AGS Guide to Environmental

Sampling

Association of Geotechnical and Geoenvironmental Specialists, 2007. All rights

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AGS Guide to Environmental Sampling- 2010

Purpose

This document is intended to provide practical guidance on the mechanics of the

environmental sampling of soils, liquids and gasses in order to improve consistency
in approach across the industry and summarise current best industry practice on:

The mechanics of sampling differing media,

The avoidance of cross contamination,
The use of blank, duplicate and trip samples,
Suitability of sample containers, transport and recording.

The methodology of what, where and how often to sample will be dictated by the
conceptual site model, the purpose of the investigation and the actual site conditions.
These concepts are dealt with in other industry, BSI and regulatory guidance
documents that should be referenced prior to undertaking any environmental
sampling.

Introduction

All sites are unique and hence the precise equipment required to undertake the
investigation and sampling, as well as the associated health and safety requirements,
will therefore vary. The following is an outline guide as to those issues that will
influence the environmental sampling process.

Health and Safety

Since all sites are unique it is vital that an appropriate Health and Safety risk
assessment is undertaken prior to works being undertaken. This is to ensure that any
potential for harm to site operatives and adjacent receptors resulting from the site
works is identified and is reduced to a minimum by the establishment of safe working
practices and methods. By the same reasoning, the potential to create environmental
harm and the potential for cross contamination throughout the proposed works
should also be assessed prior to the works being undertaken and measures put in
place to minimize that risk.

Sample Containers

Each laboratory may have specific requirements for sample containers for particular
determinands. It is general good practice to provide samples in the form and amount
required by the laboratory. Failure to do so may not allow testing and analysis to be
undertaken to the standards, certification, tolerance or limits of detection required.
Table 1 shows the appropriateness or otherwise of the most commonly used
sampling containers for various media and determinands. A certain minimum amount
of material is required for testing for a given determinand and a matrix of the typical
amounts is enclosed as Table 2. However, reference should always be made to the
requirements of the laboratory in each case and to the nature of the material being
sampled.

AGS Guide to Environmental Sampling- 2010

Investigation and Soil Sampling

It is important to consider the contaminants likely to be encountered when selecting

appropriate investigation and sampling techniques, to avoid loss or alteration of the
contaminant being investigated. In order to collect a representative VOC (Volatile
Organic Compound) sample for example, the least amount of disturbance and
contact with the atmosphere is required and hence cable percussive or rotary drilling
methods are not generally appropriate. Ideally such samples should be collected in
lined windowless samplers or similar. It should be noted, however, that ground
conditions often dictate the drilling technique required to achieve the scheduled
depth. Also the effects of disturbance and the potential to create a vertical pathway
for contamination, if bentonite seals and nested casing are not used, need to be
considered. Some techniques may be more suitable than others yet not be widely
available for use in the UK e.g. sonic or directional drilling.
In general the key elements to be considered are the following:

Potential for cross contamination from flushing media, investigation

equipment, sampling point, sample equipment and surrounding media.

Loss of Volatiles volatiles are generally lost when material is disturbed

or subjected to an elevated temperature. The investigation, sampling,
storage and transport methods chosen should reflect this so as to
provide accurate and consistent results.

Flushing media should also be considered as having the potential to

mobilize or alter the status and amounts of various determinands,
especially if they are soluble or volatile and water is used for example.
This will also apply when the sample is taken from below a water table or
other water surface.

Use of lubricants, adhesives and filter media ideally these should be

chosen so as to not interact with or add to the determinands being
tested. For example it may be better to use vegetable rather than
mineral based lubricating oils. It is general good practice to make note of
the materials being used so that they can be accounted for or discounted
in subsequent analysis of the results.

In general all Soil Samples should:

Be extracted using clean and appropriate equipment.

Be placed directly into clean and suitable sample containers.
Be sampled away from any surfaces such as the edges of the window
sampler, bucket, shovel, plastic tube or any surfaces created by the
investigation techniques.
Be thoroughly mixed so that they remain representative during transit
and subsequent analysis.
Be appropriate in amount, volume and composition for the required
testing schedule.

AGS Guide to Environmental Sampling- 2010

Be representative of the material under investigation. Particle size will

influence laboratory sample preparation and this should be noted as it
will affect the results.
Not be left unsealed for a significant period of time
Be described accurately or be fully representative of a soil horizon which
has been accurately described
Be appropriately recorded and uniquely referenced in a manner
compatible with the requirements of the AGS Format, and safely sealed
and labelled as soon as practicable after sampling.
Be stored and transported in appropriate conditions.

Groundwater Sampling

In order to obtain a groundwater sample in a condition as representative of its in situ

condition as possible it is generally necessary to purge the sampling point of the
existing stagnant water in the standpipe or borehole.
Purging the standpipe should aim to remove the effects of:

Chemical interactions with the materials from which the hole or

standpipe is constructed

Degassing and oxidation from contact with the air in the standpipe

Biological activity in the standpipe environment

Contamination from dust and extraneous matter which may have

entered the standpipe or borehole.

