General Information
HISTORY
The State Environmental Laboratory completed its formation at DEQ headquarters in 1993. Formerly comprised of staff from the State Health Department, City and County Health Departments and the Oklahoma Water Resources Board, the Customer Services Division was established. This began a new era for the State of Oklahoma. In early 1990’s, the State Environmental Laboratory was named the principal laboratory for the State by the Environmental Protection Agency. The laboratory served the agency, other state entities, public water supplies and the citizens of Oklahoma. In conjunction with the Laboratory Services Advisory Council and the Environmental Quality Board, the division sought to not only provide lab services to the state, but also to construct and reform rules and regulations for laboratory services and laboratory certifications. The Customer Service Division also provided small business assistance, pollution prevention and risk assessment programs to citizens, local governments and businesses.
Since that time, much has changed. The federal rules, regulations and programs along with the state senate and house bills, rules and statutes have caused our agency and our division to evolve as well. On July 1, 2011, we revised our divisional goals and became the State Environmental Laboratory Services Division. Our focus was directed to laboratory services and laboratory accreditation. While still providing considerable technical assistance to our customers, some programs were relocated to other divisions. New programs have emerged and others have been retired to better serve our community today.
WHO WE ARE
The SEL is comprised of three groups; Organics, Inorganics, and Laboratory Customer Assistance. Within each group are sections based on scientific methods, research, and projects.
CORE FUNCTIONS
The mission of the State Environmental Laboratory is to generate consistent, reliable, reproducible, and defensible laboratory data of known and documented quality to support the decisions that promote the quality of life in Oklahoma and to meet the analytical needs of our clients, communities and the citizens of Oklahoma.
ANALYTICAL SUPPORT
With the intention of providing timely and accurate data for the environmental decision making.
The SEL provides analytical support to DEQ, other government environmental programs, and citizens.
WORKLOAD
58,000 Tests analyzed annually
CUSTOMER SUPPORT
QUALITY SYSTEMS
