Phase III GIS-based Sediment Quality Database Quality Assurance Project Plan

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) is continuing a GIS-based sediment quality database (Smorong and Crane 2004; Smorong et al. 2004a,b), specifically for the Minnesota side of the lower St. Louis River Area of Concern (AOC). This Phase III project is being funded, in part, under the Coastal Zone Management Act, by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's (NOAA's) Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, in cooperation with Minnesota's Lake Superior Coastal Program (MNLSCP) of the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (MDNR). The MPCA's Environmental Analysis and Outcomes Division is also contributing a 50% state match to this project. The previous two phases of the GIS-based sediment quality database project were funded by grants from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA's) Great Lakes National Program Office (GLNPO). This document provides an update of the Phase II Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) (Crane 2004) to meet the goals of the Phase III GIS-based sediment quality database. As part of the Phase III QAPP, a detailed work plan for this project is given in Section A.3. Since the amount of funds available for this task is inadequate to incorporate all post-1990 sediment quality data into the GIS-based sediment quality database, additional funds are being sought by the St. Louis River Citizens Action Committee, in collaboration with the MPCA and Wisconsin DNR (WDNR) to secure additional funding from the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program to expand the database and associated GIS tools for the Wisconsin side of the St. Louis River AOC. The various quality assurance and management responsibilities of key project personnel are defined in the following section.