You're not the only ones celebrating!
- TSCICR Team
ICR Update
Jim Walasek, Editor
Technical Support Center
June 15, 2000
Ends!!
Utilities and Laboratories Celebrate
ICR Update ISSUe Number 21 - This information sheet, the ICR Update, is the
twenty-first (and the last) one to be issued by the Technical Support Center (TSC) of the Office of Ground
Water and Drinking Water (OGWDW). Future issues will not be needed since the ICR data has been
validated and verified for the entire 18 month monitoring period.
Editor's Note: Just when we thought it was safe to say the ICR was complete we discovered it was
necessary to make some corrections to the database (ICR-FED). Some of you loyal ICRers received
requests to review the protozoa and virus data, and correct data anomalies that were discovered by the
AUX1 (read AUX One) data review team. Now that the corrections have been made to the database, the
final, final (we really mean it this time) version of the 18-month AUX1 database (Version 5.0) will be
transferred to CD-ROM for distribution to all interested parties.
It has been a pleasure to work with all the utility and lab folks that have been involved with the ICR
over the last few years. Unfortunately, for the most part, my contact with the utilities has only been via
telephone, e-mail, or snail mail. I thought it would have been nice to meet some of you folks first-hand.
From your point of view I'm sure that we were no more than a friendly voice on the phone nagging over
and over about some data transfer diskette or the like. Well, just so you can put a face with the voice on
the other end of the phone, I'm going to introduce the members of the Technical Support Center ICR team
through words (a quote from that person) and pictures in this issue.
In the beginning, Al Stevens, our division Director, lead the ICR effort (until his retirement). Barb
took the bull by the horns early on and really got the project moving and kept it on track with those
endless weekly meetings. Tom Sorg, with NRMRL, was the first ICR Utility Coordinator (I was the
second) while on a detail to TSC and worked with utilities on ICR applicability issues. Mike, our
computer guru (and Webmaster), helped design the ICR Water Utility Database System and was the one
we all looked to for help on technical issues. Other TSC staff who made the project a success include:
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Rick who made sure that the ICR manuals were ready to go when the rule was promulgated. Kent S. and
Pat, who handled the chem lab approval process and strived (or would that be strove?) to solve data
validation problems. Bonnie who ensured that the sampling kits for the EPA Special Analyses got to their
destinations on time, and Dan 1 and Dan 2, and Christy, who packed and shipped the kits for the special
analyses (and unpacked and logged in all those samples and delivered them to the TSC labs). Then there
were the chemists, Dan and Dave, who developed some of the special analytical methods. Ed made sure
the chem labs had the calibration stock solutions they needed. Carol, another chemist, worked on the
quality assurance project plan, or QAPP. Let's not forget Chas (last name not necessary since everyone
knows him as just Chas) who handled the PE samples and made sure that you got your results in a timely
manner. Chris, our statistician, did a quick turn-around on the PE study statistics with assistance from
Kent N. On the micro side we had Mary Ann (ICR Micro Lab Coordinator), Jim S., Katrina, and Lois.
Steve (Treatment Study Coordinator) almost singlehandedly put together the treatment studies program
with able assistance from Alison. Our office staff, Cindy, Susan, and Lillian kept the files orderly and
ensured that the letters and other correspondence made it to the mail room on time (after that point we
couldn't guarantee anything). Janie ensured that all of the ICR activities got funded. We also had a
couple of interns, Brian and Michella, who really did a great job researching data validation problems.
Don't want to forget Jim Westrick, our current leader, who kept everyone motivated and signed all of the
correspondence (see Jim's farewell message below). Then there's Hiba who came on board later in the
project and worked with the data analysis teams. Special thanks to Phyllis who helped me clean up the
ICR Update and got it up on the web. Finally, some non-TSC folks who worked on the micro side of the
project many years ago include, Norm, Glenn, Shay, and Frank. I hope I haven't forgotten anyone. If I
have, I apologize. Some of the aforementioned folks have gone on to other pursuits, but many have
remained and are now gearing up to do similar work on the UCMR (or as it is affectionately referred to
here at TSC, ICR n).
