Environmental Assessment > Quality Assurance

Quality Assurance at Ecology

The Department of Ecology relies on Quality Assurance (QA) to monitor, improve, and assess its scientific practices, especially those involving generation and assessment of environmental data. Ecology's QA system is based on requirements established by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and incorporates guidance and methodology from many standards-setting organizations world-wide.

Ecology uses established QA principles to plan, execute and assess all of its data-generation projects. Additionally, QA planning is often required for businesses or agencies submitting data to Ecology.

Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) for sampling, auditing and field methodology

Environmental Assessment Program

• EAP001 - Using Semipermeable Membrane Devices to Monitor Hydrophobic Organic Compounds in Surface Water
• EAP002 - Monitoring Total Dissolved Gas in Freshwater
• EAP003 - Sampling Pesticides in Fresh Water
• EAP007 - Resecting Finfish Whole Body, Body Parts or Tissue Samples
• EAP008 - Resecting DNA Samples and Aging for Finfish
• EAP009 - Collection, Processing and Preservation of Finfish Samples
• EAP011 - Instantaneous Measurement of Temperature in Water
• EAP013 - Determining Coordinates via hand-held Global Positioning System (GPS) Receivers
• EAP014 - Surveying Morphology and Surface Flow of Headwaters Channels
• EAP015 - Manually Obtaining Surface Water Samples
• EAP016 - Freshwater Drift Collection, Processing and Analysis
• EAP017 - Litterfall Collection, Processing, and Analysis
• EAP018 - Turbidity Threshold Sampling
• EAP019 - Estimating Streamflows Using a Flume
• EAP020 - Bedload Collection, Processing, and Analysis
• EAP021 - Estimating Large Woody Debris Loads Intersecting Headwaters
• EAP022 - Estimating and Delineation of Headwaters Wetlands
• EAP023 - Collection and Analysis of Dissolved Oxygen (Winkler Method)
• EAP024 - Estimating Streamflow
• EAP025 - Seawater Sampling
• EAP026 - Chlorophyll a Analysis
• EAP027 - Seawater Dissolved Oxygen Analysis
• EAP028 - Reagent Preparation
• EAP029 - Metals Sampling
• EAP030 - Fecal Coliform Sampling
• EAP031 - Collection and Analysis of pH Samples
• EAP032 - Collection and Analysis of Conductivity Samples
• EAP033 - Hydrolab^®, DataSonde^®, and MiniSonde^® Multiprobes
• EAP034 - Collection, Processing, and Analysis of Stream Samples
• EAP036 - Benthic Flux Chambers
• EAP037 - Time of Travel Studies in Freshwater using a Dye Tracer
• EAP038 - Collection of Freshwater Sample Cores using a box or KB Corer
• EAP039 - Sampling Marine Sediment
• EAP040 - Freshwater Sediment Sampling
• EAP041 - Collecting Freshwater Suspended Particulate Matter Samples using In-Line Filtration
• EAP042 - Measuring Gage Height of Streams
• EAP043 - Macrobenthic Sample Analysis
• EAP044 - Continuous Temperature Monitoring of Fresh Water Rivers and Streams Conducted in a Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) Study
• EAP045 - Hemispherical Digital Photography Field Surveys Collected as part of a Temperature Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) or Forests and Fish Unit Technical Study
• EAP046 Computer Analysis of Hemispherical Digital Images Collected as part of a Temperature Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) or Forests and Fish Unit Technical Study
• EAP050 - Calibration, Preparation, and Deployment of Teledyne RD Instruments Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs) © (RDI)
• EAP051 - Field Services and Maintenance of Sea-Bird Electronics (SBE) 16 and Marine Mooring stations
• EAP052 - Manual Well Depth and Depth-to-Water Measurements
• EAP054 - Campbell Scientific Data Logger Procedures for Collecting Stream Gaging Data
• EAP055 - Operation of Teledyne Instruments Stream-Pro Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler
• EAP056 - Measuring and Calculating Stream Discharge
• EAP057 - Conducting Stream Hydrology Site Visits
• EAP058 - Operating SonTek® FlowTracker® Handheld Acoustic Doppler Velocimeter (FlowTracker)
• EAP059 - Operating Mechanical Velocity Indicators
• EAP060 - Measuring Stream Discharge from a Bridge
• EAP061 - Installing, Measuring and Decommissioning hand-driven in-water Piezometers
• EAP062 - Determining Channel Dimensions in Streams and Rivers for the Extensive Riparian Status and Trends Monitoring Program
• EAP063 - Measuring Sediment Size and Channel Dimensions:  11-Count Method
• EAP064 - Determining Canopy Closure using a Concave Spherical Densiometer - Model C
• EAP065 - Counting Large Woody Debris for the Extensive Riparian Status and Trends Monitoring Program
• EAP066 - Establishing Reach Length for the Extensive Riparian Status and Trends Monitoring
• EAP067 - Visual Characterization of Riparian Vegetation
• EAP068 - Assessing Storm Damage at a Riparian Status and Trends Monitoring Program Site
• EAP070 - Minimizing the Spread of Aquatic Invasive Species from areas of Extreme Concern
• EAP071 - Minimizing the Spread of Aquatic Invasive Species from areas of Moderate Concern
• EAP072 - Basic use and maintenance of Design Analysis® Data Loggers and Peripheral Equipment
• EAP073 - Collecting Freshwater Benthic Macroinvertebrate Data in Wadeable Streams and Rivers
• EAP074 - Use of Submersible Pressure Transducers during Groundwater Studies
• EAP077 - Purging and Sampling Water Supply Wells
• EAP078 - Purging and Sampling Monitoring Wells
• EAP080 - Continuous Temperature Monitoring of Fresh Water Rivers and Streams
• EAP081 - Procedures for Tagging Wells

Laboratory Accreditation

• Accreditation of Environmental Laboratories
• Assessment (Audit) of Environmental Laboratories

Agency Spills SOPs

• SPL001- Collecting Oil Spill Source Samples
• SPL002 - Collecting Oil Spill HCID Samples
• SPL003 - Collecting Oil Spill Water Samples
• SPL004 - Collecting Oil Spill Intertidal Sediment Samples
• SPL005 - Collecting Oil Spill Shellfish Tissue Samples
• SPL006 - Collecting Soil or Sediment Samples for Gasoline Spills
• SPL007 - Collecting Samples from Fish Kills

Agency Stormwater SOPs

• ECY001- Collecting Grab Samples from Stormwater Discharges
• ECY002 - Automatic Sampling for Stormwater Monitoring
• ECY003 - Collecting Stormwater Sediments Using In-line Sediment Traps
• ECY004 - Calculating Pollutant Loads for Stormwater Discharges

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• SOP Master Index
• SOP Policy

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QA Policies

• Ecology Policy, Establishing Quality Assurance
• Ecology Policy, Requiring Use of Accredited Environmental Laboratories
• Roles and Procedures for Coordinating the Review of Quality assurance Project Plans Prepared by Water Quality Grant and Loan Recipients - EAP/WQP Joint Procedure 2-03
• Water Quality Policy 1-11 (Chapter 1) Assessment of Water Quality for the Clean Water Act Sections 303(d) and 305 (b) and (Chapter 2) Ensuring Credible Data for Water Quality Management

QA Management Plan and Periodic Quality Reports

• 2010 Quality Management Plan
• 2005 Quality Management Plan
• 2006 through June 2009 Quality Report to Management
• Washington State Department of Ecology′s Quality System for Fiscal Year 2006: System Structure, Activities, and Assessment
• 2005 Quality Report to Management

QA Coordinators