WDSU Investigates: A look inside water testing labs across the area - WDSU New Orleans

WDSU Investigates: A look inside water testing labs across the area

S&WB, Jefferson Parish and LDH all allow WDSU inside to show how water is tested

Boil-water advisories are commonplace across southeast Louisiana and are often a major inconvenience for you.

So far this year, there has been one advisory issued in Jefferson Parish, while there were four issued in 2023.

In New Orleans, there have been five issued this year, and in St. Tammany - they've had 32 boil-water advisories parishwide — by far the most in this area.

So we're going behind the scenes to let you know how your water is tested.

At the water treatment plant on the east bank of Jefferson Parish, inside an old building built in the 1930s, sits one of the most critically important labs in southeast Louisiana.

"When there is a boil water advisory in Jefferson Parish, this is where it's being tested to let people know their water is safe?" WDSU's Travers Mackel asked.

"Yeah, that's exactly right. What we do is it's all hands on deck," said Kristen Rivero, Chief Chemist for the Jefferson Parish Water Quality Lab.

It's no frills but it gets the job done.

Jefferson Parish doesn't send water samples to the state or the Department of Health; they test themselves in a certified lab.

"If there is a boil water advisory in Metairie or the Westbank and you all run it through this system, and it comes back as clean, you're confident in that?" asked Mackel.

"Yeah, we are — we're confident in out technicians," Rivero said.

For the first time, Jefferson Parish, the Sewerage & Water Board in New Orleans and the Louisiana Department of Health in Baton Rouge are allowing our cameras inside their testing sites.

So we can show you how the water is actually tested when boil-water advisories go out.

JP uses what's called the total coliform test with the membrane filtration method.

"This is one of the most robust historical methods," Rivero said.

And it's done by hand.

A human chemist does the testing — not a machine.

The water is poured through a filter, then through a membrane and into an auger plate which is then incubated for 24 hours.

Everything is sanitized with fire, gloves are worn, and samples are not mixed.

They're looking for bacteria — or anything else unhealthy — in drinking water.

And after 24 hours — here's how the results are determined.

"The scientists remove the plates from the incubator, and they read the samples — this one is negative — there are no total coliform colonies here — can see a clear plate — good sample — this sample would be positive for total coliform, and we expect that because this is from the Mississippi river on the Westbank," Rivero said.

In New Orleans, the process is almost exactly the same.

The city has issued five boil-water advisories this year alone, 11 last year.

Like Jefferson Parish, S&WB in New Orleans also has its own lab — nothing is tested by the state.

It's at the main treatment plant on Claiborne Avenue.

But unlike JP, New Orleans also uses an alternative way to check water.

It's more expensive but requires nothing more than pouring a small bag of chemicals into the sample.

"So they have all the media, it's all dried, and it goes in and hydrates it and forms a broth of its own and there will be a color change, positive will be a bright yellow color," a technician at S&WB said.

The state lab in Baton Rouge also does it this way.

"She's adding a reagent to the samples, so she is going to do this part when the samples come in — within 30 hours of collection," an LDH supervisor said.

And they've been busy.

LDH does testing for all parishes in our area outside of New Orleans and JP.

St. Tammany has had 32 boil advisories this year alone, including numerous ones issued in Slidell.

"The test kits we use are pretty common, but we also have to follow EPA guidelines," an LDH spokesperson said.

So we took all this to an expert to see how we stack up against other cities and states.

Louisiana's testing is sound, even overly protective.

"Most people think it's very conservative, too much so, and false alarms happen too frequently," Marc Edwards, a professor at Virginia Tech University who is an expert on water environment and water resources, said.

Edwards says what's happening here is very common, and despite how simple it looks, Edwards says don't judge a book by its cover.

"It is the industry best practice," Edwards said.

Leaders at the state — and in New Orleans and JP — stand by their work.

Keeping your drinking water safe.

"We hire degreed microbiologists, and they can handle this methods, it's a lot of hands-on work and requires a good amount of precision," Rivero said.

JP is currently building a new lab, and it is set to open in 2025.