LSPA December 2023 Membership Meeting

This presentation has been approved by the LSP Board of Registration for 1.0 Technical LSP Credit (#1822A). This webinar is presented on the same topic and by the same speaker as the June 28, 2023 Western MA Membership Meeting (Course #1822 entitled Recent Developments in Groundwater Modeling & Sampling). Depending on your LSP renewal date, if you received credit then, you may be unable to receive credit for taking this course. Refer to 309 CMR 3.09(2)(c). This presentation has also been approved NY PE and PG credit (#202310642).

As written, EPA methodologies for many analyses require the collection of significant volumes of sample material, generally in duplicate, for each sampling point. These large volumes of samples require handling, shipping, and processing that can detract from environmental sustainability. An emerging trend in analytical processes is to reduce the volume of sample required for collection, transportation and management using newer available technologies or instrumentation to reduce the environmental impact of the sampling and analysis process.

Using newer technologies in analytical instrumentation for analysis, Pace Analytical Services laboratories began development of procedures requiring significantly reduced sample volumes without increasing the laboratory’s levels of detection and quantification. Using smaller containers, these processes reduce by up to 90% or more the volume collected, shipped, and processed for the analytical program. The laboratories worked with primary instrument manufacturers to develop more sensitive instrumentation, allowing for a mechanism to reduce both the volume of material required for collection and analysis as well as significant reductions in greenhouse gas-emitting solvents used in the transportation, preparation, and analytical processes. 

This discussion will present a fully implemented and environmentally sustainable process for analysis of materials of concern that results in a significantly reduced environmental impact associated with the field collection activities, shipping of material to the analytical laboratory, and analysis of the material for investigatory or regulatory reporting. These processes were developed and presented for regulatory approval and have been implemented by participating Pace Analytical Services facilities. The presentation will provide comparative outcomes at a few sites where this sampling process was used. 

The presentation will run for 50 minutes and be followed by a Q&A session.