WATER QUALITY SAMPLING PROCEDURES

The University of Idaho has standardized two different sampling packages for water quality monitoring stations. One set is for instream, Snake River, and the other package is for the canal systems. The instream package consists of seven field measurements and nine laboratory parameters. The instream package field measurements are air and water temperature, electrical conductivity (EC), pH, dissolved oxygen (DO) Secchi Disk, and flow. The laboratory parameters for the collected samples are total suspended solids, nitrogen as nitrite and nitrate, nitrogen as total Kjeldahl nitrogen, total phosphorous, phosphorus as dissolved ortho phosphate, turbidity, five day biological oxygen demand, chlorophyll-a and transparency. The canal package includes all the above except Secchi disk, transparency, five day biological oxygen demand, and chlorophyll-a.

A quality control and assurance program is used to confirm sampling and analysis methods. A duplicate set of samples, a set of samples containing only D/D water, and a set of samples containing a spied solution are taken from a chosen site to be compared to the regular sample.

The stations are typically monitored on a bi-weekly basis. The Snake River is monitored the entire year while the canals are monitored during the irrigation season which is from approximately May 1 to Oct. 1.

The steps involved in water sampling at the University of Idaho Research Center in Kimberly include:

A. Before leaving Kimberly property:

• Calibrate pH and EC meters using standard solutions
• Calibrate DO meter, allow ample time for instrument to warm up and stabilize
• Load all supplies into vehicle. Supplies include: 1 liter plastic cubicontainers, 40 ml plastic vials, 60 ml plastic syringes, 47 mm plastic filter holders housing 45 micron filter membranes. Other supplies include field sheets, two coolers with ice, splitting churn (bucket, churn, and valve), dipping bucket, Secchi disk, staff gage, tools, boots, and current meter

B. After gaining access and arriving at the instream sampling site, the following procedures are performed:

• Note arrival conditions, site information, and label information on field sheets
• Set out cubicontainers, vials, filter, and syringe
• Expand cubicontainers by blowing into them, using special mouthpiece for container containing H₂SO₄
• Place air thermometer in the shade
• Triple rinse the dipping bucket and churn splitter downstream of the sampling point
• Collect ten to fifteen gallons of water sample volume in churn splitter with the dipping bucket
• Triple rinse containers used for pH and EC field measurements
• Rinse outside of churn spout with rinse water from containers
• Quickly churn sample and extract 20-30 ml for pH and EC field measurements
• Place pH and EC meters in containers containing sample water, allow time for instrument stabilization before reading
• Churn sample and extract 1 liter TSS cubicontainer sample (blue dot)
• Churn sample and extract 1 liter Nitrogen series (N) cubicontainer sample (yellow dot)
• Churn sample and extract 1 liter chlorophyll-a cubicontainer sample twice (location name on containers)
• Churn sample and extract 1 liter BOD cubicontainer sample (orange dot)
• Churn sample and extract 40 ml turbidity vial sample
• Churn sample and extract syringe volume, empty syringe, refill and rinse filter and PO4 /NO3+NO2 vial
• Fill vial with filtered water taking care to not let unfiltered water from top or sides of filter get into vial. Dirty water may plug the filter and require more than one filter be used. Rinse each new filter before putting filtered water into vial
• Insert DO meter in remaining sample in churn splitter, agitate water until reading stabilizes, and record DO
• Record all field parameters on field sheet
• Place all samples on ice in coolers
• Rinse instrument probes with D/D water before preparing for transport
• Collect flow data by sticking check boards, reading staff gages, or current metering stream. Flow data for Snake River and tributaries is available from USGS
• Complete Secchi disk reading
• Place DO meter probe in stream and take an in-situ reading

C. Upon arriving back at Kimberly lab:

• Place BOD, chlorophyll-a, and turbidity containers into cooler, remaining samples will be shipped to US Bureau of Reclamation Pacific Northwest Regional Laboratory in Boise via a local freight company offering overnight delivery
• Place spiking solution containing 2000 mg/L of nitrite nitrogen, 1000 mg/L of ammonia nitrogen, and 500 mg/L of total phosphorous into cubicontainer containing field samples
• Shake to mix spiked sample and extract syringe volume for PO4 and NO3+NO2 vial sample using process defined above
• Complete field sheets
• Place two copies of field sheets with return shipping labels into freezer bag and place bag into cooler containing ice and samples
• Prepare cooler for shipping and deliver to shipping agent