Water Quality Laboratory
Ensures a Quality Product
The 
mission of Tucson Water's Water Quality Laboratory is to provide assurance that the water Tucson Water delivers is safe, clean, and meets all local, State, and Federal drinking water health standards. To accomplish this mission, the laboratory employs a unique team of 20 highly skilled professionals with backgrounds in chemistry, microbiology, engineering, computers, and management.
In order to protect public health, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) sets drinking water standards which all public water providers must meet. Regular monitoring and testing of the water supply is required to assure customers are provided with safe, healthy water in their homes and businesses. The USEPA regulations require water providers to regularly test public drinking water supplies for bacteria and other microorganisms, and numerous other naturally-occurring or man-made organic and inorganic constituents.
To 
ensure that your water is safe and meets all standards, the laboratory collects and tests drinking water samples on a daily basis. Over the course of a year, laboratory staff collect thousands of water samples from hundreds of sites including groundwater wells, reservoirs and pumping stations, and from locations throughout the water distribution system specially selected to represent the entire water delivery system. Each sample may be tested for numerous constituents, which may include bacteria, minerals, metals, or man-made chemicals.
Who Tests The Testers?
The USEPA sets national drinking standards, which are administered in Arizona by the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality (ADEQ). Tucson Water provides water quality test results to ADEQ and works closely with that agency to ensure all Federal and State standards are maintained.
Tucson Water's Water Quality Laboratory is licensed by the Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS) on an annual basis. The Water Quality Laboratory has been licensed by ADHS since the inception of this certification program and the Water Quality Laboratory continues to maintain this laboratory license. In addition, the Water Quality Laboratory reports performance evaluation study analytical test results annually to ADHS. These studies monitor the laboratory's ability to detect, accurately measure, and report analytical results.
