vvEPA
Drinking Water Laboratory
Response Preparedness Project
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water is sponsoring an effort to improve
drinking water laboratory preparedness at the regional, State, and local levels. This effort, the
Drinking Water Laboratory Response Preparedness Project, is designed to assist the EPA Regions
with improving intra-regional laboratory preparedness for response to actual or suspected water
contamination incidents. The project, which is being developed in partnership with the EPA
Regional Laboratories, State laboratories, and major drinking water utilities, responds to
Homeland Security Presidential Directive 9 (HSPD 9), which directs EPA to develop a laboratory
network to support monitoring, surveillance, response and remediation in the event of a water
incident.
is the
The goal of the Drinking Water Laboratory Response Preparedness Project is to assist the EPA
Regions with improving intra-regional laboratory preparedness for response to actual or
suspected water contamination incidents. This goal is being met by the development and
implementation of Regional Laboratory Response Plans (RLRPs) for each of EPA's 10 Regions.
The plans provide each Region with a structure for a joint response by laboratories within the
region. The plans also provide specific directions to meet the analytical needs of an event;
including sample brokerage and tracking, communication, coordination of analyses, and analyte-
specific methods. Ultimately, these plans will serve as the foundation for development of EPA's
Water Laboratory Alliance (WLA).
are
The project is proceeding in four phases. Phases 1, 2, and 3 are complete.
1. Phase 1 - Development of a generic RLRP template. A generic RLRP template was
developed under the direction of EPA's Office of Water and in partnership with EPA's
Regional laboratories and other EPA offices. The Association of Public Health Laboratories
(APHL) Environmental Laboratory Subcommittee and other experts within each of the
regions contributed to the development of the template through review and comment on the
draft template prior to its final release. The generic RLRP template was completed in August
2006.
2. Phase 2 - Development of region-specific laboratory response plans. The EPA, State, and
major utility laboratories in each of EPA's 10 Regions worked together to customize the
generic template and developed region-specific laboratory response plans. Each EPA Region
held a meeting with experts from major drinking water utilities, State public health
laboratories, and State environmental laboratories between October 2006 and March 2007 to
prepare a customized RLRP. These meetings also included other EPA partners in the
drinking water sector including emergency responders, public health officials, law
enforcement, other Federal agencies, and technical experts.
3. Phase 3 - Table-top exercises. Table-top exercises have been conducted to evaluate each of
the RLRPs. Participants included EPA, drinking water utilities, and State and local public
health and environmental laboratories. Table-top exercises were completed in August 2007
Office of Water I EPA 817-F-08-006 I October 2008 I www.epa.qov/watersecuritv
-------
&EPA
Drinking Water Laboratory Response Preparedness Project page 2
for all 10 EPA Regions with an additional exercise in Hawaii. The RLRPs have been revised
based on the lessons learned during the table-top exercises.
4. Phase 4 - Functional exercises. Week-long functional exercises were held at each EPA
Region and an additional exercise in Hawaii between February 2008 and September 2008 to
further test each of the regional plans. Participants included EPA regional, drinking water
utility, public health, and environmental laboratories. The exercises included the analyses of
"blind" biological and chemical samples, coordination among multiple laboratories to address
capacity and capability issues, and generation and transmission of data. The region-specific
laboratory response plans will be revised based on the results of the functional exercises, as
necessary.
are the to the
> The refined region-specific response plans provide an immediate mechanism to coordinate
local, State, and Federal laboratory efforts to meet drinking water analytical needs that may
result from actual or suspected water contamination incidents. With this tool at their
disposal, laboratories will be able to respond more quickly and efficiently to an incident. The
RLRPs are also intended to provide a tool for meeting potentially overwhelming analytical
demands during the remediation phase of an event.
> The table-top and functional exercises increased the level of preparedness of laboratories to
respond to drinking water contamination events by identifying improvements needed for
regional plans and laboratory procedures. The exercises also helped strengthen relationships
between laboratories, which will be critical for a successful response. The lessons learned
can also be applied to EPA projects in other areas of emergency preparedness and laboratory
response.
> The drinking water laboratory response preparedness project also serves as the foundation for
the development of the WLA and Environmental Response Laboratory Network (ERLN) by
addressing relevant issues such as sample brokerage, analytical method selection, and secure
data transfer. The WLA will provide the water sector with an integrated nationwide
laboratory network which has the analytical capabilities and capacity to support monitoring,
surveillance, response, and remediation in the event of intentional and unintentional drinking
water supply contamination involving chemical, biological, and radiochemical contaminants.
Do I
Laboratories should contact their EPA regional laboratories for more information regarding their
RLRP. For more information on the Drinking Water Laboratory Preparedness Project, please
contact Anand Mudambi, EPA Office of Water (Mudambi.Anand(g),epa.gov) or Rob Maxfield, EPA
Region 1 (Maxfield.Robert@epa. gov).
Office of Water I EPA 817-F-08-006 I October 2008 I www.epa.qov/watersecuritv
------- |