Safe drinking water is important to your family’s health. But how can you tell if your well and water system provide safe water? Click Read More to find out. | read more

NEWS

Accurate water testing requires proper scientific equipment and highly trained personnel.  Valley Lab is fully certified through Washington State Deprtment of Ecology and DOH for testing of drinking water, wastewater, stormwater and soils.  This certification involves a thorough audit of personnel, facilities, equipment, sample handling, quality control,  blind performance testing (twice per year) and annual training.

 

Safe drinking water is important to your family's health. But how can you tell if your well and water system provide safe water? If your drinking water comes from a public water supply, the federal safe drinking water act requires that it be sampled and tested on a regular basis.

 

If you live on rural acreage; however, your drinking water may come from a private well. If that's the case, it's up to you to make sure the system is properly inspected and tested for safety.

 

The quality of water from private wells should be tested annually.

Spring or early summer is one of the best times of year to test your well.

 

There are many contaminants in the environment, and each requires a specific test. Testing for all of these would be expensive and time-consuming. Unless you know that a particular contaminant has been spilled near your well, start with tests for coliform bacteria and nitrate. These are two of the most common contaminants found in private wells. They are relatively inexpensive to test for, and are good general indicators of drinking water safety.

 

Careful sampling is required to obtain accurate test results. Samples for coliform bacteria, for example, must be collected in a sterile bottle. The lab will supply bottles that are properly prepared for each of the tests you need. Be sure to follow written directions supplied by the lab for collecting each type of sample. When sampling for copper, for example, samples collected early in the day usually produce the most meaningful results. Sampling location can be important too. Water for coliform bacteria testing must be collected in a clean, indoor location to avoid contamination of the sterile bottle with dust and associated bacteria that can cause inaccurate test results.