U.S. EPA National Homeland Security Research Center (NHSRC) Product Updates

From time to time, EPA’s NHSRC publishes information on the most recent research initiatives of interest to the drinking water and wastewater community.  The descriptions and links below are grouped into categories that consider contaminant detection and decontamination protocols.

 PRODUCTS THAT SUPPORT DETECTION OF CONTAMINATION

 1)  Study Report: Single-Laboratory Verification of Culture-Based Analytical Procedures for Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Water, July 2010

The primary objective of this Study was to verify culture-based procedures for identification and enumeration of E. coli O157. As indicated in the Study Plan (Appendix B), this Study was originally designed to verify the procedures for water, solid, and particulate matrices. However, during this phase, only water matrices were evaluated, and only these are included in this report. A phased approach is being taken for evaluation of other matrices.

     Read More*: http://www.epa.gov/nhsrc/pubs/600r10057.pdf

 2)  Standard Analytical Protocol for Escherichia coli O157:H7 in Water, July 2010

This Standard analytical Protocol (SaP) is for the identification, confirmation, and enumeration of Escherichia coli o157:h7 (E. coli o157:h7) in water samples using selective and non-selective media followed by biochemical characterization and serological confirmation.

     Read More*:   http://www.epa.gov/nhsrc/pubs/600r10056.pdf

 3)  Sample Collection Information Document: Companion to Standardized Analytical Methods for Environmental Restoration Following Homeland Security Events (SAM) – Revision 5.0, May 2010

 This Sample Collection Information Document (SCID) provides general information for use by EPA and its contractors when collecting samples during environmental remediation following a homeland security event.  The document is intended to be used with SAM and to provide information needed for collection of samples to be analyzed using the specific methods and procedures listed in SAM Revision 5.0.

     Read More *: http://www.epa.gov/nhsrc/pubs/600r09074.pdf

 4)  Water Quality Event Detection Systems for Drinking Water Contamination Warning Systems; Development, Testing, and Application of CANARY

 The purpose of this report is to provide documentation on strategies and tools needed to assist in the application of an event detection system (EDS) as part of a contamination warning system. EDSs are required to analyze the large volume of data from online water quality monitors, to differentiate normal water quality patterns from anomalous conditions, and to alert the operator to these situations. This report focuses on the event detection methodologies that have been developed by EPA’s Threat Ensemble Vulnerability Assessment (TEVA) Research Team. This team has developed several water tools including TEVA-SPOT – Threat Ensemble Vulnerability Assessment Sensor Placement Optimization Tool – (Berry et al. 2008; U.S. EPA 2009b) and CANARY (Hart et al. 2007; Hart et al. 2009).  This report focuses on the research and development activities that led to the development of the CANARY event detection software.

     Read More *:  http://www.epa.gov/nhsrc/pubs/600r10036.pdf

 5)  Sensor Network Design for Drinking Water Contamination Warning Systems; A Compendium of Research Results and Case Studies Using the TEVA-SPOT Software, April 2010

 The purpose of this report is to provide documentation on strategies and tools needed to assist in the design of an online sensor network for a contamination warning system (CWS). A key aspect of CWS design is the strategic placement of sensors throughout the distribution network.  There has been a large volume of research on this topic in the last several years, including a “Battle of the Water Sensor Networks” (Ostfeld et al. 2008) that compared 15 different approaches to solving this problem. This report focuses on the sensor placement methodologies that have been developed by EPA’s Threat Ensemble Vulnerability Assessment (TEVA) Research Team. This team has developed TEVA-SPOT — the Threat Ensemble Vulnerability Assessment Sensor Placement Optimization Tool — a collection of software tools that can help utilities design sensor networks (Berry et al. 2008b; U.S. EPA 2009).

     Read More *:  http://www.epa.gov/nhsrc/pubs/600r09141.pdf

 PRODUCTS THAT SUPPORT DECONTAMINATION ACTIVITIES

 1)  Material Demand Studies: Materials Sorption of Vaporized Hydrogen Peroxide, May 2010

 This document provides specific information to aid in deciding on the appropriateness of a particular decontamination agent: vaporized hydrogen peroxide (VHP®). Past large-scale use of the fumigant resulted in a significant difference between anticipated and actual VHP® generation requirements necessary to achieve the target hydrogen peroxide concentration in the enclosed space. This was believed to be due to the consumption of hydrogen peroxide vapor by materials in the facility. The study undertaken provides results of the demand (or consumption) that the resident materials (walls, carpet, etc.) exhibit for hydrogen peroxide when used to cleanup areas following chemical or biological contamination. This information is useful to help determine fumigant generation requirements and cleanup strategies for facilities.

     Read More: http://www.epa.gov/nhsrc/pubs/600r10002.pdf

 2)  Investigation Report:  Investigation of Simulated Sunlight in the Inactivation of B. anthracis and B subtilis on Outdoor Materials, May 2010

 This report describes an investigation of the effect of UV-A/B light (representing sunlight) for inactivating spores of Bacillus anthracis (Ames) and Bacillus subtilis on test coupons of glass, bare pine wood, unpainted concrete, and topsoil.

     Read More: http://www.epa.gov/nhsrc/pubs/600r10048.pdf

 3)  Investigation Report: Persistence Testing of Brucella suis on Outdoor Materials, April 2010

 The persistence of biological agents is influenced by environmental conditions and the materials with which these biological agents are in contact. The generation of scientifically defensible persistence data is useful for the proper planning of decontamination efficacy tests and helps formulate response or remediation plans in preparation for possible natural occurrences or intentional releases of biological agents. This report presents the results of an investigation to evaluate Brucella suis persistence on five materials (typically found in the outdoor environment) under various environmental conditions and exposure durations.

     Read More *:  http://www.epa.gov/nhsrc/pubs/600r10026.pdf

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 *This is a link outside the EPA.gov domain.  The link provides additional information that may be useful or interesting and is being provided consistent with the intended purpose of the EPA Web site. However, EPA cannot attest to the accuracy of information provided by this link or any other linked site. Providing links to a non-EPA Web site does not constitute an endorsement by EPA or any of its employees of the sponsors of the site or the information or products presented on the site. Also, be aware that the privacy protection provided on the EPA.gov domain may not be available at the external link.