Routine monitoring of the organic constitutents of hazardous waste is a priority task for the Environmental Protection Agency. Ultimately, the goal of routine monitoring must be the production of reliable data but the diversity of organic chemicals and the complexity of hazardous waste forms make monitoring a difficult task. A fundamental requirement for environmental monitoring is the availability of reliable analytical methodology for the identification and quantitation of organic compounds. This methodology must be of proven sensitivity, accuracy and precision; it must also be facile and applicable to as many organic compounds and hazardous waste types as possible. Lastly, the methodology should be acceptable to a broad spectrum of the scientific community. One way to ensure the scientific acceptability of methodology is to prove its sensitivity, precision, and accuracy utilizing strict guidelines for conducting an interlaboratory test program. The guidelines provided to the interlaboratory test participants in this program included test protocols for volatile and semivolatile analysis, test samples and standards, quality assurance guidance and directions for reading and submitting data. In Phase I and II of this study, methods for the analytical determination of volatile and semivolatile organic compounds in hazardous wastes were selected. These methods were then modified and tested in a single-laboratory evaluation. The final task, Phase III of the overall project, subjected the protocols and the experience from Phases I and II to an interlaboratory test.

"EPA 600-4-84-027." "March 1984." Cover title. "EPA contract no. 68-03-3098." "EPA project officer Donald F. Gurka." Includes bibliographical references.

Appendix A. Method for the determination of semivolatile organic compounds in solid wastes-- Appendix B. Method for the determination of volatile organic compounds in solid wastes-- Appendix C. Quality control protocol for the fused silica capillary column gas chromatography/mass spectrometry determination of semivolatile organic compounds-- Appendix D. Evaluation of methods for analysis of hazardous wastes: manual for collaborators.