Environmental Sampling Design - Fundamentals of Environmental Sampling and Analysis - page 45

Chapter 3

Environmental Sampling
Design

3.1 PLANNING AND SAMPLING PROTOCOLS

3.2 SAMPLING ENVIRONMENTAL POPULATION
3.3 ENVIRONMENTAL SAMPLING APPROACHES: WHERE AND WHEN

3.4 ESTIMATING SAMPLE NUMBERS: HOWMANY SAMPLES ARE REQUIRED

REFERENCES

QUESTIONS AND PROBLEMS

Before going into the field for the actual sampling (Chapter 4), a planning stage is
executed. A key component of this planning process is to develop a sampling design,
which indicates how many samples to take, from where the samples will be taken,
and when the samples will be taken. The purpose of this chapter is to address the
basic principles of environmental sampling design. The ''representativeness,''
determined by several statistical and nonstatistical approaches, is the focal point of
this design process. These sampling design approaches are introduced in plain
language for beginners with a ''how to'' approach rather than technical details and
jargon. Examples are then provided to help readers to understand these principles so
one can relate them to sampling of various environmental matrices (air, soil,
groundwater, and biological). For field professionals, standard EPA sampling
protocols are available and are listed at the end of this chapter.

3.1 PLANNING AND SAMPLING PROTOCOLS

The planning process is critical for the overall data quality and the successful
completion of the project. Outcomes of this planning include the development of
data quality objectives (DQOs) and a sampling and analysis work plan. To develop