Water Testing Labs Near Me: State by State Guide

Whether you are testing your drinking water from your city tap or a private well, finding a lab near you can be difficult. Different water testing labs are capable of testing different things; they also specialize in different kinds of water, like drinking water and wastewater. 

For those of you interested in doing your own research, we’ve organized a guide to where to find certified local labs for drinking water testing, state by state.

Note: If you choose Tap Score, however, we’ll do the leg work for you, connecting you with a certified laboratory testing network of more than 200 accredited environmental testing facilities around North America. We’ll handle lab selection and communication so you only have to focus on collecting your sample.

Table of Contents:

• Lab Considerations
• Labs by Region: Northeast
• Southeast
• Midwest
• Southwest
• West
• Closing Thoughts

Considerations Before Contacting the Lab

Before attempting to initiate contact, there are a few things to consider when picking a lab. We’ve listed the various concepts and procedures it’s useful to be familiar with.

Informational vs. Compliance Testing

Compliance testing is a requirement of the Safe Drinking Water Act (SWDA) and applies primarily to public water systems or other agencies that must report their water quality data to comply with U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) limits. These cases include legal proceedings, regulatory limits, and in some instances, real estate transactions.

Informational testing is for pretty much everyone else. While that means that labs performing informational testing aren’t required to meet EPA approved standardized methods to analyze your samples, it’s still a good idea to use laboratories that are accredited and/or certified to test for your analytes of interest.

Note: If you are in need of a test that is compliant with the Private Well Testing Act of New Jersey, it's important to know that NJ has very specific requirements for home sales and water testing. It is required that lab personnel collect the sample themselves and transport it to the laboratory. Unfortunately, Tap Score cannot assist with this.

We recommend contacting EMSL Analytical, Inc. They can perform this kind of testing to meet NJ compliance and should be able to help out.

Accreditation vs. Certification

When it comes to drinking water laboratories, an accredited lab and a certified lab are the same thing. It is just two different ways of saying that an accrediting/certifying agency (like NELAP, the National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program) has ensured that the lab meets the requirements to perform the testing they offer.

Additionally, accredited laboratories can also be referred to as state-certified.

Sampling Requirements, Drop-off Procedure, and Turnaround Time

Labs will usually be very straightforward about their requirements and it’s your responsibility to pick the lab that best aligns with your needs. However, those requirements are not always easy to understand. Also, some labs may require a minimum number of analytes to test for, which, in turn, can become expensive quickly.

Sampling requirements refers to how the lab would like you to collect your water sample. The lab will inform you when to expect results. How you receive your results depends on the lab (e.g., mailed, emailed, for pickup). It’s worth noting that reports offered directly from the lab are specialized and not easy to read or interpret.

Analyte List

This is a list of analytes—or substances being identified and measured—the laboratory’s facilities can test for. Some lists are as simple as a list of items, some offer more detail about each analyte and the testing process or sampling method.

Benefits of a Laboratory Network 

Before initiating contact with a local water testing laboratory, you’ll want to know exactly what analytes you’d like to test for. Different considerations depend on whether you are a customer of a public utility or a private well owner, as well as any issues specific to your location.

• Heavy metals (like lead, arsenic, chromium) are always important to test for—no matter your water source
• Well owners will want to include coliform bacteria and nitrates in their list
• Utility customers might want to test for volatile organic compounds (VOCs).

That being said, selecting a laboratory on a contaminant-by-contaminant basis is more cumbersome than it needs to be. Tap Score offers ready-made kits that offer testing for a suite of contaminants and water quality parameters. That means everything we've covered above is handled for you by our team of water professionals. There’s no need to contact individual labs or coordinate a handful of processes. It’s as simple as ordering a kit to tap into our certified laboratory testing network.

Labs by Region: the Northeast

Connecticut

• Connecticut State Department of Public Health

Maine

• Maine Department of Health and Human Services (Maine DHHS)

Massachusetts

• Massachusetts Department of Environmental Protection (MassDEP)

New Hampshire

• New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services (New Hampshire DHHS)

New Jersey

• New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (New Jersey DEP)

New York

• New York State Department of Health

Pennsylvania

• Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (Pennsylvania DEP)

Rhode Island

• Rhode Island Department of Health (RIDOH)

Vermont

• Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (Vermont DEC)

Labs by Region: the Southeast

Alabama

• Alabama Department of Environmental Management (ADEM)

Arkansas

• Arkansas Department of Health (ADH)

Delaware

• Delaware Office of Drinking Water (Delaware ODW)

Florida

• Florida Department of Environmental Protection (Florida DEP)

Georgia

• Georgia Environmental Protection Division (Georgia EPD)

Kentucky

• Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet (Kentucky EEC)

Louisiana

• Louisiana Department of Health (LDH)

Maryland

• Maryland Department of the Environment (MDE)

Mississippi

• Mississippi State Department of Health (MSDH)

North Carolina

• North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality (NCDEQ)

South Carolina

• South Carolina Department of Health and Environmental Control (S.C. DHEC)

Tennessee

• Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation (TDEC)

Virginia

• Virginia Department of General Services (Virginia DGS)

West Virginia

• West Virginia Department of Health and Human Resources (West Virginia DHHR)

Labs by Region: the Midwest

Illinois

• Illinois Environmental Protection Agency (IEPA)

Indiana

• Indiana Department of Health

Iowa

• Iowa Department of Natural Resources (Iowa DNR)

Kansas

• Kansas Department of Health and Environment (KDHE)

Michigan

• Michigan Department of Environment, Great Lakes, and Energy (EGLE)

Minnesota

• Minnesota Department of Health (MDH)

Missouri

• Missouri Department of Natural Resources (Missouri DNR)

Nebraska

• Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services (Nebraska DHHS)

North Dakota

• North Dakota Department of Health and Human Services (North Dakota HHS)
• North Dakota State University (NSDU) (list of certified labs)

Ohio

• Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (Ohio EPA)

South Dakota

• South Dakota Department of Agriculture and Natural Resources (South Dakota DANR)

Wisconsin

• Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (Wisconsin DNR)

Labs by Region: the Southwest

Arizona

• Arizona Department of Health Services (ADHS)

New Mexico

• New Mexico Environment Department (NMED)

Oklahoma

• Oklahoma Department of Environmental Quality (Oklahoma DEQ)

Texas

• Texas Commission on Environmental Quality (TCEQ)

Labs by Region: the West

Alaska

• Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation (Alaska DEC)

California

• California State Water Resources Control Board

Colorado

• Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE)

Hawaii

• State of Hawaii Department of Health (Hawaii DOH)

Idaho

• Idaho Department of Health and Welfare

Montana

• Montana Department of Public Health and Human Services (Montana DPHHS)

Nevada

• Nevada Division of Environmental Protection (NDEP)

Oregon

• Oregon Health Authority (OHA)

Utah

• Utah Department of Environmental Quality (Utah DEQ)

Washington

• Washington Department of Ecology

Wyoming

• U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA)

Closing Thoughts

We hope you found this state-by-state list helpful for your research needs. Remember that we've designed a range of award-winning kits specifically designed for your water. We handle everything, from ensuring the lab is certified to making sampling and shipping a breeze.

Pick your kit below to get started.