Quality Management Plan for the Hydraulic Fracturing Study

A Quality Management Plan (QMP) documents how an organization will plan, implement, and assess the effectiveness of its quality assurance and quality control operations. Specifically, it describes how an organization structures its quality system, the quality policies and procedures, areas of application, and roles, responsibilities, and authorities. The elements of a quality system are documented in a Quality Management Plan. Both EPA organizations and organizations performing data collection activities funded by EPA are required to document their quality systems. The Quality Management Plan may be viewed as the "umbrella" document under which individual projects are conducted. Project-specific details of individual projects of the organization or program are documented in a Quality Assurance Project Plan (see QAPPs).

Given the importance and organizational complexity of the Hydraulic Fracturing Study (i.e., a number of EPA and non-EPA organizations are participating), EPA developed a QMP specifically for the Hydraulic Fracturing Study. While the Hydraulic Fracturing Study QMP was being prepared and approved, for any ongoing project, the lab or center with the lead for conducting that project applied their existing QMP, and the project progressed under an approved QAPP.

• Hydraulic Fracturing Study QMP (PDF)

Quality Assurance Project Plans for the Hydraulic Fracturing Study

A quality assurance project plan (QAPP) describes procedures that ensure that only valid data are generated and used in our study. QAPPs are internal scientifically deliberative documents that describe the methods and quality assurance protocols used in our study. They are internal planning documents prepared, reviewed, and approved by agency technical and quality assurance experts. A QAPP may be updated throughout a project to document changes needed to the initial approach based on results obtained or observations made during the study. Current QAPPs for EPA's hydraulic fracturing study are posted below.

QAPPs for sampling and related work related to case studies:

You will need Adobe Reader to view some of the files on this page. See EPA's PDF page to learn more.

• Bakken Shale / Killdeer County Revised (PDF)
• Bakken Shale / Killdeer County QAPP Addendum (PDF)
• Barnett Shale / Wise County TX (PDF)
• Barnett Shale / Wise County TX QAPP Addendum (PDF)
• Barnett Shale / Wise County TX QAPP Addendum 2 (PDF)
• Marcellus Shale / Bradford County PA (PDF)
• Marcellus Shale / Bradford County PA QAPP Addendum (PDF)
• Marcellus Shale / Washington County PA (PDF)
• Marcellus Shale / Washington County PA QAPP Addendum (PDF)
• Raton Basin (PDF)
• Raton Basin QAPP Addendum (PDF)
• Raton Basin QAPP Addendum 2 (PDF)

Other QAPPs:

• Statistical assessment of data from hydraulic fracturing service companies - WESTAT (PDF) Assessment of data from nine hydraulic fracturing companies to assist EPA in its identification of a random set of oil and gas wells for its 2011 request for well file information.
• Organization of data from hydraulic fracturing service companies - Eastern Research Group (PDF) Organization of the data collected from nine hydraulic fracturing companies in the 2010 information request.
• Data collection for scenario evaluation - Shaw Environmental & Infrastructure (PDF) Gathering and organization of data for use in scenario evaluations from Susquehanna River Basin/Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania and Garfield County/Piceance Basin in Colorado.
• Chemical Characterization of Select Constituents Relevant to Hydraulic Fracturing (PDF) Evaluation and enhancement of analytical chemistry methods so that the methods will cover the necessary range of target analytes and be effective in a wide variety of situations.
• Glycol Method Verification Study QAPP (PDF)
• Surface water transport modeling of discharge of treated waste waters (PDF)
• Well file review focusing on well design and construction, and hydraulic fracturing planning and operations (PDF)
• Supplement to well file review (PDF)
• National Hydraulic Fracturing Study Evaluation of Existing Production Well File Contents (PDF)
• Environmental Justice Analysis (PDF)
• Modeling impact of hydraulic fracturing on water resources based on acquisition scenarios (PDF)
• Hydraulic fracturing scenario modeling - Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (PDF)
• Formation of disinfection by-products from hydraulic fracturing fluid constituents (PDF)
• Waste Water Source Apportionment (PDF)
• Toxicity Assessment Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) (PDF)
• Chemical Information Quality Review and Physicochemical Property Calculations for Hydraulic Fracturing Chemical Lists (PDF)
• Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) for Analysis of Data Extracted from FracFocus (PDF)
• Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) for Analysis of Data Received from Nine Hydraulic Fracturing (HF) Service Companies (PDF)
• Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) for Hydraulic Fracturing (HF) Surface Spills Data Analysis (PDF)
• Quality Assurance Project Plan (QAPP) for Data and Literature Evaluation for the EPA's Study of the Potential Impacts of Hydraulic Fracturing (HF) on Drinking Water Resources (PDF)