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Procedures for Detection and Quantitation

Policy Workgroup

Federal Advisory Committee on Detection and Quantitation Approaches and Uses in Clean Water Act (CWA) Programs

Summary of Policy Work Group Conference Call #14
August 9, 2006
1:00 – 2:30 p.m. EST

Calls will be held every other week, 1:00 - 3:00 PM ET. The schedule of remaining calls is: August 23rd, September 6th and 20th, October 4th and 18th, November 1st, 15th and 29th.

The call in number is 1-866-299-3188, and the access code is 202-566-1000#.

Action Items

Welcome and Introductions

Facilitator Alice Shorett convened the conference call at 1:00 PM EST and called the roll of participants. She briefly reviewed the objectives for the call:

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Meeting Summary Review and Approval

The draft summary of the June 1, 2006 (meeting number 13), Policy Work Group call was approved as drafted.

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Review of the Straw Proposal on Uses

Ms. Shorett asked call participants to look at the Policy Work Group Schedule and Work Plan dated 08/08/06 that was sent out with the meeting agenda. She explained that this document included a listing of what FACDQ decisions are needed for the December 2006 meeting, other topics that might need to be discussed at that meeting, and a list of potential products that the Policy Work Group will need to develop. A template schedule was then shown that needs Policy Work Group input. In order to address the schedule, the group began discussing the specific assignments and potential assignments.

The Policy Work Group started by talking about uses and agreed that the State draft uses proposal that was presented and discussed on the second day of the FACDQ meeting in July was a good place for the Policy Work Group to start their discussions and from which to develop a new proposal. The group felt that Policy Work Group members should review that document and consider changes and ideas to further develop the concepts.

There was discussion that while caucuses need to "shop" a new proposal with their constituencies, caucus members should keep in mind that ultimate decisions will be made by the individual FACDQ members. It was expressed that individual uses might need to be looked at more as a package deal because the issues are interconnected.

The group then discussed how the prescriptive/descriptive approach should be evaluated in relation to the other uses. The idea is that the prescriptive/descriptive issue should be discussed first because a decision there will inform all other discussions on uses. The group agreed that prescriptive/descriptive issues should be discussed first, followed by the uses proposal, and then the MQO's.

In summary, the group requested that members start by reviewing the Straw Proposal document that was used at the July FACDQ meeting, the State Proposal as it stands now, and a new proposal from the Public Utilities caucus. Discussion will start with the prescriptive/descriptive issue followed by Uses and then MQO's.

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FACDQ Recommendations on MQOs

The group began this discussion by considering how to tee the issue up for the FACDQ. The group felt that it would be helpful if there was a better understanding of why members chose certain MQOs and the ramifications of those values. It was agreed that Triangle will send out the latest MQO documents that indicates the status of caucus positions on MQOs and that Policy Work Group members will then provide rationales and ramifications for those positions.

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Matrix Effects

One of the assignments from the FACDQ was for the Policy Work Group to consider matrix effects and how such effects might be incorporated into any recommended procedures. It was explained that there are three levels of recommendations that can be considered:

  1. The FACDQ could recommend that a procedure(s) take matrix effects into account.
  2. The FACDQ could recommend a protocol as to how a matrix effect should be taken into account.
  3. The FACDQ could develop an approach on how a permittee could use a matrix specific detection and quantitation.

The group suggested one consideration that needs to be evaluated in any recommendation, which is currently a factor in method evaluations, is the cost associated with using matrices. The group agreed that allowing an individual permit holder to have a process to include a matrix approach if their circumstances merited it should be considered. The group also discussed the advantage of developing recommendations to EPA that would better define the issue, and potentially broaden the ability to use matrices. Larry LaFleur was assigned the task of helping frame the issue.

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Procedures

A member of the group brought up the fact that most FACDQ members know very little about the procedures under consideration and that an evening session at the December FACDQ meeting could be a beneficial time to conduct a session on "Procedures 101." The intention would be to provide the basic information about the procedures (including all of those listed on the Procedure-Characteristics Matrix), and allow an opportunity for FACDQ members to ask questions about the various procedures. This interim step will allow for progress to be made on recommending procedure(s) next spring after pilot study results. The group requested that the Technical Work Group put together a "Procedures 101" document or presentation for a night session at the December 2006 FACDQ meeting.

The group also agreed to discuss two policy issues related to procedures at certain meetings in the fall. The two policy issues are: (1) whether one or more procedures should be considered depending on the particular uses; and (2) the use of an interlab versus single lab approach.

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Definitions

The group felt that addressing concerns from one Technical Work Group member related to a FACDQ approach to detection and quantitation that does not conform to international approaches would be important. To get the discussion started, the Policy Work Group requested the Technical Work Group develop a short document on the rationale behind the definition choices that were made at earlier Technical Work Group and FACDQ meetings.

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Schedule and Work Plan

Based on the discussions and the assignments to the Policy Work Group, a draft schedule was set with specific work items for each Policy Work Group meeting. It was agreed that there is limited time and that if agreements cannot be reached in December, the committee should move on. Triangle will update the schedule and work plan based on the input from the Policy Work Group.

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Draft Final Report

The group briefly discussed the need to use a subgroup to begin efforts at developing a draft Final Report.

Wrap-up and Closing

Ms. Shorett adjourned the call at 2:30 PM EST.

Attendance

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