Hach Company, a subsidiary of Veralto, manufactures and distributes analytical instruments and reagents used to test the quality of water and other liquid solutions. Manufactured and distributed worldwide, Hach systems are designed to simplify analysis by offering on-line instrumentation, portable laboratory equipment, prepared reagents, easy-to-follow methods, and technical support.

Hach’s global headquarters in Loveland, Colorado, houses research and development laboratories, instrument manufacturing operations, and the Hach Technical Training Center. Hach has an additional facility in Ames, Iowa, for manufacturing and packaging Hach's chemical reagents and test kits.

Hach Company was founded in 1947, in Ames, Iowa, by Clifford and Kathryn Hach. Clifford Hach was a chemist and an inventor. The couple experienced their first business success through the development of a simplified titration method for measuring hardness in drinking water. As the product line expanded to include more parameters and instruments, the company continued to “bring analytical chemistry out of the laboratory and put it into the workplace and in the hands of the general public.” Initially, Kathryn Hach began marketing to municipal drinking water plants through direct mail.

The company was originally a partnership. In 1968, it was reincorporated in Delaware as Hach Chemical Co., with Clifford Hach president and treasurer and Kathryn Hach as vice-president. Later that year, Hach went public, raising $1.7 million with the sale of a small minority of the shares. Most of the money was used to build and equip a new chemical manufacturing plant in Ames.

In 1970, Hach was manufacturing and marketing a line of instruments designed to determine specific water impurities. It was also manufacturing a manometric apparatus that measured the biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) of sewage and industrial wastes in lakes, rivers, and streams.

Hach was also manufacturing and selling more than 100 different portable water test kits for laboratory and field use. These kits were employed in water and sewage treatment, water conditioning, cooling towers, wildlife conservation, and boiler water. They usually included specially formulated chemical reagents in the form of small powder packets. Test results were achieved by visual comparison of samples against color standards after adding the prescribed reagents. The directions were designed for people without technical backgrounds to conduct tests. The first of Clifford Hach's 10-item criteria for company products was, "Can be used by anyone who can read”.

The demand for testing products grew as legislation was introduced mandating water quality standards, such as the Clean Water Act of 1977. Hach also focused on converting complex analysis into simplified procedures that were reliable and verifiable. These standard methods were compiled into Hach’s Water Analysis Handbook.

In 1977, Clifford Hach took the position of chairman and chief executive officer, and Kathryn Hach became president and chief operating officer the following year. In 1978, Hach moved its instrument division and its corporate headquarters to Loveland, Colorado. Hach Chemical Co. became Hach Company in 1980.