TITLE X
PUBLIC HEALTH
Chapter 131
LABORATORY OF HYGIENE
Section 131:1
131:1 Purposes. –
The department of health and human services may establish, equip, and operate a laboratory or laboratories with such expert assistants and such facilities as are necessary for routine examinations and analyses and for original investigations and research in matters affecting public health.
Source. 1901, 23:1. PL 127:1. RL 149:1. 1943, 118:1, par. 1. RSA 131:1. 1983, 291:1, I. 1995, 310:181, eff. Nov. 1, 1995.
Section 131:2
131:2 Investigations. –
They shall make investigations and analyses of foods and drugs offered for sale in our markets with a view of discovering adulterated, misbranded and unhealthful or unsafe products and shall make investigations concerning food sanitation, the disposal of sewage and similar matters of sanitation and shall enforce the laws relative to all such matters. They shall conduct such toxicological investigations as may be requested by the attorney general or by county attorneys. They may employ such clerical and technical personnel as may be necessary.
Source. 1901, 23:2. 1925, 45:1. PL 127:2. RL 149:2. 1943, 118:1, par. 2, eff. April 15, 1943.
Section 131:3
131:3 Testing of Water Supplies. –
They shall make periodic inspections and analyses of the public water supplies of the state and any special investigations thereof that may be called for; also, when requested or as may be deemed by them necessary or expedient in the interests of the public health, make inspections or analyses of sources furnishing water to institutions, schools, hotels, camps, other places of public resort and individuals, and advise in connection with the same; and they shall enforce the laws pertaining to water supply and to the sanitation of public waters.
Source. 1901, 23:4. 1925, 60:1. PL 127:4. RL 149:4. 1943, 118:1, par. 3, eff. April 15, 1943.
Section 131:3-a
131:3-a Fee Required. –
Notwithstanding the provisions of RSA 131:4, the commissioner of the department of health and human services shall collect a fee for analyses made pursuant to RSA 131:3 on the following schedule:
I. Fees for analyses required by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act or offered as a service shall be set by following the cost allocation method established for reimbursements to the state from grants funded by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
(a) Fees for analyses offered as a service shall be set from the following schedule:
| (1) Agricultural Pesticides | $200 |
| (2) Alkalinity | $ 15 |
| (3) Ammonia | $ 30 |
| (4) Asbestos | $ 35 |
| (5) Bacteria as cts/100mL (all types) | $ 20 |
| (6) Bacteria as MPN (all types) | $ 30 |
| (7) Bacteria as P/A (all types) | $ 15 |
| (8) Biosuitability | $145 |
| (9) Biochemical Oxygen Demand | $ 35 |
| (10) Carbamates | $120 |
| (11) Chloride | $ 12 |
| (12) Chlorine Residual | $ 16 |
| (13) Chlorophenoxy Herbicides | $130 |
| (14) Cyanide | $ 35 |
| (15) Diquat | $125 |
| (16) Ethylene dibromide/Dibromochloropropane | $ 75 |
| (17) Fluoride | $ 12 |
| (18) Glycols | $150 |
| (19) Glyphosate | $100 |
| (20) Gross Alpha | $ 60 |
| (21) Haloacetic Acids | $100 |
| (22) Heterotropic Plate Count | $ 25 |
| (23) Iron Bacteria | $ 25 |
| (24) Metals (each) | $ 15 |
| (25) Metals Preparation Charge | $ 20 |
| (26) Methyl-tert-butyl ether | $ 75 |
| (27) Nitrate | $ 12 |
| (28) Nitrite | $ 12 |
| (29) Oil __ampersand__ Grease (HEM) | $ 60 |
| (30) pH | $ 9 |
| (31) PolyaromaticHydrocarbons | $150 |
| (32) Phosphorus (all forms) | $ 20 |
| (33) Radium 226 | $150 |
| (34) Radon | $ 25 |
| (35) Semivolatile Compounds | $225 |
| (36) Solids (all forms) | $ 30 |
| (37) Special Study (per hour) | $ 50 |
| (38) Specific Conductance | $ 10 |
| (39) Sulfate | $ 20 |
| (40) Sulfide | $ 20 |
| (41) Thermometer Calibration | $ 15 |
| (42) Total Organic Carbon | $ 40 |
| (43) Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen | $ 25 |
| (44) Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (DRO) | $125 |
| (45) Total Petroleum Hydrocarbons (GRO) | $125 |
| (46) Total Trihalomethanes | $ 75 |
| (47) Toxaphene | $ 75 |
| (48) Turbidity | $ 12 |
| (49) Uranium (activity) | $150 |
| (50) UV-254 | $ 30 |
| (51) Volatile Organic Compounds | $120 |
(b) Fees for analyses of the following special parameter groupings required by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act shall be:
