EPA official gets behind-the-scenes tour of WSSC Water’s testing lab

Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water for the EPA tours WSSC Water's Silver Spring, Md., water testing lab.
WSSC Water CEO Carla Reid and Laboratory Division Manager Clarence Beverhoudt provides a tour of the utility’s water testing lab in Silver Spring, Md., to Radhika Fox, Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water for the EPA on Monday, April 25, 2022. (WTOP/Mike Murillo)
A new truck that can do more water testing at suspected spill sites is stationed outside of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission Water Consolidated Laboratory Facility in Laurel, Maryland.
A new truck that can do more water testing at suspected spill sites is stationed outside of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission Water Consolidated Laboratory Facility in Laurel, Maryland. (WTOP/Mike Murillo)
Visitors tour the laboratory guided by WSSC Water staff.
Visitors tour the laboratory guided by WSSC Water staff. (WTOP/Mike Murillo)
A lab worker operates equipment at the WSSC facility in Laurel, Md.
A lab worker operates equipment at the WSSC facility in Laurel, Md. (WTOP/Mike Murillo)
A lab worker operates equipment at the WSSC facility in Laurel, Md.
A lab worker operates equipment at the WSSC facility in Laurel, Md. (WTOP/Mike Murillo)
The building is divided into four sections — administration, support, gas storage and the main labratory.
The building is divided into four sections — administration, support, gas storage and the main labratory. (WTOP/Mike Murillo)
The building is divided into four sections — administration, support, gas storage and the main labratory.
The building is divided into four sections — administration, support, gas storage and the main labratory. (WTOP/Mike Murillo)
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Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water for the EPA tours WSSC Water's Silver Spring, Md., water testing lab.
A new truck that can do more water testing at suspected spill sites is stationed outside of the Washington Suburban Sanitary Commission Water Consolidated Laboratory Facility in Laurel, Maryland.
Visitors tour the laboratory guided by WSSC Water staff.
A lab worker operates equipment at the WSSC facility in Laurel, Md.
A lab worker operates equipment at the WSSC facility in Laurel, Md.
The building is divided into four sections — administration, support, gas storage and the main labratory.
The building is divided into four sections — administration, support, gas storage and the main labratory.

A top-ranking Environmental Protection Agency official got a behind-the-scenes tour of one of the nation’s largest water utilities.

Radhika Fox, an assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Water, toured WSSC Water’s under-construction raw water pipeline and its Silver Spring laboratory, where 500,000 water and wastewater samples are tested each year.

“This laboratory facility is just really remarkable,” Fox said at the conclusion of her tour of the WSSC water lab.

Carla Reid, general manager and CEO of WSSC Water, said visits like this allow members of her team to speak directly with government officials and clarify each group’s needs and expectations.

A look inside the lab

EPA Assistant Administrator for the Office of Water tours WSSC Water lab

Inside the laboratory just off Route 29 near the Intercounty Connector, workers in white lab coats poured samples of drinking water into vials. Those vials are checked for everything from bacteria to metal. In another section of the lab, treated water from the utility’s wastewater plants is tested before returning to area rivers.

“We have to make sure that we meet all the Maryland Department of Environment and EPA requirements before that treated water goes back into those rivers,” said Clarence Beverhoudt, laboratory division manager for WSSC Water.

Some team members begin collecting samples as early as 1 a.m. to meet fast-moving deadlines.



Fox also saw some of the tools WSSC Water has for responding to spills and other water emergencies like the 2016 Dickerson Power Plant oil sheen spill. One of those tools is a new specialized truck that can do 24/7 monitoring and field testing without driving samples back to Silver Spring.

Before visiting the laboratory, Fox toured a 48-inch raw water pipeline in Laurel, Maryland, that will stretch between the Rocky Gorge Raw Pumping Station and the Patuxent Water Filtration Plant. The over $9 million project is expected to be completed next summer.

“The project that we saw this morning, that is so essential to water supply reliability here, in Maryland, those are the types of investments we’ll be able to make and accelerate, really so that communities all across America can have clean, safe water,” Fox said.

The tour follows the signing of President Joe Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure bill which included $50 million for upgrading aging water infrastructure — it’s unclear how much of the $50 million WSSC Water will get.

Mike Murillo

Mike Murillo is a reporter and anchor at WTOP. Before joining WTOP in 2013, he worked in radio in Orlando, New York City and Philadelphia.

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