In New York, City of Kingston officials are seeking public comment on two infrastructure projects. Take the sample from a tap that you would normally use for drinking water in your home or small drinking water system. hr@healthunit.org, © 2020, Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit. Given the COVID-19 crisis, a college in New York’s Hudson Valley is adjusting its application window for local students. Sampling for chemicals and minerals in your water can only be tested through a private licensed lab (listed below). They’ve now completed modelling COVID-19 spread in small colleges and how safe reopening is. The Kingston Air Quality Initiative is providing hard data on one particular pollutant. Empty water bottles are available at all locations during regular business hours. Private home owners can sample their drinking water for chemicals and minerals through a private lab. Elias Dueker is director of the Center for the Study of Land, Air and Water and associate professor of Environmental and Urban Studies at Bard College. The radiochemistry section conducts analyses of those inorganic elements, primarily uranium and radon, that are radioactive. Application for Meter Test; Request for Temporary Water Supply for Planned Suspension; Plumbing Work Services. 129 Pleasant Street | Concord, NH | 03301-3852, Monitoring Schedules for Public Water Supplies, U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. TEND to your wellhead by using the DES checklist for inspecting the condition of your well and protecting it from contamination. Carefully clean the end of the tap with a clean cloth and some bleach or an alcohol swab. If you are sampling as a Small Drinking Water System you must use the services of a private licensed lab. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) including the gasoline constituent methyl tertiary butyl ether (MtBE). The city’s mayor says a master plan will help preserve cultural assets and help artists facing challenges in this economic landscape. Kingston is partnering with Bard College to monitor the city’s air quality. And now, a follow-up to a story we brought you in May about professors at Bard College in Dutchess County, and others, who won a National Science Foundation grant to help develop forecasting models to better capture certain aspects of the COVID-19 pandemic. WAMC’s Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Allison Dunne spoke with the primary investigator on the study. “And the interesting thing was we put this up in January, which is the height of wood burning and burning fuel for heat, and we then, with COVID coming in, it does mean that we were able to look at the fact that there was a decrease in particulate matter, and it seems to be based on the fact that, where, our monitor is right by the high school there, and could see how cars coming and picking up people and dropping them off at the high school would change the particulate matter in the air. “As we’re seen with the current administration federally, we’re losing funding and we’re losing regulations that we’ve depended on to keep ourselves safe, and it becomes more important that on the local level we’re able to then take that up and protect ourselves,” Deuker says. You can download a free reader from Adobe. *Results will be mailed, however, if you have chosen to pick up your results, they will be at one of the following laboratories according to where you dropped your water bottle off: Mississippi Mills Township Office3131 Old Perth Road, Mississippi Mills, OntarioMonday–Thursday8:30am–4:30pmLaboratory: Ottawa Public Health Laboratory, Health Unit Office458 Laurier Boulevard, Brockville, OntarioMonday–Thursday8:30am–4:30pm (closed 12:00pm–1:00pm)Laboratory: Kingston Public Health Laboratory, Health Unit Site375 William Street South, Gananoque, Ontario Suite 200Monday–Thursday8:00am–4:00pm (closed 12:00pm–1:00pm)Laboratory: Kingston Public Health Laboratory, North Grenville Municipal Office285 County Road #44, Kemptville, OntarioMonday–Thursday9:00am–4:00pmLaboratory: Ottawa Public Health Laboratory, Township Office – Lanark Village75 George Street, Lanark, OntarioWater Bottle Drop Off – First Tuesday of every month8:30am–4:30pmLaboratory: Ottawa Public Health Laboratory, The Office11 Wilson Street East, Perth, OntarioMonday–Thursday9:00am–5:00pmLaboratory: Ottawa Public Health Laboratory, Country Roads Community Health Centre4319 Cove Road at Highway 15, Portland, OntarioMonday – 8:00am–5:00pmTuesday – 8:00am–7:00pmWednesday – 8:00am–5:00pmThursday – 8:00am–7:00pmLaboratory: Kingston Public Health Laboratory, Health Unit Office25 Johnston Street, Smiths Falls, OntarioMonday–Thursday8:30am–4:30pm (closed 12:00pm–1:00pm)Laboratory: Ottawa Public Health Laboratory. The bottles may contain a preservative, do not rinse the bottle before collecting the water sample. A Small Drinking Water System sampling their water for bacteria must register with and sample through a private lab. Though Bard began monitoring in Kingston in January, the initiative was announced this month. Private homeowners can get quick results by calling 1-877-723-3426 and using the bar code provided within the home water testing kit. The monitoring is for PM2.5, or fine particulate matter. Activists have stepped up their efforts to stop an Albany County cement plant from burning tires for fuel. He’s also a Kingston resident. There is one monitor, and it’s atop the Andy Murphy Midtown Neighborhood Center on Broadway, across the street from city hall and near Kingston High School. Employees maintain and operate a system that includes: three water treatment plants; 577 kilometres of water main ranging in size from 150 to 1,200 millimetres We maintain a rigorous quality assurance program to ensure its capability to accurately determine many analytical parameters. Be sure to fill out the attached paper work completely. Upon completion of each analysis, homeowners receive a full report along with an interpretation of their test results. An interactive web application for private well owners to interpret water quality test results and identify appropriate water treatment options. So the monitoring started before COVID hit. Our