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- Policies and initiatives
Emissions reduction
Industry innovation and science
- Artificial intelligence
- Australian Radioactive Waste Agency
- Australian Space Agency
- Boosting innovation and science
- Co-hosting the Square Kilometre Array
- Increasing international collaboration
- Industry growth centres
- Industry Innovation and Science Australia
- National Measurement Institute
- Optical astronomy in Australia
- Participating in the digital economy
- Promoting innovation precincts
- Science in our department
- Science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM)
Energy
Resources
Northern Australia
Trade
Business support
Measurement services
Government to government services
- Regulations and standards
Emissions reduction
Energy
Resources
- Applying to export rough diamonds
- Applying to export uranium and controlled ores
- Offshore mineral exploration and mining
- Offshore oil and gas exploration and development
- Offshore petroleum exploration acreage release process
- Regulating offshore oil and gas in Australian Commonwealth waters
- Regulating the Ranger Uranium Mine
- Taxes and royalties on minerals and petroleum
Measurement
Trade
Space industry
Building industry
Business support
- Funding and incentives
Emissions reduction
Industry innovation and science
- Australian Square Kilometre Array Fellowships Programme
- Business Research and Innovation Initiative
- Business-research collaboration
- Collaborating with Asia-Pacific on science, research and innovation
- Collaborating with China on science and research
- Collaborating with India on science and research
- Cooperative research centres
- Enabling international space investment
- Industry 4.0
- Inspiring Australia: Science engagement in Australia
- International research collaboration
- Moon to Mars: opportunities for Australian businesses
- Prime Minister's Prizes for Science
- Research and Development Tax Incentive
- Supporting advanced manufacturing
- Supporting business and innovation
- Supporting space infrastructure growth
- Transitioning Australia’s automotive manufacturing industry
- Venture capital
Resources
- About us
COVID-19
Jobs
Who we are
- Our Ministers
- Our Executive team
- Organisation chart
- Our portfolio agencies
- Overseas engagement
- Anti-Dumping Commission
- Anti-Dumping Review Panel
- Australian Radioactive Waste Agency
- Australian SKA Office
- Australian Space Agency
- Critical Minerals Facilitation Office
- National Measurement Institute
- Office of Innovation and Science Australia
- Office of Northern Australia
- Office of the Chief Economist
- Office of the Chief Scientist
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- Annual report
- Assurance and Audit Committee
- Budget statements
- Campaign Certification Statements
- Continuing Order of the Senate
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- Deregulation agenda
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- Submitting environmental testing samples
On this page
Submitting environmental testing samples

- Contact us to request our environmental analysis services via email customerservice@measurement.gov.au or phone 1300 722 845 to:
- get a quote
- request shorter turnaround times
- order containers and preservatives for your samples
- obtain a permit to import quarantine material (for samples imported into Australia)
- Familiarise yourself with the relevant Sample preservation and holding times.
- After you receive our formal quote, print and complete the Sample submission form.
- Read our terms and conditions.
- Pack your samples securely:
- sample containers (such as bottles, jars, tubes or vials) should be watertight
- inner packaging (such as a strong sealed plastic bag) should be flexible and watertight and enclose each sample or group of samples of the same type (for example, group water, soil or biota samples)
- outer packaging should be rigid and strong (for example an esky or cooler no bigger than 30 L or 20 kg)
- place ice bricks between the inner and outer packaging
Sending samples within Australia
- You must pay for all delivery costs.
- Deliver samples and any accompanying documentation to the address on your sample submission form.
- Organise delivery during working hours.
- We do not accept responsibility for the safety or integrity of samples until we receive them.
Sending samples from outside Australia
- Do not send us samples without the permit to import quarantine material as they may be destroyed on arrival.
- You must pay for all delivery costs.
- We will bill any handling fees back to you with an added administration fee of 100%. Quarantine fees are typically $80 to $120 per consignment. There may be additional taxes or duty.
