophic plate count, endotoxin, conductivity/resistivity,
you would need SOPs and validation, competency assessments, training for testing you bring on in house. The other alternative is to send to a credentialed environmental lab....
You are not stating the quality specs for your water. Sending Type I reagent water for analysis does not make sense because the quality of water will deteriorate under transport. Depending on instrumentation at hand you could measure e.g.: UV-spectrum, residue after evaporation and bacteria count.
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