Many contaminants will be adsorbed on to or will make up the sediment in the

sample and hence a turbid sample may contain a greater concentration of a
particular determinand than that of a clearer sample. For some contaminants, such
as metals, filtering may be an acceptable way of removing the effects of such
sediment but this may not be acceptable for contaminants with an affinity for the filter
medium.
Alternatively samples can be recovered by using low flow techniques. With this
technique, water is purged from the well through a flow cell at a rate that does not
cause excessive drawdown in the well. The water level in the well is measured every
2 to 3 minutes during purging and purging is complete when water quality parameters
such as pH, temperature, dissolved oxygen, electrical conductivity and redox
potential have stabilised (typically this takes up to 20 minutes). The sample is then
taken using the pumping equipment.
The choice of sample container, the decision to filter or not and (if used) the chemical
fixatives added should be governed by the parameters to be analysed. Table 3
details some of the fixatives that can be used for certain parameters considered likely
to be susceptible to alteration. Where monitoring is carried out as part of a long term
programme of monitoring a consistent approach to sampling, fixing and filtering
should be adopted to allow comparison between monitoring visits.

AGS Guide to Environmental Sampling- 2010

Gas and Vapour Sampling

Sampling of gases and vapours as opposed to monitoring with dedicated equipment

such as gas detectors generally falls into two categories:

Bulk gas: Examples include methane, ethane, propane, butane, carbon

dioxide, carbon monoxide, nitrogen and hydrogen sulphide.

Trace gas: Examples typically include VOCc, SVOCs and Cyanide.

Bulk gas samples are generally collected by pumping directly from a gas manifold or
tap. The sample is collected in either a Gresham tube or Tedlar bag. In the case of a
Gresham tube a hand pump is used to pressurize a re-usable steel cylinder with the
sample gas and should ideally be purged using nitrogen gas before use. A Tedlar
bag is a single use fluoroplastic film coated bag which does not require purging.
However, like the Gresham tube, some form of pump usually needs to be fitted to the
manifold or tap to provide a positive pressure to fill the bag.
Care should be taken in choosing the most appropriate sampling vessel as some
gases such as hydrogen sulphide or hydrocarbon vapours can be adsorbed onto the
metal surface of the Gresham tube and affect subsequent results if re-used. Tedlar
bags, whilst single use and not requiring purging, are however more fragile and
hence can be difficult to store and transport and also ideally need to be kept out of
bright light which can affect the plastic.
Trace gas sampling is a more complex process involving pumping a measured
volume of gas through an activated charcoal filter or other media over time from
which the trace gases can be removed in a laboratory by some form of solvent
extraction. The methodology is generally specific to the gas being tested for and
reference should be made to Environment Agency (2004) Guidance for monitoring
trace gases in landfill gas, Ciria 766 and the laboratory providing the sample media
and testing.

Quality Control

On most sites a standardised sampling protocol implemented by experienced site

personnel using good practice and procedures will generally provide an appropriate
level of Quality Assurance (QA). Further specific examples of additional QA protocols
that might be implemented are noted below.
On sites where a measured level of QA is required, the use of blank samples should
be considered. The most commonly used methods of providing blanks are
summarised in below:
Field blanks: Taken to assess the effect of the sampling process on the analysis.
The sampling equipment should be rinsed at a predetermined frequency and the
rinse water poured into two 1 litre glass bottles. All air should be expelled from
the bottle before submitting for analysis.
Trip blanks: Taken to assess the effects of sample handling. A pre-packed vial
sample usually containing known quantities of predetermined contaminants or deionised/distilled water will be labelled and returned to the laboratory for testing.

AGS Guide to Environmental Sampling- 2010

Wash blanks: Taken to assess potential contamination from the sampling

containers. A selection of sample containers are washed with de-ionised/distilled
water prior to use and usually analysed for the same determinands as the
sample.
In addition, duplicate samples may also be requested. These are generally taken to
ensure that the medium being sampled is homogenous or to allow reference to the
variability in the medium. In this case, industry standard is usually suggested as
being one duplicate for every 10 samples taken. Duplicates may also be required for
legal reasons so that all parties to a claim have a sample for independent testing or
reference. In this case, ideally the whole sample should be made as homogenous as
possible prior to creating separate sub-samples for each party.
Blanks and duplicates should be sent to the laboratory with other routine samples.
However, it is standard practice to remove all reference to blanks and control
samples on the laboratory copy of the chain of custody sheet.
During the transportation and storage of samples, all efforts should be made to cool
the samples utilizing cool boxes and to get the samples to the laboratory within
24hrs. In cases where this is not possible, samples should be stored in a refrigerator
to reach and maintain a low temperature to reduce the effects of possible biological
activity.
All environmental samples should be labelled with the following which together form
a unique and traceable sample in accordance with protocols embodied in the AGS
Data Transfer Format:

