Federal Advisory Committee
on Detection and Quantitation Approaches
in Clean Water Act Programs

Situation
Under the Clean Water Act, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is responsible for approving analytical procedures to detect and quantify pollutants in wastewater. In 2004, controversy over these procedures led the EPA to hire Triangle Associates to conduct a situation assessment with interested parties (states, industry, public utilities, environmental laboratories, and the environmental community) to determine if a collaborative process could be productive. Based on the assessment, Triangle Associates recommended that the EPA convene a Federal Advisory Committee to advise the agency on detection and quantitation approaches and uses in Clean Water Act programs. EPA concurred and the committee held its first meeting in June 2005.

Process
Triangle Associates designed a process for the Committee’s work that includes two work groups -- a Policy Work Group and Technical Work Group -- to carry out assignments between committee meetings. Triangle has facilitated ten meetings of the Federal Advisory Committee in Washington, D.C. and numerous Technical and Policy Work Group conference calls.

Results
In recognition of the Committee’s progress, the EPA extended the charter of the Committee to the end of 2007 to allow it to complete its recommendations on procedures and the uses of the procedure results. Throughout the process, Triangle has been actively involved in developing strategies and approaches for the Committee to work toward consensus and preparing presentation materials that clarify the issues and options.