A. Testing Kits. The contractor shall furnish surface water sample collection kits for thirty (30) samples grouped in five (5) sets of six (6). The kits shall include all items necessary for sampling, preservation, chain of custody forms (COC), and shipping to the laboratory. This includes but not limited to; Provide sampling containers, equipment, coolers, and appropriate preservation materials and equipment, trip blanks and other QA/QC samples as necessary. B. Receiving. The City of Clemson SWMD staff will collect samples in contractor furnished kits and send them off to the contractors laboratory in a prepaid shipping package. 1. The Contractor must preserve a copy of the COC form at all times in the project file and maintain the project file for ten (10) years. A secure Chain of Custody leads to the production of a legally defensible report. The Chain of Custody document must include: • name or initials of the individual collecting the specimen; • each person or entity subsequently having custody of it; • the date the sample was collected or transferred; • employer or agency; • sample number; • sample location; • client’s name, and • a brief description of the sample The laboratory must properly preserve the samples (e.g., refrigerate) as required by ELAP and EPA holding time criteria and the criteria of the methodologies being employed. C. Analytical Testing. The contractor's laboratory shall be located within the Continental United States and shall be capable of performing Microbial Source Tracking for the following species: a. Human b. Canada Goose c. Canine d. Cattle e. Swine 1. The laboratory should have the longest possible hold time. The Laboratory shall perform these analyses in accordance with the cited Method and with its current approved Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs). The laboratory will report the analytical results at or below the industry accepted reporting limits for the required analytes. Internal QC checks to be analyzed with each batch of analytical samples shall include the following as required by the method: • method blank • laboratory control sample/laboratory control sample duplicate (LCS/LCSD) • matrix spike/matrix spike duplicate (MS/MSD) • laboratory duplicate Samples to be used for the MS/MSD and laboratory duplicate sample analyses will be selected by the Laboratory. All Method-required QA/QC analyses must be performed as part of the quoted per-sample cost for each analyte/analyte group. 2. Analytical Methods: The Contractor is required to use approved analytical methods ELAP certified with exceptions noted below) to perform all digestion, extraction, cleanup, concentration, analysis, dilution and storage of analytical samples. The following are recognized sources from which the methodologies must be derived: • 40 CFR Part 136 Clean Water Act (most recent edition); • Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater (APHA, AWWA, WEF, most recent approved edition). 3. Laboratory Custody Procedures: All samples submitted (or authorized to be submitted) by the City must be accompanied by an appropriate COC form unless the City has provided prior written approval for samples submitted for some program without a COC. Any sample submitted without a COC form must be immediately brought to the attention of the SWMD representative. The COC form must be properly completed by the person(s) submitting the sample for analyses. The COC form must be signed and dated by the sampler and the laboratory upon receipt. All air-bills must be kept with the project files by the laboratory. The laboratory operations associated with receipt of samples must be covered in the Quality Assurance Manual (QAM) or Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) if not fully covered in the QAM. 4. The Contractor must maintain a log (electronic or paper) that tracks the sample and all splits within the laboratory until the sample is reported out and disposed of according to all State and Federal laws. 5. The Contractor must assign a unique laboratory sample number to each sample received for analyses. 6. The Contractor must ensure the security of all samples submitted through the use of sealed or locked coolers and for security systems in the facility. 7. Disposal of samples and associated wastes is the sole responsibility of the laboratory and must be done at no additional cost to the City. All disposals must be done in accordance with the State and federal laws.
