Taking a Trip to the River

The day before taking a trip to the river, it is was essential to soak the nitrate and ammonium probes for 30 minutes as well as select 10 random numbers which would be our water testing sites. It was also necessary to ready all the equipment which included:

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1. Benthic: net, tweezers, magnifying glass, tray for bugs, white sheet, marker, clipboard, tally sheet

2. Phosphate: glass beaker, (2) volumetric flask, phosphate packets, (2) syringe, (2) colorimeters, (3) clear  cuvette, cuvette with distilled water

3. Probes: (2) flow rates, record, temperature probe and spare, pH probe, (2) conductivity probes, (10) sample bottles, (10) BOD bottles, (3) tables, (4) distilled water, (5) Labquests, (2) towels (box) Kimwipes, bacteria collection bottle.

 

      The common mistake we made was leaving labquests and an occasional piece of equipment back in the classroom. We organized boxes with a color and checklists that included all the equipment needed for each test.The packing process is completed the day before the trip to the river.

Once we arrived at the river, we broke into preassigned research teams: benthic collection and analysis, chemical testing, and water collection. In order to find where the water collection took place a grid was created which had 30 potential testing sites. Each time we went to the creek we selected 10 randomly generated numbers using a calculator.

      During that time, the people responsible for the chemical testing set up their workstations on the bank of the river, consisting of portable tables, specific probes, LabQuests, beakers, distilled water and any other materials needed to complete the chemical tests. Also, the group responsible for benthic collection and analysis use a net to collect a sample, followed by a close inspection of the benthic organisms collected in order to calculate a benthic score for the river. The benthic testing site was chosen in a riffle downstream of the chemical testing sites.

      Water collected from the specific locations was tested for ammonia, nitrates, phosphate, DO, BOD, pH, turbidity, conductivity, and temperature, E.coli. The flow rate was tested in the same specific locations in the river where the chemical tests were done. In order to collect the BOD data, the water samples were collected in labeled bottles covered in aluminum foil so that it was not exposed to light. These samples were brought back to the classroom where they sat for a couple days and then tested for DO. Once all the data had been collected, we put all of our equipment back into the bus and was on our way! When we got back all the data was removed from the bus and carefully organized back into the classroom. Another successful day at the river.