The Standard, Environmental Standards, Inc.

Main Newsletter Page

The Standard
October 2009 - Page 3

EQuIS 5.4 Upgrade
EQuIS Environmental Standards provides environmental information management services, such as data management, data quality assessments, and sampling project management, to Fortune 500 companies, private industry, engineering firms, laboratories, and other contractors. Our highly skilled information technology and environmental science professionals use advanced information technology tools. Environmental Standards recently decided to upgrade one of our primary data management systems to the industry’s leading environmental data management system - EQuIS 5.4. This upgrade promised to enhance both data quality and data management functionality while providing our clients with a streamlined, user-friendly interface for reporting and data analysis tasks.

What made EQuIS 5.4 the “perfect fit” for Environmental Standards and our clients? EQuIS has the ability to integrate a diverse collection of environmental data types into one cohesive system and yet provide user-friendly tools to manage, retrieve, and analyze data. The EQuIS open source approach allows Environmental Standards to customize a solution that fits any project using the latest techniques in Microsoft.Net Frameworks. EQuIS’ continuing growth to keep pace with the industry’s experience and needs contributed to our upgrade decision.

Numerous enhancements and additions in EQuIS 5.4 are now available to our clients - a few of the most noteworthy are discussed herein. Our clients now have access to various EQuIS core reports that are available through Professional and the web-based user interface, EQuIS Enterprise. EQuIS 5.4 contains an extensive library of core reports such as an enhanced Analytical report, Google Earth reports, Analyte Exceedance Reports, and various Time Series charts. Most report results can be manipulated using a cross-tab tool that has an additional functionality to allow for publishing to EQuIS Enterprise. Action Level reports have always been a vital feature in EQuIS; now, in addition to evaluating analyte exceedance based on a single value, clients can add ranges.

Sample Planning Module (introduced in Version 5.3) continues to provide a competent and flexible sample event management system. Clients can use this module to create sampling tasks, print chain-of-custody records and bottleware labels, and perform simple completeness tests. Environmental Standards’ comprehensive sampling event completeness and electronic data validation systems are now intimately joined to this feature for added data quality assurance.

Other new features are data compression for large data file downloads and customizable notifications workflow. EQuIS 5.4 can compress and zip data packages to ensure a speedy file delivery, and the Project Manager can choose whether or not to receive electronic data deliverable (EDD) load failure or success notifications from the EDD auto-loading process.

Environmental Standards’ innovative approach to environmental data management combined with EQuIS 5.4 deliver unparalleled functionality for data quality assurance, comprehensive reporting and data mining, and decision-making. This supports Environmental Standards’ commitment to provide our clients with a powerful, effective, accessible, and cost-effective data management solution.

US EPA Publishes Contaminant Candidate List
In September 2009, the US EPA published Contaminant Candidate
List 3 (CCL 3), a list of contaminants that may require regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act. The list includes 104 chemicals and 12 microbiological contaminants that are not currently subject to any proposed or promulgated national primary drinking water regulations. These 116 contaminants are known or anticipated to occur in public water systems. The US EPA is required to publish such a list every 5 years and must decide whether to regulate at least five contaminants on the list. The CCL is used to prioritize research and data collection efforts to facilitate the US EPA’s decision on whether or not a specific contaminant should be regulated. CCL 3 includes several inorganics, solvents, estrogenic hormones, antibiotics (e.g., erythromycin), pesticides and their degradates, and nitrosamines in addition to viruses and bacterium. The complete list can be found at www.epa.gov/safewater/ccl/ccl3.html.

CCL

The CCL 3 Process Flow Diagram above provides a visual overview of the three-step CCL process to identify contaminants for inclusion on the final CCL 3.

Asbestos - Still In Use
Asbestos is a natural resource that manifests itself as long, thin fibers. There are two types of asbestos - amphibole (chain-like structure) and serpentine (layered structure). Approximately 90% of the asbestos used in construction materials in US buildings is serpentine.

Asbestos, which is used to provide strength, heat insulation, and fire resistance, can be found in more than 3,000 products currently used in the US - trowel applied surfacing materials, cement products (e.g., corrugated sheets and pipes), disc brake pads, gaskets, and roof coatings.

In the last 30 years, the US EPA banned the production of some asbestos-containing material (ACM) for building purposes, materials that are spray-applied for insulation or fire-proofing, brush-on and pre-formed foam insulation, and several other materials such as flooring felt. These same banned materials, however, are produced in Mexico and Canada and are imported under the North American Free Trade Act.

Property owners need to have an understanding of the materials currently in place in a building (e.g., floor tiles) prior to renovation activities to ensure that they are safely removed. The only way to accurately determine if materials in place are ACMs is to collect a sample for testing. State-certified asbestos inspectors can assist with the identification of potential ACMs to reduce the amount of testing required. In addition, the materials used to repair, renovate, or construct the building should be evaluated prior to installation to ensure that the least amount of ACM is utilized.

The ACM issue is associated with exposure during application, drying, cutting, and removal. Building owners should evaluate the experience and project plans of contractors as part of the contracting process. The contractor should prepare health and safety plans that address asbestos.

Conferences: Summer 2009 Recap And Looking Ahead To Fall/Winter 2009
15th Annual Good Laboratory Practice (GLP) Reception and Conference, August 3-4, 2009, Charlottesville, VA. Senior Quality Assurance Chemist Pat Conlon presented “How to Prepare Your Laboratory for an Internal and ‘Official’ Audit and Document Control.” On behalf of The NELAC Institute, Mr. Conlon presented “The NELAC Institute Efforts to Assist Laboratories.”