Farewell Message from the Chief - Jim Westrick - This is the last issue of
the ICR Update. It is with a great sigh of relief that the ICR team here at the Technical Support Center is
finally able to close out this massive project. When the Reg-Neg committee decided in 1993 that a body
of high quality data was needed to develop microbial/disinfection byproducts regulations for the 21st
century, the EPA folks in Cincinnati and Washington together with the water industry began working to
determine just what data was needed and how it could be obtained. Those determinations became the
basis of the Information Collection Rule, which was proposed in the Federal Register in February 1994
and made final in May 1996. A tremendous amount of work was done from 1993 on to establish all the
requirements and to put all the systems in place to make it all work. Establishment of approved methods,
lab approval processes, performance evaluation samples, systems for determination of applicability,
treatment plant schematic development, sample plan approval, treatment study protocol development, data
system development, training sessions, videos, manuals, hotlines, the A- Team.... the list of activities,
systems and processes that were developed and implemented by EPA and the water industry to bring off
this mammoth effort goes on and on.
Of course all you utilities and laboratories did your part, learning the requirements placed on you by
the regulation, setting up lab and treatment study contracts and sampling systems, learning the reporting
software, conducting the monitoring and treatment studies, reporting the data and reviewing the data
reports and resubmitting corrected data.
j
As the ICR progressed, I was very impressed with the eagerness of the participating utilities to
comply with the requirements of this very complex regulation. We fielded hundreds of questions from
personnel of utilities and laboratories who wanted to be sure they were doing the right thing. When we
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began returning data reports to utilities and labs for review, this onerous task was met with, if not
enthusiasm, at least willingness to cooperate and provide the best data possible. EPA and the water
industry should be proud of what we have achieved together. As we look back on all the great work that
was accomplished and the high quality data that was generated, we should all pat ourselves on the back for
a job well done. I'm proud of the performance of the EPA implementation team and I'm proud of the
water industry for taking on this challenge and completing it with such success. We should all be proud
that we were involved in producing the best real- world data possible from which to determine the future
of water treatment in this country. Thank you for everything you did to make the ICR a success.
has 18 Months - Found under the "What's New" heading on the OGWDW
web page (http://www.epa.gov/safewater/) was this announcement about the ICR Data:
"All 18 months of information Collection Rule Data Are Now Available. The Research Data,
Presented in Envirofacts, Includes Concentrations ofMicrobial Contaminants and Disinfection
Byproducts."
Direct access to the Envirofacts homepage is (http://www.epa.gOv/enviro/html/icr/0.
Introducing the Technical Support Center ICR Team -
Rick
KentS.
Quotes:
JEW - "It was fun while it lasted, and it lasted for a long, long time."
Mike - "I wonder how many hits the ICR web site will get?"
Rick - "What a life-changing experience! I still catch myself humming ICR Sampling Songs!!"
Kent (the Unknown Lab Approval Guy) - "If you see me on the street, don't forget to say hi!"
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Katrina
Lois
Steve
Alison
Quotes:
Dan H. - "Lab life was crazy, samples never ending, anyone who thought it fun, must just be pretending."
Ed - "Standards?? We don't have no stinking standards!! We sent them all to you!"
Chas - "If I have to lick one more envelope my tongue is going to fall off!" Old quote (serious version),
"It was great, meeting so many new folks (PE Studies) "telephonically."
Chris - "Out of the soup (ICR) & into the fire (UCMR)."
Mary Ann - "I'd give my right arm to be a microbiologist."
Jim S. - "Another cryptozoologist oblivious to the macro world."
Lois - "Looking for Crypto and Giardia will come and go, Coliforms will forever rule!"
Alison - "Sometimes those Treatment Studies made us grumpy, but we survived!"
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Cindy
Lillian
Susan
Jane
Jim Westrick
ICR Data Team
Quotes:
Lillian - "Being the Lottery Bookie, I got everyone's attention away from the ICR for awhile each week "
Brian & Michella - "We're Bad! We're Bad!" or, "We better resolve these issues in R.A.I.D. (Resolving
Abominable Issues Database - ICR Update No. 19) or it will be the "furry" guy that gets paid." or, "I see
our (ICR) potential when we work as a team."
Felicity ("The Ferret") - "EPA used every resource to ferret out potential problems!"
Frijole (Guinea Pig) - "They say if I don't do my job, they've heard I taste like chicken."
Phyllis - "A single reason why you can do something is worth a hundred reasons why you can't We all
said can.and we did it!" '
Data Team Quote - "The ICR is over, gee wasn't it just great, if you still have data, keep it now - it's too
late." "Enjoy your 18-month CD-ROM, ours tasted great!"
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United States
Environmental Protection Agency
Office of Ground Water and Drinking Water (MS-14O)
Cincinnati, OH 45268
Official Business
Penalty for Private Use
$3OO
BULK RATE
. POSTAGE & FEES PAID
EPA
PERMIT No G-35
EPA815-N-OO-002
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