Water Quality

Data Quality Assurance

Links to QA Policies, Procedures, and Guidelines

Planning Guidelines & Examples | Implementation Procedures | Assessment Guidelines | Manchester Lab

Agency-Wide

Water Quality Data:
- RCW 90.48.570 - Findings--Intent
- RCW 90.48.575 - Definitions
- RCW 90.48.580 - Credible data, information, literature
- RCW 90.48.585 - When credible
- RCW 90.48.590 - Falsified data--Penalty
Water Quality Program-Environmental Assessment Program Policy 1-11, Chapter 2
"Ensuring Credible Data for Water Quality Management" (PDF) is the policy developed in accordance with the Water Quality Data Act. The policy describes how Ecology determines what constitutes credible data for agency actions, based on the quality of surface waters.
Ecology Executive Policy 1-21
“Establishing Quality Assurance" (PDF) established a program for ensuring the consistent application of quality assurance principles to the planning and execution of all activities that acquire and use environmental measurement data.
Ecology Executive Policy 1-22
“Requiring Use of Accredited Environmental Laboratories" (PDF)ensures that laboratories performing environmental analyses are capable of providing accurate and defensible data for Ecology’s use in making decisions concerning the environment.
Ecology Publication 05-03-031
“Quality Management Plan, Agency Plan to Implement, Document, and Assess the Effectiveness of the Quality System Supporting Environmental Data Operations” is the Ecology blueprint for applying quality assurance and quality control to environmental programs. It defines the quality system for planning, implementing, and assessing the effectiveness of activities supporting environmental data decisions. It requires the preparation of a status report for management every two years.

Planning Guidelines and Examples

Ecology Publication No. 04-03-030
“Guidelines for Preparing Quality Assurance Project Plans for Environmental Studies” presents detailed guidance on the preparation of QA Project Plans. It describes 14 elements to be addressed in the plan and provides supporting information and examples relevant to the content of each element.
Ecology Quality Assurance Project Plans (QAPP) is a list of some recent Quality Assurance Project Plans prepared by Ecology.
Environmental Assessment Program (EAP) Procedure 1-04
“Preparation, Review, and Approval of Quality Assurance Project Plans” (PDF) establishes the review and approval process for quality assurance project plans (QAPPs). Peer review is required of all QAPPs developed by staff within EAP.
Sediment Sampling and Analysis
"Sediment Sampling and Analysis Plan Appendix" provides technical guidance for developing sampling and analysis plans for sediment investigations conducted under the Washington Sediment Management Standards (SMS) (Washington Administrative Code [WAC] Chapter 173-204).

Ecology's Toxic Cleanup Program's Sediment Management Website provides links to sediment-related sites.

Ecology's Environmental Assessment Program's "Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program - Final Quality Assurance Project & Implementation Plan" (PDF) is an example of a QA Project Plan for marine sediments.

Monitoring Procedures

Ecology Publication No. 01-03-036
"Stream Sampling Protocols for the Environmental Monitoring and Trends Section" describes the sample collection, shipment, and analysis procedures used by the Washington State Department of Ecology, Environmental Monitoring and Trends Section staff to collect water quality information at long-term stream monitoring stations.
Ecology Publication No. 93e04
"Field Sampling and Measurement Protocols for the Watershed Assessments Section" summary of sampling and measurement protocols used by Ecology's Watershed Assessment Section (WAS) when conducting water quality assessment projects.
Ecology Publication No. 03-03-052
"Continuous Temperature Sampling Protocols for the Environmental Monitoring and Trends Section" describes the protocols used by the Department of Ecology, Environmental Assessment Program, Environmental Monitoring and Trends Section to collect continuous water temperature data at stream monitoring stations.
Puget Sound Protocols and Guidelines
http://www.psat.wa.gov/Publications/protocols/protocol.html
This publication presents recommended protocols for measuring selected environmental variables in Puget Sound. The objective is to encourage most investigators conducting studies such as monitoring programs, baseline surveys, and intensive investigations to use equivalent methods whenever possible. If this objective is achieved, most data from future sampling programs should be comparable among studies.
Ecology Publication No. 03-09-043
"Sediment Sampling and Analysis Plan Appendix" provides technical guidance for developing sampling and analysis plans for sediment investigations to be conducted under the Washington Sediment Management Standards (SMS) (Washington Administrative Code [WAC] Chapter 173-204).
Toxics Cleanup Program (TCP) Sediment Management
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/tcp/smu/sediment.html
This webpage provides links to sediment-related sites.
Puget Sound Ambient Monitoring Program Marine Sediment Monitoring Component
http://www.ecy.wa.gov/programs/eap/mar_sed/NOAA-PSAMP%20QA Project Plan.pdf (PDF)
This document is an example of a QA Project Plan for marine sediments.

Assessment Guidelines

EAP Policy 4-01
“Guidelines for Technical Document Review” (PDF) establishes the respective responsibilities of supervisors, authors, and reviewers in this quality assurance process. Appropriate review is an integral step to ensure high quality technical reports, and this set of guidelines lays out peer review procedures for EAP technical documents.
Water Quality Program (WQP) Policy 1-11, Chapter 1
“Assessment of Water Quality for the Clean Water Act Sections 303(d) and 305(b) Integrated Report" (PDF) describes how water body segments will generally be assessed and placed in various categories according to water quality status and priority for further actions. This policy constitutes the “Listing Methodology” for the Integrated Report composed of the Section 303(d) list and 305(b) report as required by the federal CWA and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
WQP Policy 1-25
“Dispute Resolution” (PDF) establishes the procedures that Ecology will follow in resolving a dispute on a TMDL issue when resolution cannot be reached through the normal TMDL process.
Ecology Publication No. 91-78
"Technical Guidance for Assessing the Quality of Aquatic Environments, A Handbook prepared for the Water Quality Financial Assistance Program (revised 1994)" discusses developing water quality assessment programs and technical methods for conducting water quality studies.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) also maintains policy, guidance and procedures that address some of the requirements. This link provides a directory to EPA QA documents:
http://www.epa.gov/quality/qa_docs.html

Department of Ecology's Manchester Lab

The goal of Ecology’s Manchester Environmental Laboratory (Manchester Laboratory) is to support the Agency by producing reliable, scientifically valid and legally defensible data so informed decisions can be made regarding the health and safety of our environment. In order to ensure Manchester Laboratory is achieving this goal it is essential that a quality assurance program be maintained.

Quality Assurance Manual
This manual outlines Manchester Laboratory’s quality system, which consists of Quality Management (QM), Quality Assurance (QA), and Quality Control (QC). The laboratory QA Manual is one of many tools for implementing Ecology’s quality system. The document also describes the QM, QA, and QC policies, responsibilities and procedures, and is intended to assist analytical and administrative staff in the uniform implementation of QM, QA, and QC analytical requirements for regional and agency-wide data collection programs.
Laboratory Users Manual
This manual contains documentation of administrative and sample handling procedures, which should be considered an adjunct document to the quality assurance manual. Additionally, laboratory analyses, and sample and data handling procedures are documented in the compilation of Laboratory SOPs. This compilation should be considered a major extension of the Quality Assurance Manual.

Last updated October 2006