HowTo - Sampling road trips

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Updating: mature

This Howto covers how the project should conduct its sampling of one or more sites on one road trip. This is context for what will be done at a given well, which is covered in other Howtos.

Change log:

When Who Comment
2021 10 01 Sp17 First version. This will be part of the initial QAPP. Formatted for export in DOCX.
2021 10 25 Sp17 Minor reminders about confidentiality of cooperators from one another. This requires being vague about itineraries when communicating.
2022 03 20 Sp17 Updated to reflect equipment status.
2022 05 17 Sp17 Updated prior to first two sampling trips this week.
2022 08 18 Sp17 Refined based on recent sampling experience. Bump to 90%. Provide for two stops at slowly refilling wells instead of one.
2022 09 28 Sp17 Minor tweaks based on sampling planning for the fall 2022 round. Recommends two person sampling teams. We generally do not need this for safety, because the work is not hazardous, but samples per working hour can be improved because there are possibilities for concurrency at most sites.
2023 02 25 Sp17 Inserted cation aliquot making and meter post-checking after return to lab. New subsections of section 7.
2023 04 26 Sp17 Cumulative update.
2023 05 24 Sp17 Added surface water sampling equipment if a trip will sample from pond.
2023 06 05 Sp17 Minor updates for DEC review. This is the most often accessed HowTo since it is printed before every sampling trip to obtain a checklist.
2023 07 30 Sp17 Adapted to Markdown earlier, updated for Quarto today.
2023 10 17 Sp17 Refined what to take.

Related howtos:

1. Objectives

  • Limit the overall road trip duration required to sample wells by grouping them into routes based on location and kind of well (categorical versus long term) which have different calendars.
  • Consider seasonality of water tables and pesticide use, site by site.
  • Ensure that standards for duration and means of holding samples before preservation are met.
  • Ensure that all necessary and contingent equipment and supplies are taken on each road trip, so that few road trip purchases are needed.

2. Quality assurance considerations

  • Filled containers have airspace to allow for later freezing without bursting.
  • Filled containers are kept on ice as soon as possible after collection, frozen shortly after processing after the trip ends.
  • Keep from mixing up samples.
  • Record sampling dates and times on containers and in field logbook.
  • Make sure that sample label and field logbook markings remain intact (waterproof labels and logbooks, compatible pens).
  • Ensure that field meters are working properly to provide context for sample.

3. Trip equipment shared across multiple sites

  • Monitor wells, other wells not having embedded pumps, and tileboxes:

    • Well sounder (depth measurement). Test battery with check button before trip, have a spare 9V battery. If the trip includes two people, bring two sounders for parallel work at two wells at the same site.
    • If using peristaltic pumps (whenever possible):
      • Masterflex pump(s) (have two working ones). Charge before trip.
      • Masterflex AC charger for Jackery or motel, Masterflex DC charger to charge from vehicles or Jackery.
      • External battery “Jackery 300” that can power the pump via an AC or DC charger. On longest trips: Jackery AC charger and DC (from vehicle) charger. Top up the Jackery’s own charge before the trip.
      • Water hoses for peristaltic pump; in pairs of intake and outflow. Lengths to match monitor wells.
      • Spare hose barbs to connect hoses to the pinch hose on the pump or to connect multiple hoses together for extended length and washing. Added 20230605.

  • If using bladder pump, for wells over 20 feet deep:

    • Bladder pumps, bladder pump controller, charged external and internal batteries, chargers, cables for charging and operating.
    • Bladders for bladder pump. Tools to change bladders.
    • Air and water hoses for bladder pumps, of lengths specific to sites on trip.
    • Paracord to suspend larger bladder pump in well.
    • Cleaning brush for bladder pump.

  • Two pipe wrenches to remove steel well caps. Hammer to tap on cap to break rust.

  • Orange spray paint, orange plastic tape to refresh our well safety markings if needed.

  • 1L bottle of bentonite to reseal monitor well surface surroundings if there are cracks.

  • Spare plastic well caps. (We will replace steel caps with plastic in fall 2023 to reduce rusting problems.)

  • For site owner wells having embedded pumps, we do not have any specific equipment, only the all-wells equipment listed below.

