Thurston County offering free water testing for residents impacted by flood
THURSTON COUNTY - If you have a well that may have been impacted by recent flooding in Thurston County, the county is offering free water testing for residents.
There are six locations where you can pick up and drop off sampling bottles for testing:
- County Courthouse Building 1 (2000 Lakeridge Dr. SW, Olympia)
- Public Health Building (412 Lilly Road Ne, Olympia)
- Rainier Town Hall (102 Rochester Street W.)
- Rochester R.O.O.F (10140 Highway 12)
- Tenino City Hall (149 S. Hodgden)
- Yelm Public Works (901 Rhoton Rd. SE)
Click here to see the drop off times for each location.
- Once you get your sampling bottle, the county asks that you do the following:
- Disinfect your well according to instructions.
- Select a faucet (preferably a non-swivel type) in the bathroom or kitchen.
- Remove any filters or screens from the faucet tap.
- Turn on the cold water and let it run for at least five minutes. Turn off the water.
- Disinfect the tap by flaming around the orifice with a butane lighter or matches. Hold the flameback from the tap so that the flame won’t discolor it. If you do not have a lighter or your tap ismade from plastic or rubber, you may slowly pour boiling water over the tap to thoroughly heatit. This heating kills bacteria on the faucet that might accidentally contaminate your sample.
- Turn the cold water back on for a few seconds to cool the tap. Adjust the water to produce aneven flow. Remove the cap from the bottle and collect the sample. Fill it to the "fill" line.
- Re-cap the bottle and deliver to a drop-off point as soon as possible
You can get your water sampled for free through Thursday, Feb. 3
More information is available here.
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