Quality Assurance and Control of Hydrologic Field Instrumentation Date: Fri, 13 Nov 1998 10:08:22 -0500 From: "Catherine L. Hill" Reply-To: "Catherine L Hill, ACH/Operations, Reston, VA" Organization: U.S. Geological Survey To: "A - Division Chief and Staff", "B - Branch Chiefs and Offices", "S - Special Distribution for Research", "FO - State, District, Subdistrict and other Field Offices" CC: "Catherine L. Hill HILL" , "Katherine M. Long" , "Alice C Dilandro, Secretary (S), Reston, DILANDRO" , "\"William G Shope Jr., Chief, Br. of Oper. Support, Reston, SHOPE" Subject: Quality Assurance and Control of Hydrologic Field Instrumentation In Reply Respond To: Mail Stop 405 MEMORANDUM November 13, 1998 To: See Distribution From: Catherine L. Hill Assistant Chief Hydrologist for Operations Subject: Quality Assurance and Control of Hydrologic Field Instrumentation This memorandum presents a status report on the Water Resources Division's (WRD) efforts to develop a Quality Assurance and Quality Control (QA/QC) Program for instrumentation and equipment used in the field for the collection of hydrologic data. The need for a QA/QC Program was presented in an Instrumentation Committee (ICOM) report titled "Instrumentation Quality-Assurance, Efficiency, and Marketing Study", 1996, authored by Carl Goodwin and others. The report is available from the ICOM Home Page located at URL - http://wwwhif.er.usgs.gov/uo/icom.outline.html The report's recommendations to develop a QA/QC Program for field instrumentation were accepted by the WRD Senior Staff, and the ICOM was charged with the program development. With many districts purchasing instrumentation directly from private vendors and placing instrumentation in the field with little or no QA/QC, the need for a QA/QC Program has increased. Recognizing the impact on the WRD Data Program, the Chief Hydrologist has requested that ICOM accelerate their Pilot QA/QC Program, and distribute QA/QC information for five of the most important instruments. This information, which includes procedures and facility needs for acceptance testing (of new instrument shipments) and calibration, is presented in the attachment to this memorandum. The complete QA/QC procedures for these and other instruments will be provided at a later date through the WRD QA/QC Program. The instruments listed in the attachment have been put through the Hydrologic Instrumentation Facility's (HIF) test and evaluation program, which produces data on the instrument's performance under varying environmental conditions. The test and evaluation procedures are a critical part of a QA/QC Program and are far more extensive than the instrument acceptance testing procedures presented in the attachment. Some instrument acceptance testing and calibration procedures can also be complex requiring specialized equipment and personnel that only facilities like the HIF or the Federal Interagency Sediment Project can provide. Other instruments and equipment can receive acceptance testing and calibration in the field or at project offices. All equipment arriving at the HIF is put through an acceptance testing procedure based on statistical sampling. If one or more problems are found with a shipment, a larger sample is tested. The HIF's long term records indicate a 10 percent failure rate for all types of instruments and equipment. This failure rate requires that all instruments be tested before they are deployed for data collection. The QA/QC Program now under development by the ICOM will address evaluation, acceptance testing, calibration, and record keeping. The ICOM has prepared a phase I document outlining the proposed QA/QC Program titled "Proposed Framework for Quality Assurance and Quality Control of Hydrologic Field Instrumentation in the WRD." The report, authored by Stephen Hindall and others, proposes a framework or roadmap for the development of instrument tests and the QA/QC program, and states what should be in the program and who the responsible parties should be. The report is available from the ICOM Home Page located at URL - http://wwwhif.er.usgs.gov/uo/icom.outline.html A phase II ICOM Workgroup chaired by John Harsh has been named and charged with the tasks listed below. - - Using the framework document (Phase I), develop a draft QA/QC Plan - - Pick a few representative instruments to place under the Plan - - Pilot the Plan for those instruments - - Finalize the Plan to incorporate the results of the pilot and expand as necessary to cover all hydrologic field instruments. - - Prepare a staging schedule - - Estimate the added costs and recommend the source of monies to cover the costs - - Update the Instrumentation Policy - - Obtain Senior Staff approval for the QA/QC Plan and Instrumentation Policy - - Issue the Plan and Policy to WRD The Workgroup's first priority is to develop a pilot to evaluate the prototype QA/QC Program using selected instruments. The Workgroup met the week of October 19, 1998, and will be submitting a list of candidate instruments and participating districts to the ICOM at its November Meeting. We will provide you with more information following a review of the pilot plan by the discipline offices. If you have any questions regarding this memorandum, please contact William Shope at (703) 648-5364 or send electronic mail to . Attachment Distribution: A,B,S,FO _________________________________________________________________________ Attachment Water Quality Monitors Evaluation - Calibrated Temperature Standard, Environmental Chamber, and certified standards and buffers; Procedure covers the range of temperature and parameter values as specified by the manufacturer (HIF) Acceptance Testing - 100% Calibrated using certified standards and buffers; Procedure requires room temperature only but full range in parameter values as specified by the manufacturer (District) Calibration - Periodic (2 yr.); Calibrated Temperature Standard, Environmental Chamber and certified standards and buffers; Procedure covers the entire range of temperature and parameter values as specified by manufacturer (HIF) Pressure Transducers Evaluation - Calibrated Pressure Standard and Environmental Chamber; Procedure covers the range of temperature and pressure specified by the manufacturer (HIF) Acceptance Testing - 100% Calibrated using Pressure Standard and Environmental Chamber; Procedure covers the range of temperature and pressure specified by the manufacturer (HIF) Calibration - Periodic (6 yr.) using Calibrated Pressure Standard and Environmental Chamber; Procedure covers the range of temperature and pressure specified by the manufacturer (HIF); Routine field check (3 yr.) using Portable Pressure Standard; Procedure calls for ambient temperature and range of pressures specified by the manufacturer (District) Ultra-Sonic Velocity Meters Evaluation - Test equipment and path simulator; Procedure provides for a frequency check of the transducers and a path simulator check of the unit (HIF) Acceptance Testing - 100% Test equipment and path simulator; Procedure provides for a frequency check of the transducers and a path simulator check of the unit (HIF) Calibration - Periodic (3 yr.) using test equipment and path simulator; Procedure provides for a frequency check of the transducers and a path simulator check of the unit (HIF) Shaft Encoders Evaluation -Environmental Chamber, test meters and SDI-12 Verifier; Procedure covers range of temperature, SDI-12 commands and a weighted-shaft test to determine tracking characteristics (HIF) Acceptance Testing - 10% Test Meters; Procedure covers range of temperature, SDI-12 commands and a weighted-shaft test to determine tracking characteristics (District) Calibration - Routine field check (1 yr.) using test meters; Procedure covers range of temperature, SDI-12 commands and a weighted-shaft test to determine tracking characteristics (District) Tipping-Bucket Rain Gages Evaluation - Calibrated scale and flowmeter; Procedure calls for calibration at various flow rates (HIF) Acceptance Testing - 10% Calibration; Procedure calls for single bottle calibration comparing number of tips to volume of water (District) Calibration - Routine field check (1 yr.); Procedure calls for single bottle calibration comparing number of tips to volume of water (District)