Mission
To assure the quality of drinking water supplies by testing for chemical and microbiological contaminants.
What we do
- Identify and quantify chemical and microbiological contaminants in public drinking water supplies as mandated by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and state regulations.
- Test private well water samples submitted by homeowners using the same methodology to ensure safe potable water supplies for individual homes.
- Participate in the national Environmental Response Laboratory Network (ERLN) and the Water Laboratory Alliance (WLA), a network of laboratories qualified to provide water testing support to the EPA, states and municipalities in response to incidents of contamination that impair public water supplies.
Accomplishments
- Conducted 20,885 public water tests in 2022 for contaminants regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act and RIDOH.
- Determine part per trillion concentrations of PFAS (forever chemicals) in public drinking water. Over 13,600 tests were conducted between 12/2022 and 07/2023.
- Maintain USEPA Safe Drinking Water laboratory certification to analyze regulated chemical and microbiological contaminants in drinking water.
- Maintain capacity to identify harmful blue-green algae and measure the concentration of cyanotoxins released when harmful algal blooms occur in water supply reservoirs.
- Conducted 971 tests for contamination in private well water.