Wednesday, August 19, 2015

FAQ EPA Water Quality Data

"The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is working around the clock to collect and analyze water quality information in order to develop a comprehensive picture of water quality at various locations over time. This is a massive task and it is critical to make sure we are doing all we can to develop the sound science that will support recommendations and decisions that protect the public.

This is a time consuming process. The EPA is looking to develop and evaluate a full picture of the release event and water quality conditions before, during and following the movement of the plume downstream. The EPA is sampling water at several locations in the Animas and San Juan Rivers for a suite of metals and contaminants. The lab work and quality assurance process for generating this data is extensive and designed to make sure we can have confidence in our results. This effort is generating thousands of data points which must be analyzed by our scientists, placed in context of other data collected, assessed for trends and compared to risk screening levels that EPA uses to make sure public health is protected."

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