Eric Vowinkel

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Eric Vowinkel Dan Sullivan

• Methods and Data Comparability Board

Crowne Plaza Dulles, Feb. 22, 2008
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NEMI and WQDE

• NEMI
• Background
• Whats New
• Plans
• Data Elements for Physical Habitat
• Background
• Status of current list

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• 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/

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Methods in NEMI

• 882 Chemical
• 547 Inorganic
• 257 Organic
• 47 Biological
• 21 Physical
• 18 Toxicity Assay

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Who Uses NEMI?

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

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Who Uses NEMI?
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Who Uses NEMI?
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NEMI-CBR

• Extension of NEMI for Homeland Security
• Adds fields
• Rapidity
• Screening
• Confirmatory
• Access by permission

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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

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PHab data elements
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Spatial elements
Typical Stream Chemistry Sampling Point
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Spatial elements
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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/

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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.
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MDCB New Directions

• From 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

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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?

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Emerging Contaminants NJWMCC Meeting1/23/08http
//www.nj.gov/dep/wms/wmccmeetinginfo.html

• 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/WMS
• 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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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?

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Statistical Methods--Objectives

• Connect with the Councils 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

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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?

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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

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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?

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Where Atlantic City Convention Center