Roy Keith Smith - Water and wastewater laboratory techniques

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ISBN 978-1-57278-356-0

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Foreword 2019 Edition

Over 20 years have passed since I wrote the original Foreword for this publication. In looking back over the years, most things have not changed. Indeed, if you are a new want-to-be analyst or an experienced analyst in another testing position, there are still things you need to know about environmental testing and the responsibilities (sometimes personal) that go along with it.

The trend toward replacing wet chemical methods with multi-analyte instrumental techniques continues unabated. Many of the wet methods in the 18th edition of Standard Methods have been removed from the 23rd edition in favor of instrumental methods. Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) still approves most of the older wet methods for use, there is an increasing trend toward multi-analyte methods such as ion chromatography, capillary ion electrophoresis, ICP/AES, ICP/MS, flow injection, and others. Although computers may seem to run the instrument and the laboratory, it is still humans that provide the chemical knowledge and expertise.

The legal scrutiny never stops. In addition to state environmental agency and U.S. EPA oversight, various organizations such as the American Canoe Association have discovered that there is money to be made in bringing civil lawsuits against water resource recovery facilities for non-compliance with permits and regulations. In particular, they have found that the laboratory is a prime target for non-compliance. Non-compliance may take the form of an inability to meet legislated detection/reporting limits or the use of non-approved methods.

You may think you are a simple laboratory analyst but, in actuality, you are a prime target for a lawsuit. Moreover, in the event of a lawsuit, you may be named personally as a defendant. Thus, you need to protect yourself. Know the regulations and follow them to the letter. These include 40 CFR Part 136 for wastewater and 40 CFR Part 141 for water analysis. Know the requirements of your facilitys permits. Make sure you document everything, no matter how minor it seems.

This is a wonderful industry to work in. Aside from the vital public health function that we perform, it is also personally rewarding with excellent growth potential. In June of 2000, I resigned from a commercial analytical laboratory (Analytical Services, Inc.). Rather than stop working, however, my situation has allowed more time to explore many new challenges in the industry. In addition to continuing to write books and give seminars to laboratory groups, I have been involved as an expert witness in court, giving depositions and testimony about laboratory procedures, analysis, quality control, and results. It seems that every day brings a new opportunity.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

A work of this type, in a science as complicated as laboratory chemistry, is impossible to produce in a vacuum. I owe an unpayable debt of gratitude to the many persons who assisted in the donation of information, pictures, and their time for technical creation of the manuscript. First and foremost, I acknowledge the contributions and assistance of the company that paid for my daily bread and allowed me to pursue such desires as the writing of the first edition of this book, Analytical Services, Inc. Special thanks go to Robert G. Owens, Jr., Denise S. Geier, Billy P. Dyer, G. Wyn Jones, Jeff Newman, Lang Allen Reeves, and the rest of the technical staff at Analytical Services for their help, data, and pictures. Also providing enormous assistance in this work and (dare I forget it) restraint in putting up with my oftentimes abrupt and abrasive personality were Paul McMinn, Fisher Scientific, Norcross, Georgia; Susan Grable, Fisher Scientific, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; James B. Carl, Painted Post, New York; David Black and Jane Leisenring, Corning Inc., Corning New York; Lisa M. Lazzara, Nalge Company, Rochester, New York; Paul Stinson, Ever Ready Thermometer Co. Inc., West Patterson, New Jersey; Judy Poxon, Vee Gee Scientific, Kirkland, Washington; Andy Sendelback and Chris Clark, Varian Sample Preparation Products, Palo Alto, California; and Jennie Durant, Bill Smutney, Maryanne Reves, and David Fenili, Kimble Kontes, Vineland, New Jersey. Jon P. Henderson, Georgia Water and Wastewater Institute, Georgia Water and Pollution Control Association, Carrollton, Georgia, deserves mention for allowing me time with live classes of operators and laboratory analysts to work out the presentation problems of many of the concepts discussed in this book. The reviewers of the bookDavid Kimbrough, California Environmental Protection Agency, Los Angeles, California; Dr. Larry Keith, Radian Corp., Austin, Texas; Robert G. Owens, Jr., ASI, Norcross, Georgia; Dr. Mark Bruce, Quanterra, North Canton, Ohio; and Dr. David Carrick, Australian National Laboratories, Asquith New South Wales, Australia, are thanked for their time and many useful comments for improving the presentation and content. To steal a dedication used by a classmate of mine from the graduating class of 1968, East Greenwich High School, East Greenwich, Rhode Island, I dedicate this book to the memory of my parents, Mary Eda Keller Smith and Commander Roy Fowler Smith, USN, without whom I would not be here.