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URI Watershed Watch Quality Assurance Project Plans (QAPPs)

URI Watershed Watch data are intended to be used by the local programs that help support it, the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management (RIDEM), Rhode Island Department of Health (RIHealth), the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and others. That means that the information must be credible and meet the needs of these organizations. How URI Watershed Watch ensures the quality of our data and allows others to determine whether that data meet their needs are through our Quality Assurance Project Plans or QAPPs.

Approved by both RIDEM and USEPA, our QAPPs document the Who, What, When, Where,Why and How our monitoring occurs - both in our RIHealth certified laboratories and by the volunteers in the field. To simplify things, we developed field, laboratory and project specific QAPPs that allow us to tailor the plans to meet diverse needs.

Accessable online as pdf documents, they are available for use in the development of your own QAPP. But please recognize that working through the process of determining your own data requirements and quality control methods is essential in creating a plan that will meet your needs!

Approved URI Watershed Watch Quality Assurance Project Plans (QAPPs)

• URIWW Analytical Laboratory QAPP (53 pp. 527 KB)
• Laboratory QAPP Appendix - Lab Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) (207 pp. 4.8 MB)
• URIWW Ambient and Field Assays QAPP (46 pp. 506 KB)
• Field QAPP Appendix - Field SOPs (32 pp. 3.5 MB)
• URIWW Ambient and Marine Field Monitoring Program - Block Island and Green Hill Ponds Watershed (103 pp. 1.5 MB)
• Private Well Tap Water Testing - Block Island and Green Hill Watersheds
  (57 pp. 2.1 MB)

Development of QAPPs is considered especially important for volunteer monitoring programs due to the skepticm with which volunteer-generated data is often viewed. In order to assist volunteer programs, USEPA's The Volunteer Monitor's Guide To Quality Assurance Project Plans (pdf, 67 pp. 5.6 MB) was designed to encourage and facilitate the development of volunteer QAPPs by clearly presenting explanations and examples. USEPA also urges programs to consult the additional resources listed in the appendices to that document, and to contact their state or US EPA Regional quality assurance staff for specific information or guidance on your projects.