Ground Monitoring

Zalco Laboratories is designated by the California State Water Board as a Contractor to perform property owner requested water quality sampling for Oil and Gas Production Areas per California Senate Bill 4. 

Established in 1979, Zalco Laboratories, Inc. began by providing state-wide product and environmental testing solutions for the California petroleum and power industries. We currently perform inorganic, organic, wet chemistry, gases, and petroleum testing at our laboratory in Bakersfield, CA. We have trained field sampling technicians in Bakersfield and Ventura, California.

Four qualifications make us relevant to developing and managing water resource analytical testing programs during oil and natural gas development:

  1. Zalco is certified through the State of California Environmental Laboratory Accreditation Program (ELAP) for drinking and wastewater testing, ensuring strict Quality Control, laboratory procedures, and data deliverables which conform to state and federal (EPA) standards.
  2. Zalco has worked with and provided legally defensible test data for DOGGR, BLM, Water Boards, Air Pollution Control Districts, and municipal / county agencies throughout California.
  3. Zalco has performed thousands of water-related environmental tests for petroleum, industrial, agricultural, and municipal clients:
    • Groundwater
    • Drinking Water (with low detection limits)
    • Drilling and Completion (Fracturing) Fluids Disposal / Injection (with high TDS and salinity)
    • Geological Formation and Produced Water
    • Industrial Wastewater
    • Storm Water Discharge
    • Hazardous Waste Characterization

4)      Zalco has worked with clients, industry groups, and regulatory agencies to develop appropriate test packages. We know what matrices to evaluate and what parameters to monitor with a testing program.

5)   Zalco’s field technicians are experienced in field observation and sampling protocols as outlined in SB-4.