Laboratory Data Review for the Non-Chemist United States - PDF document

Laboratory Data Review for the Non-Chemist United States Environmental Protection Agency Region 9 San Francisco, California October 2014

Notice This laboratory data review instruction manual is an update to the July 1995 “RCRA Corrective Action Program Data Review Guidance Manual.” It is an instruction m anual to help non-chemist EPA, state, and tribal staff understand laboratory data reports. It is not intended as guidance and may not represent official EPA policy. Acknowledgements The principal authors of this document are Katherine Baylor, Gail Morison, and David R. Taylor, Ph.D. This revised document relies heavily on the work of the authors of the original 1995 manual: Rich Bauer, Katherine Baylor, Elise Jackson, Elaine Ngo, and Ray Saracino. Comments and suggestions for improvement of “Laboratory Data Review for the Non - Chemist” should be directed to: Katherine Baylor US EPA Region 9, Land Division 75 Hawthorne Street, LND-4-1 San Francisco, CA 94105 baylor.katherine@epa.gov Disclaimer Mention of trade names, products, or services does not convey official EPA approval, endorsement, or recommendation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Consistent Use of Terms ................................................................................................................. 2 2.0 DATA QUALITY ASSESSMENT ................................................................................................................... 3 2.1 Quality Assurance / Quality Control (QA/QC) Approaches ..................................................... 3 2.2 Field Audits .............................................................................................................................. 3 2.3 Laboratory Audits .................................................................................................................... 4 2.4 Split Samples ............................................................................................................................ 5 2.5 Performance Evaluation Samples ............................................................................................ 5 2.6 Data Quality vs. Data Usability ................................................................................................ 6 2.7 Laboratory Data Deliverables .................................................................................................. 7 3.0 DESK-TOP REVIEW .................................................................................................................................... 8 3.1 Case narrative .......................................................................................................................... 8 3.2 Laboratory accreditation / certification information .............................................................. 8 3.3 Laboratory contact information .............................................................................................. 9 3.4 Date samples collected, received, prepared, and analyzed .................................................... 9 3.5 Laboratory Method.................................................................................................................. 9 3.6 Analytes Reported ................................................................................................................. 10 3.6.1 Analyte Names ................................................................................................................ 10 3.6.2 Tentatively Identified Compounds (TICs) ....................................................................... 10 3.7 .......................................................................................................................... 10 Holding Time 3.8 ........................................................................................................... 11 Units of Measurement 3.8.1 Wet weight / Dry Weight / ‘As received’ ....................................................................... 11 3.9 Detection / Reporting Limits ................................................................................................. 11 3.10 Data Qualifiers ....................................................................................................................... 12 3.11 ............................................................................................................. 12 Surrogate Recoveries 3.12 .............................................................................................................. 12 Blank contamination 3.13 Laboratory Control Sample (LCS) ........................................................................................... 14 3.14 Matrix Spike / Matrix Spike Duplicate (MS/MSD) ................................................................. 15 3.14.1 Relative Percent Difference (RPD) Calculation ............................................................. 16 3.15 Interferences ......................................................................................................................... 16 3.16 ................................................................................................. 17 Chain of Custody (CoC) Form 3.17 Laboratory Sample Receipt Checklist .................................................................................... 17 4.0 SPECIAL TOPICS ...................................................................................................................................... 18 4.1 Air / vapor analysis reporting units ....................................................................................... 18 4.2 Hazardous Waste Leachability Testing .................................................................................. 18 4.3 Fish / biota analysis ............................................................................................................... 19 4.4 Odd matrices ......................................................................................................................... 19 5.0 GLOSSARY ..................................................................................................................................................... 20 6.0 QUALITY CONTROL SUMMARY TABLE .......................................................................................................... 26 7.0 CASE STUDIES ................................................................................................................................................ 32