Thu, Jun 5 2008 - Alberta Water Quality Awareness Day (View Original Event Details)
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We were the object of some confused looks from bystanders, as we walked along Mill Creek wearing rubber gloves, taking and testing our water samples. And unfortunately, some of these bystanders contributed to the evening not being as enjoyable for one of us. But I hope we all at least had a lot of fun learning a bit about water science for a couple of hours. We sampled the water along Mill Creek at 3 locations near the Argyll Velodrome and at 2 locations north of Whyte Avenue, testing everything from fast moving water to moderately stagnant water to water flowing out of a culvert into the creek. We found that the water pH and dissolved oxygen content was relatively stable (pH 8, dissolved oxygen 4 ppm), and within the range that is expected to support living things in the water. (I can't speak for everyone, but knowing that makes me sleep a little better at night!). The water was a bit turbid (cloudy) ... but that's not necessarily bad. Although some of us hoped for a dramatic change in measurements at one of the locations ("pH 9, pH9!") - just to see a result that was a little different coming out of our tests - I think we're all equally relieved that we didn't find that Mill Creek was that polluted.
Have some photos from this event that you'd like to share in our photo album? Please forward them to Mark G at photos@edmontonoutdoorclub.com. If you have a LOT of photos, please submit up to thirty of your favourites (only) for a day event, or up to sixty of your favourites for a multi-day event. Thank you.