Testing the waters with the Riverkeepers

Posted on by Kat Kavanagh
Meredith on my left, Meaghan on my right. Meaghan brought me an extra neck warmer and mitts... Lucky too, since with the wind and spray, it was freezing!
Meredith on my left, Meaghan on my right. Meaghan brought me an extra neck warmer and mitts… Lucky too, since with the wind and spray, it was freezing!

On Wednesday, Meaghan Murphy and Meredith Brown from the Ottawa Riverkeepers took me out with them for one last boat trip. They wanted to help me test the waters and our app (which worked so well!) and then to get interviewed by Rogers Television about a day in the life of the Ottawa Riverkeepers.

Testing the waters

The testers! I love testing!
The testers! I love testing!

We got the monitoring equipment out, and recorded the data live.

It worked much better:

  • Compressing the form made it a pleasure to go through and submit data. It will be the basis for our version 2 form 😀
  • Seeing the trends near us and going back to observations we made in August was really fun
  • Editing an observation to add details was pretty awesome
  • It’s SOOOO much quicker!

We caught a few things too:

  • Conductivity wasn’t submitting properly
  • When I went back to the map, it automatically showed all of Ottawa when I wanted it to find me
  • It’s not easy to see details on the graphs on your phone
  • Uploading photos can still be a problem, and sometimes I want to add two photos!
  • I wanted to be more specific about the mammal I saw (a doe!)
We saw a doe at the entrance to Brewery Creek. This land is some of the only old-growth trees in the Ottawa area.
We saw a doe at the entrance to Brewery Creek. This land is some of the only old-growth trees in the Ottawa area.
This is regular milfoil, not invasive European. I can't wait to teach people how to tell the difference (hint, count the rungs... more than 12 and it's European)
This is regular milfoil, not invasive European. I can’t wait to teach people how to tell the difference (hint, count the rungs… more than 12 and it’s European)

Interviewing the Riverkeeper

Rogers sent a camera guy to do a ‘day in the life’ of the Riverkeeper. I spoke about the tool we’re developing for them, and Meredith spoke about different concerns they have about the river, including sewage overflow, shoreline alterations and their goal to make a drinkable, swimmable, fishable river system. I learned about the great improvements the City of Ottawa is making on the river.

Meredith getting interviewed (Photo by Meaghan Murphy)
Meredith getting interviewed (Photo by Meaghan Murphy)

Unusually high conductivity!

We went around and did some more testing. Meaghan and I were checking for nitrates/nitrites too, but the test strips aren’t sensitive enough to pick up any levels, unfortunately. We then went to a storm drain and tested the water there. The conductivity was off the charts (around 1500!). Normal levels should be well below 500 (the normal limit for fish-life), and the main river body was measuring in the 60s, meaning this water was 25 times more conductive. High conductivity could be an indicator of pollution, metals or other materials (although some water is naturally highly conductive). I can’t wait to establish more test sites to determine unusual readings.

Meaghan, the Ottawa Riverkeeper's Science Officer gets a water sample for us to test. The levels for nitrates didn't show up, but it was 17 degrees versus the river temperature of 13, plus very very high conductivity levels. This water had been in pipes under the city, which is the cause of these differences.
Meaghan, the Ottawa Riverkeeper’s Science Officer, gets a water sample for us to test. The levels for nitrates didn’t show up, but it was 17 degrees versus the river temperature of 13, plus very very high conductivity levels. This water had been in pipes under the city, which is the cause of these differences.