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Procedures for Detection and Quantitation
Technical Workgroup
Federal Advisory Committee on Detection and Quantitation Approaches and Uses in Clean Water Act (CWA) Programs
Summary of Technical Work Group Conference Call #8
September 15, 2005
3:00 – 5:00 p.m. EDT
- Action Items
- Welcome and Introductions
- Discussion of the Definitions White Paper
- Discussion of the Matrix and Characteristics
- Public Comment
- Wrap-up and Closing
- Attendance
- Back to Technical Workgroup home page
The next Technical Work Group call is scheduled for Wednesday, September 21, from 1:00 – 3:00 PM EDT. Members also added an additional conference call for Thursday, September 15, from 3:00 – 5:00 PM EDT. Please see below for the schedule of subsequent calls.
Action Items
Richard Reding will
- Post to the internet (http://epa.gov/waterscience/methods/det) Standard Operating Procedures in place for the detection and quantitation procedures being evaluated.
- Further develop a strawman with the Pilot Test Subgroup to continue developing a concept for a study design. Likely report out on September 21st.
- Send to Triangle a citation for which ML procedure was being used for evaluation in the matrix.
John Phillips will
- Edit and refine the definitions white paper based on the discussion among Technical Work Group members.
Jim Pletl will
- Revise the introduction of the description of the characteristics based on discussion among Technical Work Group members, and send to Triangle.
- Incorporate changes in the procedures matrix to remove the Navy Uncertainty Calculation procedure and reinsert the Hubaux-Vos procedure. He will also insert a column for the Water Research Centre procedure (see below).
Cliff Kirchmer will:
- Send to John Phillips a draft paragraph incorporating the notion of false positives and false negatives into Section II of the white paper.
- Provide to Triangle definitions for the terms a-posteriori, a-priori and degrees of freedom to be included in the glossary.
- Complete the matrix evaluation for the Water Research Centre procedure for detection.
Triangle will:
- Re-circulate the revised matrix and characteristics, and the draft definitions white paper on Friday, September 16 for one final review from Technical Work Group members. Comments are due to Triangle by the close of business on the 16th.
- Finalize all the Technical Work Group products and format for distribution to the federal advisory committee on Monday, September 19, 2005.
Welcome and Introductions
Robert Wheeler, facilitator, welcomed participants to the call at 3:00 PM EDT. He conducted a roll call of Technical Work Group members and observers, and briefly reviewed the agenda for the meeting. Mr. Wheeler emphasized the purpose of the meeting was to approve the remainder of the Technical Work Group products for distribution to members of the federal advisory committee by Monday, September 19:
- Matrix of Procedures and Characteristics (with description of characteristics and footnotes to the matrix)
- Definitions White Paper
Mr. Wheeler said the majority of the meeting would be spent discussing the draft white paper. He said the group would need time toward the end of the meeting to review the matrix and characteristics and approve for distribution to the federal advisory committee early next week.
He then asked participants for comments on the draft summary from the September 13, 2005 Technical Work Group meeting. There were no comments and the summary was approved, as drafted.
Discussion of the Definitions White Paper
Mr. Wheeler asked participants to keep in mind how products will be presented to the federal advisory committee at its September meeting. He asked John Phillips to briefly describe the process the subgroup used to draft the definitions white paper.
John Phillips said that the subgroup decided on the content to include in the white paper from which he drafted an outline of the paper. Subgroup members were assigned to complete various sections of the white paper following the outline. Subgroup members approved by consensus the white paper for discussion at today's meeting. He asked the group to pay particular attention to Sections III (Hypothesis Testing) and XI (Interpretation of the MDL). He also pointed out that figures that are referenced in the paper are included in the PDF version of the paper and not the Word version (due to file size). However, he asked the group to edit the Word version so that changes could more easily be incorporated.
Mr. Wheeler suggested the Technical Work Group move through the draft white paper section by section. He asked Mr. Phillips to note any changes to which the group agrees and to send a revised draft to Triangle.
While the Technical Work Group reviewed all sections of the White Paper, the members focused discussion primarily on Sections III, IV, VIII and XI. After the discussion, Mr. Wheeler reiterated that once Mr. Phillips received revised sections agreed to on today's call, he would incorporate the revised language into the draft white paper, reformat the paper and figures, and send to Triangle for distribution to Technical Work Group members. Members would then have until close of business Friday, September 16 to comment on the revised draft. Mr. Wheeler said the draft white paper will be sent to federal advisory committee members on Monday, September 19.
During the course of discussion, several terms were identified as needing to be added to the glossary. Mr. Wheeler noted those terms and said Triangle would add those to the glossary of terms to be distributed to the federal advisory committee.
After discussion, the Technical Work Group agreed that the White Paper could be sent to the FACDQ with the understanding that the assignments to members for changes were completed and that a final review via email might result in further small changes to the document.
Discussion of the Matrix and Characteristics
Mr. Wheeler reminded participants that there was on-going discussion regarding which procedures should continue to be evaluated in the matrix. Steve Bonde responded via email regarding the Navy Uncertainty Calculation procedure saying that, although the procedure does an excellent job describing uncertainty, it does not live up to the description of a detection or quantitation procedure. Therefore, he recommends removing it from further evaluation in the matrix.
Members discussed the reasoning for having an ISO/IUPAC procedure for quantitation and not one for detection. Although an ISO/IUPAC detection procedure was never identified for evaluation, and the ISO/IUPAC quantitation method does not have an actual procedure associated with it, members agreed to leave it in as a quantitation method and add the "Water Research Centre" for a method of detection. Cliff Kirchmer volunteered to fill in the matrix for the Water Research Centre procedure.
Technical Work Group members also agreed that the LT-MDL and the Hubaux-Vos procedure should be included in the matrix. Mr. Wheeler asked Jim Pletl to make final revisions to the introduction of the interpretations of characteristics document and send to Triangle for final distribution to the federal advisory committee. He said Triangle would format the matrix based on today's discussion and add Mr. Kirchmer's response to the Water Research Centre before circulating to members for final review and comment.
Public Comment
There were no public comments.
Wrap-up and Closing
Mr. Wheeler reminded members that the conference call on Wednesday, September 21 would focus on presentations of the Technical Work Group products to the federal advisory committee. He reminded participants that the dates and times (all are EDT) of future Technical Work Group meetings are as follows:
- Wednesday, September 21 from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
- Wednesday, October 5 from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
- Wednesday, October 19 from 1:00 – 3:00 p.m.
Mr. Wheeler briefly noted the action items from the call, and said the agenda for the next call will focus on presentations, a pilot testing study design, and if there is time remaining, one last review of the matrix. He thanked Technical Work Group members for their efforts in putting together the draft products, and closed the meeting at 5:10 p.m. EDT.
Attendance
Technical Work Group Members
- States: Cliff Kirchmer and Timothy Fitzpatrick
- Environmental Laboratories: Richard Burrows
- Environmental Community:
- POTWs: Jim Pletl and Ken Osborn
- Industry: Larry LaFleur and John Phillips
- US EPA: Richard Reding (Office of Water) and Brad Venner (Office of Enforcement and Compliance Assurance)
- Other Federal:
Triangle Associates: Derek Van Marter and Robert Wheeler
Observers
- Joanne Dea (US EPA Office of Conflict Prevention and Resolution Center)
- Marion Kelly (US EPA Engineering and Analysis Division)
- Ken Miller (Consultant to EPA Office of Water)