WETLAB BlogWestern Environmental Testing Laboratory

WETLAB’S Work Help Keeps Water Safe

For most people, a drink of water is like eating or sleeping. It's just something we do to stay alive.

The Western Environmental Testing Laboratory's work is one of the reasons people rarely think about the water they drink. The Sparks-based lab handles wastewater and drinking water testing for private companies, research firms and municipalities to ensure its safety.

The company in December opened a Las Vegas branch at 3230 Polaris Ave., to better accommodate its 10 local clients. Utility Services owner Hollie Daines is a recent addition to WETLab's client roster. Her company is distribution operator for 45 local small public water systems, ranging from homeowners associations to resorts. WETLab analyzes the water samples Utility Services collects from the systems each month.

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The Las Vegas Wash - upstream view. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

2012 Snapshot Day – Getting a Complete Water Quality Picture of Reno/Tahoe

2012 Snapshot Day - Getting a Complete Water Quality Picture of Reno/Tahoe

Reno Tahoe residents, want to roll up your sleeves and do something about water quality in our region? The 8^th annual Water Quality Snapshot Day needs volunteers Saturday, May 10.

This is a cause near and dear to our hearts here at Western Environmental Testing Laboratory - WETLAB, and we’ve worked as team leaders since the beginning. But you don’t need to be a water quality expert - you just need to care about our regions rivers, lakes and streams.

The idea is to get volunteers from all around Lake Tahoe and along the Truckee River to Pyramid Lake to take water quality samples in order to create a holistic picture of our region’s water. The event not only provides valuable data to area researchers on a large scale, but it’s also a great excuse to get outside and enjoy our region’s beautiful waterways!

All you have to do is meet for a brief orientation at 8:30 a.m. Saturday, May 10. Reno area volunteers will meet at Bartley Ranch Regional Park, 6000 Bartley Ranch Road.

Truckee area volunteers will meet at the Sagehen Field Station, about 10 miles north of Truckee on Highway 89 North.

North Lake Tahoe volunteers will meet at Sierra Nevada College in Incline Village, and South Lake Tahoe volunteers will meet at the Lake Tahoe Community College cafeteria.

Volunteers will be lead by trained group leaders, fanning out across our watershed to various locations on a variety of streams and tributaries, testing for dissolved oxygen, conductivity, pH and temperature, also collecting water samples for laboratory analysis of nutrients, sediments and bacteria. All this data will give important insights into the health of our waterways. You’ll also learn interesting information about our watershed from your team leader.

To sign up as a volunteer, call Mary Kay Riedl at 775-687-9454 for Reno area, Beth Christman at 530-550-8760 for the Truckee area or Susie Kocher at 530-542-2571 for Lake Tahoe.

Map showing the Truckee River drainage basin. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Happy World Water Day

Happy World Water Day From WETLAB - Western Environmental Testing Laboratory! For more information please visit the link below.

http://www.unwater.org/worldwaterday/

The Earth seen from Apollo 17. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Water Quality Around The World

WETLAB - Western Environmental Testing Laboratory takes a closer look at Water Quality Around The World.

We spend a lot of time looking into water quality here in Northern Nevada. A lot of time. So when we came across a Gallup poll on water quality around the world, we took a step back, to take a broader look.

Gallup surveyed residents in 145 countries around the world, asking, “In the city or area where you live, are you satisfied or dissatisfied with the quality of water?”

The highest satisfaction levels, measured by percent satisfied, were not surprisingly in the United States, Canada, western and northern Europe, according to the poll.

While the USA had 87 percent of respondents say they were satisfied - the same as Canada and Ireland - Both the United Kingdom and the Netherlands ranked higher at 91 and 92 percent respectively. Denmark, Norway and Sweden all took the top mark at 94 percent.

The other end of the spectrum, also not surprisingly unfortunately, where sub-Saharan African countries. At the bottom of the survey results was Chad, with only 21 percent of respondents were satisfied with water quality. Also on the low end were Nigeria and Ethiopia, both at 29 percent, Liberia, at 30 percent and Tanzania, at 35 percent.

It wasn’t all bad in sub-Saharan Africa - with Malawi, South Africa and Namibia at 79, 81 and 82 percent respectively.

Former Soviet Bloc countries also showed strong dissatisfaction, with Ukraine at 26 percent, Russia at 30 percent and  Kazakhstan at 49 percent.

The rest of Asia runs from a low of 35 percent in Lebanon and 43 percent in Cambodia to 98 percent in Singapore. In the world’s largest population centers, China and India, satisfaction rated 75 percent and 68 percent respectively.

