Agricultural Water Test Sample Drop-Off Sites in Western NY
Robert Hadad, Extension Vegetable Specialist
Cornell Vegetable Program

If you are curious about the quality of your irrigation ponds, streams, wells, or other surface water source, water testing is an important tool to consider. If your buyer wants you to get an audit and be certified under GAPs, Harmonized GAPs, or other third-party program, water testing becomes a requirement. Water testing that provides meaningful results requires a quantified generic E. coli test or an Enumeration E coli test. Some water testing labs only do a potable water test called a presence/absence test. The Enumeration test provides test results as in numbers of (bacterial) colony forming units (CFU or most probable number MPN). Having a number allows you to track the results with a comparable baseline. Each water source should be tested 3-4 times a season and do this each growing season.
Sampling should occur early in the season then again before key harvest times during the season. So, for example, if your first harvest is in late June, sample early June, then in again in early/mid-July, early/mid-August, and if there are significant crops, like leafy greens going into the fall and irrigation is still needed, then sample in mid-September. Sampling could be done after a large rain event where a lot of runoff gets into your water sources. During real dry spells, if pond levels drop a lot, test then too.
Water samples need to be kept cool and tested within 8 hours of when the sample bottle was filled. This is critical! Many counties don't have local water labs that can do these tests and getting them to other labs can mean hours on the road. One solution here in WNY comes from water test sample drop-off sites; refer to the PDF listing of locations. Specific instructions can be found along with the sample bottles at each site. Pay the fee (ranges from ~$50-$60 each), get the bottle(s), fill out the form, follow the sample instructions, and get the bottles back to the drop-off site before 9:00 am on the day of the week specific to that location.
- Drop-off/pick-up sites have been set up in a number of locations across the region by Lozier Environmental Consulting in Rochester. Water test sample bottles, forms, and information are available at each site. For quantitative generic E. coli water testing (farm food safety) use the Enumeration test option. There are other water tests available for farm and home: well water tests, chemical, and others. The lists can be found with the forms and bottles at the sites.
- If you are in Ontario County, contact Nancy Anderson at the CCE Ontario County office in Canandaigua at 585.394.3977 x427. You can pick up the supplies (forms, bottles, instructions, and takes payment) at the CCE office. You will be required to take your sample(s) to a drop-off site in Canandaigua; the bottles will be picked up and delivered to Life Science Labs in Syracuse for analysis.
Agricultural Water Test Sample Drop-Off Sites in Western NY (pdf; 286KB)
- Download the PDF for a list of locations and drop-off deadlines.


Upcoming Events
2025 New York State Potato School

February 11 - February 12, 2025
Waterloo, NY
This year's program will feature speakers covering critically important topics like disease management, updates in storage techniques, new varieties, and other production management practices. New for this year will be the Processor Panel where guests will have the chance to interact with some of the major chip processors in the northeast. Your participation will also earn you DEC and CCA points.
Remote Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) Training
February 12, 2025
Join Cornell Cooperative Extension of Orange and Oneida Counties, the Cornell Vegetable Program, Harvest NY, and the Eastern NY Horticulture Team on Feb. 12 for a remote Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) training. Good Agricultural Practices is a voluntary food safety audit program requiring minimum standards for the production, handling, packing, and storing of fresh fruits and vegetables, and is required by some buyers. Trainers will cover food safety best management practices related to worker training, preharvest assessments and wildlife management, water testing, postharvest handling, hygienic equipment design and efficient wash-pack setups, how to write a farm food safety plan, and more. The training will follow the USDA GAPs audit checklist so that farms will be prepared for an audit. A NYSDAM GAPs auditor will join us to discuss audit logistics and answer questions from participants. Following the course, we will offer a series of virtual office hours to follow up with course participants to assist them with writing their farm food safety plan, which is mandatory for the GAPs audit. Participants will receive a certificate of course completion after the training.
Food Safety Lunch and Learn Webinar Series
February 11, 2025 : Part One: What's Going on with Food Safety?
NYS Department of Agriculture and Markets FSMA inspectors are expected to step up farm visits this season. Why are they showing up on the farm asking about FSMA? Aren't we exempt? This noontime hour we will discuss the purpose of the farm visits and what produce farmers need to know.
February 18, 2025 : Part Two: What Counts as Food Processing?
In this session, we will discuss what counts as processing and what doesn't. Stories of inspectors coming to farmers markets and auctions telling some growers certain products can't be sold usually without much explanation. We will try to make some sense of things and clear up some misunderstandings so hopefully the upcoming season goes smoothly.
February 25, 2025 : Part Three: Traceability - Benefits for Food Safety and Beyond
Can having a traceback process for your produce (and other farm products) make good business sense regardless of FSMA regulations? We will (try to) make the case for farms to have some sort of traceability mechanism in place.