INTEGRATED ATMOSPHERIC DEPOSITION NETWORK
QUALITY ASSURANCE PROGRAM PLAN REVISION 1.1

Environment Canada
United States Environmental Protection Agency

Paul Horvatin
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Great Lakes National Program Office

Keith Puckett
Environment Canada
Atmospheric Environment Service

The quality of water in the Great Lakes has been a subject of concern to both Canada and the United States since the early 20th century. In response to this concern, the Boundary Waters Treaty and the International Joint Commission (IJC) were created in 1909. The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement (GLWQA) was enacted in 1972. During the 1970's, studies spurred by the GLWQA showed that a number of pollutants created a potential threat to the Great Lakes ecosystem, and that atmospheric deposition may be a major route of introduction for these pollutants to the lakes.

In 1987, a new protocol was signed and several annexes were added to the GLWQA, including Annex 15, which specifically addresses airborne toxic substances, including research, surveillance and monitoring, controls, and health effects. In response to Annex 15, the International Joint Commission, in a 1988 report, outlined a plan regarding airborne toxics. Central to the plan was the creation of an Integrated Atmospheric Deposition Network (IADN), comprised of both U.S. and Canadian monitoring stations. The United States involvement in this effort was accelerated by the 1990 amendments to the United States Clean Air Act (CAA), which added impetus to the program through Title III, Section 112 (m), which called for the establishment of a Great Lakes atmospheric deposition monitoring network.

In 1971, the first Canada-Ontario Agreement on Great Lakes Water Quality (COA) was signed. The COA has been renewed several times and reflects a continuing commitment between Federal and Provincial governments to the improvement of water quality in the Great Lakes. The COA provided the basis for the Ontario Ministry of Environment's participation in the IADN Program.

In 1989, the Canada-Ontario Agreement created an Air Toxics Committee under the leadership of the Meteorological Service of Canada (MSC, formerly Atmospheric Environment Service or AES), and this group developed plans to implement Annex 15 on the Canadian side. The Canadian effort identified which chemicals should be monitored, what the criteria for an IADN site should be, what equipment would be needed, and what QA/QC program was needed. IADN QAPP Section: 1 Revision: 1.1 Page 2 of 13 June 29, 2001 Liaison with the EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office was initiated and a meeting was held in Detroit on December 4-5, 1989 to agree on details for a program for IADN and potentially for Annex 15. The outcome of that meeting was the formation of three working group reports which further defined the IADN network activities. In early 1990, the process was formalized with a signed 6-year Implementation Plan (Egar and Adamkus, 1990). This has been subsequently identified as the first Implementation Plan (IP1).

In 1997, the progress of the IADN program was reviewed in a technical summary (IADN Steering Committee, 1997) and this report was the subject of a Peer Review by eminent scientists of international stature. Based on this review, a second Implementation Plan (IP2) was signed, which outlines the plans for IADN for the period 1998-2004 (Mills and Gulezian, 1998).

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