The City of Woodland operates a state-certified environmental testing laboratory which supports the City's wastewater, drinking water and storm water utilities. The Laboratory Supervisor, two Laboratory Technicians and a Laboratory Intern oversee a variety of testing and reporting programs:

Wastewater Treatment

The laboratory serves the needs of the wastewater treatment facility and its pretreatment program by performing testing for process control and regulatory compliance. 

Testing includes: 

• Biosolids
• General chemistry and biological analyses of wastewater
• Groundwater
• Receiving water
• Other matrices that are products of the wastewater treatment process. 

We perform over 10,000 tests annually for the wastewater treatment branch.

• Process Control - Treatment operators rely on accurate, timely laboratory results from each phase of the treatment process, from raw (untreated) sewage to highly purified final effluent, in order to optimize plant efficiency. In addition to routine process monitoring, the laboratory performs special testing in response to problems or to evaluate modifications to the treatment process.
• Regulatory Compliance - The laboratory performs testing to demonstrate compliance with Federal and California state environmental regulations. We also collect samples, provide data review and data validation for additional chemical and biological analyses which are conducted at various commercial laboratories. We prepare monitoring reports for submission to the regional Water Quality Control Board and the U.S. EPA.

Drinking Water Monitoring

The laboratory supports the City drinking water production and distribution groups by providing dependable, economical sample collection and testing. Laboratory testing includes routine bacteriological and chemical analyses of drinking water from the City's distribution system and production wells.

Storm Water Monitoring

In partnership with the Public Works Utilities Division, the laboratory conducts baseline monitoring of the City's storm water system. The data allows us to assess water quality impacts to local creeks and streams due to storm water runoff and to better manage our system to minimize these impacts.

More Information

For more information on the City's environmental laboratory program, please contact us at 530-661-2065.