​Customer Collection

If you want to collect your own water sample for testing, you'll first need to visit our laboratory to pick up a sample vessel and to have a chat with our sample reception team. They will advise you how to go about collecting your water sample and how to avoid contamination so it can then be tested accurately in our laboratory.

Correct Collection is Paramount

Once you've collected your water sample and supplied it back to us, we'll work through a submission form to ascertain the details your sample. This will include the source your sample came from, and the way it was collected, stored and transported as per best practice guidelines including:

• Correct filling and sufficient quantity for testing.
• Storage within the recommended temperature range.
• No contamination from external sources.
• No exposure to sunlight and artificial light sources.
• No exposure to air or other environments

Testing Your Water Sample

When we're satisfied your supplied sample is able to be tested, we'll carry out the appropriate laboratory testing to ascertain its composition according to the suite of tests best suited to your sample. The resulting report will profile your water's makeup, its microbiology, the presence of any pathogens, along various metrics relevant to where it came from.

*Please note: We are not water consultants. We collect water samples, conduct laboratory testing, and provide reports with analysis that defines what's in water samples. However, it is up to our clients to decide what to do with these findings as the reporting of opinion and interpretation is outside of the scope of our IANZ accreditation. We are able to refer clients onto consultants for advice and solutions but we do not offer those services ourselves.

Find out how we test water samples in our laboratories.

Laboratory Water Testing

WTHB Collection

For many of our customers, including Hawke's Bay councils and larger business clients, we carry out regular water sample collection and testing on a schedule according to resource consents and compliance regimes. Our sampling activities are IANZ accredited and are undertaken in accordance with international standards. This work is highly structured and is subject to strict processes, protocols and consistent methodology with a high degree of sanitation.

Water Collection Sources

Water samples we collect come from a range of sources including bores, reservoirs and council-installed taps at various points along the reticulated municipal drinking water supply system. Other collection sources include lakes, rivers, streams, surface and groundwater sites, effluent and trade waste exit points, public swimming pools and spa pools.

Our Water Sample Collection Process

Equipment is calibrated and sterilized every morning before our staff go into the field to collect client samples. We have a fleet of branded vehicles fitted with purpose-built storage and all the required equipment, meticulously organised in the same configuration for consistency, efficiency and to ensure all processes are replicated according to scientific principles and standard operating procedures.

Collecting Water Samples in the Field

Water samples are collected in a variety of ways. For instance, to collect a river sample a long pole is used with a clamp on the end that holds a 100ml cylindrical container. Always facing down, the sterilized vessel is dipped into the water source, filled, quickly retracted then fitted with a screw-top lid.

When collecting drinking water samples, our staff first flush the tap for 2-5 minutes before heat sterilising it with a small blow torch to destroy any external bacteria or other contaminants. Then, with well-sterilised hands and equipment, a sample is ready to collect from the tap for laboratory testing, analysis and reporting.

Once collected in the field, samples are clearly labelled and stored in a dark, cool environment before being swiftly transported back to our Hastings laboratory for testing and analysis.