Many Nova Scotians are continuing to wait for well water test results, thanks to a surge in demand following the recent wildfires.
Advised by the province to test their water after returning to evacuation zones, some residents are asking why results are taking days or weeks to return.
Provincial labs say they are working flat-out to deal with it.
Anyone with a positive bacteria test like coliform or E-Coli is generally alerted with a phone call within 48-hours, but detailed reports are taking much longer.
"Everybody's going to be busier than they are now," plumber Lonny Wright told CTV News Wednesday.
“Everybody's fairly maxed out as it is, and now, with all this, people are going to have to be patient."
Testing has significantly ramped-up at the Nova Scotia Health Provincial Lab, which does all chemical water testing in the province.
While some samples have come back positive for bacteria, officials say no obvious trends have emerged from the extra tests they've processed, and they don't log that information anyway.
“A lot of those results go back to the end user and they'll be discussing those results with Nova Scotia Environment to actually figure out if there is something wrong with their water," said Randy Veinotte, the N.S. Esoteric Lab Manager.
"It's really up to Nova Scotia Environment to help the individuals if they're having issues with their water to try and figure out what they need to do," said Veinotte.
“I think the most important thing for anyone who was either evacuated or that's considered in that fire area, is for them to know that the province is offering free water testing for them."
Private labs have also been recruited to help.
AGAT Laboratories in Dartmouth has assembled and distributed thousands of kits.
"We've sent out 3150 kits to sites around the province: Tantallon, Barrington, Yarmouth,
Shelburne," said Pam Reyno, the company's quality assurance & eastern general manager.
"A lot of kits have gone out. We've got about a thousand of those kits back at this point," she said.
Some of them are being sent to testing facilities as far away as Ontario and Alberta.
Like the provincial lab, the company says no obvious trends have emerged from the testing, but customers should generally consider no news to be good news.
"It's still a little early to be able to speak to the data itself,” said Reyno.
"But, if there are any positive micro-samples at this point, anyone within 48 hours of submitting it would have heard if they do have any positives. So, if people have submitted their bottles, and they haven't heard back, then chances are they do not have a positive result for their micro, but the chemistry results are still in the review stage, so we wouldn't be able to speak to that yet," she said.
On Wednesday, the department tweeted that testing kits will no longer be available at the Saint Margarets Centre in Tantallon, but residents could still pick them up and return them to individual labs, and the province would continue to cover the cost.
The department lists water testing labs on its website.
