Skip to Content
Merck
HomeDrinking Water Testing​Safe Drinking Water Act & Clean Water Act – What is it?

Safe Drinking Water Act & Clean Water Act – What is it?

Safe Drinking Water Act

The Safe Drinking Water Act reflects the primary drinking water regulation. Drinking water here means finished drinking water from the plant and the distribution lines. But the Safe Drinking Water Act covers also the ground water sources for raw water and the surface water sources for Raw Drinking Water.

Clean Water Act

The Clean Water Act reflects the wastewater analyses. But it is not only the wastewater. The Clean Water Act covers also the Storm Water, the Surface Fresh Water like Rivers, Lakes and Streams. Also, the Marine Water with the control of the bays, the Estuaries and the Beaches are covered by the Clean Water Act too.

Documents for Safe Drinking Water and Clean Water Act

We continue to expand the portfolio of products to support the testing needs of environmental labs in the US for both Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act testing.  A major component of this expansion is the validation and reporting of the spectrophotometric test kits used for analytes of interest. This page contains all of the documentation and reporting needed by any lab to satisfy auditors of adequate quality control and product suitability.

In some cases, products were issued approval letters by the USEPA in the past.  Due to policy changes at the USEPA, approval letters are no longer provided and instead vendors and labs have to provide adequate documentation of equivalency. For those products where equivalency documentation is required, we have provided certificates of compliance, single laboratory validation and a helpful checklist for labs to comply with the guidelines established in the 2007 EPA Memo from Richard Reding.

We will continue to add and expand the product reports on this page as they become available. Please contact us if there is a specific product you would like more information on.

Approvals / Equivalency Documents

Available for the following parameters:

We are working to provide you more.

USEPA Documentation for Spectroquant® Test Kits

Ammonia (Ammonium)

   USEPA Equivalency for
Product No.Spectroquant® Test KitsMeasuring RangesClean Water ActSafe Drinking Water Act
1.14558Ammonium Cell Test0.20 – 8.00 mg/L NH4-N
0.26 – 10.30 mg/L NH4+
0.20 – 8.00 mg/L NH3-N
0.26 – 9.73 mg/L NH3
YesYes*
1.14544Ammonium Cell Test0.5 – 16.0 mg/L NH4-N
0.6 – 20.6 mg/L NH4+
0.5 – 16.0 mg/L NH3-N
0.6 – 19.5 mg/L NH3
 YesYes*
1.14559Ammonium Cell Test4.0 – 80.0 mg/L NH4-N
5.2 – 103.0 mg/L NH4+
4.0 – 80.0 mg/L NH3-N
5.2 – 97.3 mg/L NH3
 YesYes*
1.14752Ammonium Test0.010 – 3.00 mg/L NH4-N
0.013 – 3.86 mg/L NH4+
0.010 – 3.00 mg/L NH3-N
0.013 – 3.65 mg/L NH3
 YesYes*
1.00683Ammonium Test2.0 – 150 mg/L NH4-N
2.6 – 193 mg/L NH4+
2.0 – 150 mg/L NH3-N
2.6 – 182 mg/L NH3
YesYes*

* Safe Drinking Water Act uses methods in 40 CFR part 136 Clean Water Act. The Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, Equivalency documents covers all pack sizes, cells and citation units mentioned in the insert sheet of the test kit.

Chlorine

   USEPA Equivalency for
Product No.Spectroquant® Test KitsMeasuring RangesClean Water ActSafe Drinking Water Act
1.00595Chlorine Cell Test (free chlorine)0.03 - 6.00 mg/L CI2 Yes
1.00598Chlorine Test (free chlorine)0.010 - 6.00 mg/L Cl2 Yes
1.00602 Chlorine Test (total chlorine)0.010 - 6.00 mg/L Cl2YesYes
1.00597Chlorine Cell Test (free and total chlorine)0.03 - 6.00 mg/L Cl2YesYes
1.00599Chlorine Test for (free and total chlorine)0.010 - 6.00 mg/L Cl2YesYes

Chromate (Chromium VI)

