EPA817-F-07-010
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i r^-71 Water Laboratory Alliance
Background
Homeland Security Presidential Directive 9 (HSPD 9) directed EPA to develop robust,
comprehensive, and fully coordinated surveillance and monitoring systems... for water quality
that provides early detection and awareness of disease, pest, or poisonous agents, and to develop
nationwide laboratory networks for...water quality that integrate existing Federal and State
laboratory resources, are inter-connected, and utilize standardized diagnostic protocols and
procedures. In response to HSPD 9, EPA's Water Security Division (WSD) in the Office of
Water proposed and initiated development of a Contaminant Warning System, i.e., the Water
Security Initiative, and the Water Laboratory Alliance (WLA). The purpose of this Quick
Reference Guide is to describe development of the WLA.
Purpose
The purpose of the WLA is to provide the drinking water sector with an integrated nationwide
network of laboratories with the analytical capabilities and capacity to support monitoring and
surveillance, response, and remediation to intentional and unintentional drinking water supply
contamination events involving chemical, biological, and radiological contaminants.
Approach for Development
The WLA is being developed based on existing networks such as the Centers for Disease Control
and Prevention (CDC) Laboratory Response Network (LRN). It leverages existing laboratory
network capability, capacity, and infrastructure to fill gaps in national laboratory preparedness for
drinking water analyses. Laboratory infrastructure that is being leveraged from other networks
includes analytical methods, membership criteria, and critical materials, such as laboratory
reagents.
The WLA integrates drinking water, wastewater, public health and environmental laboratories,
and select commercial laboratories that currently provide analytical support to government
agencies. The WLA will focus solely on drinking water and will be an integral part of EPA's
Environmental Laboratory Response Network (eLRN). The eLRN is a network with a similar
purpose as the WLA but focuses on analyses of all environmental matrices.
Structure of the WLA
The WLA structure (see Figure 1) consists of three tiers of laboratories: sentinel, confirmatory,
and reference laboratories. WLA labs will be placed into a tier based on their existing capability
and capacity. Laboratories would have the option to expand into another tier as interest and
increased capability is developed.
Sentinel labs will perform routine monitoring and surveillance and will rule out or refer samples
to confirmatory labs for further analysis. Confirmatory labs will perform rapid, high-confidence
presumptive and confirmatory identification of samples referred by sentinel labs. These labs will
have Biosafety Level (BSL) 2/3 facilities, limited surety capability for chemical warfare agents,
and will be able to analyze radioactive samples. Reference labs will provide definitive
characterization of chemical, biological, and radiochemical (CBR) agents and attribution of the
source. These labs will also have highly specialized containment (BSL 3/4) facilities, chemical
surety, and highly trained staff. Confirmatory and reference labs will likely participate in several
laboratory networks including the LRN and the eLRN.
Water Security Division FEBRUARY 2007
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Drinking Water Laboratory Response Preparedness Project
Page 2
Laboratories participating in the WLA will provide support for biological (select and non-select)
sample analysis, industrial chemical sample analysis, radiochemical sample analysis, and
chemical warfare agent analysis or some combination of these depending on their capability.
Figure 1. Water Laboratory Alliance Structure
\ Pathogens & Toxins
SeteCT \ Mnn-Sefecf
X
Industrial
Chemicals
Chemical Warfare
Agents
Radiocnemicals
Sample
Flow
NOTE: Secure labs are within
the red shaded area. These
labs haw limited access to
Definitive characterization and forensics
SENTINEL
(CDC desolation:
Monitoring and surveillance,
rule-out or refer
CONFIRMATORY
(CDC designation; Reference)
Rapid, high-confidence presumptive and
confirmatory identification and coordination
REFERENCE
(CDC desigjiation; National)
Al other labs shown here are
open, meaning that their
methods are publicly available-
WLA to Date
A number of activities have been initiated in support of the Water Security Initiative pilot that
will also support the fully functioning WLA. Activities completed to date in support of the Water
Security Initiative pilot include: identifying priority contaminants of concern, methods, and
method gaps for priority contaminants; developing data management and communication
systems; preparing a sampling and analysis plan, as well as, sampling protocols and chain of
custody forms for lab analyses; and establishing a local network of laboratories to augment the
analytical capability of the pilot utility laboratory. Other WLA activities to date include:
developing Regional Laboratory Response Plans, chemical method development and validation,
and creating a formal partnership with the Association of Public Health Laboratories (APHL).
— Drinking Water Laboratory Response Preparedness Project. The EPA regions, with the
support of the WSD, are developing regional laboratory response preparedness plans to help
regions with improving intra-regional laboratory preparedness for responding to actual or
suspected contamination events. The objective of this project is to develop a customized
region-specific laboratory response plan for each region. Each plan will be tested by
conducting table top and operational testing exercises.
— Chemical Method Development and Validation. The WSD, with the support of EPA's
National Homeland Security Research Center, has completed single laboratory validation of
additional contaminants for Method 300.1 (inorganic compounds in drinking water) and a
modified version of Method 532 (phenylurea compounds in drinking water). Single
laboratory validation of additional contaminants for Method 525.2 (organic compounds in
FEBRUARY 2007
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U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Drinking Water Laboratory Response Preparedness Project
Page 3
drinking water) and multi-laboratory validation of Method 300.1 is currently underway.
Multi-laboratory validation of the modified Method 532 is not currently being pursued due to
poor recoveries. Liquid chromatography/mass spectrometry (LC/MS) methodologies are
currently being explored for WSD contaminants of concern. The modification of existing
methods to analyze for additional contaminants will help fill in current gaps in analytical
techniques for the analysis of water samples.
APHL Partnership. The WSD has entered into a Cooperative Agreement with APHL in order
to establish a national home-base for environmental laboratories, enhance capability and
capacity of environmental laboratories, and build education programs and tools for
environmental labs. This partnership will enhance information flow to and from
environmental laboratories and increase the awareness of environmental laboratories about
water security issues.
How the WLA Project Maps to WSD's 4 Pillars and Helps the
Water Sector
Prevention
tection
> Response
Recovery
Drinking Water Laboratory Response Preparedness Project
Chemical Method Development and Validation
Association of Public Health Laboratories Partnership
Contact Us
For more information on the WLA, contact Latisha Mapp, EPA WSD
(Mapp.Latisha@epa.gov). Information on EPA Water Security Division's activities, tools,
products, and the latest scientific advances to protect drinking water and wastewater utilities is
available online at www.epa.gov/watersecuritv.
FEBRUARY 2007
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