&EPA
United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
Water Laboratory Alliance
Response Plan
The Environmental Protection
Agency's (EPA) Water Laboratory
Alliance (WLA) provides the
Water Sector with an integrated
nationwide network of laboratories.
In support of the WLA, EPA is
sponsoring an effort to improve
water laboratory preparedness at
the regional, state, and local levels.
A key component of this effort, the
Wafer Laboratory Alliance Response
Plan (WLA-RP), is designed to assist
WLA member laboratories with
improving laboratory preparedness
for response to natural, intentional,
or unintentional water contamination
incidents. EPA developed the plan
in partnership with the EPA Regional
Laboratories, the Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI), state laboratories,
first responders, and major drinking
water utilities. This plan serves as the
foundation of the Water Laboratory
Alliance program.
I
What is the Overall Goal of the
Water Laboratory Alliance
Response Plan?
The goal of the WLA-RP is to assist WLA mem-
ber laboratories with improving preparedness
for response to actual or suspected water con-
tamination incidents. Specifically, the WLA-RP
addresses incidents that, due to their suspected
cause or size, may require additional analytical
support and a broader response than a typical util-
ity, state, or federal laboratory can provide. The
WLA-RP provides laboratories with a structure
for a systematic, coordinated response to a wa-
ter contamination incident that can be used in
What are the Benefits to the
Water Sector?
• The WLA-RP provides an immediate
mechanism to coordinate local, state, and
federal laboratory efforts to meet analytical
needs that may result from actual or sus-
pected water contamination incidents. Using
the WLA-RP procedures will allow laborato-
ries to respond more quickly and efficiently
to an incident. The WLA-RP also provides
a tool for meeting potentially overwhelming
analytical demands during the remediation
phase of an event.
• The WLA-RP includes procedures tested
and refined through Full-Scale exercises.
The Full-Scale Exercises increase the level of
preparedness of laboratories to respond to
water contamination events by identifying
improvements needed for the WLA-RP and
laboratory procedures. The exercises also
help strengthen relationships between labo-
ratories which will be critical for a successful
response.
• The WLA-RP also serves as the foun-
dation for the development of the WLA by
addressing relevant issues such as sample
brokerage, analytical method selection, and
secure data transfer.
Office of Water (4608-T) | EPA 817-F-10-004 | January 2010 | www.epa.gov/safewater
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Water Laboratory Alliance
conjunction with existing Incident Command System (ICS) structures and procedures. The WLA-RP
also provides specific directions to meet the analytical needs of an event; including sample brokerage
and tracking, communication, coordination of analyses, and analyte-specific methods. In addition, the
WLA-RP is scalable, i.e. it can also be applied to responses that only involve a single laboratory.
What is the Status of WLA-RP Development and Testing?
Phase 1 - Development of the draft WLA-RP [Complete]. Regional Laboratory Response
Plans (RLRPs) were developed for each of the 10 EPARegions and Hawaii in 2008. The national WLA-
RP was then developed to include similar elements and best practices from the 11 RLRPs; as well as
lessons learned from functional exercises conducted in each EPA Region in 2008 to test the RLRPs.
Phase 2 - Revision of the WLA-RP based on partner comments [Complete].
EPA has solicited comments on the WLA-RP from its partners (state, water utilities, water sector or-
ganizations), including the laboratories that participated in the development and testing of the RLRPs.
These comments have been evaluated and used to improve the WLA-RP.
Phase 3 - Full-Scale Exercises (FSEs) [Ongoing]. FSEs are being conducted to enhance
integration of the WLA-RP with the National Incident Management System, as well as other federal
network emergency response procedures, and
to provide opportunities to practice multi-
Regional coordination during large-scale Full-Scale Exercise-September 2009.
., „, ___ . , , . . ErA conducted the first mum-Regional
incidents. These FSEs include participants F$E -n Regions -, Qnd 2 (Northeastern US)
from EPA Regions, the Centers for Disease in September 2009. This exercise was
Control and Prevention (CDC), the FBI, planned and conducted in conjunction with
state public health and state environmental CDC to assess the effectiveness of response
laboratories, drinking water utilities, law en- to a combined chemical and biological
forcement, and federal, state, and local first warfare agent attack. This exercise tested
responders. These multi-Regional exercises the WLA-RP and EPA Environmental
allow participants to practice procedures re- l^T Laborat°ry Network (ERLN) and
CDC Laboratory Response Network LRN
lated to providing support to an environmen- , , '
emergency response procedures through
tal and public health incident that includes fhe andyses of actua| environmental and
actual sample analyses, communication, co- clinical samples.
ordination, and data reporting.
Phase 4 Revision of the WLA-RP based on lessons learned from the FSEs [On-
going]. EPA will use the lessons learned from the FSEs and the progress made toward effective col-
laborative laboratory response to improve the WLA-RP.
CONTACT US: For more information on the Water Laboratory Alliance Response Plan, please
contact Latisha Mapp, EPA Office of Water (Mapp.Latisha@epa.gov)
or your EPA regional laboratory contact
(http://cfpub.epa.gov/safewater/watersecurity/wla.cf m#contact).
Office of Water (4608-T) | EPA 817-F-10-004 | January 2010 | www.epa.gov/safewater
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