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Environmental Protection Agency's Water Laboratory Alliance: A national laboratory network for water quality
One such tool is the WLA Response Plan (WLA-RP), which includes best practices to facilitate a coordinated analytical response to a drinking water contamination by water utilities, public health organizations, state and federal agencies, emergency responders, and the laboratory community. To help implement the WLA-RP, EPA conducts laboratory response full-scale exercises (FSEs) that incorporate utilities, public health organizations, laboratories, the emergency response community, and other federal agencies to create realistic emergency conditions. FSEs provide stakeholders the opportunity to practice coordination of laboratory response to a drinking water contamination event including communication, sample shipping and analyses, and data review and reporting. Personnel from more than 100 laboratories across all ten EPA regions have participated in four multi-regional FSEs and two utility-led FSEs.
EPA has also hosted four in-person WLA Security Summits, featuring an interactive tabletop exercise that allows participants to network with colleagues and practice emergency response, which has resulted in approximately 400 key stakeholders being trained. To account for constrained travel budgets and the demand for remote trainings, EPA developed the WLA Training Center website. The Center offers free courses via webcasts, online modules, and videos to ensure the Water Sector is prepared to respond to water contamination incidents.
Learning Areas:
Other professions or practice related to public healthLearning Objectives:
Describe the EPA’s Water Laboratory Alliance (WLA) background and purpose, including the context in which it was formed.
Describe key WLA Response Plan best practices that benefit public health and environmental laboratory preparedness to respond to a water contamination incident.
Provide an overview of previous full scale exercises, as well as benefits to participating utilities, public health organizations, laboratories, the emergency response community, and other federal agencies.
Describe the WLA Security Summit and additional WLA tools and resources that benefit the public health community.
Keyword(s): Water & Health, Emergency Preparedness
Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I am an ORISE Fellow on the Water Laboratory Alliance team at the US EPA. I am primarily responsible for the chemistry-related activities if WLA, such as a reagents study currently being completed. I have also been involved in organizing the WLA's Water Security Summit and laboratory preparedness trainings.
Any relevant financial relationships? No
I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.