  • All wells:

    • Container to measure conductance, pH, and temperature of samples. Cut-off 250 mL nalgene bottles. One per concurrent sampling instance on the trip.
    • 1L Nalgene containers to accumulate samples, unattended, at very slow flowing sites. Rinsed with deionized water before and after trip.
    • Meter for measuring temperature, pH, and specific conductance.
      • Hanna 98129 (conductance up to 4000 uS/cm) or 98130 (conductance over 4000 uS/cm, displayed in mS/cm).
      • OR Yellow Springs YSI-63. [as of 20220818 this needs work on the pH sensor].
      • Test calibration of pH and specific conductance before trip.
      • Best to have a backup in case one meter fails.
      • Two meters enable concurrent work at a site by two people.
    • Field logbook and pens. Waterproof paper and pen that will not smear; Elan 5x8” “indestructible” notebook (Elan-58-004D Field Book or similar) and Uniball Jetstream pens. There are similar small notebooks by Elan and Field Notes.
    • Watch or cell phone to determine sampling times.
    • Cold storage for samples: ice chest(s), one(s) with heavy insulation on longer trips. Size ice chest(s) to fit expected bottle count. Reusable ice packs.
    • Pen to mark date and time on container label - must be compatible with waterproof laser labels; Jetstream as used in logbook works. Note: Time on label is not important unless there is more than one sample from a well on the same day.
    • Waterproof marker to mark identities on opportunistic sample bottles. Or bring spare container labels and use a Jetstream to mark the label (while it is dry).
    • Recommended: Nitrile gloves. Important if samples will be tested for other parameters than pesticides.
    • Machete for weed trimming.
    • Replacement PVC monitor well caps and electrical tape.

  • Surface water (ponds):

    • (if needed) Surging rods with sipper segment. (This is for offshore pond sampling.) This includes a pump intake hose and a float.
    • (if needed) Dipping sampler that holds a cup.
    • If sampling will be done from dock or bridge, a pump with groundwater hoses can be used.

4. Supplies in common across site types and multiple sites

  • 250 mL wide mouth Nalgene containers. 3 bottles per sample, spares for opportunistic samples or if primaries are soiled. Containers are not reused. Optionally filling one 50 mL centrifuge tube for cations aliquot in field.

  • 1-gallon ziplock bags, one per well. Spares.

  • For ice chests, ice is brought from Cornell then purchased when needed during longer trip. Ice chests used generally keep samples chilled adequately for 24 hours without fresh ice, shorter if day is hot and sunny. Use ziplock bags to distribute purchased ice cubes.

  • Waterproof laser printer labels for sample containers. Avery 5520 30 per letter sized sheet. These are printed before the trip with space to fill in date of sampling. These can be amended in the field, while dry, using a Jetstream pen. Spare labels can be used with Jetstream pen (press hard) to create opportunistic labels.

  • Cornell deionized water for in-field hose cleaning. 5-gallon bucket and/or 1-gallon jug(s).

  • Roll of paper towels for cleaning exteriors of hoses. Have been using disposable blue shop towels for sturdiness.

  • First aid kit.

  • Optional if doing field blank: Separate deionized water supply in a container matching intake hose.

  • Optional for longer trips: pH 4, 7, and 11 buffer solutions (Fisher or Oakton). Small flip-top containers of each for checking and recalibrating pH meter.

  • Optional for longer trips: Specific conductance standard: Oakton 1414 @ 25C. (can use this in lab before leaving; calibrations do not drift much)

  • Optional: Tarp or painters dropcloth to put down near well to protect against soiling hoses.

5. Before trip

  • Select which sites to visit on the trip based on their respective calendars (twice per year for categoricals, once per year for long term.) In general, we expect there to be weeks to months of non-preferential subsurface transport time from pesticide application areas to wells thus the timing is not critical. (Locations with highly transient quality are fundamentally incompatible with a semi-annual sampling schedule.)

  • Estimate the probable calendar for the trip. Leave some slack for unexpected events.

  • Take account of very slowly refilling wells by making provision to purge them one day and return for sampling no more than 48 hours later. It may be useful to schedule overnight stays near sites with slowly refilling wells. A route with slow wells can be handled via out-and-back.

  • Concurrency within a site can shorten the duration onsite:

    • Two wells at a site near to one another can be purged and sampled by one person.
    • Two wells at a site more distant from one another can be purged and sampled by two people, with replicate equipment.

  • In general two people can complete a sampling round faster than one person can. This doubles the labor requirement, but probably improves data completeness, reduces the effect of fatigue by spreading out equipment carrying labor and driving over two people, and shortens workdays. This can also improve rigor by having one person cross-check the other, or complement the other’s aptitudes and tendencies. (E.g. synergy with practiced team of Ani and Pacenka in field work.)

