Testmark Laboratories Ltd.

What? Another tradeshow? You bet! We are delighted to participate in the joint Water Environment Association of Ontario (WEAO) and Ontario Water Works Association conference and tradeshow being held in lovely Niagara Falls. Drop by booth 218 if you are attending 🙂

Apparently, you can be in two places at the same time! Enjoying a lovely time at the Ontario Prospectors Exploration Showcase in fabulous Thunder Bay, and also participating at the CANECT environmental show in fantastic Vaughan! Please drop by to say hello if you are time travelling too 😊

A well-deserved night out for some of our hardworking Testmark team. Thanks to some complimentary tickets, these fans got to watch the Sudbury Wolves vs. the North Bay Battalion play some pretty feisty hockey this week. Because as they say, all work and no play.... Who won the game? Who cares! There were snacks and the atmosphere was just plain old fun! 😀

Fun times at the Ontario Ground Water Association AGM in lovely Ottawa. We are proud to highlight the wonderful testing packages available through our partnership with My Water Quality. Drop by and say hello if you are in town. Quality swag too - with wonderful seed packets of native wildflowers 🙂 What's not to love about that?

How can you quantify the impact of road salt on soil?  One way is to request a Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) test.  SAR is simply a measure of the ratio of sodium relative to calcium and magnesium.  High SAR levels in soil typically indicate a condition where plants are competing with salt for water, causing drought stress.  In addition, high levels of positively charged sodium particles repel clay particles and this results in soil that lacks structure and is susceptible to compaction - everything your plants don't like!   One simple test can avoid a failed gardening effort! 🤔

Organic testing often involves the class of organics known as "extractables". Examples of extractable organic tests include many herbicide and pesticide tests, as well as PCB and heavier petroleum hydrocarbons. Much of the quality of the data rests on the lab's ability to representatively extract the target compounds from a 1 litre sample (in the case of a liquid matrix) down to only a couple of milliliters! Very neat....but science aside, let's face it - we just like the fact that there is very cool glassware involved 😍

Let's start the year talking about QUALITY. If you are investing time and energy tending to an environmental sampling program, think about incorporating a quality control program (including trip blanks, field blanks, field duplicates and even spiked samples) to ensure you are confident in your data. Testmark has compiled a handy one-page reference document to help you understand the different elements of standard sampling QA/QC, what they are for, why they are valuable and how many you should include in a sampling event. Want a laminated copy for the field? Give any of our 5 labs a call and we'll get you set up 😎

Happy New Year! And remember to make like a proton and stay positive! Cheers 😀

Is it just us, or does this client bottle order remind you of the holiday season? And no, this wasn't staged! Field filtered DOC and total metals bottles apparently smack of Christmas. From the whole Testmark Team - Wishing everyone some comfort and joy over the holidays.

And the winner of Testmark's Employee "12-Days of Christmas" (Testmark-style) Challenge is....The Naughty List Team from our Garson Organic lab site! Congrats to all the fantastic entries!!! Made us smile and hohoho a fair bit 😊 For your enjoyment..... On the First Day in Organics Testmark Gave To Me…. Another Rush VOC On the Second Day in Organics Testmark Gave To Me…. Two Instrument Errors On the Third Day in Organics Testmark Gave To Me…. Three Carts of Dishes On the Fourth Day in Organics Testmark Gave To Me…. Four LIMS Updates On the Fifth Day in Organics Testmark Gave To Me…. Five mLs of Headspace On the Sixth Day in Organics Testmark Gave To Me…. Six Soxhlets Drippin' On the Seventh Day in Organics Testmark Gave To Me…. Seven Standards Expirin' On the Eighth Day in Organics Testmark Gave To Me…. Eight Coolers Comin' On the Ninth Day in Organics Testmark Gave To Me…. Nine Schedules Rollin' On the Tenth Day in Organics Testmark Gave To Me…. Ten Waters Shakin' On the Eleventh Day in Organics Testmark Gave To Me…. Eleven TCLPs Tumblin' On the Twelfth Day in Organics Testmark Gave To Me…. Twelve Hours of Runnin'