Main Committee I: Analytical Methods – Development and Standardisation

Dr. Frank Brauer (Chair)
Advisory Board member of the Water Engineering Standards Committee
DIN NA 119-09 FB
Water Analysis Division (CEN/TC 230, ISO/TC 147)

Standardisation Coordinator of the Society of Water Chemistry

Testing, harmonisation and further development of analytical methods

DEV - German Standard Methods for the Examination of Water, Wastewater and Sludge

Since its foundation in 1926, one of the aims of the Society of Water Chemistry has been to standardise test methods for assessing water quality. In 1928, a committee was established specifically for this purpose, which is now known as “Main Committee I: Analytical Methods – Development and Standardisation”. Since then, members of the Society of Water Chemistry have played a central role, with their expertise, in standardising analytical methods in the field of water and sludge analysis. They help ensure that method specifications suitable for citation in legislation are available in the form of standards.

In 1935, the “Physical and Chemical Standard Methods” were published for the first time by Verlag Chemie; in 1953, a revised and expanded edition was issued under the title “German Standard Methods for Water Analysis”. In 1960, the “German Standard Methods for the Analysis of Water, Wastewater and Sludge” were published as a loose-leaf collection, allowing individual specifications to be replaced by revised versions as required.

Since 1976, an agreement has been in place between the Division and DIN Deutsches Institut für Normung, according to which the standard methods are to be gradually converted into DIN standards, while new standard methods are developed by the Society of Water Chemistry in cooperation with the Water Practice Standards Committee. All DIN standards based on the standard methods are also published as part of this collection. Within Technical Committee 147 “Water quality” of the International Organisation for Standardisation (ISO), international standards for water quality are developed under German leadership; in some cases, these are incorporated into the German body of standards as DIN-ISO standards and are then also published in this collection. Within Technical Committee 230 of the Comité Européen de Normalisation (CEN), European Standards (EN) for water analysis are developed under German leadership. European Standards must be adopted unchanged into the national body of standards and then replace any conflicting DIN standards. European Standards for water analysis are generally also incorporated into this loose-leaf collection. ISO standards that are adopted at European level or developed in parallel are published as DIN-EN-ISO standards.

By 2025, approximately 380 measurement and test methods had been standardised through one of the routes described above.

Further information on standardisation work & DEV