Environmental Protection Agency protocols

Chart showing hierarchical relationship among a technique, methods using that technique, and procedures and protocols for one method. (Abbreviations APHA = American Public Health Association, ASTM = American Society for Testing Materials, EPA = Environmental Protection Agency)... 

A good example of a prescriptive approach to quality assessment is the protocol outlined in Figure 15.2, published by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for laboratories involved in monitoring studies of water and wastewater. Independent samples A and B are collected simultaneously at the sample site. Sample A is split into two equal-volume samples, and labeled Ai and A2. Sample B is also split into two equal-volume samples, one of which, Bsf, is spiked with a known amount of analyte. A field blank. Dp, also is spiked with the same amount of analyte. All five samples (Ai, A2, B, Bsf, and Dp) are preserved if necessary and transported to the laboratory for analysis. 

SOURCE Excerpted from U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (1995) and Indoor Environmental Quality Appendix to International Performance Measurement Verification Protocol (U.S. Department of Energy, 1998)... 

Mason, B. J. Preparation of Soil Sampling Protocol Techniques and Strategies, Report EPA-60014-83-020, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1983. 

U.S. EPA, Technical Protocol for Evaluating Natural Attenuation of Chlorinated Solvents in Ground Water, National Risk Management Research Laboratory, United States Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, DC, October 1998. 

United States Environmental Protection Agency (2005) Human Health Risk Assessment Protocol (HHRAP) for Hazardous Waste Combustion Facilities (Final) EPA530-R-05-006 Office of Solid Waste. Washington, DC... 

E., Interim Indoor Radon and Radon Decay Product Measurement Protocols, EPA 520/1-8604, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C. (April 1986). 

A code of two letters followed by seven digits is a reference to Registry of Toxic Effects of Chemical Substances (RTECS) of National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health/Occupational Safety and Health Administration (NIOSH/OSHA). Standard samples are commercially available for most compounds with reference to protocols of die US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the US Pharmacopea (USP)74. 

EPA (Environmental Protection Agency). 1998. Human Health Risk Assessment Protocol for Hazardous Waste Combustor Facilities, EPA 530-D-98-001, July. Washington, D.C. Environmental Protection Agency. 

Table 6.2. Sampling Protocols Recommended by the Environmental Protection Agency... 

The prototype of QualAId currently in existence is one small part of the total framework needed for a useful expert system. The objective of QualAId is to provide advice on how much and what type of QA/QC is needed for various types of environmental analyses. The rules for determining these needs have been derived from the American Chemical Society (ACS) publication, "Principles of Environmental Analysis, (2) and from various protocols and recommendations of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

EPA. 1988e. Interim protocol for measuring hydrolysis rate constants in aqueous solutions. Washington, DC U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Office of Research and Development. EPA/600/S3-88/014. 

Pitts, J. N Jr A. M. Winer, D. R. Fitz, S. M. Aschmann, and R. Atkinson, Experimental Protocol for Determining Ozone Reaction Rate Constants, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Report No. EPA-600/S3-81-024, May 1981. 

Protocols for preparing six environmental sample types prior to the Ames Salmonella assay were proposed at a recent panel discussion sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and the U.S. Army. Air particles, soil-sediment, and solid waste are extracted with dichloromethane, concentrated, and solvent exchanged into dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO). Organics in water and waste water are absorbed onto XAD columns, then eluted with hexane-acetone, solvent reduced, and exchanged into DM SO. Nonaqueous liquids are assayed directly and as concentrates before they are solvent exchanged to DMSO. If bacterial toxicity or lack of dose response is observed in the Ames assay of extracts, the extracts are fractionated prior to solvent exchange. These are interim methods and have not been subjected to policy review of the USEPA or the U.S. Army. 

Pellizzari, E. D. et al. Master Analytical Scheme for Organic Compounds in Water. Part I Protocols U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Athens, GA, 1985 EPA-600/4-84-010a. 

The remainder of the modified parfait column consisted of an MSC-1 cation-exchange and an A-162 anion-exchange bed. The elution conditions for these beds were modified to minimize contamination of eluates and to selectively desorb organic anions and cations. With the modified protocol, 20 model compounds (Table I), selected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) Health Effects Research Laboratory (HERL), were used to evaluate the recovery efficiency of the method. Recoveries were determined in the presence of 2 ppm of a humic acid supplied by HERL. 

One procedure that is widely used to circumvent these complications is to remove ambient ammonia from the sampled air without removing particles by inserting one of several types of diffusion denuders upstream from the filter(s). In fact, in a recent Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-sponsored intercomparison of methods for determination of strong acid content of aerosols, all but one protocol utilized an ammonia denuder (63), and all used an impactor or cyclone to remove coarse particles. The presence of this denuder clearly prevents neutralization of acidic aerosols by ammonia but also disturbs the gas-aerosol equilibrium between sulfate-nitrate aerosols and gaseous species. Ammonia and nitric acid are released from the depositing particles (64, 65) and must be collected downstream if accurate particulate ammonium and nitrate determinations are to be made. If equal amounts of ammonia and nitric acid are released, then the absolute [H+] (neq/m3) will not be altered. No specific evidence is available in the literature to demonstrate alteration of the observed [H+] as the result of reequilibration, but this area deserves further study. 

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