Tamworth Environmental Labs receives NATA accreditation for TECTA-B16 automated microbial detection systemKINGSTON, CANADA – Australian Tamworth Environmental Laboratories announced that they have received NATA accreditation effective from May 2018 to use Canadian technology from Tecta-PDS in order to automate their water testing for e-Coli and total Coliforms. The Tecta-PDS automated microbial detection system, Tecta-B16, is the only US EPA approved automated method for drinking water compliance testing and provides the fastest time to detect while also being the easiest test to conduct. The portability and complete testing capabilities, including interpretation of results and full reports sent immediately via email, will provide lab grade quality results instantly for Tamworth Laboratories who, being in a regional area, were previously outsourcing their micro samples to an external lab and having to wait several days to receive the results, which caused operational delays for both them and their customers. With the Tecta-B16 instrument, supplied through Tecta-PDS’ regional distributor Thermo Fisher Scientific, Tamworth has been able to shave off a minimum of 1 day time-to-result as well as lowering shipping costs for samples. From an operational perspective, Tamworth has embraced the ease of use and limited training required for a lab technician to run aseptic microbial samples.Tim Adams, EVP Tecta-PDS says “This is a fantastic step forward in the Australian market. We are very proud to be adopted in over 35 countries and look forward to continuing to work closely together with Tamworth Laboratories and in Australia.”James Anderson, Senior Laboratory Technician at Tamworth Environmental Laboratory says “The requirement for timely microbiological analysis for drinking water was identified as a public health issue in our region and TECTA-B16 provided the solution with the added benefits over other methodologies of rapid detection and notification.”About Tecta-PDSTECTA-PDS was formed in 2003 as Pathogen Detection Systems as a direct result of the Walkerton (Ontario, Canada) disaster in which 7 people died and several thousand became ill as a result of fecal contamination of drinking water. Working together, researchers at Queen’s University and industry specialists set the goal of revolutionizing current microbiological monitoring standards in which the tried-and-true testing methods that, although deemed the gold standard, were decades old, unreliable and simply inadequate to protect human health. TECTA-PDS today has evolved into a global organization having systems in over 35 countries and has revolutionized the way in which water is being tested around the world in both municipal and industrial environments. Over the years the core value of the company has never changed with a mission to be the most innovative organization in water monitoring and to ensure a Walkerton disaster never occurs again in any part of the world.About Tamworth Environmental Laboratories Tamworth Environmental Laboratory (TEL) is a unit of Tamworth Regional Council (TRC) and primarily offers environmental testing services to the North West, Northern Tablelands and Liverpool Plains regions of New South Wales in Australia. This area incorporates regional cities and remote and isolated communities. Accredited by the National Association of Testing Authorities (NATA) for a range of environmental testing parameters and for environmental sampling, TEL is now also NATA accredited for a number of microbiological tests, including E.coli and coliforms in potable water with the Tecta-B16. http://www.tamworth.nsw.gov.au/Water-and-Sewerage/Tamworth-Environmental-Laboratory