Another soggy Sunday

We have been having some serious rain here in Salem the past few weeks.  So much so in fact that many of the smaller streams and rivers around town have flood warnings in place.  I have driven past a few homes and business this week that are all sand bagged and ready to go!  I checked the creek behind our house and noticed it has overflowed its banks already! Luckily our house is high enough above the water level I think it would be next to impossible for the creek to flood enough to reach us.

With all the rain and high water, I was really looking forward to my water sampling this morning! Once I month I go out to a boat launch on the Willamette to take some water quality tests for the Willamette Riverkeepers, a non-profit who reports their data to the Oregon DEQ. If ever there was a great volunteer position, this is definitely the one! Spending a morning out on the quiet river watching eagles fly past is definitely a peaceful way to start the day (of course then I get to come home to a full on knights vs viking battle waging in my living room! haha)

When I got out to the river this morning the water level was very high.  There were five or six large trees that were whisked past as I ran my tests and there was so much sediment in the water I couldn't see more than three inches down!  It took me about an hour and a half to run two sets of tests on conductivity, water temperature, turbidity and dissolved oxygen content. Needless to say I was pretty well soaked by the time I was done!

Just a little wet

part of my test kit