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Data Dictionary


  
  

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Field Name Description Size Type Requirements Examples and Guidance Active
Include data submitted to WQX Unchecking this box will exclude data that has been forwarded to the US Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA) STORET/WQX database. Certain datasets submitted to EIM are required to be sent to EPA as part of data exchange agreements. Sometimes users of EIM data also download data from STORET/WQX and want to exclude the duplicate EIM data from analyses or assessments. In most cases you will want to leave this box checked. 0 Not a Field (information or instruction) Informational; Y
Include Synonyms Allows searches on alternative names or identifiers for Parameters and Taxonomic entries in EIM. For Parameters it is most often a chemical synonym. For Taxonomic entries it is most often a common name.EIM does not contain a complete inventory of Parameter and Taxonomic synonyms, so your search may not produce results even if the Parameter or Taxonomic entry is in EIM. 0 Not a Field (information or instruction) Informational;

For Parameters, "Methyl benzene" is a synonym for the chemical commonly known as "Toluene."

For Taxonomic entries, "Chum Salmon" is the common name for the species "Oncorhynchus keta."

 Y
Instrument ID ID used to uniquely identify the instrument that was used to measure Result values.  Currently just for time-series data. 50 Alphanumeric. Free Text. REQUIRED FOR;time-series data

Ex: "E-61326", "FlowMeter 3A", "Instrument7”

Use the ID on the instrument.  If it doesn’t have one, create one.

This field is required to uniquely identify sets of time-series data within a batch that were collected by the same instrument.

If you have two or more instruments measuring the same parameter over the same period of time at the same location, this is the field you would use to uniquely identify the different datasets based on instrument.

 Y
Is Location A Well Indicates that field location is a Well. 1 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED for WELLS;

Y  yes
N  no
If yes, additional data must be entered in fields AH-BM.


Temporary Environmental Investigation Wells (most by direct push/Geoprobe®) are considered wells in EIM as of February 2015, but have different requirements. Download help for “Temporary Environmental Investigation Wells.”

 Y
Is Well Upgradient of a Facility/Site Indicates a well that is used to represent upgradient conditions at a particular facility or site, and is (known or assumed to be) unaffected by that site. Doesn’t necessarily reflect "pristine" or "natural" conditions. 1 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. Optional;

Valid Values

Y Yes

N No

Ecology Facility/Site ID is required if this field populated with "Y"

 Y
Lab Analysis Date The analysis date reported by the lab. 10 Date. Format: MM/DD/YYYY. REQUIRED IF;Field Collection Type is Sample Ex. "06/23/1999" Y
Lab Analysis Date Accuracy Indicates if the Lab Analysis Date is accurate to the day, week, month, year or unknown. Except for historical data, most cases are Day. 1 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. Optional;

Valid Values:

  • D - day
  • W - week
  • M - month
  • Y - year
  • U - unknown
 Y
Lab Analysis Time The analysis time reported by the lab. 8 Time. Format: HH:MM:SS (24-hour). Optional; Ex. "10:22:14" Y
Lab Batch ID (NEW 2023-06-29) ID given to all environmental and QC samples analyzed in the same batch. Also known as analytical batch ID. 50 Alphanumeric. Free Text. REQUIRED FOR;uncensored low-level PCB data by EPA1668C, B, or A and MEL730138 v1.0

EIM accepts whatever format a lab provides.

Note: This field was added for low-level PCB congener data, but you can enter Lab Batch ID for ANY sample data.

Download help for “Low-Level PCB Congener Data.” (coming soon)

Data from Ecology’s MEL follows this format: BYYMNNN (e.g., B23C125).

  • B = Batch
  • YY = 2 digit year.
  • M = Letter for month (A = January, B = February, etc.).
  • NNN = 3 digits, 001 to 999. Assigned sequentially to batches.

 Y
Lab GC Column ID (NEW 2023-06-29) ID of gas chromatography (GC) column used in the analysis. 50 Alphanumeric. Free Text. REQUIRED FOR;uncensored low-level PCB data by EPA1668C, B, or A and MEL730138 v1.0.

This field was added for low-level PCB congener data, but you can enter this for any pertinent data.

Valid Values:

  • SPB-OCTYL
  • DB-1
  • DB-1HT
  • DB-1MS
  • DB-5
  • SGE-HT8
  • ZB-1

Download help for “Low-Level PCB Congener Data.”

