EPA Publishes New Protocols for Method Approval under the ATP Program

EPA has recently posted two documents that provide information on submitting alternate analytical methods for drinking water analysis under the Alternate Test Procedures (ATP) program.  The two new protocol documents are the Protocol for the Evaluation of Alternate Test Procedures for Organic and Inorganic Analytes in Drinking Water and the Protocol for the Evaluation of Alternate Test Procedures for Analyzing Radioactive Contaminants in Drinking Water.  These documents are available on the ATP web page.
Within EPA, the Office of Water publishes test methods (analytical methods) for the analysis of drinking water.  Listed at part 141 of Title 40 in the Code of Federal Regulations (CFR), these methods are authorized for use in data gathering and environmental monitoring under the Safe Drinking Water Act.  These methods have been developed by EPA, by consensus standards organizations and by others to satisfy the data quality mandates of the Safe Drinking Water Act.  These documents provide guidelines for the submission and validation of analytical methods under the drinking water alternate test procedures program.  Under the drinking water ATP program, applicants are required to demonstrate that the alternate method being proposed is equally effective as an existing EPA-approved method.  These protocols provide basic information on the criteria the Agency generally uses in deciding whether a method is suitable for evaluation under the ATP program and the analyses that are generally needed to demonstrate method equivalency. These standardized procedures should encourage the development of innovative technologies, expedite the evaluation of ATPs and enhance the overall utility of the EPA-approved methods for compliance monitoring under the National Primary Drinking Water Regulations.