Sampling and Analytical Procedures
for GLNPO’s Open Lake Water Quality Survey of the Great Lakes

The Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO) of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) has primary responsibility within the U.S. for conducting surveillance monitoring of the offshore waters of the Great Lakes. This monitoring is intended to fulfill provisions of the GreatLakes Water Quality Agreement (International Joint Commission, 1978) calling for periodic monitoring of the lakes to: 1) assess compliance with jurisdictional control requirements; 2) provide information on non-achievement of agreed-upon water quality objectives; 3) evaluate water quality trends over time; and 4) identify emerging problems in the Great Lakes Basin Ecosystem. GLNPO conducts semi-annual Water Quality Surveys of all five lakes to meet the surveillance monitoring requirements.

Each summer GLNPO also conducts an intensive survey of dissolved oxygen (DO) concentrations in Lake Erie. This
manual has been prepared by GLNPO to document the sampling and analytical procedures used during
the Water Quality Surveys (WQS). The manual acts as a reference for GLNPO and contractor/grantee
staff supporting the field, laboratory, and data management activities associated with the survey.

Most of the survey activities are conducted onboard EPA’s R/V Lake Guardian, a former offshore oil
field supply vessel built by Halter Marine, Moss Point, MS, in 1981. Sampling activities aboard the R/V
Lake Guardian are primarily implemented through the use of:
• a Rosette sampling device deployed from the ship to collect samples for a variety of nutrients,
physical parameters, and biological parameters
• tow nets used to collect zooplankton samples, and
• a Ponar grab sampling device used to collect sediment samples for benthic organisms and
chemical measurements.

Most of the survey measurements are made on board the ship, either on the bridge or deck (e.g.,
meteorological measurements such as wind speed and direction, wave height and direction, air
temperature, etc.), by the conductivity/temperature/depth (CTD) probe (SeaBird Electronics Inc.), or in
the on-ship laboratory (e.g., turbidity, conductivity, pH, etc.). The remaining measurements are made by
GLNPO’s Great Lakes Analytical Services (GLAS) contractor chemist and biology grantee in land-based
laboratories.

The manual is organized into six chapters. Chapter 1 describes the WQS and includes a Standard
Operating Procedure (SOP) for General Shipboard Scientific Operations. This SOP presents information
on: 1) roles and responsibilities, 2) the sequence of sampling events, and 3) safety and training. Chapter
1 also includes an SOP for Electronic Field Information Recording. Chapter 2 provides sampling and
analytical procedures for nutrient parameters targeted in the survey. Chapter 3 provides sampling and
analytical procedures for physical parameters including meteorological data and total suspended solids.
Chapter 4 provides sampling and analytical procedures for biological parameters. Chapter 5 provides
analytical procedures for several chemical parameters that are analyzed in the laboratory aboard the R/V
Lake Guardian (“board chemistry” parameters) including pH, specific conductivity, total alkalinity,
turbidity and dissolved oxygen by the Winkler method. Chapter 6 provides sampling and analytical
procedures for nutrients in sediments.

This manual also contains several appendices. Appendix A contains maps of the Great Lakes spring and
summer survey stations. Appendix B contains the quality assurance project plan (QAPP) for the Great
Lakes Water Quality Surveys. Appendix C contains a staff scheduling form that lists shift dates for
proposed and actual GLNPO staff participating in the survey. Appendix D contains a QAPP as well as
the sampling and analytical procedures used in GLNPO’s intensive DO survey of Lake Erie’s Central Basin.

Appendix E contains survey planning forms that must be submitted by researchers requesting use
of the R/V Lake Guardian for sampling purposes. Appendix F contains the self-certification form that
all GLNPO staff and contractors/grantees participating in the survey must complete and provide to the
GLNPO QA Manager to certify their meeting pre-survey training requirements as specified on the form.
Appendix G contains the Medical History Questionnaire that is required to be completed and submitted
by all personnel that participate in GLNPO’s WQS. Appendix H contains hard-copy field information
recording forms used to document the data generated during the surveys. Appendix I contains lists of
acceptable field remark, lab remark, and quality control sample identifier codes used in GLNPO’s Great
Lakes Environmental Database (GLENDA). Appendix J contains a user’s manual for the GLENDA
remote data entry tool. Appendix K includes a list of current GLENDA analyte names and codes for
environmental parameters being measured. Appendix L contains a list of roles and responsibilities for
the Chief Scientist, in addition to a list of priorities for each staffing period and a checklist that must
completed by the shift supervisor for each shift of 12 hours and provided to the QA Manager to verify
that they met their responsibilities involving ship operations and survey data management. Appendix M
contains a suggested revision sheet that survey participants should use to document issues, errors, and
suggested revisions and clarifications to the manual. Appendix N contains a data status tracking sheet to
track specific data sets throughout the data verification process and upload to the GLENDA database.
Appendix O contains a data discrepancy form to initiate a revision to the GLENDA database when
errors are identified. Appendix P contains a summary of the sample depth’s collected as part of the
WQS for all five lakes. Finally, Appendix Q contains the station location change form that must be
completed and approved by pertinent survey participants to finalize a change to a station location.
To facilitate location of all applicable SOPs, a reference table listing the parameters targeted in the study
and associated sampling and analytical methods is included in this chapter. The table lists SOPs by
method code. Method codes for each SOP can be found in the Table of Contents to the left of the SOP
title and in the footer of each SOP.

Because this manual is a dynamic document, an SOP revision sheet has been created and one is located
after the introduction to each chapter. The revision sheet is designed to document revisions to each SOP
in this manual. In addition, the suggested revisions sheet (Appendix M), also will assist GLNPO in
identifying and addressing issues, errors, and suggested revisions and clarifications to the SOPs. With
initial development of the manual, revisions have been maintained in summary format.

Earlier revisions of this manual contained: 1) an addendum to the WQS QAPP that provides the
information needed to perform the base monitoring program activities on alternate vessels when the R/V
Lake Guardian is not available (March 2001, Appendix C) and 2) GLNPO’s Standard Operating
Procedures for Winter Operations (March 2001, Appendix F). These documents are available from
GLNPO’s Document Control Coordinator, in the Policy Coordination and Communications Branch, to
support specific projects involving these special circumstances.

Questions concerning this manual should be directed to:
Dr. Glenn Warren
Environmental Monitoring Indicators Team Lead
USEPA Great Lakes National Program Office
Mail Code G-17J
77 West Jackson Boulevard
Chicago, IL 60605
Phone: 312-886-2405
Fax: 312-3532018

Sampling and Analytical Procedures for GLNPO’s Open Lake Water Quality Survey of the Great Lakes

Local Navigation

Sampling and Analytical Procedures
for GLNPO’s Open Lake Water Quality Survey of the Great Lakes