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Considering Trade-offs in Contamination Cleanup: Trade-off Tool for Sampling (TOTS)
Citation:
Boe, T., W. Calfee, S. Lee, E. Silvestri, M. Rodgers, C. Schwind, AND C. Hayes. Considering Trade-offs in Contamination Cleanup: Trade-off Tool for Sampling (TOTS). EPA Emergency Response Research Webinar Series, NA, NC, June 08, 2022.
Impact/Purpose:
Presentation for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Office of Research and Development's Emergency Response Research Webinar Series on the Trade-off Tool for Sampling. Topics covered will include the need for TOTS as well as its primary audience, objectives, and key features.
Description:
A large-scale release of a biological or radiological (BR) agent can result in contamination of a wide area and would require significant time and resources for recovery. Many unknowns are associated with characterization and clearance sampling during response to a wide-area BR incident. To better understand the impacts sampling designs can have on the resource demand, especially when considering large-scale sampling campaigns, EPA’s Homeland Security Research Program (HSRP) developed the Trade-Off Tool for Sampling (TOTS). TOTS currently addresses biological contamination sampling and will cover other agents in the future. TOTS allows users to create sampling designs and estimate the associated resource demand through interactive, point-and-click tools to visually develop sampling plans. Users can plot sample locations in conjunction with externally developed indoor or outdoor imagery that can be imported into the tool. Based on the plans designed, TOTS estimates the total time and cost necessary for implementation, which includes sampling kit preparation, conducting the sampling campaign, and lab analysis. The resulting sample plan can be used to consider trade-offs in one’s sampling design (i.e., cost-benefit analysis), alternate sampling approaches (i.e., traditional vs. innovative sampling methods), and sampling coverage.