Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) Guidance
A Quality Assurance Project Plan, or QAPP, is a written document outlining the procedures a monitoring project will use to ensure the data it collects and analyzes meets project requirements. A QAPP helps the data user and monitoring project leaders ensure that the collected data meet their needs and that the quality control steps needed to verify this are built into the project from the beginning. By law, any EPA-funded monitoring project must have an approved QAPP before it can begin collecting samples. The purpose of this requirement is to ensure that the data collected by monitoring projects are of known and suitable quality and quantity. Below are documents, templates, and guidance that will help in the development of a QAPP for nonpoint source monitoring projects funded by IDEM.
All projects developing a QAPP should use this template:
Technical instructions on how to use the required template:
This document is used by IDEM staff when reviewing a project QAPP to ensure completeness, accuracy, and feasibility:
This document provides a list of parameters that are currently being collected by watershed groups throughout Indiana. Each parameter has a list of analytical methods and descriptions to assist projects in selecting the method best for each monitoring program:
The following data template spreadsheets provide guidance to ensure that projects are collecting all the information needed for IDEM to evaluate and assign data use. Additionally, the spreadsheets are in the correct format for the Assessment Information Management System (AIMS) database to accept the information to define projects, assign unique numbers, and collect data results along with quality information.
The sampling site information on the Instructions sheet of the AIMS Template for Streams Sampling requires projects to collect the appropriate sample site locations for the NPS staff to set up the projects into our data collection program. Once the sampling activity is completed, this workbook provides for entry of their results and other information associated with their results. The Instructions worksheet also provides detailed instructions for completing this part for the results data submission. The second template provided is the AIMS Template for Lakes Sampling. It contains columns for required and additional information for lakes data collected as part of the Clean Lakes Project efforts.
For further assistance, contact your Watershed Specialist.