TM92-02 Reimbursement for Deleted Lab Requests

Several years ago, the National Water Quality Laboratory (NWQL) developed a series of delete 
codes. These codes were developed to allow us to let Districts know that something out of the 
ordinary had occurred to their samples. 
Six of the delete codes actually result in 'no data' being sent to the Districts. These include: 
DR Sample ruined 
DC Cannot find sample 
DO Sample out of water 
DU Unable to determine--interference 
DI Improper sample type 
DQ Quality Control Delete                                                                                                                                                                                           

Only DR and DC are the direct result of the actions of NWQL personnel. The rest are the result of 
either 'small' sample volumes being supplied by Districts, improper sample types being supplied by 
the Districts, or samples with significant interferences. 
It recently came to our attention that the only time we credit a District for a deleted parameter is 
when the District requests the credit. If a credit is not requested, the amount charged to the District 
remains the same as when the sample was logged into the lab. 
Because samples ruined by the Lab, or samples lost by the Lab, are the direct result of actions of 
NWQL personnel, we believe that Districts should be reimbursed for the costs of these analyses. We 
have instituted a procedure at the Lab that will automatically reimburse Districts for analyses that 
have been deleted for either a DR or a DC. 
These are the only deleted analyses that will be reimbursed. This policy became effective on 
February 15, 1992.