Samplegeddon Results

Wrapping up Samplegeddon for 2019

Over the last year the department provided various updates through Aqua Talk articles regarding Samplegeddon – the year all nine-year, six-year, three-year, annual, six-month, quarterly, and monthly monitoring compliance schedules converged. While this convergence potentially created an increased sampling burden on many of our public water systems, it is necessary to ensure that safe drinking water is being provided to the citizens and visitors of Colorado. 

Because this occurrence happens just once every nine years, the department worked diligently throughout 2019 to remind water systems of their monitoring requirements. Now that Samplegeddon is over, here are some updates on the final compliance numbers and lessons learned.

Final Samplegeddon numbers

Based on the figure below, as of March 29, 2020: 

• Overall, approximately 98% of all routine sampling requirements ending on December 31, 2019 were completed.
• Out of the 15,088 sampling requirements, only 349 were not satisfied
• In total, 1,795 monitoring and reporting violations were issued for sampling requirements in the monitoring period that ended on December 31, 2019. For certain sampling requirements such as total coliform, multiple violations may have been issued. Additionally, due to late reporting, violations may have been issued for sampling requirements that are now marked as complete. 

Figure 1: Sampling Requirements for All Schedules Ending December 31, 2019

Lessons learned and recommendations

To avoid potential violations and reduce processing times, the department recommends the following:

• Collect and deliver samples to a certified laboratory early in your compliance period.
• Many samples were collected at the end of the 2019 monitoring period. This caused an increase in demand for laboratory services and made it difficult for laboratories to process sample results prior to the January 10th submission deadline. Several samples, which were collected at the end of the monitoring period, were analyzed and reported over two months after the submission deadline. Submitting results late is not an acceptable practice for future monitoring periods and may result in violations. 
• Collect gross alpha including uranium and combined uranium on the same day.
• Collecting samples on the same day can prevent errors in sample collection and cuts back on our data processing time.
• In order to be eligible to be subtracted in the gross alpha excluding uranium calculation, systems on a three-year, six-year, or nine-year monitoring schedule for gross alpha excluding uranium must collect the combined uranium sample within the gross alpha excluding uranium monitoring period and within 365 days of the gross alpha including uranium sample. In order to be eligible to be subtracted in the gross alpha excluding uranium calculation, systems on a quarterly monitoring schedule for gross alpha excluding uranium must collect the combined uranium sample within the same quarter as gross alpha including uranium. 
• Check the monitoring schedules of seasonal systems and collect required samples prior to depressurization.
• Fill out the chain of custody form for each sample bottle with the appropriate information (PWS ID, Facility ID, Sample PT ID, Collection Date, etc.) This will ensure that sample results are recorded correctly and automatically applied to the corresponding sampling requirement.
• Ensure sample results are submitted in a timely manner – even if they are not due yet!
• In some cases, reporting sample results long after they’ve been analyzed can result in violations. For example if a sample result is high enough to trigger increased monitoring, the supplier will be accountable for all monitoring periods in which they should have been on increased monitoring. Monitoring violations could be issued for all missed monitoring periods and compliance with the maximum contaminant level will be evaluated with the data received over the applicable monitoring periods – even if those quarters did not have data!

Closing Thoughts

Collecting water samples is critical to ensuring safe drinking water and protecting public health. It is impossible to know and, when necessary, improve the quality of our water supplies without sample collection. The department would like to thank water suppliers, operators, samplers, and laboratory analysts for contributing to an outstanding 98% compliance rate. This is something the department is very proud to be a part of. It could not have been achieved without the help of our tremendous partners. Bravo!

➽ Jamie Duvall, drinking water compliance assurance

Samplegeddon - 2019

It's a wrap!

As Samplegeddon 2019 draws to a close, we want to update our readers on sampling progress statewide.

What is Samplegeddon? When the nine-year, six-year, three-year, annual, six-month, and quarterly monitoring compliance schedules all converge, that’s Samplegeddon! Because this happens just once every nine years, the department works diligently throughout Samplegeddon to remind water systems of their monitoring requirements. 

Updated Samplegeddon numbers

Based on the figure below, as of December 9, 2019:

• Overall, about 85% of three, six, and nine-year sampling requirements had been completed.
• Great news: A majority of systems sampled for nitrite, which is on a nine-year schedule! Only 6% of required samples had not been received.   
• Of the 29 systems that were on a reduced three-year sampling schedule for disinfection byproducts, 97% had sampled.
• The chemical group with the most incomplete sampling rate was synthetic organic chemicals. Only 77% of the required samples had been received. With 1,152 sampling schedules in Colorado, that is a significant amount of incomplete sampling!

Figure 1: Sampling Requirements for Reduced Schedules (3, 6, and 9 Year)

Avoid monitoring and reporting violations

To avoid any potential monitoring and reporting violations, please remember to: 

• Check your system’s monitoring schedule to see if you have any outstanding sampling requirements. Sampling requirements that have been satisfied will be stricken out on the monitoring schedule and given a **Sample Result(s) Received* label (see Figure 2).

Figure 2: Public Water System Monitoring Schedule. This figure illustrates sampling requirements that have and have not been met.