  • Lay out a route connecting all sites in an efficient order. Store in Google Maps and share it to cell phone. This might be a prior trip’s route with minor editing.

  • Contact owners to make appointments with sites where appointments are necessary; try to avoid fixed times of day, instead give ranges. Finalize the order of site visits.

    • Use their preferred medium: SMS text, email, voice phone.
    • When feasible, make courtesy notifications to non-appointment sites about the expected day of visiting.
    • Part of the advance contact is to ensure safety, accessibility, and noninterference. We don’t want to drop in then find that we cannot access a sampling site. (This can be because of pesticide re-entry times.) We don’t want to visit at a very busy retail/customer time if access is via a retail/customer area.
    • Remember that the identities and locations of cooperating sites are not to be disclosed to one another. Obscure the routing when communicating.
    • Ask owners if any pesticides have been used recently near the wells, record in confidential field logbook.

  • Make motel reservations if needed. Have contingency motels in mind if an extra day becomes needed. Take into account the need to go back to wells if they need overnight to refill. For example, a motel near a slow-refill sampling site can be purged in evening, then motel stay, then sampled in morning.

  • Quality Assurance: Consider whether or not to collect a trip field blank. Decide at which site of the trip to collect it. To be conservative, the field blank should be made just after sampling a site with positive pesticide detections in earlier samples, rather than after sampling a site with a history of non detects across the board.

  • Ensure that vehicle is in good shape for the trip. Fluids, tires, emergency equipment and supplies.

  • Charge batteries in electronics, particularly phone, laptop, cameras, battery powered pumps. Have provision to recharge during the trip, for example bring chargers to use in motels or in vehicle. Jackery power station is available to recharge via AC or DC.

    • There are two pumps to charge and one AC charger. To charge a second pump from AC, there is a DC charger for pumps that can be used inline with the Jackery: connect the Jackery’s AC charger to the Jackery, connect the pump’s DC charger to the Jackery’s DC output socket. This will charge the Jackery battery as well as the pump battery.

  • Clean monitor well sampling equipment, especially hoses and submersible pumps.

    • In general we clean hoses soon after the return from a trip and then we don’t clean them before the next trip.
    • Clean two sets of hose concurrently by running two pumps, one with its AC charger and the other with the inline Jackery on the Jackery AC charger.
    • Can string more than one hose pair inline to shorten cleaning if there are several hoses to clean.

  • Print labels for all sample containers, including any field blank containers. Put labels on containers while the containers are still dry. Bag groups of containers matching the sites to be visited. Have a few containers with mostly blank labels on them if any preplanned container is damaged during the trip, or for opportunistic supplemental samples.

  • Rinse and load buckets that carry deionized washwater, and container for deionized field blank water if a field blank will be collected. Be liberal in the amount of water brought, to reduce the need to buy distilled water during the road trip.

  • Just before leaving: load the ice chests with sufficient ice to last the first day and hold the first day’s samples.

  • Gather per-site and per-trip supplies besides sample containers.

  • Ready paper field notebook and compatible pens, pens compatible with container labels.

  • Calibrate pH meter with at least two of 4/7/10 buffers before each trip, and check the meter against at least two of these buffers within one day after return. Include these in the field log.

  • Check specific conductance meter against conductivity standard before each trip; recalibrate if needed.

  • The water level measurement device does not require calibration. Its operational status can be checked by immersing the probe in tap water.

6. During trip

If running significantly late or early for a specific time appointment, contact the owner to adjust the appointment. Most owners will be flexible unless they must be involved in drawing the sample.

Per site: Drive to site, check in with owner representative if required (courtesy hello recommended), collect samples, field wash hoses and pumps between samples (when sampling from wells without their own pumps). See HowTos for monitor well and embedded pump sampling for what to do at each site.

Note that we do not want to disclose the identities of cooperators to one another, thus do not discuss other sites on the same itinerary with any cooperator.

If any trip field blanks are scheduled, these should be collected as indicated in the HowTo for monitor wells. (Embedded pump well sampling does not use notable apparatus so there is no provision for field blanks from such sites.)

If there are any overnight stays, per overnight:

  • Check in at motel.

  • Ensure that sample ice chest has sufficient ice to last the night; motels usually have free ice. Repack the chest for space efficiency. Bring ice chest into motel room if the night time outdoor temperatures will be higher than expected motel room temperature with air conditioning.

