Sampling Water Quality Monitoring and Human Health Shipping (when not using a local lab)
Holding times often require that shipped samples be sent overnight. Sending such samples overnight can easily cost $50 or more per sample kit. Citizen groups need to be aware of these costs upfront and plan accordingly. You would be wise to check with your preferred shipper in advance, including ensuring that their shipping offices are open when you are planning to drop off samples. You should also ask your shipper the frequency with which shipped items do not make it overnight on certain days. For example, many shippers will caution you not to plan to ship on a Thursday or Friday as running into weekends can prove dangerous. Sometimes things go wrong in shipping and materials are delayed. While it may not be a catastrophe for a letter, your samples will become invalid and in all likelihood the lab will have already charged you. Plan your sampling days accordingly and set up a clear plan for how all samples will be gathered and who and when will bring them to the shipper.
Documentation and Chain of Custody
Chain of custody refers to a chronological record of who has been in possession of samples during what time periods and what forms of preservation or analyses have been performed on them. Following chain-of-custody procedures when handling samples and data helps provide assurance that they have not been tampered with. It also helps you keep track of everything and ensures you can answer a variety of critical questions that could arise later. A simple log sheet can serve as your chain of custody where various people sign the sample out and in during their custody of it. Maintaining chain of custody contributes to the overall integrity of your procedures and hence your data. An alternative to a log sheet is to document this information right on a label on the sample itself. The laboratory that you work with will likely provide you with a chain of custody log.
Date, Time and Sample Location
Labeling sample containers with the date, time and location may sounds like a no-brainer, but at times volunteers forget to label all samples with this critical information. Sometimes, when collecting only one or two samples, the volunteer is confident where each sample was collected. Unfortunately, once later integrated with other samples in the lab, it becomes impossible to tell which sample is which. This has happened many times!
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