Contract name / Site name

Location Identifier

Depth at which sample is taken

Date of sampling

Initials of Sampler

Additional information that might be added may include client name, sample type,
time and unique reference number. Sample labels should ideally be waterproof and
adhered to the sample container in advance. Labels will not generally adhere well to
wet, greasy, dirty or condensate covered sample containers.
Details provided on the label of each sample should be recorded on a chain of
custody sheet that provides a traceable record of sample collection and movement
between site and the laboratory. One copy of the chain of custody form should be
dispatched with the samples to the laboratory and a duplicate copy should also be
retained on site. The reference number of the relevant chain of custody sheet should
be noted on each sample to aid the booking in system at the receiving laboratory.

AGS Guide to Environmental Sampling- 2010

Table 1- Comparison of Sample Containers

Container

Media

Contaminants
Other
Oils/Tar Fuel Solvents/
Inorganics
Volatiles
++
+
-

Metals

Acid/
Alkali
++

Plastic Tub (or

pot)/ Bottle
Glass Jar/Bottle
Septum top
Glass Vial
Fluorinated
Polymer
containers
e.g PTFE
Sampling Tube
liners Plastic
Metal Samplers

S/W

++

++

++

S/W
S/W

++
+

++
-

++
-

++
-

++
+

+
++

S/W

++

++

++

++

++

++

++

++

++

++

++

Gresham Tube
Tedlar Bag
Absorbent Media

G
G
W/G

+
+

++

+
++

Plastic Bag

S-Soil

W-Water

G-Gas

++Good

+ Ok

-No

++

Advantages

Disadvantages

Cheap and readily available

Leaks and is easily

damaged

Cheap and readily available,

Easy to use
Small and easy to store

Breakable
Small containers, difficult
to fill, Expensive
Expensive

Readily available, easy to see

the sample.

Bulk Gas
Bulk Gas
Specialist Substances
Available

See Footnote
See Footnote
Potential for Cross
Contamination, Very
Expensive
Purging

Note Samples should be removed rapidly if sampling for volatiles.

AGS Guide to Environmental Sampling- 2010

Table 2: Volumes
Typical Recommended Volumes and Container Types required for soil and water analysis
Sample
Type
Container

Volume Top

Fill
level Notes

Metals
Inorganics
TPH / PAH
Pesticides
etc.
VOC's

Soil
Soil
Soil

Plastic Tub
Plastic Tub
Glass Jar

1 kg
1 kg
250g

Snap top Plastic lid

Snap top Plastic lid
Screw Top with PTFE Liner

top
top
top

Soil
Soil

Glass Jar
Glass Jar

250g
60g

Screw Top with PTFE Liner

Screw Top with PTFE Liner

top
top

Metals
Inorganics
TPH / PAH
Pesticides
etc.
VOC's

Water
Water
Water

Plastic Bottle
Plastic Bottle
Glass Bottle

1 Litre
1 Litre
1 Litre

Screw Top Plastic lid

Screw Top Plastic lid
Screw Top with PTFE Liner

top
top
top

Water
Water

Glass Bottle
Glass Vial

1 Litre
40ml

Screw Top with PTFE Liner

Screw Top with Septum

top
top

Analyte

Can be combined with Inorganics

Can be combined with Metals

Usually Requires 2

Usually one per analyte type required

Usually Requires 2

Notes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

A typical environmental sample will usually contain: 1 Plastic Tub or Bottle, 1 Glass Jar or Bottle and 2 small Jars or Vials
Leachates are usually undertaken on samples contained in the same materials and volumes as you would normally use for that analyte
A typical WAC test will require at least 2kg of sample, typically provided as additional Plastic Tubs and Glass Jars
Whilst the above is typical, the laboratory to be used should be consulted to determine the exact requirements for your testing suite
Sample volume may also depend on the grading and density of the material being tested.

AGS Guide to Environmental Sampling- 2010

Table 3- Fixatives
Parameter
Sample Container
ammonical nitrogen
nitrite
nitrate
Chemical
Oxygen Polyethylene
Demand
Total Organic Carbon
phenols
sulphides
Polyethylene
cyanide

Polyethylene

metals

Glass

Fixative

Addition of H2SO4
until pH is less than 2

Addition of NaOH and zinc acetate

Addition of NaOH
Until pH is greater than 12
Addition of HNO3 to filtered sample until pH is less than 2

Notes
1. Care should be taken when using fixatives to ensure that they do not significantly affect the results by being inappropriately used, for example, filtering
water samples prior to acidification.

AGS Guide to Environmental Sampling- 2010