Appendix A — Appendix: Data Review and Upload
A.1 Introduction
Prior to publishing analysis and interpretation of water quality data, we will ensure that all data that meets QA/QC standards outlined in the current project Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) and is accessible in the appropriate public repository.
Water quality data from this project is ultimately destined for the Environmental Protection Agency’s Water Quality Exchange (EPA WQX).
The Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) for this project describes data management details and responsible parties for each step of the data pipeline from observation to repository. The 2021 data preparation and review process is published here as an appendix as an example of the process applied annually to each year’s data.
Year 2021 QA/QC is included here as an example. Other project years QA/QC may be accessed at https://kenai-watershed-forum.github.io/kenai-river-wqx-qaqc/.
A.1.1 Year 2021 Water Quality Data
In this appendix we will collate 2021 laboratory data from several sources into a single spreadsheet document with a consistent format. The desired end format is a spreadsheet template provided by the EPA Water Quality Exchange. These template files are available to download from the EPA at https://www.epa.gov/waterdata/water-quality-exchange-web-template-files.
Once the data is collated, it will be evaluated according to a Quality Assurance Checklist (template example provided by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation Soldotna office). Field observations that do not meet the quality assurance standards described in the evaluation checklist will be flagged before being uploaded to the EPA WQX.
Data that has been uploaded to the EPA WQX is evaluated biannually by the Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (ADEC) in their Integrated Water Quality Monitoring and Assessment Report1. The integrated report evaluates available water quality data from the previous five years against Alaska water quality standards and regulations (ADEC 2020).
A.1.1.1 2021 Water Quality Data AQWMS Formatting
The code scripts in this document assemble water quality data from the three analytical laboratories that partnered with Kenai Watershed Forum for this project in 2021:
SGS Laboratories (Anchorage, AK)
Soldotna Wastewater Treatment Plant (Soldotna, AK)
Taurianen Engineering and Testing (Soldotna, AK)