Lewis County Public Health and Social Services announced Monday that it would soon reduce the operating hours of its water lab by roughly half starting in September.
The Lewis County water lab will limit its hours of operation to just the first and second full weeks of each month starting on Monday, Sept. 1. The lab offers water testing services, including for coliform, nitrate and surface water intake testing.
Under its new schedule, the lab will accept samples for coliform testing between 8 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. Monday through Wednesday and samples for nitrate testing from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on Mondays and Tuesdays during the weeks the lab is operating. The lab will also accept surface water intake samples between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. during those weeks.
The Lewis County water lab also offers monthly sample pickups at Morton City Hall and the Randle and Packwood post offices where samples can be dropped on the first Monday of every month before 9:30 a.m. for testing. That service will continue to operate as normal.
The revised water lab schedule is available on the Lewis County website at https://tinyurl.com/2cy5crru.
The water tests offered by Lewis County Public Health and Social Services, according to the county website, are the most commonly used for public water and are required for residents on private wells seeking to obtain a building occupancy permit.
Tests cost $65, and samples must be submitted in a treated sample bottle and kept cool before testing. Sample bottles can be picked up from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Monday through Friday on the third floor of the Lewis County Health Department building located directly across the street from the north entrance of the Lewis County Courthouse in Chehalis.