In the western hemisphere, Latin America and the Caribbean ranged widely Gallup said this water-rich area was prone to exploitation and contamination.

In the Caribbean, Haiti was at 44 percent, and the polling was done before the devastating earthquake of 2010. But nearby Jamaica responded much more positively, at 89 percent.

Guyana, a small country on the northern edge of South America, responded at 54 percent satisfied, while Uruguay to the south ranked at 91 percent. Mexico fell somewhere in the middle at 70 percent.

To see the complete results, go to http://www.gallup.com/poll/105211/water-quality-issue-around-world.aspx

View of a rosette sampler, used to collect water samples for water quality testing. This type of sampler can be used in deep water for locations such as the Great Lakes and oceans. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Attention: Elko Office Hours have changed!

ELKO OFFICE - NEW LOCATION!
1084 Lamoille Hwy
Elko, NV 89803

Monday – Thursday (10:00 am – 4:00 pm)
(775) 777-9933 – Phone & Fax
(775) 340-3173 – General Questions (Phaedra Harmening)
(775) 340-8947 – Courier / Sample Pick-up & Delivery (Cindy Katsma)

Image via Wikipedia

WETLAB to Attend Nevada Rural Water Association Conference

Western Environmental Testing Laboratory will be at the Nevada Rural Water Association’s 2012 Annual Training and Technical Conference. Located at booth number 28

The 22nd Annual Training Conference is being held at the Grand Sierra Resort and promises to be one of our biggest and best conferences ever!

The vendor exhibit hall opens to the attendees on Tuesday, March 20, 2012 at 12:30 p.m.

WETLAB will be presenting at the Conference on March 21st in room (Nevada 3).   Presented by Andy Smith and Jennifer Delaney, Mr. Smith and Ms. Delaney will be discussing how to properly read a Laboratory report. The  training will begin at 11:00am.

WETLAB’s Insight into Water Wars

WETLAB's Insight into Water Wars

A Little Bit of History Repeating: California Water Wars

Look throughout history, and water’s vital importance has played a key role in shaping our planet, our societies and our politics. That’s why making sure what water we have is useable is so important, and why we take our water quality work seriously at Wetlab. Just look to our neighbor to the west – California’s history with water has occasionally been a contentious one. The center of the conflict is just a few hours south on Highway 395 along the Eastern Sierra.

In the beginning of the last century as Los Angeles started to outgrow local water sources, William Mulholland, head of the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, acquired water rights throughout the Owens Valley and up to Mono Lake.

This heavily impacted agriculture and ranching in the area, turning Owens Lake into a dust bowl, leading farmers to try to destroy the aqueduct.  This was the backdrop for the 1974 film Chinatown, staring Jack Nicholson, which fictionalized unscrupulous dealings that brought water from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles via the Los Angeles Aqueduct.

Environmental groups worked to mitigate the damage, and the Mono Lake Committee through litigation was able to stop Mono Lake from the same fate as Owens Lake to the south in the 1990s with a plan that should partially restore the receding body of water.

But tension still exists over the century-old water dispute, with the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power recently challenging the Mammoth Lakes Water District, filing suit over water rights to Mammoth Creek, according to www.sierrawave.net.

"The Mammoth Creek flow is approximately 25% of the City's water export from the Eastern Sierra," says the agency in a complaint filed in Mono County Superior Court, as quoted in www.courthousenews.com.

"The citizens of Los Angeles depend on flows from Mammoth Creek, and the L.A. Department of Water and Power has a responsibility for protecting the city's water rights," said DWP Director of Operations Marty Adams, in a written statement as quoted by the www.northhollywood.patch.com. "Taking water from Mammoth Creek reduces the volume of water to which Los Angeles has prior rights, that can be delivered to the citizens of Los Angeles, directly translating to our customers who pay our water rates."

The head of Mammoth’s water district Greg Norby disputed the claim in the same article: "It's fundamentally false and without merit," he said. "Less than 1 percent of their water is exported from here. We've told them the amount is immeasurable, but they won't listen."

But the effects on Mammoth would be more damaging, Norby said. We’ll have to wait and see what the resolution is to this latest chapter in just one of the ongoing water rights sagas of the west.

Image via Wikipedia

WETLAB Preparing for SME Conference

Western Environmental Testing Laboratory - will be heading to the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, & Exploration (SME) February 2012 conference. Please stop by our booth (2037) and say hello!

Lessons in Metallurgy - Whoa (Photo credit: Chris Hardie)