Laboratory Testing

About

Information for

Programs

Publications

Regulations

Partners

Accreditations

  • Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
    CLIA Certificate of Compliance for High Complexity Clinical Laboratory
  • EPA Environmental Protection Agency
    Ambient Air and Drinking Water Testing
  • Food Science Laboratories are accredited by ANAB to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for Testing Laboratories, Certificate AT-2054
  • Forensic Biology/DNA, Toxicology and Drug Chemistry Laboratories are accredited by ANAB to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for Testing Laboratories, Certificate FT-0004, Federal Bureau of Investigations DNA Analysis & CODIS
  • Rhode Island Department of Health - In-State Analytical Laboratory Certificate
  • Rhode Island Department of Health - In-State Clinical Laboratory License

About

Information for

Programs

Publications

Regulations

Partners

Accreditations

  • Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
    CLIA Certificate of Compliance for High Complexity Clinical Laboratory
  • EPA Environmental Protection Agency
    Ambient Air and Drinking Water Testing
  • Food Science Laboratories are accredited by ANAB to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for Testing Laboratories, Certificate AT-2054
  • Forensic Biology/DNA, Toxicology and Drug Chemistry Laboratories are accredited by ANAB to ISO/IEC 17025:2017 for Testing Laboratories, Certificate FT-0004, Federal Bureau of Investigations DNA Analysis & CODIS
  • Rhode Island Department of Health - In-State Analytical Laboratory Certificate
  • Rhode Island Department of Health - In-State Clinical Laboratory License

Drinking Water Quality Testing

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.