AWWA JAW60487

For the drinking water supply community, one ofthe more problematic issues associated with chemicalmonitoring under the Safe Drinking Water Act(SDWA) is the establishment of meaningful reportinglimits. Historically, reporting limits have been poorlydefined by the regulations and have been set arbitrarilyand inconsistently.To address this issue, the California Division ofDrinking Water and Environmental Management, thestate primacy agency for SDWA enforcement, formedthe Reporting Limit Workgroup to investigateapproaches for determining reporting limits and todevelop a procedure for setting reporting limits thatare clearly defined and based on objective and reproducibledata. In a voluntary study, drinking waterlaboratories accredited by the state received a seriesof prepared solutions containing analytes of interest.Only analytical methods approved by the US EnvironmentalProtection Agency for SDWA compliancewere used.Over the years, considerable debate has centered onthe best approach to setting reporting limits. Much ofthese data have come from individual laboratories orlimited numbers of analytes. This study examinedresults from a large number of laboratories and analytesas well as all approved methods, providing a moreempirically based assessment of different approaches tosetting reporting limits. According to study findings, theoptimum approach to setting reporting limits considersthe number or percentage of laboratories that can produceresults that meet the measurement quality objectivesof the data user (i.e., the regulators) rather than theaverage performance of all laboratories or other aggregatemeasures. When reporting, limits are set using theprocedures described here, they are more reflective ofactual laboratory capability and capacity. Includes 16 references, tables, figures.

Product Details

Edition:

Vol. 96 - No. 9

Published:

09/01/2004

Number of Pages:

14

File Size:

1 file , 250 KB