USEPA Region 10 Laboratory

7411 Beach Drive E.
Port Orchard, WA 98366
Barry V. Pepich, PhD, Director
(360) 871-8701
Fax: (360) 871-8747

The Region 10 Manchester Laboratory is located along the western shore of Puget Sound across from Seattle, 1 3/4 miles north of Manchester, WA. The lab is situated on 17.5 acres adjacent to Manchester State Park.

Driving directions and maps

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Annual Reports for Manchester Laboratory
LAB NOTES, the newsletter produced by the USEPA Region 10 Manchester Environmental Laboratory.
LAB DIRECTORY, a directory of USEPA Region 10 Manchester Environmental Laboratory personnel.

MANCHESTER LABORATORY - PURPOSE:
USEPA is fortunate to have one of the best environmental laboratories in the country at Manchester, Washington (near Port Orchard). The Manchester Environmental Laboratory provides high quality physical, chemical, biological and microbiological analyses in support of the following EPA programs: air, surface water, drinking water, Superfund, pesticides and hazardous materials. In other words, the lab may play a role in assuring that shellfish in the Puget Sound are not exposed to toxins, that the water quality in the Willamette River Basin in Oregon is restored, that the migration of the contaminants at the Bunker Hill Superfund Site in Idaho is minimized and that the Alaskan rural areas are able to better handle their solid waste and numerous other issues vital to the people in Region 10.

The laboratory measures contaminants and pollution effects in a variety of media in support of criminal enforcement, civil enforcement, site assessment, remedial investigation, ecosystem monitoring and public health initiatives.

In addition to the analytical support, Manchester serves as a technical reference laboratory with the capability of providing consultation and interpretation of data in such areas as organic and inorganic chemistry, environmental microbiology and aquatic biology.

CAPABILITIES:
The Region 10 Environmental Laboratory provides analysis of water, soil, sediments, tissue, and unknown chemicals in drums. The Laboratory’s chemical analytical capabilities include semi-volatile and volatile organic compounds (including polyaromatic hydrocarbons, pesticides, PCBs, and herbicides), heavy metals, nutrients, bulk asbestos identification, and a variety of more specialized chemical analyses. In addition to its fixed facility, Region 10 also has a mobile chemistry laboratory capable of performing analysis of organic and inorganic pollutants on-site. Available instrumentation includes GC/MS, GC with FID, ECD, and TOF detectors, LC/MS/MS, HPLC, IC/MS, ICP, ICP/MS, CVAA and CVAF (for mercury).
Microbiological capabilities include analysis for Giardia, Cryptosporidium, total and fecal coliform bacteria, E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Enterococci and coliphage. The Laboratory can also conduct Microscopic Particulate Analysis to detect groundwaters under the influence of surface water (to address drinking water treatment requirements). Region 10 also has a mobile microbiology laboratory capable of performing analysis on site to avoid problems with holding times.

EXPERTISE:
Areas of chemical analytical expertise include arsenic speciation in seafood, measurement of trace metals, asbestos analysis, and fish tissue extraction, clean up and analysis for organic pollutants (including polybrominated diphenyl ether congeners or PBDEs). The Laboratory is also developing expertise in the area of pharmaceutical and perchlorate analysis. The Microbiology Team is developing the capability to conduct microbial source tracking, which will allow investigators to differentiate the source of fecal pollution in a waterbody. This may aid in development and implementation of TMDLs for waters violating microbial water quality standards.

ACCREDITATION:
In 2005, the Region 10 Laboratory received accreditation under the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Council (NELAC) for the analytes/matrices routinely assessed.

FIELD ANALYTICAL SUPPORT:
As analytical instrumentation becomes more rugged and the need for more rapid turnaround of sampling results becomes increasingly important, EPA is continuously improving its field analytical capability. Manchester operates several mobile laboratories to provide an impressive array of organic and inorganic tests. As a result, site cleanup decisions are more rapid and less costly.

QUALITY ASSURANCE:
Analytical information is the backbone of regional environmental decisions. The laboratory staff is committed to providing legally defensible analytical data. Matrix spikes, matrix duplicates spikes, blind samples, reference materials laboratory blanks and participation in performance evaluation studies are all used to ensure that the data are of known documented quality. Often, as much as 50 percent of the analysts' time is spent on quality assurance.

NEW DIRECTIONS:
The laboratory performs applied research in the areas of method development, pollution prevention and instrument evaluation in the areas of importance to the EPA. The lab is constantly evolving. Recent improvements in instrument operation include higher resolution instrumentation and enhanced data acquisition, reduction, movement and storage of results using LIMS.

In addition to analytical excellence, the Manchester laboratory is committed to setting the standard for waste minimization and resource utilization through initiatives like solvent recovery and micro-extraction techniques.

