T-04

Water testing

Drinking, process and utility water tested on the chemical and microbiological parameters your specification names — in one report, not two.

What it is: Chemical and microbiological water parameters
Who it is for: Bottlers, food plants, and anyone running cooling or utility systems
Turnaround: 1–12 days

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WHAT THIS IS

What this is, and why it matters

Water testing covers every way water touches an operation: water people drink, water that becomes part of the product, water that cleans the equipment the product touches, and water in cooling and utility systems that never meets product but can still make people ill. The parameters split across two disciplines — chemical, including pH, conductivity, total dissolved solids, hardness, chloride, sulphate, nitrate, fluoride, residual chlorine and heavy metals; and microbiological, including plate counts, coliforms, E. coli, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Legionella.

Two things make water different from other matrices. The first is that those parameters are usually quoted, sampled and reported separately by two laboratories, leaving the buyer to reconcile two documents about the same tap; here they run on one job and land in one report. The second is that a water result is only as good as the way the sample travelled. Containers, preservation and hold times are parameter-specific, and a residual chlorine or microbiological sample that spent an afternoon in a car has already produced a number you cannot use.

Figure · Transport temperature

A frozen sample that arrives thawed is a different sample. Use ice packs rather than loose ice so meltwater cannot enter the container.

What this lane covers

Drinking, process, utility and waste water
Chemical and microbiological parameters in a single report

TRIGGERS

When you need it

Water is an ingredient

Water that enters the product is a raw material and is controlled like one. Beverage, bottling, dairy and ice operations test it on a fixed interval rather than on suspicion.

A cleaning or CIP system has to be verified

Final rinse water is the evidence that a clean actually finished. It is also the first place a contamination route makes itself visible.

Cooling and utility systems carry Legionella risk

Cooling towers, hot water systems and utility loops carry that risk whether or not they touch product. Where a water safety plan exists, testing is what verifies it; where one does not, it is the first thing an assessor asks about.

CATALOGUE

Water — parameters

Parameter	Matrix	Reference method	Turnaround
pH	Drinking, process water	APHA 4500-H+	1–2 days
Electrical conductivity	All water	APHA 2510	1–2 days
Total dissolved solids	All water	APHA 2540 C	2–3 days
Turbidity	Drinking water	APHA 2130 B	1–2 days
Total hardness	Drinking, process water	APHA 2340 C	2–3 days
Chloride	All water	APHA 4500-Cl⁻	2–3 days
Sulphate	All water	APHA 4500-SO₄²⁻	2–3 days
Nitrate and nitrite	Drinking water	APHA 4500-NO₃⁻ / NO₂⁻	2–3 days
Fluoride	Drinking water	APHA 4500-F⁻	2–3 days
Residual chlorine	Treated water	APHA 4500-Cl G	1 day
Heavy metals panel	All water	ISO 17294-2 (ICP-MS)	5–7 days
Total plate count at 22 °C and 37 °C	Drinking water	ISO 6222	3–4 days
Total coliforms and E. coli	Drinking water	ISO 9308-1	2–3 days
Pseudomonas aeruginosa	Drinking, process water	ISO 16266	3–4 days
Legionella spp.	Cooling and utility systems	ISO 11731	10–12 days

Method references and turnaround times shown are indicative and are confirmed in writing before any sample is accepted.

Figure · Published turnaround spread

Published turnaround spread, grouped from the catalogue above — every line carries a working-day figure. Bands share one axis, so a longer band is genuinely a longer wait.

PROCESS

How it works

Send the brief before the sample
Which water — drinking, process, final rinse, cooling, waste — and which parameters. Water is the one matrix where the sampling point matters as much as the parameter list, so name the tap, the tank or the outlet the sample will come from.
Sample requirements confirmed in writing
Water is the strictest matrix for sampling. Different parameters need different containers, some need a preservative added at the point of sampling, and several have hold times measured in hours. The laboratory confirms the containers, the preservation and the hold time in writing, and supplies the containers where that is what makes the result valid.
On the bench, to a published method
Every determination runs to the ISO, AOAC or APHA method named in the catalogue above, and that reference travels onto the report line rather than sitting in a footnote. Turnaround runs from acceptance at the laboratory, not from the day the sample left you.
Reported so the result can be acted on
Chemical and microbiological results land in a single report against the sampling point they came from, so a site with several points gets one document it can read across rather than a stack it has to collate.

What you get back

One report per job covering both the chemical and the microbiological parameters, identified by sampling point and date, with the method reference per line and any specification value you supplied set beside the result.

Service facts

Parameter	Value	Note
Live service status	[VERIFY: Which testing services are actually LIVE]	Published as orderable only when the lab confirms it.
Accreditation position	Accredited. Certificate N-T-00607 covers food and agricultural microbiological testing to ISO/IEC 17025:2017.	Stated plainly, never implied by a badge.
Sample requirements	Confirmed to you in writing before dispatch. Container, quantity, temperature and hold time change with the parameter and the matrix, so they are issued per request rather than published as one list.	Per-parameter detail publishes with the confirmed method list.

Q+A

Common questions

Water

Can I get chemistry and microbiology on one report?

Yes — that is how the water service is built. One submission, one report covering both, so the person reading it does not have to reconcile two documents.

The municipality already tests the supply — why test at my tap?

The supplier’s certificate describes the water that left the source, not the water that arrives after your own tanks, headers and lines. Your process uses the water at the point of use, so that is where the evidence needs to come from.

Which limits do you judge water results against?

It depends on what the water is used for — process water, ingredient water and cleaning water can carry different requirements. The laboratory confirms the applicable parameters and limits in writing before testing, and states the source of each limit on the report.

A result exceeded its limit — what should I do?

Treat it as information about the system, not just the bottle. Investigate the point of use, correct what you find, then resample the same point — retesting the original sample tells you nothing new. The report gives you the result, the limit and its source, which is the record your investigation hangs on.

How often should we sample?

Frequency is set by your own food safety programme and what your customers and auditors require — there is no single rule. The laboratory confirms a sampling schedule in writing so the programme runs on dates, not on memory.

Send the sample question or the instrument list. It is read by a bench professional, not routed through a ticket queue. Confirmed phone, mailbox and address publish here at launch.

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