In recent years there has been a growing emphasis on quality assurance/quality control (QA/QC)
protocols for environmental monitoring programs. Although the elements of QA/QC programs
for laboratory analyses are reasonably well defined, there has been less emphasis on defining
QA/QC protocols for fïeld programs. Therefore, the B.C. Acid Mine Drainage Task Force
contracted Norecol Environmental Consultants Ltd. to undertake a review of QA/QC protocols
for field studies. The review focuses on components of programs for predicting or detecting acid
rock drainage (ARD) and its environmental effects.

A QA/QC program begins with setting a data quality objective, which defines the level of
uncertainty that a decision maker is willing to accept in decisions made with environmental data.
The quality assurance component of the program is the set of operating principles that, if strictly
followed, should produce results which meet the data quality objective. The quality control
component of the program is the assessment, the rough measurement of precision, accuracy, and
representivity, of whether the data quality objective has been achieved.

Common elements of QA/QC programs for field studies include selection of the sampling
locations, definition of the required number of replicate samples, and choice of the appropriate
sampling device to achieve precision, accuracy, and representivity in the data. Other common
elements include maintenance of field notes, technician training and evaluation, and
standardization of sample collection, preservation and storage protocols.

This document reviews the elements of field QA/QC programs for sampling surface and
groundwater, effluents, sediments, soils, tailings and waste rock for chemical parameters related
to ARD. It also reviews QA/QC programs for stream flow measurements and biological effects
monitoring, including sampling populations of fish, benthic invertebrates, periphyton,
zooplankton, and phytoplankton; metals in fish tissues; and the presence of Thiobacillus.