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Project Examples:
Large and small
Examples of recent EcoChem project experience in
the areas of:
Data Validation and Electronic Data Management
EcoChem provided support services to a national science and engineering
firm on the remedial investigation of a Superfund site. Services included
data quality management and validation, analytical database interface and
chemistry consulting. Samples collected and analyzed in one year included
1200 sediments, 40 groundwater (pilot study) samples, and four surface water
events of 40 samples each. Subsequent follow-up studies and data-gap sample
collections included groundwater pathway, marine tissue studies, sediment
traps, and 150 more sediments.
Samples were analyzed for a full suite of contaminants including volatile
and semivolatile organics, metals, butyltins, PCB Aroclors, pesticides,
herbicides, conventionals, fuels; and trace-level organics (PCB congeners,
pesticides, dioxins and phthalates). EcoChem worked with the client and the
laboratories to optimize methods for specific analyte lists and lower detection
limits. EcoChem provided full validation on 10 percent of the data packages
and summary validation on the remainder, plus verification of the electronic
data files. EcoChem reported all validated data electronically in the client's
preferred format (for EQuIS import) within 30 days of data receipt.
A Quality Assurance Report (QAR) was prepared for each study. The QAR
included:
• Summary of comparison of quality control results to data quality
objectives (DQO) and method quality objectives (MQO)
• Discussion of validation results with the rationale for all qualifiers,
including qualifiers assigned to confirm laboratory flags
• Deviations from the project plan and the rationale for each deviation
• Tabulated summary of qualified data
• Statistical summary of qualified data, including precision, accuracy,
bias and overall completeness
In addition, EcoChem helped resolve issues with sampling, analysis, and
electronic data integrity; maintenance of the analytical database.
Quality Assurance Support & Oversight - Natural Resource Damage
Assessment Programs
EcoChem provides quality assurance services, data quality management
and validation, analytical chemistry coordination, and project archival
services for NOAA and Department of the Interior on several natural resource
damage assessments (NRDA). The following project description provides an
overview of services performed on NRDA and restoration projects.
Southern California Bight (Montrose) Natural Resource
Damage Assessment: EcoChem performed quality assurance oversight and data
validation of over 2,000 samples of sediment and tissue analyzed for PCB
congeners, dioxin/furans, DDT, and DDT metabolites using special analytical
methods developed by various laboratories. EcoChem provided laboratory selection
and coordination support and reviewed the analytical procedures for adherence
to the quality assurance program. EcoChem also performed data validation
of the completed organochlorine data packages and coordinated the results
among four laboratories and five groups of data users. The data review for
this project included evaluating the comparability of laboratory methods,
coordinated overall programmatic quality assurance requirements, and tailoring
validation requirements to specialized analytical protocols. Tissues
tested included bird eggs, blood, liver, brain, and fish tissues. In addition,
EcoChem prepared a literature review, which summarized the results of published
studies on PCB and DDT metabolites.
EcoChem also collected and archived all samples
and data from the NRDA project. The samples were collected and analyzed
by 15 laboratories and research facilities throughout the United States,
providing data for 28 separate studies. EcoChem’s responsibilities
include preparation of standard operating procedures for all aspects of
the archive and database; design and maintenance of the archive database;
on-site collection and catalog (into database) of all materials; packaging
and shipment of all materials (refrigerated, frozen, and cryogenically preserved)
to central storage facilities in Seattle, Washington. The final deliverable
was a database that can be queried and sorted for specific parameters of
interest (e.g., all materials associated with a particular study, or all
subsamples associated with a particular primary sample).
In 2002, the Montrose site entered the restoration
phase. EcoChem, as an active participant on the scientific review board,
helped to develop the Sampling and Analysis Plan (SAP) for restoration of
fish species. The goal of the sampling plan was to provide scientifically
defensible measures of the current geographic extent and severity of DDT
and PCB contamination in local sport and subsistence fish; and specific data
quality objectives (DQO) for the analytical data. A comprehensive quality
assurance plan was written to support the SAP.
Sediment and Related Chemistry
Characterization, remediation, and management of contaminated sediments
requires specialized chemical testing. The analyses of sediments,
fresh and marine waters, tissues, pore waters, elutriates, leach water,
etc., have their own methods, interferences, sensitivities, and other issues.
Evaluation of bioaccumulation and human health/ecological risks and impacts
requires analysis of specialized chemical fingerprints or tracers, and
the achievement of low detection limits in these difficult matrices. Successful
EcoChem sediment chemistry projects include:
• Analytical program planning and coordination, quality assurance
oversight, data validation and management for over 2,000 water, sediments,
and tissue samples tested for DDT and PCB congeners as part of a Natural
Resource Damage Assessment project.
• Analytical program planning and coordination and QA oversight
for testing low level PAHs in sediments containing significant interferents
from fuels and sawdust, as part of dredged material disposal evaluations.
• Development of sediment analytical scheme to distinguish contaminants
from a bulk fuel facility and other nearby sources of PAHs and metals.
• Evaluation of dioxin and PCB-congener sediment chemistry for
quality assurance, toxicity characterization, and source fingerprinting.
• Coordination of QA oversight of organic and inorganic chemistry
analyses, including specialized methods for low level metals quantification
in seawater, elutriate, and leach water samples for a near shore confined
disposal permit and design project.
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