MEMBERSHIP
Waterwise:
The Nebraska Public Health Environmental Laboratory
by Nancy Maddox, MPH, writer
Nebraska is a landlocked state, but the
Missouri River traces its eastern edge,
dozens of other waterways curl across
its hills and plains, and beneath its
77,000 square miles of loess, shale and
sandy soils lies one of the world’s largest
underground water reserves, the Ogallala
Aquifer—the source of much of the state’s
potable water. These liquid resources
are a boon to Nebraska, sustaining
communities, supporting local “Silicon
Prairie” high-tech entrepreneurs, and
growing $6.5 billion in annual agricultural
exports (mostly soybeans, corn and beef).
And it falls largely to one state entity to
assess the quality of these resources at
any given point in time: the Nebraska
Public Health Environmental Laboratory
(NPHEL). The entirely fee-based laboratory
tests municipal drinking water, private
well water, surface water, ground
water and industrial discharge waters,
measuring levels of harmful bacteria;
heavy metals, such as the arsenic,
selenium, uranium and manganese
that occur naturally in the environment
here; and nitrates, nutrients and other
chemicals that may be released by some
agricultural or industrial activities. In
addition to its own analytical work, the
NPHEL certifies five other water-testing
laboratories serving Nebraska’s 1.9 million
residents.
Facility
The controlled-access laboratory is
housed in a stand-alone redbrick building
that dates to the 1970s and sits along
the southwest edge of Lincoln, the
state capital. Originally, the building
contained four laboratories, but clinical
public health testing relocated to the
University of Nebraska Medical Center
campus and the crime laboratory to its
own building, which is affiliated with
the Nebraska State Patrol. Today, the
14,000-square-foot space occupied by
NPHEL includes administrative offices
and the laboratory’s metals program on
the first floor and customer service and
30
LAB MATTERS Winter 2020
Chemist III Thulani Senanayake, PhD, analyzes water for the presence of volatile chemicals. Photo: NPHEL
all other testing areas in the basement.
Over the years, NPHEL has gained two
building additions. And, about ten years
ago, the facility’s entire HVAC system was
updated. The only other building occupant
is the Nebraska Department of Agriculture
Laboratory.
Laboratory Manager
Mary Boden grew up in rural Tecumseh,
Nebraska, where a small historic
downtown gives way to the open plains.
After high school, she earned a degree
in biology from Nebraska Wesleyan
University and traveled to the US South
and to Europe with her military husband.
She came home to the plains in 1988
and began her career at the Nebraska
Department of Environmental Quality
in 1989, becoming lead chemist in 2008
and laboratory manager in 2013. “I never
dreamed I would be here this long,” said
Boden. “But I enjoy the work, the people
and the challenges.”
Staff
In addition to the laboratory manager,
quality assurance manager and IT analyst,
the NPHEL employs 13 full time workers—
ten analysts and three customer service
agents who handle the laboratory’s busy
walk-in business (currently, 9,000 private
clients), assemble and mail water test kits,
create test orders, distribute samples to
analysts, mail results reports and perform
data entry. In addition, there are two
temporary workers whom Boden would
like to make permanent. “We have a mix
of people,” she said. “Some have been here
for 35-plus years and others are new; not
too much in the middle.” Although Boden
anticipates some retirements in the near
future, the laboratory has no current
vacancies.
Revenue
The laboratory operates entirely on fee
income, typically about $2.1 million per
year. In FY 2019, the laboratory got an
unusual gift of $200,000 from its parent
agency, the Department of Health and
Human Services, earmarked for much-
needed laboratory equipment.
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@APHL
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