United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Environmental Monitoring
Systems Laboratory
Las Vegas NV 89193
Research and Development
EPA/600/S8-87/023 Sept. 1987
4>EPA Project Summary
Environmental Methods
Testing Site Users' Guide
Charles K. Fitzsimmons
The Environmental Methods Testing
Site (EMTS) Project is being conducted
by the Environmental Protection Agency
with the cooperation of the state of
Georgia, the state of Tennessee, Hamil-
ton County, Tennessee, and the city of
Chattanooga. The concept is to establish
one well-characterized site, designated
as the Chattanooga Metropolitan Statis-
tical Area, at which to conduct a series
of studies designed to improve environ-
mental monitoring methods and
methods for assessing human exposure
to toxic substances in the environment.
The project, planned to span a 5- to 15-
year period, is being conducted in sup-
port of the Toxic Substances Control
Act of 1976.
The Chattanooga area is well suited
as a site to conduct human exposure
methodology studies. Site users have
the support of local government and of
EMTS Project participants who provide
a management team, information
gathering services, computerized data
management and analysis, and quality
assurance assistance. The Chattanooga
area provides a hospitable climate, a
population and geographical size al-
lowing statistically valid sampling of
subpopulations, isolation from other
cities, a diverse industrial base, a large
existing data base, and modem technical
and logistical support facilities.
This Project Summary was developed
by EPA's Environmental Monitoring
Systems Laboratory, Las Vegas, NV, to
announce key findings of the research
project that Is fully documented In a
separate report of the same title (see
Project Report ordering Information at
back).
Introduction
This document is written for managers
and principal investigators who may be
contemplating future field studies. It pro-
vides potential site users with the in-
formation necessary to conduct their
studies at the EMTS.
The purpose of the Environmental
Methods Testing Site (EMTS) Project is to
advance the state of the art of assessing
human exposure to environmental pol-
lutants. The Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) has a need to develop and
improve methods for assessing human
exposure to toxic substances to support
regulations resulting from the Toxic Sub-
stances Act of 1976. Having the respon-
sibility for administering the Act, the EPA
Office of Toxic Substances (OTS) has
asked the EPA Office of Research and
Development (ORD) for technical assist-
ance. The Office of Research and Devel-
opment is responsible for developing and
validating monitoring methods and for
providing quality assurance support for
the Environmental Protection Agency. The
Environmental Methods Testing Site Pro-
ject is being conducted by the Office of
Research and Development as a means to
provide the research needed by EPA on
human exposure methods development.
The objective of the Environmental
Methods Testing Site Project is to provide
a well-characterized site in which to
develop, test, and compare multimedia
exposure monitoring methodology. The
emphasis is on characterizing one site in
detail so that any number of exposure
assessment studies can be conducted
more economically and quickly than they
could be conducted at separate sites.
The approach to accomplishing the
purpose and objective of the EMTS Pro-
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ject is to set up a single well-characterized
site, then invite principal investigators to
conduct relevant field studies. Categories
of needed studies include but are not
limited to the following:
• Testing the efficiency and bias of
questionnaires used to canvass
human populations for environ-
mental exposure information
• Testing field performance of environ-
mental and human measurement
methods
• Evaluation of techniques for multi-
media data analysis
• Validation of models
• Evaluation of relevant quality assur-
ance procedures
In order to fulfill its purpose and objec-
tive, the EMTS Project needs principal
investigators to use the site. The nature
of the EMTS Project is to provide a site
and a network of political and technical
support. It is expected that EPA will con-
duct most of the studies done at the
EMTS, but all other Federal agencies,
universities, state and local governments,
and public, private, and international
organizations are encouraged to par-
ticipate in the opportunities offered by
the EMTS. A principal investigator will
qualify as an EMTS user when his study
proposal is approved by the EMTS Steer-
ing Committee.
The EMTS Project is being conducted
by the EPA Office of Research and
Development for the EPA Office of Toxic
Substances. Project activities are carried
out by the ORD Environmental Monitoring
Systems Laboratories and their respective
contractors in Research Triangle Park,
North Carolina, and Las Vegas, Nevada.
After careful consideration of a set of
site selection criteria, the EMTS was
chosen to be the six-county Chattanooga,
TN-GA, Metropolitan Statistical Area.
Priority of consideration was first given to
local political support, then climate,
population, geography, isolation, diversity
of industry, availability of data, and finally,
local support facilities. Figure 1 is a map
showing the location and extent of the
study area.
The state of Tennessee, Hamilton
County, and the city of Chattanooga are
active participants in the project. The
state of Georgia has chosen to be repre-
sented by the EPA Region 4 office in
Atlanta and has given its tacit approval
and support of the project.
Local interest in the EMTS Project is
high. When the EMTS Steering Commit-
tee, which is the management body of
the project, was formed, two advisory
subcommittees were incorporated to in-
sure the rapid flow of information between
Project planners and local interest groups.
This arrangement has worked well. Ad-
visory committee members and their
constituents have a chance to review
planning documents and voice their con-
cerns or suggestions before a problem
evolves. The advisory committees are
shown all news releases concerning the
EMTS Project and its related studies
before they are given to the press.
All funding for management of the
EMTS comes through the Office of Re-
search and Development but is allocated
through the Pesticides and Toxic Sub-
stances Research Committee in support
of OTS program objectives.
