Science
loRESUL PS
SCIENCE lies at the heort of" the mission of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The Agency must rely on cutting edge research, accurate
measurements and effective technology to implement its programs to protect the environment and human health. Without sound science and credible data,
EPA can not wisely set environmental and health standards, clean up contaminated sites, measure ambient air and water quality conditions, or identify the new
technologies or practices that will reduce releases to the environment. These fact sheets share with you some of our EPA New England's laboratory capabilities
and exemplify some of the very best science we do to meet our agency mission.
GOAL:
Environmental decisions must be grounded in accurate data. The day to day mission of the chemistry team at
EPA New England's regional laboratory is to maintain the capability to detect a wide variety of contaminants
in various media (air, soil, water, wastewater, and solid wastes) at the minute detection levels required to make
risk decisions in EPA's cleanup work and regulatory decisions in its compliance programs.
KEY CONTACTS:
DAN BOUDREAU
Chemistry Team Leader
Investigation & Analysis
(617) 918-8340
boudreau.dan@epa.gov
ERNEST WATERMAN
Chief, Environmental
Investigotions & Anolysis
(617) 918-8632
waterman.ernest@epa.gov
MICHAEL KENYON
Director, EPA New England
Regional Laboratory
(617) 918-8317
kenyon.michael@epa.gov
GENERAL INFO:
EPA NEW ENGLAND
REGIONAL LABORATORY
11 Technology Dr.
North Chelmsford, MA 01863
(617) 918-8300
www.epa.gov/ne/lab
TOLL-FREE
CUSTOMER SERVICE
1-800-EPA-7341
PROGRESS:
The regional laboratory maintains over 50 standard
operating procedures that support the analysis of
volatile organic compounds (materials that evaporate
readily into air), semi-volatile organic compounds,
PCBs, pesticides, and inorganic compounds (e.g., heavy
metals and cyanide.) The laboratory is also able to
develop methods for emerging
contaminants when analyses
are not readily available from
commercial labs or available
only at extremely high cost.
The laboratory's chemistry
team performs analyses by
Gas Chromatography, Liquid
Chromatography, Mass Spec-
trometry, X-ray Diffraction,
Atomic Absorption, Inductively
Coupled Plasma, Ion Chroma-
tography and a variety of wet
chemistry techniques.
the National Environmental Laboratory Accredita-
tion Conference (NELAC) standard for water and
wastewater analyses. The laboratory is expanding
its accreditation to include soils and solid waste
methods. Accreditation requires that we maintain a
number of management systems to control samples,
analyses, and data; perform
semi-annual proficiency tests
on test samples provided by
outside sources, and conduct
periodic internal and third
party external audits.
Analyzing metals by Inductively
Coupled Plasma (ICP) technique
The laboratory performs an average of 12,000 to
15,000 analyses a year and all of the associated quality
control analyses needed to support that data in deci-
sion making and, when needed, in court. To maintain
the overall integrity of the laboratory's program and
help assure the quality of analytical data, the labora-
tory has achieved and maintains accreditation under
BENEFITS:
EPA New England's in-house
analytical capability provides
the region's air, water, waste
and enforcement programs
efficient and customizable
analytical services, including
(1) flexible planning for situations where sampling
needs are difficult to define up-front, (2) fast response
times in emergency situations, and (3) an ability to
respond to emerging issues at the cutting edge of
environmental science. Most importantly, it provides
a thinking chemist on the team that can help identify
when results suggest something more is going on at
a site and will report more than the target analytes
contracted on a scope of work.
&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
L Agency
© printed on 100% recycled paper, with a minimum of 50% post consumer waste, using vegetable-based ink:
EPA-901-F-09-032
April 2009
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