mission is to meet our clients’ needs and requirements, comply with all applicable quality assurance / quality control objectives and comply with all current applicable government standards and regulations. Please see our Health Home homepage for changes to services. Based on our quality assurance program, along with on-site audits of the laboratory processes, the Water Analysis Laboratory maintains full accreditation for drinking water and wastewater parameters. Two of the five are in the Hudson Valley. The Public Health Lab only samples private well water for bacteria. Samples must be collected in a health unit or private lab water sampling bottle. Avoid contaminating the sampling bottle or lid, have clean hands and keep the lid in your hand, and avoid touching the inside of the cap. Kingston Tree Department 32 Evergreen St , Kingston, MA 02364 Kingston Water Department 26 Evergreen St , Kingston, MA 02364 Kingston Assessors 26 Evergreen St , Kingston, MA 02364 Kingston Conservation Commission 26 Evergreen St , Kingston, MA 02364 Kingston Town Accountant 26 Evergreen St , Kingston, MA 02364 Kingston Town Administrator 26 Evergreen St , Kingston, MA … ATTENTION Effective March 1, 2020 Athens County Water and Sewer will no longer handle billing or maintenance for the Village of Buchtel. Bard College Center for the Study of Land, Air and Water Director Dr. Eli Dueker installing the MetOne 212-2 particle profiler atop the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center in Midtown Kingston. The initiative grew from Kingston’s Conservation Advisory Council’s Air Quality Sub-Committee, which Lorraine Farina chairs. A city in New York’s Hudson Valley has teamed up with an area college for an air quality initiative. 2020. Homeowners can pick up and drop off bacterial water sample bottles at several locations throughout our Health Unit area. The Water Analysis Laboratory provides analytical testing services of water, wastewater, hazardous materials, soils, and other matrices for the Department, other state agencies and for individual citizens. Apply for e-bill service; Change email address for receiving e-bill; Withdraw from e-bill service; Field Services. “It’s really helpful to get this kind of data because Kingston’s never had it before, and it can only help in terms of making informed citizen decisions around developing as a sustainable city,” Dueker says. The New York state Department of Environmental Conservation has announced the latest round of certified climate smart communities. Kingston’s Conservation Advisory Council’s Air Quality Sub-Committee, Kingston, Bard College Partner For Air Quality Monitoring, Two Kingston Infrastructure Projects Are Open For Comment, Kingston Embarks Upon Its First Arts And Culture Master Plan, NYS Says Five More Communities Are Climate Smart, Study Shows Student Behavior Has A Lot To Do With Safely Reopening Colleges, Bard College Professors Are Using NSF Grant For COVID-19 Forecasting Models, Bard College Creates Option For Local Applicants, Activists Continue Push To Prevent Tire Burning In Albany County. “Not everybody has access to the same quality, the same level of air quality. Total Coliform and E. coli are the primary bacterial indicators. The City of Kingston in Ulster County, New York is launching a cultural planning project. The Public Health Lab only samples private well water for bacteria. Please see the full list of all parameters for which the laboratory is currently accredited. “So one of the goals of this partnership is to be sure that we’re monitoring neighborhoods to assure that we have access to clean air for all residents.”. Remove all filters or aerators from the faucet. The Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is responsible for licensing laboratories to perform drinking water testing. info@kingstonwaterdistrict.com PO Box 216 West Kingston, RI 02892 (401) 783-5494 In addition, staff is available to provide an unbiased assessment of the water quality and to provide further information on available references and treatment options. “So people have higher rates of death actually from COVID when they are exposed to these levels.”. Kingston residents and students, staff, and faculty of the Bard Community Science Lab are conducting the monitoring. Website by, Leeds, Grenville and Lanark District Health Unit, Please see our Health Home homepage for changes to services, How to Take a Water Sample – YouTube Video, Ministry of Environment and Climate Change – Licensed Labs in Ontario, Where to Pick Up Bottles for Private Water Testing. Bard College Center for the Study of Land, Air and Water Director Dr. Eli Dueker installing the MetOne 212-2 particle profiler atop the Andy Murphy Neighborhood Center in Midtown Kingston. What people may not know is that these polluting technologies not only are terrible for human health but also are major contributors to climate change,” Farina says. Dueker says the partnership is a first for both Bard and the city. Adobe Acrobat Reader format. “We hear a lot of course, about greenhouse gases, which is, it’s important; we need to hear about those and we need to mitigate those, but the second major force in climate change is black carbon, which is produced by biomass burning and wood burning, in particular.”. The microbiology section checks for bacterial organisms that can be found primarily in water. So we’re able to look at how, the way that we’ve changed our lives for COVID has shifted particulate matter in our air.". People who live in one neighborhood may be affected by, let’s say, a heating system or a choice of fuel, from a business or from a residence, and the people who live in that neighborhood may be affected for blocks and have very poor air quality whereas people who live just maybe 20 blocks away might not,” says Farina. Negative health impacts include increased respiratory symptoms and disease; chronic bronchitis and decreased lung function, especially for people with asthma. “And, because we talk a lot about developing as a sustainable city, but if we’re not able to actually measure whether or not the decisions we make are working, it just means we’re missing out on an opportunity to get better at that.”.