Eric Vowinkel & Dan Sullivan

Methods and Data Comparability Board

Crowne Plaza Dulles, Feb. 22, 2008

NEMI and WQDE

NEMI Background What’s New Plans

Data Elements for Physical Habitat Background Status of current list

Free, online searchable clearinghouse of methods and procedures – regulatory and non-regulatory

Compare and contrast the performance and relative cost

EPA & USGS CRADA http://www.nemi.gov/

Methods in NEMI

882 Chemical 547 Inorganic 257 Organic

47 Biological 21 Physical 18 Toxicity Assay

Who Uses NEMI?

Feb. 9-16, 2008 Requests for pages: 3,091 Avg. page requests per day: 441

Who Uses NEMI?

Who Uses NEMI?

NEMI-CBR

Extension of NEMI for Homeland SecurityAdds fields:

RapidityScreeningConfirmatory

Access by permission

Plans for NEMI

Several areas interwoven with Board: Statistical methods Sensors Emerging contaminants

New features Full-text searching Method archiving Search history

New Methods Physical habitat Multi-probes Fat bags

PHab data elements

Spatial elements

Typical Stream Chemistry Sampling: Point

Spatial elements

PHab Products

Seek ACWI approval, April 2008 Fact Sheet for the Conference Web site – resources, links, background

material Wish List

Updated Data Elements report Workshop at a conference

http://acwi.gov/methods/

The Super Bowl Flush

It is estimated that at halftime of the Super Bowl, across the United States 90 million people will flush about 350 million gallons of water down the toilet at the same time. It is equivalent to the amount of water that flows over Niagara Falls every 39 minutes.

MDCB New DirectionsFrom recent Board & Council meetings—

issues consistently raised include• Contaminants• Sensors• Statistical methods• Event, continuous, and real-monitoring

Need to prioritize issues based on needs of the water-quality community including the National Network

Contaminants--Problems• New analytical methods to detect a wider range of

contaminants in the hydro/geo/biological cycles• Contaminant MRLs are decreasing orders of

magnitude• Are results from these new methods comparable?• Emerging contaminants – is there a process for

identifying what contaminants should be of concern?

• Emerging Contaminants: Identification, Concerns, Actions - Roland Hemmitt, EPA Region 2

• USGS National Program Efforts in Emerging Contaminants – Herb Buxton, USGS Toxic Substances Hydrology Program

• Emerging Contaminants: Monitoring & Standards Development – Leslie McGeorge, NJDEP

• Perchlorate Case Studies:– Potable Water Occurrence & MCL Development – Judy Louis,

NJDEP/Division of Science, Research &Technology– Surface Water Monitoring - Tom Vernam, NJDEP/WM&S

• The Effects of Water Treatment on Emerging Contaminants – Jeff Fischer, USGS NJ Water Science Center

• Monitoring Emerging Contaminants in Groundwater – Mike Serfes, NJDEP/NJGS

• Monitoring Emerging Contaminants in the Tidal Delaware River – Ronald MacGillivray, DRBC

Emerging Contaminants NJWMCC Meeting—1/23/08

http://www.nj.gov/dep/wms/wmccmeetinginfo.html

Emerging Contaminants

• Human Drugs • Veternary Drugs• Antibiotics • Hormones• Steroids • Detergents• Plastics • Antioxidants • Fire retardants • Disinfectants• Fumigants • Fragrances• Insecticides • Repellants• Plastics • Coal tar sealants• Algal toxins • Nanoparticles• Perfluoronated cmpds. • Personal care products

Contaminants--Objectives

• Recommend a list of contaminants to be monitored in the Network

• Prioritize the contaminants into high, medium, and low need by hydrologic compartment

• Determine appropriate MRLs appropriate in each hydrologic compartment

• Suggest appropriate analytical methods

Sensors--Problems

• Sensor technology is evolving rapidly• No central repository available to compare

MRLs, precision, bias, “greenness”, etc• Comparability of results among sensors is

poorly understood• The Network recommends placement of

continuous real-time sensors in estuaries but guidance on types of sensors and frequency of data collection is limited

Sensors--Objectives

• Develop a white paper to outline the approach• Store sensor technologies in a database like NEMI• Create a web-site to guide users on sensor use• Outside experts

– EPA ETV Program– Sandia National Labs (SNL)– Department of Defense (DoD)– Homeland Security (DHS)– Private sector– USGS users

Statistical Methods--Problems

• Monitoring networks may include different designs: • discrete • probabilistic• continuous • satellite imagery

• The National Monitoring Network is a network of networks• Sites selected differently • Data collected at different frequencies• Is it possible to integrate discrete, probabilistic, continuous,

and satellite data sets generated by the Network or other networks?

• If so, how can we integrate and use the data effectively?

Statistical Methods--Objectives

• Connect with the Council’s Water Information Strategies (WIS) Work Group to evaluate methods of analysis of available data sets

• Provide guidance on:– appropriate use of statistical methods and

reporting of data from the Network and other monitoring efforts

– methods to integrate various data sets

Event, Continuous, and Real-time Monitoring -- Problems

Network river sites: Sample 16x per year with consideration for flow conditions

• What constitutes an “event”?• For event samples, what type of sample

collection technique is appropriate?Continuous and real-time sensors are to be used

at estuary sites• What frequency of capturing/reporting data from

continuous monitors is optimal?What are the best methods to estimate

contaminant loads from rivers to estuaries to coastal areas?

Event, continuous, and real-time monitoring--Objectives

Provide guidance on:• appropriate sampling methods and frequency of

sample collection for event monitoring• magnitudes of events and methods to collect

comparable samples• appropriate frequency of capturing/reporting

data from continuous monitors• methods of estimating loads from rivers to

estuaries to coastal waters:

Moving Forward

• White papers for needs assessments where appropriate

• Council and ACWI concurrence

• Recruit new members (Atlantic City)

• Short and long-term needs– Web sites for guidance materials– Fact Sheets– Other?

Where: Atlantic City Convention Center