Standardization News

ASTM International Committee D19 on Water will hold a workshop on performance verfication of on-line sensors in the field on Jan. 18, 2012, during the January D19 meeting in Cocoa Beach, Fla.

Today, new and improved water quality monitoring sensors are being developed that allow for the collection of data in greater quantities and with more frequency than ever. Even though the sensors are capable of monitoring in vastly different environments and can often meet data acquisition and storage requirements, there still remains the question of the data validity and field confirmation.

Most methods that deal with performance specifications were developed with the laboratory methods and applications. These can differ in both the practicality of the test and the realistic understanding of the environmental constraints of such a test method. Currently available methods do not encompass field applications and the diverse environments that on-line sensors encounter. The monitoring community - which includes manufacturers of equipment, regulators, discharge permit holders, industries and numerous government entities - has shown significant interest in and need for such a practice.

The purpose of the workshop is to solicit input from stakeholders in this area of field sensor analysis as to how to best address the issues of field validation. This includes the input from manufacturers and how they test instruments to the user's expectations and experiences in the field. The objective of this workshop is to understand the gaps that exist in sensor specification validation so that the development of this method will be well suited for the monitoring community.

CONTACT Technical Information: Michael Sadar, Hach Co. • Loveland, Colo. • Phone: 970-669-3050 O ASTM Staff: Alyson Fick • Phone: 610-832-9710 O Upcoming Meeting: Jan. 16-19, 2012 • Cocoa Beach, Fla.