The successful operation of a modern environmental testing laboratory requires accurate analysis of samples in the shortest time possible after receipt. Automated flow injection analysis and air-segmented continuous flow analysis provide an appropriate analytical methodology for determination of many inorganics in discharge and drinking waters for both compliance monitoring and surveillance requirements. There are now more than 30 accepted analytical procedures for environmental samples based on this technology. Computer-controlled continuous flow analyzers of both types have achieved much of their success due to combination of ‘chemometrics and intelligent automation’. Samples and appropriate standard solutions may be automatically selected from an autosampler, injected, and evaluated through automated peak detection/ quantitation software routines. Whilst running a batch of samples, these instruments automatically detect off-scale unknowns, carry out appropriate dilutions, and rerun the samples, all without user intervention. Operating software is intelligent enough to detect when recalibration has become necessary, and rerun any unknowns between the last known which determined accurately, and the latest known which failed. Appropriate standard solutions may be automatically prepared by serial dilutions, thus eliminating an additional source of technician error. Sometimes it is necessary to characterize the matrix of samples prior to a regular continuous flow analysis. Some modem continuous flow analyzers provide this option through modules for ion chromatography. This approach can facilitate automatic compensation for presence of a difficult matrix, or at the very least, alert the operator to the potential problem. This, when coupled with other on-line sample separation/ pretreatment options such as micro-distillation provides a highly flexible analytical environment. Complex software is a prerequisite for handling the real-time decision making needed in such instruments. Post-process statistical analysis of data obtained over periods as short as one analytical run to as long as several years, is also now routinely carried out. Means, standard deviations, spike recoveries and quality control charts and associated statistics are all readily calculated by the instrument control computer.