Written By: ShaSha Kingston, Photos By: Isaiah Johnson
Kate S. standing near the Malden River during morning golden hour holding a water sampling pole.
It's 6:30 am and Kate Adams and Kate Schassler are headed out to get their first water sample of the day! The sun is bouncing off the fall leaves casting a golden hue on the river, and the birds are chirping—one of the only sounds during such a quiet hour.
Kate Adams (left) and Kate Schassler (right). Photo Credit: ShaSha Kingston
MyRWA water quality monitors go out in pairs to collect samples every month. I joined Kate A. and Kate S. this morning to get the inside scoop on the monitoring program, what this work means to them, and why others should invest in these efforts.
Kate Adams is coming up on her 23rd year of water quality monitoring. She was part of the second-ever training session that MyRWA held, and she has been sampling along the Malden River ever since.
Kate Shassler has been a water quality monitor for only a couple months, but was previously a MyRWA summer fellow working on the back end of the water quality program to process the samples in the lab.
Kate A. and Kate S. start off by showing me the contents of their water quality monitoring kits— a sampling pole, collection bottles, a chemical kit, and a field note sheet.
“We used to have a sanitized bucket that we threw over a bridge [and brought back up] to collect the samples! Now the process is much different and streamlined to professional standards,” said Kate A as she explained how the process has changed.
Water quality monitoring supplies.
After gathering their materials, we head over to the river overhang to collect the water samples. Kate S. maneuvers the sampling pole while Kate A. rotates the various collection bottles on and off.
“When we first started, this site wasn’t as open. We used to sample from a factory parking lot (where now there are apartments), and we’d gather water samples from a steep shoreline. When construction began, we moved to the site we’re at now and a river front was developed. The river has changed quite a lot over the past 23 years,” says Kate A.
After all four water samples have been collected, a brief field processing of the samples begins. Kate S. checks the temperature of the water while Kate A. checks for any unusual odor or color.
“In the past, the water quality has been a light-tea color, but recently, the water samples have been coming back clear,” Kate A. says.
Kate S. then drops a couple different chemicals from the chemical kit into the “dissolved oxygen” water sample bottle. The solution quickly turns orange and triggers a chemical reaction that will fix the oxygen concentration of that sample.
Kate A. and Kate S. carefully place all the samples in a soft cooler with ice. They’ll soon head over to the MyRWA office and be one of 15 teams to deliver water samples this morning that will be processed, analyzed, and whose results will be acted upon.
Before wrapping up, I ask them both why people should invest in water quality monitoring efforts.
“Rivers are important and they belong to everyone,” says Kate S. “This is a way we can continue to facilitate and improve access to this resource so it’s healthy and safe for people.”
“I’ve seen the quality of the water improve over time with efforts from the watershed. The engagement of many has led to these improvements,” Kate A. says. “That’s a good reason to give— we all benefit from it!”
Kate S. holding a dissolved oxygen water sampling bottle.
If you’d like to support our water quality monitoring program, please donate for #GivingTuesday to help us reach our goal of $9,187.55 to fund 5 of our 15 monitoring sites!
