June Water Testing

Last week I went out and collected our twelve water samples for the month of June.  The water was much lower everywhere, and in some places there was grass growing right where we had sampled from last month!  Shannyn and Eden couldn't make it this time, so I roped my trusty fiance into coming along.  Two orange vests are better than one!

I noticed a lot more fish, frogs, tadpoles, and snails than the last time we were out.  It must have to do with the water being more shallow.  I scooped up a bunch of snails that were just floating on top of the water at one site, thinking they were dead.  I took pictures of them, and when I went to pour them back into the water, they had suctioned onto the plastic pitcher.  I guess they were just floating the river until I came along!  We saw a beautiful crane, but by the time I took the picture, it had flown just past the viewfinder...leaving me with a picture of a crane...the irony!  We also saw a gorgeous blue heron, lots of geese, and some other very pretty, very noisy, unidentified water birds.

After a marathon dash of collecting samples, we went back to Shannyn's house to set up the cultures.  She and Eden took over from there, and handled the incubation and coliform counts.  Not surprisingly, we saw more coliform contamination with this set.  The weather is getting warmer, the water is getting shallower, and the E. coli are living large!

On Wednesday this week Shannyn and I are going to visit the Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District, where I will finally meet Kelly Jimenez who has been leading us on this project.  Then on Saturday from 9am until noon we will all be down at Occoquan, volunteering to help interested folk test the water that comes from their river.  We will end the day with the 4th Annual Duck Splash, a fun event where rubber duckies are purchased and set loose along the Occoquan River (race begins at 1:30pm) in a race to the finish line!