Procedures for Sampling River Water

Before the samples are filtered, they are gathered using the following guidelines.

General Guidelines

• Collect sample from a representative part of the stream
  • near the center of the channel
  • below the surface of the water
• Some Possible Sources of Sample Contamination
  • You (salts on fingers, coughing, etc.)
  • Atmosphere (airborne particles)
  • Clothing, etc.
• Try not to disturb the sediments
• Wear clean polyethylene gloves
• Keep hands away from the bottle opening
• Position boat/yourself to the side of sampling site
• Rinse the sample bottle 3 times in the stream and dump the water downstream
• Collect the sample and cap the bottle
• Store the samples out of direct sunlight in a cool, dark place

• Sample name
• Date and time
• Record sampling location on a map
• Make sketches and/or take photographs of the sample site
• Who was there and who sampled
• Weather, including any storms that might affect current conditions
• Where you sampled (position in the stream, depth, etc.)
• Width of the stream/river
• Vegetation along the banks
• Local sources of additional variable input (another stream, pipe, etc.)
• Note Anything unusual

Measure pH, water temperature, turbidity(transparency), alkalinity, dissolved oxygen, sulfate, nitrate, cloud cover, cloud type and air temperature

Quality control - indicates"cleanliness" of sampling procedure

• Field blank
  • carry blank with other sample bottles
  • once in field, open and close with gloved hands as you would with a sample
  • store with other samples