Contract Laboratory Program

The EPA Contract Laboratory Program (CLP) has responsibility for managing the analysis programs required under the U.S. Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA). The approved analytical methods are designed to analyze water, soil, and sediment from potentially hazardous waste sites to determine the presence or absence of certain environmentally harmful organic compounds. The methods described here all require the use of GC/MS. 

Certain laboratories can, after a contract has been awarded, register under the Contract Laboratory Program (CLP) of the EPA. To earn a contract, one or more specifically prepared samples must be analyzed under very similar conditions to those used in standard protocols. Only if the data are deemed satisfactory will a contract be awarded. Further evaluation samples must be analyzed at three-month intervals afterward to ensure that performance is being maintained. 

The analysis programs of the Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA) are managed through the EPA s Contract Laboratory Program (CLP). 

CLPSD. 1989. Contract Laboratory Program Statistical Database. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. July 12, 1989. 

Staples et al. (1985) reported that acrylonitrile was not present at detectable concentrations in 352 sediment samples collected from lake and river bottoms across the United States. Preliminary data from the contract Laboratory Program (CLP) Statistical Database (CLPSD 1988) indicated that acrylonitrile was detected in soils at 3 of 862 hazardous waste sites (including NPL and other sites) being investigated under Superfund. The median concentration of five samples was 120 pg/kg. 

Dibromoethane has been detected in an estimated 0.23% of the groundwater samples analyzed for the 2,783 hazardous waste sites participating in the Contract Laboratory Program (CLP) a positive geometric mean concentration value was not reported. 1,2-Dibromoethane has not been detected in surface water samples taken at hazardous waste sites (CLPSD 1988). Note that the CLP Statistical Database (CLPSD) includes data from both NPL and non-NPL sites. 

EPA. 1988c. Contract Laboratory Program statement of work for organics analysis multi-media multi-component 2/88. 

Heptachlor has been detected in an estimated 1.4% of the groundwater samples taken at NPL hazardous waste sites included in EPA s Contract Laboratory Program (CLP) at an estimated geometric mean concentration of 0.78 ppb for the positive samples (CLPSD 1989). The compound was not listed in the CLP Statistical Database (CLPSD) of chemicals detected in surface water samples collected at NPL sites. Heptachlor epoxide was not listed in the CLPSD of chemicals detected in groundwater or surface water samples collected at NPL sites. Note that the information from the CLPSD includes data from NPL sites only. 

Hall et al. (1985) reported that no 1,2-diphenylhydrazine (less than pg/L) was detected in the Nanticoke River near the Chesapeake Bay. The analytical method involved liquid-liquid extraction, concentration, and. analysis by GC/MS. The Contract Laboratory Program statistical database (queried April 13, 1987) reported that 1 2-diphenylhydrazine has been detected n water at i of 357 hazardous waste sites at a concentration of (96 ppb (CLPSDB 1987), and has been reported at 7 of 117, sites. n the national Priority List database (ATSDR 1990) The U.S. EPA Contract laboratory Program uses GC methods to analyze the contaminants of interest. Since 1,2-diphenylhydrazine oxidize, to azobenzene in the GC injector port and both 1,2-diphenylhydrazine and azobenzene, have the same GC retention time and mass spectra, reports of 1,2-diphenylhydrazine from the Contract Laboratory Program may actually represent detections of 1,2-diphenylhydrazine, azobenzene, or both (see Chapter 6 for more details). 

Diphenylhydrazine has been identified in soil only at hazardous waste sites. The Contract Laboratory Program statistical database (queried April 13, 1987) reported that 1,2-diphenylhydrazine has been detected in the soil at 2 of 357 hazardous waste sites in both cases at 18,200 ppm (CLPSDB 1987). The Contract Laboratory Program uses GC methods to analyze the contaminants of interest. As discussed in Section 5.4.2, this may actually represent detections of either... 

CLPSDB. 1987. Contract Laboratory Program Statistical Data Base. April 13, 1987. 

EPA. 1987a. USEPA Contract Laboratory Program Statement of Work for Organics Analysis. Dated 10/86 revised 8/87. 

---