MICROBIOLOGICAL ANALYSES AVAILABLE AT THE LABORATORY

Organism	Test	Matrix	Sample Holding Time*
Total coliform*	MF (Membrane Filter) MPN (Most Probable Number)	Wastewater Drinking water Sludge Shellfish	6 hours 30 hours 6 hours 6 hours
Fecal coliform*	MP MPN	Wastewater Drinking water Sludge Shellfish	6 hours 30 hours 6 hours 6 hours
E. coli*	MF MPN	Wastewater Drinking water Sludge Shellfish	6 hours 30 hours 6 hours 6 hours
Enterococci*	MF	Surface water	6 hours
Staphylococcus Aureus*	MF	Surface water	6 hours
Giardia	Method 1623	Drinking water Surface water	96 hours
Cryptosporidium	Method 1623	Drinking water Surface water	96 hours
Bio Indicators	Microscopic Particulate Analysis (MPA)	Groundwater Drinking Water	96 hours
Coliphage	Plates	Wastewater Drinking water Shellfish	24 hours 48 hours 24 hours
Heterotrophic Bacteria	Pourplate(*) Spread Plate	Surface water Drinking water** Swimming pool	6 hours 30 hours 6 hours
Aeromonas	MF	Drinking Water	30 hours

For questions about sampling or microbiological capabilities, please contact Dr. Stephanie Harris at 360 871-8710.

*Can be performed in the mobile laboratory
**NELAC approved method available

CHEMICAL ANALYSES AVAILABLE AT THE LABORATORY

Analyte or Test	Matrix	Sample Holding Time
Asbestos/Fibers	Air Debris	NA NA
Anions**	Soil Water	NA 48 hours- 28 days
Oil and Grease**	Water	28 days
Perchlorate	Soil Water	NA 28 days
Total Organic Carbon	Soil Water	NA 28 days
General Metals(*)	Liquid Soil Tissue Water	28 days to 6 months
Hexavalent Chromium(*)	Soil Water	NA 24 hours
Arsenic Speciation	Tissue	6 months
Organo-metals	Soil Sediments	14 days 14 days
Ultra-trace Metals**	Soil Tissue Water	28 days to 6 months
Aroclors(*)	Tissue Liquid Soil Water	7 to 14 days 1 year If frozen
Carbamates, Urea Pesticides	Water	7 days
Disinfection By-products	Water	14 to 28 days
Explosives	Soil Sediments Water	14 days 14 days 7 days
Fuel Oil Fingerprinting	Waste Soil Water	14 days 14 days 7 days
Herbicides	Soil Water	14 days 7 days
Analyte or Test	Matrix	Sample Holding Time
Organochlorine Pesticides	Soil Tissue Water	14 days- 1 yr frozen 1 yr frozen 7 days
Organo-phosphorus Pesticides	Soil Tissue Water	14 days- 1 yr frozen 1 yr frozen 7 days
PCB Congeners (low resolution method under development)	Soils Tissue Water	14 days- 1 yr frozen 14 days- 1 yr frozen 7 days
Pharmaceuticals (under development)	Soils Tissue Water	NA NA NA
Polyaromatic Hydrocarbons*	Soil Liquid	14 days 7 days
Semivolatile Organic Compounds(*)	Soils Tissue Water	14 days- 1 yr frozen 1 yr frozen 7 days
Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons*	Liquid Soil Waste Water	14 days 14 days 14 days 7 days
Volatile Organic Compounds(*)	Soil Waste Water	14 days 14 days 14 days
Corrosivity	Waste	NA
Ignitability	Waste	NA
Reactivity	Waste	NA
Toxicity Characteristic Leaching Procedure (TCLP)	Waste	14 days to 6 months
BOD	Water	48 hours
Nitrate	Water	48 hours
Nitrite	Water	48 hours

For questions about sampling or analytical chemistry capabilities, please contact: Gerald Dodo at 360 871-8728

SERVICES PROVIDED:
The Region 10 Environmental Laboratory participates in the planning and execution of comprehensive investigations of Superfund sites, waterbodies, and other ecosystems, as well as in inspections which target facility compliance with air, water, hazardous waste, and Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) permit and regulatory requirements.
Primarily because of the scientific expertise of its staff, the Laboratory can address those special or difficult projects requiring an innovative approach to analysis or the development of methods specific to the special needs. The Laboratory provides technical support and consultation to EPA program managers, other federal, state, tribal, and local agencies and private laboratories on all aspects of laboratory analyses and related areas such as hazardous waste disposal, laboratory information management systems (LIMS), environmental management systems, and pollution prevention. The Laboratory is also responsible for auditing and certifying State and Tribal drinking water programs and laboratories.

TO REQUEST ASSISTANCE:
The Region 10 program office requesting analytical support for itself or an outside entity contacts the EPA Regional Sample Control Center (RSCC) within the Technical Support Unit of the Office of Environmental Assessment (Brandon Perkins at (206) 553-6396 or Raymond Wu at (206) 553-1413). Ideally, requests for analytical assistance should be made to the Laboratory 6-8 weeks prior to sample arrival; however, shorter time frames can be accommodated

INFORMATION TO SUPPLY FOR ASSISTANCE:
The following information is required by the RSCC:

Project name, program/project (e.g., drinking water, Superfund remedial, civil enforcement, and compliance monitoring, etc.) and EPA accounting information
Analyte (e.g., volatile organic compounds, metals, E. coli, etc.), required method, and reporting limit (e.g., ug/L), and number of samples by sample matrix (e.g., water, sediment, fish tissue, etc.)
Dates for sampling, shipping and analytical data delivery
Name and phone number for the project manager and any other person(s) who should receive the analytical data

The RSCC will also require the requesting program office to submit a quality assurance project plan which they can help the requestor prepare.
The Laboratory will check its capacity and capabilities to meet the request and respond to the program office through the RSCC.

LINKS:
Washington Department of Ecology
LTIG
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