The following LSPA practice tip was introduced at the December 2025 Membership Meeting, which was held via Zoom on Tuesday, December 16, 2025, from 3:45-5:00 PM.

Practice Tip  
When any PFAS related to a disposal site are detected in private drinking water wells, LSPs and their clients must mitigate this Critical Exposure Pathway under the MCP. However, detections of PFAS in water can be highly dependent on the reporting limits achieved for the analysis. USEPA analytical methods require extraction of the entire sample volume of the sample bottle. As a result, the reporting limit is inherently tied to sample volume (e.g., a 250 mL sample vs. a 290 mL sample). Therefore, even small differences in bottle fill levels can lead to minor, but meaningful, variations in reported concentrations. As with any sampling program, samples should be collected methodically and in accordance with the MassDEP CAM and the relevant analytical method to provide a representative analytical result. In the case of PFAS, sample bottles should be the same size and filled to a consistent volume to improve data comparability and defensibility.

MassDEP has revised WSC-CAM-X A, Quality Control Requirements and Performance Standards for the Analysis of Per- and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) by Liquid Chromatography/Dual Mass Spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) in Support of Response Actions under the MCP, now posted at https://www.mass.gov/info-details/compendium-of-analytical-methods-cam#pfas-methods.

For aqueous samples with elevated levels of total suspended solids, Section 1.6 of the CAM Protocol was updated to clarify that the solvent rinse should be performed with the typical solvent used for the extraction of solid materials (e.g., methanolic ammonium hydroxide).

The LSPA received the following email from MassDEP Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup on August 1, 2025: 

Updated Compendium of Analytical Methods (CAM) protocols for Perchlorate, WSC – CAM – VIII B, Analysis of Perchlorate by Ion Chromatography (IC) with Electrospray Ionization/Mass Spectrometry (ESI/MS or ESI/MS/MS) or High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC) with ESI-MS or ESI-MS/MS, have been posted to MassDEP’s web site at https://www.mass.gov/info-details/compendium-of-analytical-methods-cam#high-performance-liquid-chromatography-hplc-and-ion-chromatography-methods

The LSPA received the following email from MassDEP Bureau of Waste Site Cleanup on June 30, 2025: 

MassDEP has published a number of new Compendium of Analytical Methods (CAM) protocols and materials at https://www.mass.gov/info-details/compendium-of-analytical-methods-cam.