 Y
Laboratory Accreditation ID ID from the Department of Ecology Lab Search Database. When possible, this ID is used to provide a link to Lab Search 10 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. Administrative;

Ex. "1722"

https://fortress.wa.gov/ecy/laboratorysearch/SearchLabName.aspx?CompanyID=656 

 Y
Laboratory Name The name of the laboratory used to analyze samples.  Used in Result Lab Name and Bioassay Lab Name fields.
 254 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. Administrative; Ex. "Manchester Environmental Laboratory" Y
Laboratory Phone Number The phone number of the laboratory used to analyze samples. 15 Alphanumeric. Format: (360) 407-1234. Administrative; Ex: "(360) 407-1234" Y
Latitude Distance north of the equator in degrees-minutes-seconds or decimal degrees. 0 Not a Field (information or instruction) Informational; Y
Latitude Decimal Degrees Decimal degrees latitude coordinate for the field location. 9 Numeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED FOR;LAT/LONG in Decimal Deg Valid Values: 45.000000 to 49.999999 Y
Latitude Degrees Degrees measure of the field location's latitude. 2 Numeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED FOR;LAT/LONG in Deg-Min-Sec

Valid Values: 45 to 49

 Y
Latitude Degrees-Minutes-Seconds Degrees-Minutes-Seconds (DMS) measure of a field location's latitude. Distance north of the equator. 0 Not a Field (information or instruction) Informational; 45-30-20.51 Y
Latitude Minutes Minutes measure of the field location's latitude. 2 Numeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED FOR;LAT/LONG in Deg-Min-Sec Valid Values: 00 to 59 Y
Latitude Seconds Seconds measure of the field location's latitude. 5 Numeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED FOR;LAT/LONG in Deg-Min-Sec Valid Values: 00.00 to 59.99 Y
Load Status The current status of each record with respect to loading data into EIM. 12 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. Administrative;

Valid Values (hard-coded):

Pre-Load

  • Blank - Check Data has not been run. Record is not ready for loading.
  • No Go - Record from MEL LIMS is not yet ready for loading because it is missing information.
  • Accepted - Check Data was run and the record was accepted. It is ready to load.
  • Warning - Check Data was run and there are one or more valid values not found in EIM. See warning message.
  • Error - Check data was run and there is an error. See error message.
  • Duplicate - Record will not load because an identical record already exists in the batch.
  • Deferred - Record has been flagged not to load because (1) it has been auto-deferred by EIM, as in the case of laboratory QC data, or (2) it has been manually deferred by the user.

Post-Load

  • Loaded - Record has successfully been loaded into EIM.
  • Error - Record did not load due to errors in the data. See error message.
  • Duplicate - Record did not load because an identical record already exists in EIM.
 Y
Load to WQX Indicates that the Study's data should be sent to EPA's WQX (Water Quality eXchange) for loading into EPA's STORET data system. Some data types like ambient monitoring are required to be sent to EPA via various grant requirements or other agreements. 1 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. Optional; Y (denoted by checking the box) Y
Location Description Short narrative description of field location. Should be unique. 2000 Alphanumeric. Free Text. REQUIRED;

Ex. "200 yards north of the cattle crossing grating on Mackay Road, north of the intersection with Deerfield Road."

Tip – Include specific details that would help someone find your field location.

 Y
Location ID UNIQUE ID to identify the field location in EIM. 15 Alphanumeric. Free Text. REQUIRED;

For Location template:

  • Ex. For monitoring well MW4 at Voluntary Cleanup site NW0001, use VCNW0001_MW4. Do NOT use MW-4. It is not unique.
  • Use a consistent naming convention. Facility/Site IDs, VCP numbers, etc. can be used as prefixes.
  • For wells, the Ecology Well Tag Number can be used for the Location ID (e.g. ABC123).
  • Download help for “Naming Conventions for EIM Field Locations.”

For Result template:

  • Must be a valid EIM Location ID. 
  • Use values from "Location ID" field in your Location template.


 Y
Location ID Alias Alternative ID for a Location. 40 Alphanumeric. Free Text. Optional;

When entering, must indicate type. 

