EPA's Environmental Monitoring Methods Index - ACS Publications

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0013-936X/93/0927-39$04.00/0 0 1992 American Chemical Society

Environ. Sci. Technol., VoI. 27, No. 1, 1993 39

sources to assist in making new environmental policies. Background Early in EPA's history, the water and air programs functioned independently. These programs had distinct regulatory mandates, separate lists of environmentally significant analytes, and different sample matrices. With the advent of hazardous waste programs evolving from the 1980 Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA) and the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental Response, Compensation, and Liability Act (CERCLA), new regulatory lists and methods proliferated in the 1980s. Because the programs functioned independently, many cases of overlap occurred among analytes on the new regulatory lists and among the test matrices in the newly promulgated methods. As a result, by the late 1980s there was a myriad of EPA methods, many of which quantified the same analytes in similar matrices. In 1985, I initiated the development of a computer database that contained EPA's lists, regulated analytes, and analytical methods. This database, called the List of Lists, was created to monitor RCRA Appendix VI11 substances for those industrial effluents exempt under the Domestic Sewage Exclusion in the Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments to RCRA ( I ) . The original List of Lists contained information about approximately 700 environmentally significant analytes from 15 Agency monitoring lists. From 1985 to 1989, the List of Lists more than doubled in size, reflecting the rapid increase in the number of Agency lists and the need to include analytical method information in the database. By 1990, the List of Lists incorporated information on 150 analytical procedures, in addition to 1700 environmentally significant analytes from 26 Agency lists. These lists were associated with laws, lawsuits, petitions to the government, and government agency planning documents (see box). The analytical procedures were used to determine the identity and the concentration of the analytes on EPA lists, and they were either published by EPA or incorporated by reference in the Code of Federal Regulations. Environmental Monitoring Management Council In September 1988, EPA reported to Congress (in response to Section 40 Environ. Sci. Technoi.. Voi. 27, No. 1. 1993

N e d with environmentallegislation Reeultlng analyte list

Air Act

Chesapeake Bay Act Comprehensive Environmental ReSDOnSe, Commnsation, and'liability Act'(CERCLA) Clean Water Act Federal Water Pollution Control Act

National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants National Ambient Air Quality Standards Ozone-Depleting Chemicals Chesapeake Bay Compounds CERCLA Radioactive Compounds CERCLA ReDortable Quantities Contract Laboratory Program Target Chemicals National Drinking Water Regulations Sewage and Sludge Disposal Chemicals Paragraph 4C Pollutants Appendix C Compounds Conventional Pollutants Engineering and Analysis Division's Monitoring List National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System List Priority Pollutants oxic Pollutants otal Toxic Organics Hazardous Substances Water Quality Acute, Chronic, and Organism Lists Pollution Prevention Chemicals The California and Michigan Lists Constituent Concentration in Waste Extract

Lists

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Groundwater Pollutants Appendix Vlll Compounds Hazardous and Toxic Wastes Extremely Hazardous Substances Emergency Planning and Community Right - to - Know List Hazardous Substances Priority List Secondary Drinking Water Regulations Drinking Water Prionty List Chemicals Listed in the Safe Drinking Water Act Bioaccumulation List _____

518 of the Water Quality Act of 1987 [21) and proposed several measures

that would enhance the Agency's management of its monitoring programs. Among other items, the report recommended "implementing a computerized catalogue of the availability, applicability, and degree of standardization of methods currently in use in the Agency" (3) and advocated the adoption of standard nomenclature, including the use of Chemical Abstracts Service (CAS) numbers, to unambiguously identify each target chemical. The Environmental Monitoring Management Council (EMMC) was established in 1990 to implement the recommendations of the report. One objective in the EMMC's char-

ter was to develop a computerized catalog of EPA methods, based upon an existing Agency database. The EMMC selected the List of Lists to serve as the basis for the Agency's methods compendium. To reflect the new role of the system, the List of Lists was renamed the Environmental Monitoring Methods Index (EMMI), and plans to expand and enhance the index were initiated under the guidance of the EMMC. EMMI today The present version of EMMI (version 1.0) is the result of an exhaustive literature search, and it covers updates in the Code of Federal Regulations and Federal Register through June 1991. EMMI en-

