Recertification in Water Chemistry

Maintaining quality assurance protocols to “keep the data credible” is one of the highest priorities and challenges of GWW.  As part of quality assurance (QA) protocols for citizen data, all monitors are to be periodically recertified and their test kits replenished with fresh reagents.  The basic approach for recertifying monitors and replenishing their test kits involve field checks by a QA officer using a calibrated test kit of the same type.  In this way, a citizen’s monitoring techniques and the quality of their reagents can be checked in a non-intimidating, yet reliable, way.  Recertification is conducted by a data quality coordinator, a trainer or a citizen QA officer.  After monitoring for a year, water chemistry monitors are required to attend a recertification session to review techniques and procedures and replace chemicals or any broken equipment in their test kits.  After completing the first recertification, monitors sampling more than six months in a year are eligible for attending a recertification every two years.