ENVIRONMENTAL HEALTH
Resources for Rapid Response to Water
Contamination Incidents
By Yasmin Termeh-Zonoozi, MPH, ORISE research participant, Water Laboratory Alliance, Office of Ground Water
and Drinking Water, US Environmental Protection Agency
On November 13-14, 2019, water
sector stakeholders convened at the
WLA Security Summit in Atlanta to
network, exchange best practices
and lessons learned and participate
in sessions, including a tabletop
exercise and a panel discussion led
by state laboratories on topics in the
water sector.
Because a drinking water contamination
event can occur at any time, the water
sector must be able to respond effectively
and efficiently to contamination
incidents with sample surges or unknown
contaminants. The US Environmental
Protection Agency’s Water Laboratory
Alliance (WLA) assists the water sector
in preparing and responding to water
contamination events that may require
analysis exceeding local capability or
capacity. The nationwide network brings
together over 140 state, utility, public
health, environmental and commercial
laboratories that are able to analyze
water samples for chemical, biological or
radiochemical contaminants.
WLA offers a variety of free tools and
resources to strengthen water sector
preparedness and decrease response
times. Examples include:
Water Laboratory Response Plan (WLA-RP):
a comprehensive approach to responding
to water contamination incidents, from
multi-regional events to those involving
a single laboratory. WLA-RP provides
laboratories with access to analytical
best practices and lessons learned and
helps facilitate communication among
20
LAB MATTERS Fall 2019
key stakeholders. Appendix C contains
a checklist of items to be discussed by
the Analytical Services Requestor and
supporting laboratories.
Analytical Preparedness Full Scale Exercise
(AP-FSE) Toolkit: an interactive PDF that
allows users to practice implementation
of WLA-RP and other response efforts as
though an incident were occurring in real
time. The Toolkit guides users through
planning and executing a full-scale
exercise in 10 steps. It includes scenarios
with associated exercises that can be used
as-is or customized.
Compendium of Environmental Testing
Laboratories: a secure, online database
of environmental laboratories with
the capacity to analyze chemical,
biological and radiochemical
contaminants. Users can search for
laboratories based on location, name,
type, analytical capabilities and special
sample handling. n
DIGITAL EXTRA:
Visit the WLA Training Center to learn more
about WLA resources and trainings.
Water Contaminant Information Tool
(WCIT): a secure, online database
of information on over 800 priority
contaminants of concern for drinking
water and wastewater systems. It
contains contaminant profiles with
detailed information on fate and
transport, physical properties, potential
health effects and infrastructure
decontamination. WCIT also includes
more than 200 analytical methods and
provides information on collecting field
samples and analyses of unregulated
contaminants.
PublicHealthLabs
@APHL
APHL.org