Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced a new informatics solution specifically developed for laboratory professionals working in water and environmental testing laboratories. The Thermo Scientific Water and Environmental LIMS is preconfigured to enable customers to comply with water and environmental regulatory guidelines and requirements, and it is built on the comprehensive functionality provided by the company's flagship laboratory information management system, Thermo Scientific SampleManager LIMS. The company will showcase the Water and Environmental LIMS at Thermo Scientific booth # 4145 during WEFTEC 2011, being held October 17 - 19, in Los Angeles.

Water and environmental testing laboratories face unique challenges with delivering accurate, consistent and traceable results. In the current economic environment, it's more important than ever to standardize workflows and processes that facilitate regulatory compliance, ensure public safety and monitor quality throughout the entire sampling, testing and reporting process. The Safe Drinking Water Act, and the subsequent release of the EPA's Drinking Water Infrastructure Needs Survey and Assessment, puts pressure on municipal, state and privately owned water facilities to remain in compliance with mandatory limits for an increasing array of contaminants. Thermo Scientific Water and Environmental LIMS offers tools and functionality to enable lab managers to deliver the defensible data necessary to meet the compliance requirements of the Safe Drinking Water Act. 

Thermo Scientific Water and Environmental LIMS helps laboratory professionals make faster, more informed decisions at all levels of the organization, delivering information needed to manage laboratory processes and respond to the most current regulatory and business demands. Purpose-built functionality helps labs: 

• Establish protocols and documentation methods that meet NELAC compliance requirements and ISO 17025 guidelines
• Automate reports and records to ensure full traceability
• Improve lab and workflow efficiencies
  

Developed in conjunction with environmental experts for ISO 17025 and NELAC requirements, Thermo Scientific Water and Environmental LIMS has built-in functionality designed for workflows found in water and environmental labs. Pre-defined test methods, batch sequences, regu­latory reports and other templates allow customers to reduce administra­tion overhead, cost and implementa­tion time. In addition, comprehensive dashboard functionality ad­dresses the regulatory and operational needs of three distinct but interrelated aspects of a laboratory's business: personnel, quality assur­ance and the customer.

Companies working within the environmental and water and wastewater sectors face many challenges in improving efficiencies, processes and traceability while ensuring regulatory compliance. To assist the industry in meeting these challenges, a series of five educational on-demand webinars is now available for viewing at www.thermoscientific.com/waterandwastewater. Developed in collaboration with industry experts from EM2 Solutions, Pilgrim Software and the Winvale Group, the webinars address topics relevant to professionals working in the environmental and waste testing industries. 

"The pace of regulatory change in the water and environmental industry is sometimes faster than the adoption of new technologies to meet those new requirements," said Dave Champagne, vice president and general manager, Informatics, Thermo Fisher Scientific. "With the EPA establishing compliance parameters for five new contaminants every year, the cycle of certification for state, municipal and privately owned water supplies is in a constant state of oversight. Our Water and Environmental LIMS will help industry professionals meet these ongoing challenges. And by developing this on-demand webinar series with our industry and technical partners, we are able to deliver an overview of the key issues to the industry and contribute to the adoption of newer technologies which can enable easier and more cost effective regulatory compliance." 

For more information about Thermo Scientific Water and Environmental LIMS, please visit Thermo Scientific at booth # 4145 during WEFTEC 2011. Alternatively, please call +1 866 463 6522 (US) or +44 161 942 3000 (EU), e-mail marketing.informatics@thermofisher.com or visit www.thermoscientific.com/waterandwastewater.