Two EPA Environmental Monitoring
Systems Laboratories and their contrac-
tors carry out the technical tasks of the
project. In particular, the major task for
Research Triangle Park is data manage-
ment, and that for Las Vegas is site
characterization. Characterization re-
quires that all known data relevant to the
site be found and evaluated. The product
of these efforts is the EMTS data base
which requires considerable data man-
agement to prepare it in a form useful for
evaluation. These data can be analyzed
either by a geographic information system
in Las Vegas or by statistical packages in
Research Triangle Park.
The EMTS Users' Guide discusses the
advantages to principal investigators of
conducting studies at the EMTS and in-
cludes a description of the data available
from the EMTS data base. Following that
is a description of the site and the support
facilities available at the site. The users'
guide continues with the procedures and
requirements to initiate, conduct, and
document a study at the EMTS. Finally,
procedures are given for those users who
wish to contribute their data to the EMTS
data base.
Summary
The Environmental Methods Testing
Site (EMTS) is the Chattanooga, TN-GA,
Metropolitan Statistical Area as defined
by the Bureau of the Census. The site
consists of Hamilton, Marion, and
Sequatchie counties in Tennessee; and
Catoosa, Dade, and Walker counties in
Georgia. The Chattanooga area was
selected by the Environmental Protection
Agency in cooperation with the state and
local governments by using a set of
comprehensive selection criteria. The
EMTS is being used to conduct a series of
field studies in a common, well-charac-
terized location which is considered ad-
vantageous and cost effective. The
purpose is to advance the state of know-
ledge about methods to measure human
exposure to environmental pollutants.
Advantages to principal investigators
who choose to use the EMTS are as
follows:
• Political support from state and local
governments and an established
management team through EPA
laboratories and their contractors
• A common data base that has been
collected by EPA and its participating
contractors, the state of Tennessee,
the Chattanooga-Hamilton County
Air Pollution Control Bureau, and
the Tennessee Valley Authority
• A quality assurance program being
administered by the Environmental
Monitoring Systems Laboratory at
Las Vegas, Nevada, and its contrac-
tor, the Environmental Research
Center of the University of Nevada-
Las Vegas.
• A data management program being
administered by the Environmental
Monitoring Systems Laboratory at
Research Triangle Park, North
Carolina, and its contractor, Northrop
Services, Incorporated
• Computer processing for statistical
analysis of data collected at the
EMTS on the EPA IBM system at the
National Computer Center
• Spatial analysis of new and old data
with a geographic information system
on a VAX 785 at the Environmental
Monitoring Systems Laboratory at
Las Vegas, Nevada, operated by its
contractor, Lockheed Engineering
and Management Services Company
• Because of the benefits listed above,
principal investigators who use the
EMTS can expect to conduct their
studies at a lower cost than if they
went to another city
A very large data base has been com-
piled for the EMTS to be accessed by pro-
spective users of the site. Users can
determine what data are available, what
the quality is, and where and when the
data were collected.
To gain access to the EMTS and its
supporting programs, prospective users
must contact the Project Coordinator,
Robert Jungers, EPA, Research Triangle
Park, telephone: (919) 541-7870 or FTS
629-7870. Users must demonstrate that
they have funding for their proposed field
work and must submit a study plan
through the Project Coordinator for ap-
proval by the EMTS Steering Committee.
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Environmental Methods Testing Site Chattanooga SMSA
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Legend
___ Study Area
Boundary
County
Boundary
Pilot Study
Boundary
X Chattanooga
Incorporated
Limit
(Januarys, 1986)
W
Statute Miles
5 0
•_•_•_
Kilometers
Figure 1. Map of study area.
34°30'N
084°45'W
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Approved studies will be conducted in
cooperation with the EMTS Steering
Committee which will facilitate com-
munication among the various EMTS
participants. Field and systems audits
may be performed by a designated quality
assurance agent for all studies. The
Chattanooga-Hamilton County Air Pollu-
tion Control Bureau will provide public
relations services for all studies.
Principal investigators must provide
monthly progress reports to the Steering
Committee during the course of a study,
and a final report and executive summary
at the conclusion of a study. Final reports
will be subject to peer review. Users are
encouraged to publish their results.
When and if newly collected data are
validated, principal investigators are en-
couraged to contribute their data to the
EMTS Data Base so that other users of
the EMTS can benefit from their work.
This document was submitted in ful-
fillment of Cooperative Agreement No.
CR 812189-01 by the Environmental
Research Center under the sponsorship
of the U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency. This document covers a period
from April 1986 to March 1987, and
work was completed as of April 7, 1987.
Charles K. Fitzsimmons is with the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, NV 89154.
Shelly J. Williamson is the EPA Project Officer (see below).
The complete report entitled "Environmental Methods Testing Site Users'
Guide," (Order No. PB 87-202 412/AS; Cost: $18.95, subject to change)
will be available only from:
National Technical Information Service
5285 Port Royal Road
Springfield, VA22161
Telephone: 703-487-4650
The EPA Project Officer can be contacted at:
Environmental Monitoring Systems Laboratory
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
P.O. Box93478
Las Vegas, NV 89193-3478
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Center for Environmental Research
Information
Cincinnati OH 45268
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Official Business
Penalty for Private Use $300
EPA/600/S8-87/023
0600329 PS
60604
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