The Silver Spring facility that keeps some of the D.C. region’s tap water safe has gotten a major upgrade.
WSSC Water serves 1.9 million residents in Maryland’s Montgomery and Prince George’s counties. The utility held its grand opening Tuesday for a $38 million, newly expanded water quality laboratory.
“Today is a game changer. We have expanded our laboratory, which was built in the ’90s originally, almost doubling the size,” WSSC Water General Manager and CEO Kishia Powell said. “We ensured the laboratory gives the seal of approval on the safe, clean drinking water that has become WSSC Water’s brand for 107 years.”
Powell joined state leaders, including Maryland Department of the Environment Secretary Serena McIlwain and Maryland State Del. Lorig Charkoudian, for the event. There were speeches, a celebratory toast and tours of the lab.
“What this means is that they can rest easy and they can drink up,” Powell said. “This is making sure that every sip can be trusted, every sip from the tap can be trusted.”
The new state-of-the art PFAS lab will allow them to test samples of the “forever chemicals” on site, instead of shipping the samples to another state, saving time and money.
“Prior to the technology that we have here, our extraction process would probably take about four hours. Now this machine over there is taking less than an hour, so we’re cutting that time down dramatically,” said chemist and microbiologist Lindsay Ritner. “Our instrument is even more precise and accurate than before, so it’s able to detect at much lower levels.”
The improvements also boost their capacity for water quality tests from 500,000 a year to an expected 750,000 over the next two decades.
“Safeguarding every sip means that every customer out there can trust whatever comes out of their tap,” said former Director of Production JC Langley, who has retired. “We make sure when it leaves our facilities that they don’t have to worry about it. The trust is on our shoulders.”
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