What We Can Do

Lab Staff Activities + Capabilities

Established in 1972, OWML has been providing service for monitoring water quality of rivers, streams, reservoirs and other waterbodies and environmental samples. OWML is equipped for a variety of matrix analyses, such as drinking water, non-potable water, sediment, and fish samples. Testing areas include:

• Dissolved earth ions and metals
• Inorganic chemical and nutrient laboratory testing (nitrogen and phosphorus)
• Organic carbon (total and dissolved)
• Microbiological testing (total coliform, fecal coliform, E. coli and Enterococci)
• Synthetic organic compounds (SOCs)
• Solids (total dissolved solids, total suspended solids, turbidity)
• Pesticide, and Contaminants of emerging concern (CECs)

OWML ensures that analytical methods applied are in compliance with The NELAC Institute (TNI/National Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Conference), EPA, ASTM, and Standards Methods for Water and Wastewater.

In 2010, OWML was certified by the Virginia environmental laboratory accreditation program (VELAP), under Virginia regulation 1VAC30-46 and TNI 2009 Standard, as a commercial-grade laboratory.

For further information on Lab capabilities, contact Dongmei Alvi at 703-361-5606 ext. 118 or dongmei@vt.edu.

Field Staff Activities + Capabilities:

• Stream and reservoir sampling, and field parameter measurement.
• Collection of a wide variety of field samples, including nutrients, metals, chlorophyll, bacterial and algal samples, sediments.
• Field measurement of environmental parameters, such as dissolved oxygen, temperature, pH, specific conductance, turbidity, alkalinity.
• Operation and maintenance of stream gauging and automated sampling stations.
• Construction and installation of stream gauging and automated sampling stations
• Stream flow measurements
• Operation and maintenance of a network of rain gauge stations.
   

For further information on Field capabilities, contact Harry Post at 703-361-5606 ext. 116 or hpost@vt.edu.