National Environmental Monitoring Conference (NEMC), August 10-14, 2009, San Antonio, TX. Quality Assurance Specialist/Principal Ruth L. Forman, CEAC, presented “The Impact of New US EPA Methods - A Case Study of Contortions and Permutations - US EPA Method 5035.” Pat Conlon presented three papers: “1,4-Dioxane Micro-Aqueous Extraction with GCMS SIM,” “Discussion of the Limitations of Citeable References for Commonly Accepted Performance Standards for Technical Measurements and for Ethical Practices,” and “Poll of Accrediting Bodies on SW-846 Accreditation.”

VA AWWA/VWEA 5th Joint Annual Meeting, September 13-17, 2009, Richmond, VA. Pat Conlon presented “How to Prepare Your Laboratory for an Internal and ‘Official’ Audit and Document Control.”

5th Annual Pennsylvania Brownfields Conference, September 15-16, 2009, Harrisburg, PA. Representatives from Environmental Standards attended the conference.

National Petrochemical & Refiners Association (NPRA) Environmental Conference, September 21-22, 2009, Denver, CO. Representatives from Environmental Standards attended the conference.

American Coal Ash Association Members’ Fall Meeting, September 22-23, 2009, Denver, CO. Representatives from Environmental Standards attended the conference.

Sediment Management Work Group (SMWG) Fall Sponsor Forum, September 29-30, 2009, Sarasota Springs, NY. Technical Director of Chemistry/Principal Rock J. Vitale, CPC, CEAC, presented “The Physical and Chemical Aspects of Released Fly Ash - What It Is and What It Is Not.”

Virginia Manufacturers Association (VMA)/Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (VA DEQ) Outreach Meeting, October 15, 2009, Stuarts Draft, VA. Environmental Standards is proud to sponsor this event for the second year.

25th Annual International Conference on Soils, Sediments, Water and Energy, October 19 - 22, 2009, Amherst, MA. Senior Geoscientist Kevin W. Frysinger, P.G., presented “Bioremediation of Chlorinated Solvents in the Brunswick Shale of Southeast Pennsylvania.”

Railroad Environmental Conference (RREC), October 27-29, 2009, Urbana, IL. Ruth Forman will present “The Art of Reading a Lab Report - Can You Pass the Test?”

Pennsylvania Chamber Environmental Compliance Conference, October 29, 2009, Valley Forge, PA. Environmental Standards will exhibit at this conference.

5th Annual Advanced Conference on Natural Resource Damages, November 12-13, 2009, Newark, NJ. Representatives from Environmental Standards will attend the conference.

13th National Brownfields Conference, November 15-18, 2009, New Orleans, LA. Representatives from Environmental Standards will attend the conference. Principal Geoscientist Gerry Kirkpatrick, P.G., will present in a panel session titled “Perspectives on Sustainable Redevelopment.”

Puerto Rico Receives $72 Million In Recovery Act Funds For Water Infrastructure Projects
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 provides significant funding for states to finance high-priority infrastructure projects needed to ensure clean water and safe drinking water. The US EPA is making Recovery Act grants to states and Puerto Rico to fund their State Revolving Fund (SRF) programs, from which assistance is provided to finance eligible high-priority water infrastructure projects. Puerto Rico was awarded nearly $72 million, which will help the Commonwealth and local governments finance overdue improvements to wastewater and drinking water systems, as well as conduct water-quality planning essential to protecting human health and the environment.

“EPA is working to revitalize communities that have been hit hardest by this economic downturn, and creating solutions where they’re needed most. Governor Fortuño has been a powerful advocate for bringing recovery to Puerto Rico, and is working closely with EPA to get the local economy moving forward,” said US EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “These are investments in our core mission of protecting people’s health and the environment. The jobs they create will strengthen the local economy and build a new foundation for economic prosperity.”

Following is a breakdown of the funds granted to Puerto Rico through the Recovery Act:

$51,630,500 to the Puerto Rico Department of Environmental Quality, which will provide money to municipal governments and wastewater utilities for projects to protect lakes, ponds, and streams in communities across the Commonwealth. The grant will go to the Commonwealth’s Clean Water State Revolving Fund program, which provides low-interest loans for water-quality protection projects for wastewater treatment, non-point source pollution control, and watershed and estuary management.
$19.5 million to the Puerto Rico Department of Health to finance improvements to water projects essential to protecting public health and the environment across the Commonwealth. The funds will go to the Commonwealth’s Drinking Water State Revolving Fund program, which provides low-interest loans for drinking water systems to finance infrastructure improvements.
$526,300 for the Commonwealth’s Water Quality Management Planning (WQMP) grant program. Planning is an important step in US EPA’s goal to improve water quality in America’s lakes, rivers, and streams. WQMP grants support a broad range of activities, such as setting standards, monitoring the quality of the water, developing plans to restore polluted waters, and identifying ways to protect healthy waters from becoming polluted.

At least 20 percent of the funds provided under the Recovery Act are to be used for green infrastructure, water, and energy efficiency improvements and other environmentally innovative projects.
More information is available at www.epa.gov/ow/eparecovery/ as well as recovery.gov.

Previous 1 2 3
Return to main Newsletter page