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When submitting drinking water samples to us for chemical testing under NSW Health’s Drinking Water Monitoring Program, please following these instructions.

Sample Container

Two containers of water are required for each sample. Both must have water collected from the same tap or source.

One container will be acidified at the laboratory and used for the analysis of metals. The second will be used for all other analytes.

Both containers are required to enable all tests to be carried out.

Use new high-density polyethylene (HDPE) 250 mL screw capped containers that clean and free from contaminants.

Labels

For allo­cat­ed chem­istry samples:

  • Use 2 NSW Health labels with iden­ti­cal bar­codes pro­vid­ed on the same stick­er for each sam­ple – a large label and a small­er match­ing bar­cod­ed label sep­a­rat­ed by a perforation.
  • Use a yel­low label with a bar­code begin­ning with 7.
  • Select a label for the cor­rect sup­ply sys­tem, cur­rent year and sam­ple type.
  • Use a water­proof pen to record the site code, time and date of col­lec­tion on the larg­er label.
  • If the sys­tem is flu­o­ri­dat­ed con­duct a flu­o­ride test on a sep­a­rate sam­ple and record the flu­o­ride field result on the label.
  • Ensur­ing the out­side of the con­tain­er is dry, place the label even­ly around one of the sam­ple con­tain­ers (not on the lid) so that the entire bar­code can be scanned at the lab­o­ra­to­ry. Attach the small­er match­ing bar­cod­ed label to the sec­ond sam­ple container.

For repeat or addi­tion­al samples:

  • For repeat sam­ples use a pink label with a bar­code start­ing with 6.
  • For addi­tion­al sam­ples use a blue label with a bar­code start­ing with 8.
  • Record the site code, time and date of col­lec­tion and flu­o­ride field result on the label.
  • Place the label even­ly around one of the sam­ple containers.
  • On a plain label record the sup­ply sys­tem code (2 let­ters fol­lowed by 2 num­bers) and the sam­pling date and time and attach it to the sec­ond bottle.

Collection precautions

  • Keep the bot­tles closed until the sam­ple is to be taken.
  • Remove lids only long enough to col­lect the sample.

Collection tips

  • Flush the lines for at least 3 min­utes before col­lect­ing the samples.
  • Fill the con­tain­er with the large label to the brim.
  • Fill the sec­ond con­tain­er to the bot­tom of the neck, leav­ing some head­space. Do not fill this con­tain­er to the brim.

Transporting samples 

  • Pack sam­ples into an insu­lat­ed cool­er with enough freez­er bricks to keep it cool (≤6oC) dur­ing transportation.
  • Attach a copy of the Foren­sic and Ana­lyt­i­cal Sci­ence Ser­vice (FASS) address label to the cooler.
  • Send/deliver the sam­ples to FASS as soon as possible.
  • If send­ing chem­istry and micro­bi­ol­o­gy sam­ples in the same cool­er, send/deliver to the NSWHP West­mead – Micro­bi­ol­o­gy Laboratory.
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