- Complete and collate:
- all pages of your Permit to import quarantine material
- a description of your samples
- details of the country of origin of your samples (not the country it was shipped from)
- contact details of the shipper
- a letter regarding the presence of pathogens using this template [25KB DOCX]
- an invoice with a value for customs purposes or no commercial value samples for in vitro analysis
- Make a copy of the documentation and place:
- one copy inside the package
- the other copy in a robust clear plastic bag, mark it 'Attn AQIS/Customs' and attach it securely to the outside of the package
- Before delivery contact us with details of your consignment (include sample description, shipper and likely arrival date).
- Deliver samples and any accompanying documentation to the address on the sample submission form. Arrange door-to-door express service as we do not accept samples sent by post.
- Organise delivery during working hours.
- We do not accept responsibility for the safety or integrity of samples until we receive them.
- We do not return quarantine samples. We will destroy the sample one month after issuing the final report.
Request stack emissions testing equipment
Fill out our form to request equipment for stack emissions testing sample collection.
Request VOCs in canister testing equipment
Fill out our form to request equipment for VOCs in air testing sample collection.
Preservation and holding times
These instructions are for samples taken for environmental testing.
The sample sizes, preservation procedures, holding times and conditions for air, aqueous and solid samples are recommendations only.
Base your decision on the nature of the sample, the intended use of the data and the data quality objectives. For example, you can use alternative storage conditions if the analyte stability within a matrix can be demonstrated and data quality objectives are not compromised.
In a given sample, the analyte requiring the most preservation treatment as well as the shortest holding time should dictate the preservation treatment of the overall sample.
General rules for samples
- Place in ice immediately after sampling
- Cool to <4 °C
- Deliver to NMI within 24 hours of sampling
- Use ice bricks when dispatching by air and over long distances, and when couriers will not freight ice
- Have at least half the recommended holding time remaining when relinquished to NMI
- Avoid delivering time-critical samples to NMI late on Friday
Recommendations for specific samples
Each sample type has different recommendations for storage conditions needed to preserve the sample. See our recommended preservation procedures, holding times and conditions for:
Safety data sheets
Certain substances must be labelled under the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) of classification and labelling.
We have provided:
- safety data sheets (SDS) for your information
- labels to affix to the collection bottles for water samples
Nitric acid preservative for metals sample
- Nitric acid preservative for metals sample SDS [463KB PDF]
- Nitric acid preservative for metals sample label [90KB PNG]
Sulfuric acid preservatives
- Sulfuric acid preservative for total nitrogen (TN), total Kjeldahl nitrogen (TKN) and ammonia (NH3), and total organic carbon (TOC) and dissolved oxygen demand (DOC) SDS [451KB PDF]
- Sulfuric acid preservative for TN TKN NH3 label [91KB PNG]
- Sulfuric acid preservative for TOC DOC label [97KB PNG]
Sodium hydroxide preservative for cyanide samples
- Sodium hydroxide preservative for cyanide samples SDS [411KB PDF]
- Sodium hydroxide preservative for cyanide samples label [49KB PNG]
Hydrochloric acid (HCI) preservative for ferrous iron
- HCI preservative for ferrous iron SDS [407KB PDF]
- HCI preservative for ferrous iron label [85KB PNG]
Ethylenediamine preservative for chlorite
- Ethylenediamine preservative for chlorite samples SDS [555KB PDF]
- Ethylenediamine preservative for chlorite samples label [58KB PNG]
Sodium hydroxide zinc acetate preservative for total sulphide samples:
- Sodium hydroxide preservative for total sulfide samples [411KB PDF]
- Zinc acetate preservative for total sulfide samples [406KB PDF]
- Sodium hydroxide zinc acetate preservative for total sulfide samples label [104KB PNG]
Copper sulphate and neocuproine HCl preservatives for dissolved sulfide
- Copper sulphate preservative for dissolved sulfide samples [87KB PDF]
- Neocuproine HCl preservative for dissolved sulfide samples [117KB PDF]
- Copper sulphate and neocuproine HCl preservative for dissolved sulfide samples label [101KB PNG]
For accessible versions of these documents please email customerservice@measurement.gov.au.
Read more
- Find out about our core environmental testing services
- Find out about our specialist environmental testing and analysis services
- Learn more about the National Measurement Institute
Contact us
- Email customerservice@measurement.gov.au
- Phone 1300 722 845

- National Measurement Institute
Last updated: 8 December 2020
Content ID: 64580