• Use your monitoring schedule to ensure samples will be collected at the appropriate sample point, during the correct collection period, and that there are not separate requirements for specific analytes within a group.
• Have enough sampling bottles on hand to address each requirement as it arises—you may even want a few extra.
• Collect and deliver your samples to a certified laboratory early in your compliance period. Be sure that the chosen laboratory will be able to process your sample results and report them to the department online. All samples are due on the 10th of the month following the monitoring period. Laboratories may be extra busy as deadlines approach, so do what you can to avoid surprises or delays! Submitting samples early helps ensure that samples will be received by the department on time, and it may also ensure adequate time to resample or correct reporting errors if needed.
• Confirm that sample results have been received and accepted by checking your system’s online monitoring schedules. Schedules are updated every Wednesday night to reflect changes.
• Contact your drinking water compliance specialist with any questions or concerns.
• Submit your data early. Remember, the best way to submit drinking water data to the department is through the drinking water portal.

➽ Nicole Graziano, P.E. and Jamie Duvall, B.S., drinking water compliance assurance

Samplegeddon - 2019

In 2019, the nine-year, six-year, three-year, annual, six-month, and quarterly monitoring compliance schedules all converged—that’s Samplegeddon! 

Because this happens just once every nine years, the department works diligently throughout Samplegeddon to remind water systems of their monitoring requirements. Based on the figure below, we’ve made progress but still have some work to do:

• Overall, approximately 70% of three, six, and nine-year sampling requirements have been completed. That is up 10% from Jan. 15, 2018.
• Great news—most systems have sampled for nitrite, which is on a nine-year schedule! However, 11% of required samples have not been collected.
• Of the 29 systems that are on a reduced, three-year sampling schedule for disinfection byproducts, 52% have not sampled.
• The area with the second most uncompleted sampling is synthetic organic chemicals. Back in May, only 50% of systems had collected their required samples for synthetic organic chemicals. That number has since edged up to 61%. With 1,152 sampling schedules in Colorado, that is a significant amount of uncompleted sampling!

Figure 1: Sampling Requirements for Reduced Schedules as of September 24 (3, 6, and 9 Year)

Avoiding monitoring and reporting violations 

Here are some measures you can take to avoid any potential monitoring and reporting violations:

• Check your system’s monitoring schedule to see if you have any outstanding sampling requirements. Sampling requirements that have been satisfied will be stricken out on the monitoring schedule and labeled **Sample Result(s) Received** (see Figure 2). 

Figure 2: Public Water System Monitoring Schedule. This figure illustrates sampling requirements that have and have not been met.

• Use your monitoring schedule to ensure samples will be collected at the appropriate sample point, during the correct collection period, and that there are not separate requirements for specific analytes within a group.
• Have enough sampling bottles on hand to address each requirement as it arises—you may even want a few extra.
• Collect and deliver your samples to a certified laboratory early in your compliance period. Be sure that the chosen laboratory will be able to process your sample results and report them to the department by Jan. Laboratories may be extra busy as the deadline approaches; do what you can to avoid surprises or delays! Submitting samples early helps ensure that they will be received by the department on time, and it may also ensure adequate time to resample or correct reporting errors if needed.
• Confirm that sample results have been received and accepted by checking your system’s online monitoring schedules. Schedules are updated every Wednesday night to reflect changes.
• Contact your drinking water compliance specialist with any questions or concerns.
• Submit your data early. Remember, the best way to submit drinking water data to the department is through the drinking water portal.

➽ Jamie Duvall, Drinking Water Compliance Assurance

Samplegeddon - 2019

Our last issue included an article regarding Samplegeddon. What is Samplegeddon? In 2019, nine-year, six-year, three-year, annual, six-month, and quarterly monitoring compliance schedules will converge - that's Samplegeddon. This only happens every nine years! As a result, the department is working diligently to remind water systems of their monitoring requirements.

Based on the figure below, as of January 15, 2018:

• Overall, approximately 60% of systems have completed their three, six, and nine year sampling schedules. However, this means that 40% of systems still have not met their monitoring requirements.  
• Great news - a majority of systems have sampled for nitrite, which is on a nine-year schedule! However, 15% of systems are still outstanding.   
• The area with the most uncompleted sampling is for synthetic organic chemicals. To date, only 43% of systems have collected their required samples.

To avoid any potential monitoring and reporting violations, please remember to:

• Review your system’s monitoring schedule to ensure samples will be collected at the appropriate sample point, during the correct collection period, and that there are not separate requirements for specific analytes within a group. Have enough sampling bottles on hand to address each requirement as it arises - you may even want a few extra.
• Collect and deliver your samples to a certified laboratory early in your compliance period. Be sure that the chosen laboratory will be able to process your sample results and report them to the department by January 10, 2020. Laboratories may be extra busy as the deadline approaches; do what you can to avoid surprises or delays! Submitting samples early helps ensure that they will be received by the department on time, and it may also ensure adequate time to re-sample or correct reporting errors if needed.
• Confirm that sample results have been received and accepted by checking your system’s online monitoring schedules. Schedules are updated every Wednesday night to reflect changes.
• Contact your drinking water compliance specialist with any questions or concerns.
• Submit your data early. Remember, the best way to submit drinking water data to the department is through the drinking water portal.
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➽ Nicole Graziano and Jamie Duvall, drinking water compliance assurance section