From June 6-10, 2016, the team at the Environment, Exposure Science and Risk Assessment Center (ESRAC) helped to pilot test new laboratory procedures during a simulated emergency water contamination scenario.
Tucson Water, in coordination with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), conducted the Water Laboratory Alliance Analytical Preparedness Full-Scale Exercise that spanned multiple locations and time zones. In addition to the ESRAC, four other laboratories were involved in the Exercise, each responding to a unique set of testing and protocol challenges or injects. More than 25 representatives from Tucson Water, the EPA, Pima County Office of Emergency Management, Pima County Health Department, Pima County Wastewater Reclamation Department, the Tucson Office of Emergency Management and Homeland Security and the University of Arizona also participated as players, observers, evaluators and responders in the Exercise.
