Chesapeake Bay Coordinated Split Sample Program Implementation Guidelines (Revision 3)
This document describes revised guidelines for the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Coordinated Split Sample Program, established to assess the comparability of water quality data produced by agencies across the region.
Description
In 1988, the Chesapeake Bay Program’s Monitoring Subcommittee identified the need to assess the comparability of the water quality data produced by the many agencies participating in the basin-wide data collection programs. The Monitoring Subcommittee’s Analytical Methods and Quality Assurance Workgroup recommended the implementation of a basin-wide coordinated split sample program to address this programmatic need. Although individual laboratories can evaluate the performance of their own analytical operations against standard reference materials, the most complete mechanism for the evaluation of total sampling and analysis system variability is through the use of field split samples. These include both field and laboratory sources of variability. The Coordinated Split Sample Program (CSSP) was started in June 1989, following the earlier revision of these guidelines (CBP 1989). This revision incorporates changes and refinements based on the first two years of CSSP operation.
Category: Report