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Ambient Monitoring Technology Information Center (AMTIC)

Ambient Air Monitoring Quality Assurance

Background

The EPA’s Ambient Air Monitoring Group (AAMG) oversees various QA/QC programs and activities to support air quality measurement.  This page provides information on the various aspects of the EPA's ambient air monitoring QA program.

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Rules and Regulations

The Clean Air Act (CAA) and its amendments provide the framework for the protection of air quality. As part of this framework, EPA establishes and periodically revises National Ambient Air Quality Standards (NAAQS) for the criteria pollutants, and the Agency has established requirements for monitoring networks for these pollutants. The QA requirements for ambient air monitoring are located in Title 40 of the Code of Federal Regulations (40CFR) Parts 50, 53, and 58:

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National Performance Evaluation Program

This section provides information on the National Performance Evaluation Program (NPEP). A critical element in any quality assurance program is the process of independent assessment. Independent assessment provides for a level of objectivity and consistency in the determination of data quality. As the Federal organization responsible for the implementation and oversight of the Ambient Air Monitoring Program, OAQPS, in partnership with the EPA Regions and the National Environmental Research Laboratory (NERL), have always provided the function of independent assessment that includes: site characterization and network reviews, technical systems audits and performance evaluations. Performance evaluations (PE) are a type of audit in which the quantitative data generated in a measurement system are obtained independently and compared with routinely obtained data to evaluate the proficiency of an analyst or laboratory.

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Quality Assurance Guidance Documents

The following documents provide guidance for the implementation of the QA rules and regulations.  Additional pollutant specific QA guidancedocuments can also be found on the specific network pages.

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Quality Indicator Assessment Reports

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Newsletters

EPA periodically publishes a newsletter providing National QA program updates and other ambient air monitoring QA related news.  Copies of the current and past newsletters can be found at the following link.

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Pollutant/Network Specific QA

In addition to the information on this page, pollutant specific QA/QC documents such as program QAPPs, Standard Operating Procedures, and other QA guidance may be found on the specific monitoring network pages. 

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Data Certification/Validation

The following page contains information and guidance on the data certification process and Q&A on Ambient Air Monitoring Data Certification including data certification flag values.

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Training

This section contains links to training materials used to support Quality Assurance activities.

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Other QA Links

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