HA8 Homeland Security: Public Source Waters
Room 19A/B, Level 4
8:00 AM - 12:00 PM, Thursday, 13 November 2003
Chair: Pittinger, Charley ,
Co-chair: Allen, Joel ,
(550) Performance Verification of Water Security-Related Technologies.
James, Ryan1, Allgeier, Steve2, Fuerst, Robert3, 1 Battelle Memorial Institute, Columbus, Ohio, U.S.A.2 U.S. EPA Water Protection Task Force, Cincinnati, Ohio, U.S.A.3 U.S. EPA National Exposure Research Laboratory, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, U.S.A.
ABSTRACT- The Environmental Technology Verification (ETV) Program's Advanced Monitoring Systems Center has been charged by EPA to verify the performance of commercially available technologies that perform rapid detection of contaminants that could be used to test the water in the event of a suspected contamination incident. The first category of water security technologies to receive ETV performance verifications includes six field-portable analyzers that measure cyanide in drinking water. Each technology's ability to detect cyanide fortified into distilled, surface, and treated drinking water was evaluated with respect to accuracy, precision, linearity, inter-unit reproducibility, operator bias, field portability, response to lethal concentrations of cyanide, ease of use, and sample throughput. A second category of water security technologies includes technologies that rapidly detect the toxicity of contaminants in drinking water. These technologies do not detect or identify a specific target analyte, but measure the change in the activity of the organism used in the assay as an indicator of a change in the toxicity of the water. The performance verification of these technologies includes their exposure to drinking water fortified with a variety of toxic contaminants (e.g., pesticides, chemical agents, biotoxins, and industrial chemicals) at various concentration levels. Interferences from chemicals commonly used in drinking water treatment will also be evaluated. Unique performance evaluation parameters of these technologies include determining the rate of false positive/negative results and the toxicity threshold (lowest detectable concentration) of each contaminant. Both lab-based and field-portable rapid toxicity technologies are included in this ETV verification test. Additional information about the ETV program is available at www.epa.gov/etv. Notice: The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), through its Office of Research and Development (ORD), approved this abstract as a basis for an oral presentation. The actual presentation has not been peer reviewed by EPA. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not constitute endorsement or recommendation by EPA for use.
Key words: water security, technology verification, portable, monitoring