Office of Water | EPA 817-F-08-006 | October 2008 | www.epa.gov/watersecurity

Drinking Water Laboratory 

Response Preparedness Project 

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Office of Water is sponsoring an effort to improve 

drinking water laboratory preparedness at the regional, State, and local levels. This effort, the 

Drinking Water Laboratory Response Preparedness Project, is designed to assist the EPA Regions 

with improving intra-regional laboratory preparedness for response to actual or suspected water 

contamination incidents. The project, which is being developed in partnership with the EPA 

Regional Laboratories, State laboratories, and major drinking water utilities, responds to 

Homeland Security Presidential Directive 9 (HSPD 9), which directs EPA to develop a laboratory 

network to support monitoring, surveillance, response and remediation in the event of a water 

incident. 

What is the Overall Goal of the Drinking Water Laboratory Response 

Preparedness Project? 

The goal of the Drinking Water Laboratory Response Preparedness Project is to assist the EPA 

Regions with improving intra-regional laboratory preparedness for response to actual or 

suspected water contamination incidents. This goal is being met by the development and 

implementation of Regional Laboratory Response Plans (RLRPs) for each of EPA’s 10 Regions. 

The plans provide each Region with a structure for a joint response by laboratories within the 

region. The plans also provide specific directions to meet the analytical needs of an event; 

including sample brokerage and tracking, communication, coordination of analyses, and analytespecific methods. Ultimately, these plans will serve as the foundation for development of EPA’s 

Water Laboratory Alliance (WLA). 

What Activities are Anticipated and Who Will Participate? 

The project is proceeding in four phases. Phases 1, 2, and 3 are complete. 

1. Phase 1 - Development of a generic RLRP template. A generic RLRP template was 

developed under the direction of EPA’s Office of Water and in partnership with EPA’s 

Regional laboratories and other EPA offices. The Association of Public Health Laboratories 

(APHL) Environmental Laboratory Subcommittee and other experts within each of the 

regions contributed to the development of the template through review and comment on the 

draft template prior to its final release. The generic RLRP template was completed in August 

2006. 

2. Phase 2 - Development of region-specific laboratory response plans. The EPA, State, and 

major utility laboratories in each of EPA’s 10 Regions worked together to customize the 

generic template and developed region-specific laboratory response plans. Each EPA Region 

held a meeting with experts from major drinking water utilities, State public health 

laboratories, and State environmental laboratories between October 2006 and March 2007 to 

prepare a customized RLRP. These meetings also included other EPA partners in the 

drinking water sector including emergency responders, public health officials, law 

enforcement, other Federal agencies, and technical experts. 

3. Phase 3 – Table-top exercises. Table-top exercises have been conducted to evaluate each of 

the RLRPs. Participants included EPA, drinking water utilities, and State and local public 

health and environmental laboratories. Table-top exercises were completed in August 2007 
Drinking Water Laboratory Response Preparedness Project page 2

Office of Water | EPA 817-F-08-006 | October 2008 | www.epa.gov/watersecurity

for all 10 EPA Regions with an additional exercise in Hawaii. The RLRPs have been revised 

based on the lessons learned during the table-top exercises. 

4. Phase 4 - Functional exercises. Week-long functional exercises were held at each EPA 

Region and an additional exercise in Hawaii between February 2008 and September 2008 to 

further test each of the regional plans. Participants included EPA regional, drinking water 

utility, public health, and environmental laboratories. The exercises included the analyses of 

“blind” biological and chemical samples, coordination among multiple laboratories to address 

capacity and capability issues, and generation and transmission of data. The region-specific 

laboratory response plans will be revised based on the results of the functional exercises, as 

necessary. 

What are the Benefits to the Water Sector? 

3⁄4 The refined region-specific response plans provide an immediate mechanism to coordinate 

local, State, and Federal laboratory efforts to meet drinking water analytical needs that may 

result from actual or suspected water contamination incidents. With this tool at their 

disposal, laboratories will be able to respond more quickly and efficiently to an incident. The 

RLRPs are also intended to provide a tool for meeting potentially overwhelming analytical 

demands during the remediation phase of an event. 

3⁄4 The table-top and functional exercises increased the level of preparedness of laboratories to 

respond to drinking water contamination events by identifying improvements needed for 

regional plans and laboratory procedures. The exercises also helped strengthen relationships 

between laboratories, which will be critical for a successful response. The lessons learned 

can also be applied to EPA projects in other areas of emergency preparedness and laboratory 

response. 

3⁄4 The drinking water laboratory response preparedness project also serves as the foundation for 

the development of the WLA and Environmental Response Laboratory Network (ERLN) by 

addressing relevant issues such as sample brokerage, analytical method selection, and secure 

data transfer. The WLA will provide the water sector with an integrated nationwide 

laboratory network which has the analytical capabilities and capacity to support monitoring, 

surveillance, response, and remediation in the event of intentional and unintentional drinking 

water supply contamination involving chemical, biological, and radiochemical contaminants. 

Where Do I Obtain More Information? 

Laboratories should contact their EPA regional laboratories for more information regarding their 

RLRP. For more information on the Drinking Water Laboratory Preparedness Project, please 

contact Anand Mudambi, EPA Office of Water (Mudambi.Anand@epa.gov) or Rob Maxfield, EPA 

Region 1 (Maxfield.Robert@epa.gov).