compasses a total of 2607 analytes, 49 lists, and 1167 methods, and includes a database cross-reference with 5740 analytes. As recommended in the Section 518 report, EMMI uses CAS numbers to unambiguously identify analytes and to cross-reference other databases. EMMI contains detailed information on analytes from environmentally significant lists, methods and apparatuses used to identity those analytes, source documents containing information referenced in EMMI, organizations that promulgate the lists and methods, and vendors of analytical standards. Where possible, descriptions have been simplified to render EMMI accessible to individuals with a basic understanding of analytical chemistry or environmental science. Initially, the analytes in EMMI were limited to those that appear on lists of regulatory concern to EPA. This means that methods that test solely for analytes not present on any environmentally significant list are not included in the current version. Plans are underway to add to the list any analyte for which an analytical method is available. Cross-reference to other databases To focus EMMI and to avoid duplication of effort, EPA decided to form a link to other databases that contain physical property data, toxicity data, and other relevant information. The other databases are not present in EMMI, but their contact information and lists of chemicals are linked to EMMI through the CAS numbers. At present, cross-reference databases and the organizations responsible for their integrity are Coordinated List of Chemicals [CLC,EPA). Chemicals on Reporting Rules (CORR, EPA), analytes listed in the Form Chemicals Hondbook (Meister Publishing Co., Cleveland, OH) Fate of Chemicals in the Environment (FATE, EPA), Integrated Risk Information System [IRIS. EPA), Mass Spectrometer Database [NET, limited to analytes in EMMI and cross-reference databases in EMMI), Oil and Hazardous Materials Technical Assistance Data System [OHMTADS, EPA), SARA Section 313 Database [ROADMAPS, EPA). Register of Lists [RoL, EPA), Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory Pesticide Treatability Database (EPA), and Risk Reduction Engineering Laboratory Treatability Database (EPA).

System description EMMI operates on a personal computer and supports users via an easy-to-learn mix of cascading and pop-up menus, as well as multiple, fast-browsing techniques. The user interface employs fields as objects on which the user can act to display information or to change the relation between records to alter the way data are viewed. Records are tagged and vary in length, but they can be exported in fixed, delimited, or dBASE formats. Network support and independent handling of input/ output devices are built into the software. EMMI is currently used nationally by EPA and in certain state regulatory agencies. Acknowledgments T h e a u t h o r wishes lo t h a n k Debora Bruhaker. Fred Haeherer. Joel Karnofsky, James King. Deborah Miller. and Dale Rushneck for their assistance with EMMI. and the EMMC for continued encouragement and su ort EMMI is availagye t o t h e public through the National Technical Information Service. 5285 Port Royal Road, Springfield, VA 22161: (703) 487-4650. publication number PB92-503093.

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William A. Telliard is chief of the analytical methods staff for EPA's Engineering a n d Analysis Division IEADI. He directs the EAD s u p p o r t g r o u p refor coorF-" sponsible dinating sampling. sample tracking, analyiical methods development. sample analysis, a n d quality assurance a n d quolity control ofchemical a n d biological testing data. Before joining EPA Telliard was chief of the Industrial Waste Laboratory for the city of Cleveland. OH and vice president a n d fechnical director for Aqua Laboratories (Cleveland, OH). He received his B.S. degree in chemistry from Kent State University. I

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References "Hazardous and Solid Waste Amendments": Public Law 94-580. 1984. (2) "Water Quality Act": Public Law (1)

100-4. 1987. (3) "Availability. Adequacy. and Compa-

rability of Testing Procedures for the Analysis o f Pollutants Established Under Section 304(h) of the Federal Water Pollution Control Act. Report to Congress": U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. Office o f Research and Development. Environmenlal Monitoring Systems Laboratory: Cincinnati. OH, 1988: EPA 600/9-87/030.

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Enviran. Sci. Technol.. Val. 27. No. 1. 1993 41