For the drinking water supply community, one of
the more problematic issues associated with chemical
monitoring under the Safe Drinking Water Act
(SDWA) is the establishment of meaningful reporting
limits. Historically, reporting limits have been poorly
defined by the regulations and have been set arbitrarily
and inconsistently.
To address this issue, the California Division of
Drinking Water and Environmental Management, the
state primacy agency for SDWA enforcement, formed
the Reporting Limit Workgroup to investigate
approaches for determining reporting limits and to
develop a procedure for setting reporting limits that
are clearly defined and based on objective and reproducible
data. In a voluntary study, drinking water
laboratories accredited by the state received a series
of prepared solutions containing analytes of interest.
Only analytical methods approved by the US Environmental
Protection Agency for SDWA compliance
were used.
Over the years, considerable debate has centered on
the best approach to setting reporting limits. Much of
these data have come from individual laboratories or
limited numbers of analytes. This study examined
results from a large number of laboratories and analytes
as well as all approved methods, providing a more
empirically based assessment of different approaches to
setting reporting limits. According to study findings, the
optimum approach to setting reporting limits considers
the number or percentage of laboratories that can produce
results that meet the measurement quality objectives
of the data user (i.e., the regulators) rather than the
average performance of all laboratories or other aggregate
measures. When reporting, limits are set using the
procedures described here, they are more reflective of
actual laboratory capability and capacity. Includes 16 references, tables, figures.
| Edition : | Vol. 96 - No. 9 |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 250 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 14 |
| Published : | 09/01/2004 |
