Pennsylvania American Water was among the 15 public water systems that used the Vermont laboratory that the state Department of Environmental Protection announced on Tuesday it is banning from conducting raw water quality tests.

The state immediately suspended the accreditation of Analytical Services Inc . of Williston, Vt., and issued the lab a notice of violation for failing to ensure the accuracy of the analytical data generated and reported, and for failing to meet the test method requirements for testing and analyzing microbiology drinking water samples.

The following is a statement released by Pennsylvania American about this turn of events to reassure customers of its public water system that their water is safe:

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First, it's important to note the test results handled by ASI Labs were raw water analysis, and does not involve the finished, treated water that we supply to customers. What's more, the source waters for Pennsylvania American Water plants have historically shown very low and non-detectable levels of such contaminants as cryptosporidium.

"Certainly, we are concerned that a lab providing these tests has lost its certification, and we have already started the process of switching to another accredited lab to ensure that our compliance testing is handled properly.

"Most important, we closely monitor and test the water quality through our entire treatment process, and Pennsylvania American Water has always been in compliance with state and federal regulations to provide our customer with water that meets the highest quality standards."