The SWIFT-WFD Proficiency Testing campaigns in support of implementing the EU Water Framework Directive

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Abstract

The main objective of the project “Screening methods for Water data InFormaTion in support of the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive” (SWIFT-WFD) was to support the successful implementation of the WFD, which strongly depends on the quality and the comparability of monitoring data from river basin to river basin.

In order to evaluate the performance of the laboratories using both classical and screening/emerging methods involved in the analysis of priority substances listed in the WFD, project activities included organization of three Proficiency Testing (PT) schemes at the European level for the determination of trace elements, major components, polyaromatic hydrocarbons and pesticides in water matrices, using the quality-control materials prepared within the project activities. The results of the three PT schemes were evaluated to provide a basis of information about the performance and thus the capacities of European analytical laboratories to comply with the requirements set out in the WFD.

Introduction

The European Union (EU) Water Framework Directive (WFD) [1] considers water quality management at an international scale of 27 European countries. This legislative text may be considered a model for water-management issues throughout Europe. Its implementation through the management of river-basin districts makes it a powerful tool to detect pollution trends and decide upon possible remediation or preventive actions. The reliability (quality control, QC) and the comparability of measurements are key issues. In practice, the main feature lies in the ability of laboratories to demonstrate the quality of the analytical data that they produce, and, to date, that is far from being achieved for a wide range of measurements. In any case, detection of long-term environmental changes implicitly relies on demonstration of the quality of the data produced, through Proficiency Testing (PT) campaigns, as stated in ISO Guide 17025 [2].

Within this framework, the project “Screening method for Water data InFormaTion in support of the Water Framework Directive - SWIFT-WFD” was funded by the European Commission (EC) (Contract no: SSPI - CT - 2003 – 502492) from January 2004 until March 2007 [3].

The main objective of the project was to support the successful implementation of the WFD, which closely depended on the quality of monitoring data and its comparability from river basin to river basin. This objective required primarily development, validation and dissemination of rapid, affordable, user-friendly measurement techniques (screening and emerging methods), especially devoted to the analysis of the analytes listed in Annex 1 of the WFD [4], and evaluation of the reliability and the comparability of the data produced by these methods all over Europe.

One of the main outputs of the project was the production of QC tools for not only classical methods but also screening/emerging test methods for ecological/biological and chemical monitoring purposes. Within the project, aiming at the production of a set of QC tools for validation and both internal and external QC schemes, selected water-matrix Reference Materials (RMs) were produced. In particular, the RMs produced were used in organizing three campaigns of PT at the international scale, primarily for monitoring laboratories. The long-term objective was to provide on-going PT activity in support of all laboratories involved in monitoring activities for implementing and following up the WFD. These intercomparison exercises were mainly devoted to improving and harmonizing the general level of analytical quality (i.e. analytical quality assurance (QA)/QC and laboratory management).

The first SWIFT-WFD PT scheme focused on the assessment of laboratory performance in major-component (MC) and trace-element (TE) determination – at natural and fortified concentration levels – applying classical measurement techniques. The second SWIFT-WFD PT scheme primarily aimed at the assessment of laboratory performance in organic-component determination, also applying emerging analytical tools, but included TE determination at low fortified levels, and MC determination at natural levels. The third SWIFT-WFD PT scheme again primarily aimed the assessment of laboratory performance in organic-component determination, also with participation of emerging analytical tools, included TE and MC analysis, both at natural levels. The detailed description of the activities is reported in SWIFT-WFD project deliverable reports (numbers 17 [5], 18 [6] and 19 [7]), which are down-loadable from the project website (www.swift-wfd.com).

In this article, we present the general organization and outcome of the three PT schemes, including information on the participation of laboratories, the typology of the tested materials, the concentration levels of the target analytes, and the performance-evaluation procedures. We present and discuss the results obtained for each analyte in each exercise and the general analytical performances of participating laboratories by class of analyte, and give special attention to some particular cases.

Section snippets

Organization of SWIFT-WFD PT schemes

All the activities related to the PT schemes were carried out within the framework of the SWIFT-WFD and coordinated by ENEA (IT). Organization, data elaboration and evaluation were conducted by QualityConsult (IT) according to the relevant international standards and guides on PT-scheme management [8], [9], [10]. The SWIFT-WFD PT schemes were organized in several steps, starting from an official invitation to selected European laboratories and concluding with a final technical discussion

Participation of European laboratories in the SWIFT-WFD PT schemes

Overall, a total of 94 selected laboratories (applying both classical and screening/emerging test methods) from 21 European countries participated in the three SWIFT-WFD PT schemes. Partners in SWIFT and other colleagues known from past collaborations in other EC-funded projects were asked to act as national reference points in each European country for the selection of laboratories involved in water-monitoring analyses, giving particular regard to routine laboratories.

Among the participating

Performance evaluation and results

Data evaluation was carried out by the Tool4PT software. The normality of average data was checked by the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test. The statistical outliers were identified by the application of the Hampel test (test of averages) [14], [15] and Cochran test (test of variances) [16] at 95% significance level. The reference values were defined by the consensus values of the selected population, after statistical treatment, according to what is generally applied at international level [17], [18],

Discussion of results

A summary of all the results and a comparison of performances between the first, second and third PT-scheme campaigns are reported separately for the different classes of compounds:

  • TEs in Table 2 and Fig. 1;

  • MCs in Table 3 and Fig. 2;

  • PAHs in Table 4 and Fig. 3; and,

  • pesticides in Table 5 and Fig. 4.

The number of datasets reported in Table 2, Table 3, Table 4, Table 5 corresponds to the total number of submitted datasets for the specific analytes, excluding all results below the limit of detection

Conclusions

With the commencement of WFD monitoring in December 2006, the EU Member States should have finalized their monitoring programmes. The comparability of monitoring data obtained in different European countries is without doubt a key issue for the successful implementation of WFD.

The SWIFT-WFD PT schemes, organized within the SWIFT-WFD project, provided a valuable opportunity to evaluate both the state-of-the-art of water-monitoring analyses and the general performance evaluation of monitoring

Acknowledgements

The European Commission is highly acknowledged for the funding of the activity carried out under the SWIFT-WFD project, contract no: SSPI - CT - 2003 – 502492.

In addition, all the 94 analytical laboratories participating in the SWIFT-WFD PT schemes are acknowledged for their appreciated contribution to the success of the activity carried out.

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