   USEPA Equivalency for
Product No.Spectroquant® Test KitsMeasuring RangesClean Water ActSafe Drinking Water Act
1.14552Chromate Cell Test (Chromium VI)0.05 - 2.0 mg/L CrYes 

COD

   USEPA Equivalency for
Product No.Spectroquant® Test KitsMeasuring RangesClean Water ActSafe Drinking Water Act
1.14560COD Cell Test 4.0 - 40.0 mg/L CODYes 
1.01796COD Cell Test 5.0 – 80.0 mg/L CODYes 
1.14540COD Cell Test 10 - 150 mg/L CODYes 
1.14895COD Cell Test 15 - 300 mg/L CODYes 
1.14541COD Cell Test 25 - 1,500 mg/L CODYes 
1.14691COD Cell Test 300 - 3,500 mg/L CODYes 
1.14555COD Cell Test 500 - 10,000 mg/L CODYes 
1.01797COD Cell Test 5,000 – 90,000 mg/L CODYes 

Cyanide

   USEPA Equivalency for
Product No.Spectroquant® Test KitsMeasuring RangesClean Water ActSafe Drinking Water Act
1.14561Cyanide Cell Test (free cyanide)0.010 - 0.500 mg/L CNYes 

Nitrate

   USEPA Equivalency for
Product No.Spectroquant® Test KitsMeasuring RangesClean Water ActSafe Drinking Water Act
1.14542Nitrate Cell Test 0.5-18.0 mg/L NO3-NYes 
2.2 – 79.7 mg/L NO3
1.14563Nitrate Cell Test 0.5 - 25.0 mg/L NO3-NYes 
2.2 – 110.7 mg/L NO3
1.14764Nitrate Cell Test 1.0 - 50.0 mg/L NO3-NYes 
4 – 221 mg/L NO3
1.00614Nitrate Cell Test 23-225 mg/L NO3-NYes 
102 – 996 mg/L NO3
1.09713Nitrate Test 0.10-25.0 mg/L NO3-NYes 
0.4 – 110.7 mg/L NO3
1.14773Nitrate Test 0.2-20.0 mg/L NO3-NYes 
0.89 – 88.5 mg/L NO3
1.01842Nitrate Test 0.3-30.0 mg/L NO3-NYes 
1.3 – 132.8 mg/L NO3
1.14556Nitrate Cell Test  in seawater0.10-3.00 mg/L NO3-NYes 
0.4 – 13.3 mg/L NO3
1.14942Nitrate Test in seawater 0.2-17.0 mg/L NO3-NYes 
0.9 – 75.3 mg/L NO3

Nitrite

Product No.Spectroquant® Test KitsMeasuring RangesUSEPA Equivalency for
Clean Water ActSafe Drinking Water Act
1.14547Nitrite Cell Test0.010 – 0.700 mg/L NO2-N
0.03 – 2.30 mg/L NO2
Yes 
1.00609Nitrite Cell Test1.0 – 90.0 mg/L NO2-N
3.0 – 295.2 mg/L NO2
Yes 
1.14776Nitrite  Test0.002 – 1.00 mg/L NO2-N
0.007 – 3.28 mg/L NO2
  

Phosphate

   USEPA Equivalency for
Product No.Spectroquant® Test KitsMeasuring RangesClean Water ActSafe Drinking Water Act
1.14543Phosphate Cell Test0.05 – 5.00 mg/L PO4-PYesYes
(orthophosphate ad Total phosphorus)0.2 – 15.3 mg/L PO4
1.14729Phosphate Cell Test0.5 – 25.0 mg/L PO4-PYesYes
(orthophosphate ad Total phosphorus)1.5 – 76.7 mg/L PO4

Sulfate

   USEPA Equivalency for
Product No.Spectroquant® Test KitsMeasuring RangesClean Water ActSafe Drinking Water Act
1.14548Sulfate Cell Test5 - 250 mg/L SO4Yes 
1.14564Sulfate Cell Test100 - 1,000 mg/L SO4Yes 
Sign In To Continue

To continue reading please sign in or create an account.

Don't Have An Account?