The Massachusetts Water Resources Authority (MWRA) has begun discharge through its new 9.5-mile outfall pipe into Massachusetts Bay, Mass. The discharge from the new outfall pipe is being monitored under a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit that, at time of issuance, was the most comprehensive permit in the United States. The permit has strict requirements to report suspected problems, such as possible violations of key threshold parameters within 90 days of sample collection, with a final deadline of 150 days.

As the new prime contractor for the MWRA Harbor and Outfall Monitoring Program, Battelle data management staff was tasked with improving and accelerating the data flow from sample collection, analysis, and data entry to adhere to the faster turnaround requirements. Following the analysis of over six years of collected data and management systems, Battelle uncovered several bottlenecks in the data processing system including:

• Database codes out of sync between MWRA and contractors;
• Incomplete or missing sample collection data;
• Incomplete or improperly formatted data deliverables from laboratories;
• Inefficient and inconsistent methods for loading and checking the database;
• Poor database performance hampering data analysis and report-writing efforts; and
• Database access limited to data management staff.

FIGURE 1

Battelle staff used this information to identify opportunities for automation that would yield shorter data turnaround times, streamline the data, and allow for systematic quality control. The results were a dramatic threefold decrease in data delivery time within one year of the implementation of the data management methods.

As a first step Battelle had to develop a workplan for populating baseline and new monitoring data with MWRA’s in-house, Oracle-based Environmental Monitoring and Management Information System (EM&MS). To eliminate the problem of maintaining common code lists, Battelle established one master code list which is maintained by MWRA and sent nightly via the Internet to Battelle. This allows the two databases to stay synchronized. Since the inception of this procedure, several other reference tables have been included in the nightly update.

In addition to streamlining the data exchange between Battelle and MWRA, Battelle uses its proprietary software package Navsam (Figure 1) to simplify and eliminate errors during the field-sampling portion of the monitoring program. Navsam uses digitized NOAA charts to plot, extract, and barcode exact locations of each survey sample. The gathered data are automatically loaded into the central database after the survey where integrity constraints ensure data validity. Minutes later a table of samples can be produced for inclusion in a web-based survey report to stakeholders.

To tackle the complex problem of acquiring data from laboratories operating on various data automation platforms, Battelle developed two methods for acquiring laboratory data, one for labs working on a Laboratory Information Management System (LIMS) and one for facilities not on this system. The non-LIMS method pre-populates loading applications with sample IDs for a specific analysis and laboratory, eliminating several sources of errors. For laboratories on a LIMS system, Battelle developed a Microsoft Access application to prepare the spreadsheets for automated loading. In minutes both methods load analytical data into the central database. Data are immediately available to program investigators and MWRA via the Internet.

Finally, Battelle developed software that will produce report-quality maps from the EM&MS database for quality data presentation and organization.

For more information on Battelle’s Environmental Management Information Systems contact Tom Gulbransen at (631) 941-3211, gulbran@battell.org.