Complex Environmental Standard Action Levels

An Action Level is a maximum (or occasionally minimum) value for a result to comply with an Environmental Standard.

The majority of Environmental Standards are a simple list of analytes and Action Levels.

However in some jurisdictions, most notably in Canada, the Environmental Standards can be more complex and reference depth, pH, Hardness and other considerations. These are managed in ESdat as described below.

For Environmental Standards you have permissions to edit, records can be added by clicking + Add New Record, or existing records can be edited by clicking Edit.

Environmental Standards can accommodate pH/Hardness/depth & matrix specific guidelines, and can incorporate upper and lower range values. The example below shows a Sulphate Action Level that applies between a Hardness (as CaCO3) range of 30 and 75 mg/L

Field Name	Definition
ChemCode	A unique identifier for each Analyte, consistent between laboratories and environmental standards in ESdat.
Original ChemName	The name of the analyte as used in the Environmental Standard
Matrix Type	Matrix Type as used in the Environmental Standard, must have a matching Matrix Type defined in the System
Action Level
Prefix	Any prefix text that applies to the Action Level and will be displayed on output tables in front of the Action Level.
Min	The minimum trigger level
Max	The maximum trigger level
Suffix	Any suffix text that applies to the Action Level and will be displayed on output tables after of the Action Level.
Units	The units of the Action Level
Leached	Whether the Action Level applies to leached soil results (If true it indicates that the Action Level units are of a liquid type, ie mg/L)
Comments	Comments that apply to the standard
Applies to Total Result	Applies to results that are indicated as Total concentrations in Chemistry_Results.Total_or_Filtered, default is True
Applies to Filtered Result	Applies to results that are indicated as Filtered concentrations in Chemistry_Results.Total_or_Filtered, default is True
Conditional ChemCode 1	System ChemCode: Used for pH or Hardness (or similar) dependant standards, which determine if the Action Level will be applied. For example an Action Level for Zinc may apply only over a specific pH range.
Min Prefix	The prefix (> or >=) for ChemCode1 Minimum Concentration. To indicate if the minimum concentration is inclusive or exclusive.
Min	Minimum Concentration for ChemCode1
Max Prefix	The prefix (< or <=) for ChemCode1 Maximum Concentration. To indicate if the maximum concentration is inclusive or exclusive.
Max	Maximum Concentration for ChemCode1
Units	Units for above
Conditional ChemCode 2	As for ChemCode1, if two Conditional ChemCodes are needed.
Min Prefix
Min
Max Prefix
Max
Units
Conditional Matrix	If entered, the a matching conditional matrix must be entered against the samples when the data is received from the laboratory. This is seperate to the Matrix Type and can be used to differentiate Course and Fine Soil, for example.
Conditional Depth
From	The Samples average depth must be greater than this value for results to be compared. The prefix (> or >=) must also be assigned.
To	The Samples average depth must be less than this value for results to be compared. The prefix (< or <=) must also be assigned.