EPA gets lab to improve monitoring

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday commissioned its refurbished laboratory with new equipment and accessories to enhance monitoring of the environment.

The laboratory, which is sited at the EPA’s head office in Accra, has equipment such as air samplers, sand level meters, fuel gas analysers, mercury analysers, environmental monitors, exhaust/ smoke analysers and ambient air quality monitors.

Mr Daniel Amlalo, Executive Director of EPA, said two more laboratories would be established in Tema and Takoradi in line with the Agency’s drive towards building a centre of excellence in environmental monitoring in Ghana.

He said the EPA decided to invest in the laboratory infrastructure to provide quality assured technical and analytical support services as well as in the skills of staff to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of laboratory operations and services.

“These interventions are to enhance our analytical and scientific determination of the levels of pollutants in the air, water, soil and other biological media as well as development of a comprehensive environmental quality database to guide our operations and policy,”, Mr Amlalo stated.

He said the Agency was also collaborating with the Ghana Standards Authority and Attorney-General’s Department to work to standardize certain sector specific environmental quality guidelines that had been developed for reducing emissions and discharge of toxic wastes and substances into the environment.

He expressed the hope that these standards would be given the required legal meaning to make them enforceable to protect human health and the environment.

Mr Amlalo said as part of the EPA resolve to wean itself off government subventions, the Agency would soon introduce measures to commercialise aspects of the laboratory services.

He, however, assured Ghanaians that the commercialization would not affect the EPA’s responsibilities towards protecting the environment and public health.

Professor Vincent Nartey, Chairman of the EPA Management Board, described the lab ‘as a world-class lab poised to undertake both organic and inorganic laboratory test’.

A higher version, he said, would be replicated in Takoradi to monitor the environment in the Western region and its environs, thus addressing matters of oil and gas as well.

He said with the refurbished lab now in place, what was also important was the capacity and commitment of staff and so the Board was considering a comprehensive plan for the continuous capacity building of staff of the Agency to bring about the desired improvement in environmental quality.