Drinking Water Quality Testing
Mission
To assure the quality of drinking water supplies by testing for chemical and microbiological contaminants.
The Rhode Island State Laboratory is currently pausing all PFAS testing for drinking water. In the meantime, we encourage you to explore other PFAS laboratory testing options. Thank you for your understanding.
What we do
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Identify and quantify chemical and microbiological contaminants in public drinking water supplies as mandated by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act and state regulations.
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Test private well water samples submitted by homeowners using the same methodology to ensure safe potable water supplies for individual homes.
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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
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Conducted 20,885 public water tests in 2022 for contaminants regulated by the Safe Drinking Water Act and RIDOH.
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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.
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Maintain USEPA Safe Drinking Water laboratory certification to analyze regulated chemical and microbiological contaminants in drinking water.
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Maintain capacity to identify harmful blue-green algae and measure the concentration of cyanotoxins released when harmful algal blooms occur in water supply reservoirs.
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Conducted 971 tests for contamination in private well water.
Rhode Island Department of Health