The ISWS Quality Assurance/Quality Control (QA/QC) Committee has developed an ISWS Quality Management Plan (QMP) to serve as the
umbrella quality assurance guidance document for all environmental data collection activities. The guidance document is patterned
after a UESPA manual prepared for recipients of funding from USEPA, but has general applicability for all environmental data collection
programs. The QMP describes the elements of the ISWS quality management system and provides guidance on the development of project
specific quality assurance plans and task-specific standard operating procedures (SOPs). Additional elements included in the QMP
are requirements for staff training, procurement of goods and services, records retention, and data management protocols. The QMP
is intended to provide principal investigators and Center/Program Directors with a consistent set of guidelines that will
enhance opportunities for external funding and standardize quality assurance protocols throughout the ISWS.
Additional sources of information and guidance can be accessed via the web. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) provides a
variety of documents to facilitate quality management activities. The areas discussed in these EPA documents include guidance on sampling
design, preparation of quality assurance project plans (QAPPs) and standard operating procedures (SOPs), development of modeling projects,
and statistical evaluation of data. The United States Geological Survey, USGS, provides specific information on the techniques used for
investigations involving water resources. The association, National
Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference (NELAC), was organized
under the sponsorship of EPA and other federal agencies to foster the generation of environmental laboratory data of known quality.
NELAC standard provides information on proficiency testing, on-site assessment and the development of a quality system.
Direct links to the guidance documents provided by these organizations are provided below:
Contact: Mary Hagen LeFaivre, Quality Assurance and Site Safety Coordinator
