Volunteers Pick Up Sampling Slack In Wake Of Covid-19

Sep 08, 2021

Wolfe Lake Association water quality director Gordon Moore uses a Secchi disc to measure water transparency as part of his volunteer data collection for the RVCA.

Volunteers pick up sampling slack in wake of COVID-19

If he’s being honest, Gordon Moore is looking forward to getting back to normal.

Before the pandemic, the Wolfe Lake Association’s water quality director had a pretty good gig with the Rideau Valley Conservation Authority: about once a month, RVCA staff showed up with their equipment, and he drove them around the lake in his pontoon boat to collect their samples.

RVCA staff did all the work, while he enjoyed a day on the water with pleasant company and some interesting conversations.

These days, it’s a different story. With the spring’s COVID-19 restrictions preventing staff from congregating on the boat – and limiting the number of students RVCA could hire – volunteers like Gordon have been asked to fill in the gaps. No longer just the driver, Gordon has been tasked with doing it all.

RVCA’s acting surface water quality co-ordinator Haley Matschke drops off the equipment in the morning before she and her team head out to sample a neighbouring lake. She gives him a quick refresher on using the equipment, then Gordon spends five or six hours in the boat documenting levels of nitrogen and phosphorus, dissolved oxygen, water temperature and more. He returns the equipment and data to Haley at the end of the day.

“It’s a little nerve wracking,” laughed Gordon, who has lived on the lake year-round since 2010. “You’re nervous you’ll forget something or do something wrong.”

So far, so good – but he’s ready for the old system to return.

“I’m looking forward to just being the driver again,” he said.

For more information about water quality monitoring visit www.rvca.ca/watershed-monitoring-reporting.