  • G2-28140 (Water Right Tracking System No.)
  • 480436123034101 (USGS Site ID)
 Y
Location ID Alias Type Type of the alternative identifier for a Location. 50 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. Administrative; Claim - Washington Water Right Claim No.
County - County ID
DOH - Washington Department of Health
Ecology Legacy - Legacy Ecology Legacy Data System ID
EPA - US EPA
Local ID - Local ID
Merged - Former Location ID of merged duplicate Location
Other Name - Other ID
Regional ID - Regional ID
Renamed - Former Location ID of a Location that was given a new Location ID
USGS PBS - USGS Portland Basin Study ID
USGS Site ID - USGS Site Number
WRTS - Washington Water Right Tracking System No. 		Y
Location Merge Reason The reason why the locations were merged. 32 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. Administrative;

Valid Values:

  • Duplicate Location
  • Duplicate Well Location
 Y
Location Name UNIQUE descriptive name for a field Location. 40 Alphanumeric. Free Text. REQUIRED;

Must be unique within EIM.

Ex.

  • “Skagit River at I-5 bridge”
  • “VCNW0001 MW4”
  • “Walla Walla WWTP Outfall”

Tip: For wells, the Ecology Well Tag Number can be used for the Location Name (like ABC123).

Download help for “Naming Conventions for EIM Field Locations.”


 Y
Location Setting General physical setting of a field location. 30 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED;

For most Wells, enter “Land.”

These are NOT regulatory definitions.

Valid Values:

  • Air/Climate - Atmospheric monitoring.
  • Canal/Ditch - Man-made channel or ditch for irrigation, hydropower, overflow, drainage, etc.
  • Estuary - Area where fresh and salt water intermix, like bay, lagoon, etc.
  • Estuary-Channel - Channel bottom.
  • Estuary-NonChannel - Non-channel bottom.
  • Intertidal - Area between high and low tide extremes.
  • Lake/Pond/Reservoir - Inland water body, usually fresh.
  • Land - On or below land surface, including most wells.
  • Marine - Area beyond the estuarial environment.
  • Spring/Seep - Where groundwater discharges to land surface.
  • Source-ManMade - Industrial, agricultural, stormwater, sewer/septic, discharge/pipe, lagoon, or other source.
  • Stream/River - Channeled, flowing water.
  • Stream/River-Channel - Channel bottom.
  • Stream/River-NonChannel - Non-channel bottom.
  • Stream/River-Pool - Pool bottom.
  • Stream/River-Riffle - Riffle bottom.
  • Subtidal - Area below low tide.
  • Wetland - Land that is saturated by surface or ground water, either permanently or seasonally.
  • Other - Use when none of the other categories fit.
 Y
Location System ID A unique, system-generated ID assigned to each field Location by EIM. 10 Numeric. System-generated; Ex. "256925" Y
Locations The monitoring or field locations associated with the query results on this page.A Location is the physical place where sample collection, measurements, or observations occur. It is uniquely identified by a Location ID and Location Name. A monitoring Location is required to have a documented geographic location, reported by EIM as latitude and longitude values. 0 Not a Field (information or instruction) Informational; Humptulips River Near Mouth; AAB123. Y
Longitude Distance east or west of the Central Meridian (Greenwich, England) in degrees-minutes-seconds or decimal degrees. 0 Not a Field (information or instruction) Informational; Y
Longitude Decimal Degrees Decimal degrees longitude coordinate for the field location. 11 Numeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED FOR;LAT/LONG in Decimal Deg

Valid Values:  116.000000 to 125.999999

                                            or

                       -116.000000 to -125.999999

 Y
Longitude Degrees Degrees measure of the field location's longitude. 3 Numeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED FOR;LAT/LONG in Deg-Min-Sec Valid Values: 116 to 125 Y
Longitude Degrees-Minutes-Seconds Degrees-Minutes-Seconds (DMS) measure of a field location's longitude. 0 Not a Field (information or instruction) Informational; 120-45-35.25 Y
Longitude Minutes Minutes measure of the field location's longitude. 2 Numeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED FOR;LAT/LONG in Deg-Min-Sec Valid Values: 00 to 59 Y
Longitude Seconds Seconds measure of the field location's longitude. 5 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED FOR;LAT/LONG in Deg-Min-Sec Valid Values: 00.00 to 59.99 Y
Map Clicking 'Map' will plot the Location(s) associated with a particular search result record on a map. For a Study, it will plot the Study's field locations. For a Location, it will plot the Location. For Results, it will plot the Location(s) where the chosen Parameter occurs.The map horizontal datum is NAD83HARN. 0 Not a Field (information or instruction) Informational; Y
MEL Result Type

Only Result Type 'R' (regular target analyte) gets loaded into EIM.  Other types are auto-deferred.

If you want TICs loaded, you need to override them.  Only TICs that are compounds of interest should be loaded.  They must be qualified with an "N-containing" Result Data Qualifier.

