About the guide

This document provides guidance to ministry staff on submitting drinking water samples for analysis to the ministry’s Laboratory Services Branch, including sample container, preservative and holding time requirements.

Purpose

This document provides guidance for:

  • water treatment plant owners/operators or anyone who may collect and submit a sample to a licensed drinking water testing laboratory in Ontario to meet Ontario’s environmental regulatory and approval requirements
  • provincial officers sampling to verify the integrity of a drinking water system’s self-monitoring information, or in response to adverse water quality notifications

Outcomes

This guide provides information to anyone who collects and submits a sample to a licensed drinking water testing laboratory in Ontario, as well as to all licensed laboratories.

This sampling guide was made so that the requirements of O. Reg. 248/03 section 9.(1)(a) can be met.