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(80-54) Quality assurance (QA) of pesticide analyses in the Danish Pesticide Leaching Assessment Programme. Mogensen, Betty*,1, Kjær, Jeanne2, Lindhardt, Bo2, Nyeland, Bente1, 1 National Environmental Research Institute, Roskilde, Denmark2 Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland, Copenhagen, Denmark ABSTRACT- Quality assurance (QA) is a crucial part of monitoring data. Without QA monitoring data can easily be misinterpreted and useless. One way to ensure quality is participation in proficiency tests and accreditation of laboratories. However, this does not necessarily reflect the everyday quality of the analyses. The Danish Pesticide Leaching Assessment Programme (PLAP) provides a tool for the Danish EPA to evaluate if approved pesticides show unacceptable leaching under field conditions. It is therefore important that the results are reliable. A quality assurance (QA) programme was thus set up along with the analysis programme. Two commercial laboratories carried out all pesticide analyses. Each laboratory carried out internal QA analyses with each batch of samples. Blank samples and external QA samples were delivered to the laboratories together with the field samples all samples being labelled in code. Additional to current information on performance of the laboratories, these samples will provide information on uncertainties introduced during transport and storage of the samples. The presentation will include results of the QA programme and an evaluation of the procedure. Within PLAP six experimental fields have been selected in agricultural areas with different soil types characteristic for Denmark, two sandy areas and four clayey areas. The fields have been set up with equipment to collect samples of ground water in three depths at seven stations per field, soil water in two depths at two stations per field. The clayey fields are drained and all drainage water collected in one well from which drainage water is sampled. The fields are cultivated and sprayed in accordance with good agricultural practice. Samples of water have been collected monthly for analysis of standard water parameters and content of pesticides and certain metabolites. A specific analysis programme was designed for each field depending on which pesticides had been applied to the field. Key words: Quality assurance, Pesticides, Monitoring |