 1 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. Administrative;

Valid Values:

  • R - Regular Target Analyte
  • S - Surrogate
  • T - Tentatively Identified Compound
 Y
Method Category Categories of methods. Analysis (Lab), Measurement (Field), and Derivation (Calculated) methods are associated with Result Values. Collection, Preservation, and Preparation methods are associated with Samples. Bioassay methods are associated with bioassay data. 12 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. Administrative;

When submitting data, it is not necessary to specify the method category since it is already associated with the method.

Valid Values:

  • Analysis
  • Bioassay
  • Collection
  • Derivation
  • Measurement
  • Preparation
  • Preservation
 Y
Method Code Code assigned to a procedure or method used to collect, preserve, or prepare a sample or derive a result (lab/analytical, field/measurement, or derivation/calculated). Has an accompanying Method Description. 20 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. Administrative;

Analysis: EPA6020;

Bioassay: ASTM-E1563-98;

Collection: AUGER-HOLLOWSTEM;

Derivation: 7DADMax;

Measurement: CONDMETER;

Preparation: FILTER.45M;

Preservation: ICECHEST

 Y
Method Description Description of a procedure or method used to collect, preserve or prepare a sample or derive a result (lab/analytical, field/measurement, or derivation/calculated). Has an accompanying Method Code. 2000 Alphanumeric. Free Text. Administrative; DPD Colorimetric method, HACH Test Kit for Chlorine. Y
Method Reference Reference information for a particular method. 254 Alphanumeric. Free Text. Administrative; EPA Office of Solid Waste SW-846, Test Methods for Evaluating Solid Waste, Physical/Chemical Methods. Y
Method Source Source from which a method is derived. EIM doesn't carry source codes for all entities.  This field is not always populated. 10 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. Administrative;

Valid Values:

  • ASTM - ASTM International
  • AXYS Analytical - ASTM International
  • Ecology-EAP - Ecology Environmental Assessment Program
  • Ecology-MEL - Ecology Manchester Environmental Lab
  • EPA SW846 - US EPA SW-846, Test Method for Evaluating Solid Waste
  • HACH - Hach Company
  • NIOSH - National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
  • NOAA - National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
  • Standard Methods - Standard Methods for the Examination of Water and Wastewater
  • USACE - US Army Corps of Engineers
  • USGS - US Geological Survey
 Y
Naturally Flowing Well Indicates whether an uncapped well would naturally flow due to artesian pressure. 1 Alphanumeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED for WELLS IF;well is naturally flowing

Valid Values

Y Yes

N No

 Y
NHD FDate The date the NHD feature was last edited. 10 Date. Format: MM/DD/YYYY. Administrative; 07/09/2011 Y
NHD Reach Code Identifies the waterbody or watercourse on which the field location exists per the National Hydrography Dataset (NHD). 14 Numeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED FOR;streams, rivers, lakes, or nearshore locations

17100103000305

It is important to associate your Location with the correct NHD because the information is used in Washington State’s biennial water quality assessment.

To find a Reach Code, use the EIM Map NHD tool (online).

For instructions, download “How to get NHD info from the EIM Map.”


 Y
NHD Reach Measure

Identifies where on a watercourse the field location exists per the National Hydrography Dataset NHD).

Percent distance from reach start.

 7 Numeric. Valid Values. REQUIRED FOR;stream or river locations

0.00-100 

Ex. "57.135"

Important: Associate your Location with the correct position on a watercourse.

To find a Reach Code, use the EIM Map NHD tool (online).

For instructions, download “How to get NHD info from the EIM Map.”

Waterbodies like lakes don’t have Reach Measures.

 Y
No selecting records across multiple pages Selecting (highlighting) records from more than one page at a time is not supported. For example, you cannot select the first and last record in a result set and do a multiple update if they are not on the same page.Applies to all the List pages in the EIM Data Loader. 0 Not a Field (information or instruction) Informational; Y
Only Return Sites with These Data Categories Collected

Primary categories of data collection as WA Dept. of Ecology has defined them.

Searching on these data categories will only return sites where the specified data categories have been collected.

 0 Not a Field (information or instruction) Informational;

Valid Values:

  • Insitu Measurement
  • Water Chemistry
  • Sediment Chemistry
  • Invertebrates
  • Vertebrates
 Y
Organization Address The mailing street address for the Organization. The first line will generally be the primary address. The second line is designed to catch any overflow. 40 Alphanumeric. Free Text. REQUIRED; 15 West Yakima Avenue, Suite 200. Y
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