  • Finish the day’s field log entries.

  • Clean hoses if any will be reused the following day.

  • Put electronics on to charge overnight. (Bring power strip with long AC cord, USB power ports and AC sockets)

  • Morning: Check ice in samples ice chest, drain meltwater, top up ice from motel source.

  • Check weather forecast.

  • Load any Google Maps trip map for the day.

Anticipate the need for travel reimbursement receipts, and save them in one place such as a laptop case. Remember to get them for motels at least; typically per diem allowances for meals are adequate and it is easy to trim back below the allowed number if you want to get closer to actual expenses. Motel tips are part of the meals and incidentals allowance.

Note: On trips without overnight stays, there are no meals and incidentals reimbursements. Claim full Per Diem allowances on overnight trips if you consider this unfair.

Electronic only receipts for motels are usable if you have an initial price quote by email or web capture, and if you provide evidence that you actually paid such as a recognizable and highlighted item from a credit card statement.

EZPass toll receipts can be created by screen captures of lines from your EZPass account, showing where the toll was incurred, the date, and the amount.

Receipts for project supplies purchased on the road, for either P-card or personal reimbursement, must be preserved and scanned or photographed. The P-card is somewhat more limited in usability than the personal reimbursement approach and not all staff have them.

7. After trip

7.1 Sample processing

Upon return from a trip, samples must be refrigerated or iced until they can be processed and frozen. Freezing is the long term storage for samples except for acidified aliquots for cation analysis. It is best to freeze the samples as early as possible after returning to Ithaca; however driving fatigue contributes to errors and omissions, thus if there is a large batch of samples it is best to process them the morning after return.

We are not filtering samples unless they are significantly turbid. If there are any significantly turbid samples, vacuum filter through Whatman GF/F filter paper (see glyphosate sampling protocol). Transfer all filtrate into fresh 250 mL sample bottles with labels indicating that the samples have been filtered. Filtration may be done into a 50 mL centrifuge tube (new one per sample), which is then poured into the destination bottle. Or filtration may be done into a large Buchner flask.

The sample processing time includes:

  • Making sure that all containers of a sample are present in the same bag.
  • Pouring off water from the container to ensure that there is airspace to expansion during freezing. This is convenient to combine with making cations aliquots (next section).
  • Making sure that all labels are present and correct, such as having the date.
  • Labeling containers for opportunistic samples.
  • Sorting samples into freezer boxes.

7.2 Aliquots for cations.

If the collected samples will ever be tested for cations, acidified aliquots should be made before first freezing. See the Preserving Aliquots for Cations HowTo.

7.3 Post-checks of meters.

If the pH/conductance meters used on the trip have not been calibrated recently, check versus pH 4, 7, and 10 buffers and 1433 (?) conductance solution. Record results in field log.

Make sure that there is a sponge bit and some pH 4 buffer in the cap or chamber hosting the meter sensors. These are often lost and often dry out.

7.4 Cleanup

Sampling hoses and pumps used for monitor wells are cleaned similarly to a field cleaning, except that there is no need to conserve deionized water.

It is preferable to field-clean hoses just after the last sample of the trip. It is acceptable to return the last used hoses to Ithaca before cleaning if they are cleaned within 12 hours after the return (following morning for example). Early post-last-sample cleaning is to prevent suspended or dissolved solids from coating the interior of a hose when water evaporates; it can be hard to get rid of such coatings.

A deeper lab cleaning before or after a trip consists of pumping through a sequence of water, in liberal amounts, for example 4 gallons in a paint bucket:

  • Hot tap water with phosphate-free detergent such as Liquinox.
  • Hot clear tap water.
  • Deionized water. (Rinse bucket interior with deionized water before filling.)

Hoses may be connected in series for cleaning. Volume pumped is related to the total length of hose being cleaned.

This is done with a peristaltic pump, not the bladder pump, due to the former’s higher flow rate.

Examine hoses for internal coatings; clean more aggressively or discard if there is visible deposition.

Hoses with difficult internal coatings may be cleaned by soaking once or more in a bucket of hot tap water and detergent; soak overnight. Make sure that the hose fills with water while in the bucket.

Put away all tools, supplies, equipment, and other items taken on road trip. Each item should be ready for the next road trip; if anything critical is malfunctional, make a ToDo to repair or replace it.