Mid-Pacific Environmental Monitoring Branch

Mission Statement

"The mission of the Bureau of Reclamation is to manage, develop, and protect water and related resources in an environmentally and economically sound manner in the interest of the American public."

Mission of the Environmental Monitoring Branch in the Mid-Pacific Region

• Conduct environmental monitoring of resources to determine potential impact
• Provide Quality Assurance/Quality Control to ensure data quality
• Perform human health and ecological risk assessments
• Collect, manage and provide environmental data
• Provide technical assistance and consultative services to environmental programs

 The Environmental Monitoring Branch designs, coordinates, and conducts environmental sampling projects that assess the chemical and/or physical state of the environment. Water quality impacts of irrigation, hazardous waste remediation, acid rain impacts on watersheds and land classification are a few examples of such projects. For each project, it is necessary to accurately measure different constitutes found in various environmental matrices (air, biota, soil, water, etc.) to form a complete picture of what is going on in the environment To accomplish this task, the Environmental Monitoring Branch gathers environmental measurements while adhering to standard practices, standard operating procedures, guidance document requirements and regulatory requirements. This applies to every aspect of the environmental sampling project: sample collection, sample tracking, sample custody, holding times, field and laboratory analysis and reporting. Successful completion of these results in valid and legally defensible data, data that can help ensure appropriate decisions are made to further the mission of the Bureau of Reclamation.