| (1) Drinking Water Bacteria | $ 15 |
| (2) Haloacetic Acids | $100 |
| (3) Inorganic Chemicals | $335 |
| (4) Inorganic Chemicals (new system) | $395 |
| (5) Lead/Copper | $ 30 |
| (6) Nitrate/Nitrite | $ 12 |
| (7) Radiological Chemicals | $ 75 |
| (8) Synthetic Organic Chemicals | $650 |
| (9) Total Trihalomethanes | $ 75 |
| (10) Volatile Organic Compounds | $120 |
| (11) Water Quality Parameters | $ 40 |
(c) Fees for analyses of the following parameters in support of the department's private homeowner initiative shall be:
| (1) Bacteria/Nitrate/Chloride | $ 30 |
| (2) Drinking Water Bacteria | $ 15 |
| (3) Fluoride | $ 12 |
| (4) Methyl-tert-butyl ether | $ 60 |
| (5) Radon | $ 20 |
| (6) Standard Analysis | $ 85 |
| (7) Homeowner Radiologicals | $ 80 |
| (8) Volatile Organic Compounds | $120 |
II. All such fees collected by the commissioner of the department of health and human services from federal or state grants or from other state agencies shall be credited against the operating costs of the laboratory. Fees collected from public or private clients shall be deposited with the state treasurer as unrestricted revenue, with the exception that 50 percent of every analysis fee shall be deposited with the state treasurer and reserved in a special nonlapsing fund to be used by the commissioner of the department of health and human services for the purchase of replacement or new laboratory equipment designed to improve service. The commissioner may, with prior approval of the governor and council, use funds in the nonlapsing account for unanticipated personnel or supply expenditures made necessary by unexpected changes in or additions to federal or state required laboratory analyses, or unusual volume of samples.
Source. 1977, 600:56. 1979, 434:25. 1981, 447:1. 1983, 469:89. 1986, 202:6, I(i). 1989, 408:13. 1990, 3:72. 1995, 198:1. 1999, 172:1. 2007, 263:34. 2011, 224:95, 96, eff. July 1, 2011.
Section 131:4
131:4 Service; Reimbursements; Rulemaking. –
The commissioner of the department of health and human services shall adopt rules pursuant to RSA 541-A relative to a list of laboratory services to be provided under this chapter and a schedule of fees for such services. The fees may be waived by the commissioner when the commissioner determines it is in the best interests of the health of the public to do so. Fees collected under this section shall be forwarded to the state treasurer to be deposited in the general fund.
Source. 1901, 23:5. PL 127:6. 1935, 59:1. RL 149:6. 1943, 118:1, par. 4. RSA 131:4. 1986, 198:10. 1995, 308:26; 310:182, 183. 2003, 319:90, eff. Jan. 1, 2004.
Section 131:5
131:5 Contracts for Outside Services. –
They may enter into contracts with laboratories in localities accessible to the various portions of the state for the prompt examination of specimens received from local health officers or physicians and for an immediate report on such examinations, at the expense of the state, provided that all laboratories shall conform to the standards of efficiency as adopted by rules by the department of health and human services, and that the director, bacteriologist or pathologist in charge of such examinations shall possess such educational and technical qualifications as the commissioner of the department of health and human services shall establish by rule. No obligation shall be incurred by the department of health and human services relative to the examinations in excess of the sums made available for them.
Source. 1943, 118:1, par. 5. RSA 131:5. 1983, 291:1, I. 1985, 190:38. 1995, 310:181-183, eff. Nov. 1, 1995.
Section 131:5-a
131:5-a Rulemaking. –
The commissioner of the department of health and human services shall adopt rules, pursuant to RSA 541-A, relative to:
I. Standards of efficiency for laboratories under RSA 131:5.
II. The educational and technical qualifications of the commissioner, bacteriologist, or pathologist in charge of examinations under RSA 131:5.
III. [Repealed.]
Source. 1985, 190:37. 1995, 310:182, 183. 2012, 171:26, III, eff. Aug. 10, 2012.
Section 131:6
131:6 Bulletin. –
They may publish in a bulletin the results of the analytical work done in said laboratory, naming fraudulent and adulterated articles of food found on sale in this state, together with such other information relating to sanitary matters as they may deem advisable.
Source. 1901, 23:4. PL 127:7. RL 149:7. 1943, 118:1 par. 6, eff. April 15, 1943.