Overview: Quality Assurance for Kentucky Watershed Watch
Quality Control and Assurance (QA/QC) is the responsibility of everyone in the chain of custody of a sample, its analysis, and the data that results.
- A first level of QA/QC is compliance with procedures and methods that are taught to volunteer monitors in the Standard Sampling Curriculum.
- The second level of QA/QC is an understanding of roles and responsibilities among everyone involved in the sampling event, as described in Standard Operating Procedures.
- The third level of QA/QC is discrete procedures for analyzing quality using the data generated in the sampling program. These procedures are the responsibility of the Laboratory’s internal QA program and the Steering Committee’s Data Manager and Quality Assurance Officer and include:
- Assuring a satisfactory laboratory report
- Reviewing the lab report against source documents (Chain of Custody Forms)
- If a Quality Assurance Program Plan (QAPP) was completed for the sampling event, review of the lab report against project data objectives
- A fourth and final level of QA/QC are activities at the statewide level by the Quality Assurance Committee of the program’s Inter-basin Coordinating Committee (ICC) that include:
- Review of QA/QC reports submitted with data by Steering Committees
- Audits of Steering Committee QA/QC activities
- Comparison of data with statewide and nationwide databases
QA/QC for Synoptic Sampling for Bacteria
The Inter-Basin Coordinating Committee for Watershed Watch has developed QA/QC material in consultation with the Kentucky Division of Water for submitting data from synoptic sampling events to the Division for consideration for use in regulatory processes, such as development of the Division’s 303(d) and 305(b) reports. These procedures are not required for the Watershed Watch program; however, they are required if data will be submitted to the Division for a regulatory purpose.
QA/QCTechnical Assistance
General technical assistance on QA/QC is available from
The Water Watch program can provide individualized assistance with these procedures:
- Volunteer and Site database maintenance
- Sterility of sample containers
- Negotiations with laboratories
- Random selection of sites for duplicates and field blanks
QA/QC Download Library