Sampling The Wabash | Claudia Benitez

Last Friday, I participated in the Wabash River Sampling Blitz alongside one of our newest ambassadors, Brittany McAdams. The sampling blitz is a volunteer event that has been put on by the Wabash River Enhancement Corporation since 2009 in order to assess water quality in the Wabash River watershed. We were assigned a location, which involved driving to three different sites in order to find and sample three different access points for this location. Fortunately, we were graced with fabulous weather and were able to enjoy venturing the back roads of West Lafayette with the windows down and warm breeze caressing our faces. When arriving at each location, finding access points to the streams involved miniature hikes through bushes, shrubs, and hill slopes. We measured water temperature and turbidity and collected water samples from each stream. When we returned to Celery Bog, we tested the nitrate, nitrite, pH and phosphate levels of our samples and then recorded them on a large color-coded map where all the other samplers would also document their findings. Needless to say, we had a blast and were sad when our time pretending to be professional water quality testers came to an end. Through the College of Ag, we are kept up to date on neat upcoming events and opportunities like this. The Wabash River Sampling Blitz is an activity I definitely recommend participating in; not only was it loads of fun, but it also helps maintain important and current water quality data for the Wabash.