John Koehn, pictured here, and Deborah Ask are the two certified chemists in Oklahoma Panhandle State University’s Murphy-Brown, LLC Water Quality Testing Lab. — Christina Cobos photo
By John Koehn,
Murphy-Brown, LLC Water Quality Laboratory Director
Goodwell, Okla. — The Murphy-Brown LLC Water Quality Laboratory on the campus of Oklahoma Panhandle State University now offers testing as well as education and expertise from the lab’s two professionals, Director John Koehn and Supervisor Deborah Ask. The chemists are committed to helping water managers learn about changing regulations and providing guidance to their customers.
For the High Plains, ground water is essentially the only source of drinking water. The Ogallala Aquifer sustains life in what was once named the Great American Desert. The thousands of wells dug and drilled in the past 100 years affirm the value of this resource in meeting the needs of the inhabitants and promoting economic growth. Defining and reducing contamination risk to the aquifer helps assure life and continued prosperity.
Drinking water has long been monitored for disease contamination under the Total Coliform Rule (TCR). This rule uses a lab test developed in 1914 to monitor for coliform organisms of the Enterobacteriaceae family as a check for potential fecal contamination. Generally, this contamination can come from things like a broken pipe, dirty cistern, or animals drinking from the same supply. Under TCR, operators of drinking water systems are required to routinely monitor for coliforms in the distribution system. Historically, positive coliform test results were addressed with chlorine dosing and line purging because generally the contaminations were easily identified and fixed.
On December 1, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) implemented the new Ground Water Rule (GWR) to improve drinking water quality and provide additional protection from disease-causing microorganisms. The rule requires PWS (public water supply) systems that get their water from ground sources to identify deficiencies in their systems that could lead to contamination, and to take corrective actions to reduce risk.
Rising concern over viruses and non-coliform intestinal bacterial pathogens in drinking water led to development of the GWR. Under this rule, distribution system operators must also test the water source when looking for the cause of a contamination. Now if a TCR sample comes up positive, the supply wells of a system must also be monitored. This is because contaminated source water affects everyone in the distribution system, not just those on the street where a pipe broke. Also, contaminated source water will continue infecting a distribution system even after a localized repair and clean-up.
Timely testing of samples remains a critical component of TCR and GWR. Properly preserved samples must arrive at the lab within 30 hours of collection. For High Plains water managers, the frustration of “overnighting” a sample to the central part of the state only to find it did not arrive in time results in expensive resampling and yet another “overnight” delivery charge.
Today a testing laboratory is available at Oklahoma Panhandle State University in Goodwell. The Murphy-Brown, LLC Water Quality Laboratory began operation in September with the goal of bringing quality, timely and affordable drinking water testing to the Oklahoma Panhandle and the High Plains. Currently the lab is accredited in Oklahoma for coliform testing (commonly known as “Bac-T”). This testing supports requirements of both the TCR and GWR and is the first step by OPSU and the water quality lab in developing a broad testing capability for evaluation of our drinking water and supporting the health and prosperity of our communities. Besides the accredited coliform testing, additional current testing includes anions (like chloride, nitrate, sulfate), cations (such as calcium and sodium), solids, pH, turbidity and others. Soon testing for metals and organic chemicals (such as from a gasoline or solvent spill) will be available. See information at www.waterlab.opsu.edu,or call (580) 349-1563.
