The Region 9 Quality Assurance section's primary mission is to effectively oversee and carry out the EPA Region 9 Quality System and Quality Management Plan, and project-level quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) activities. 

Primary Responsibilities Include

• providing training and information on data quality
• conducting Quality System oversight of EPA Regional programs, grantees (states, tribes and locals), contractors, other federal agencies and the regulated community
• conducting project level QA/QC oversight
• providing QA and technical support to Regional Programs, States, Tribes and local governments
• carrying out programs to ensure quality laboratory testing

The quality assurance references below are technical guides followed when performing environmental sampling work for EPA. The documents define various technical guidelines that sampling events should address to develop defensible data suitable for environmental decision making. Since most EPA decisions ultimately involve data collection, these documents are very important, since they are the key to reliable data.

The topics below are most suitable for contractors, state and local officials and responsible parties who need an in-depth understanding of data collection and documentation requirements.