Bacteria sampling, Sarnia and Kitchener/Waterloo

July 28/03

Sunny - 23C

- 12:00 arrived in Sarnia. At approximately 9:30 - I had stopped at Zenon to get 12 new bottles for sampling bacteria.. Placed in cooler with ice packs.

- went to Port Edward - a small park under the brudge to US. Park is just to the north of bidge and is sitting on a very pretty beach facing out onto the Lake.

- noticed two large pipes dischsrging into river on US side but little on Cdn side. I went down to beach to take a control sample from the Lake. GPS - N 43 00.056/ w 082 25.172 - S-1, mm, LOK, July 28/03.

Just south of S-1 i noticed a pipe that was sticking out and discharging. - Took pictures at N 43 00.004 / W 82 25.200

- at 12:45 I went down to the loading docks and took pictures, then moved to Centennial Park. Centennial Park is the beach for Sarnia 's downtown. The beach on this day was empty despite it being quite nice. The beach was also posted with signs warning against swimming.

I walked a round the area for a while - and went west to the very end of the park on the river. Took pictures of wetland and other filled in areas.

- a N 42 58.885/ W 082 24.857 - there was another pipe discharging into river - justy took pictures. Lots of people were fishing on this day - families etc. off the end of the park pier.

- I went back to the beach - took more pictures and sampled at N 42 58.928/ W 82 24.392 - S-3, LOK, July 28/03, mm, 1:00. Put sample in cooler immediately at 1:10.

- I travelled further south - at 1:30 I pulled into Bayfront Park. I walked along the waters edge - noticed a large water fountain. It had fish shades in the midst of the water fountains. It was directly on top of a huge water outlet - which at the time was not discharging. I took pictures of the whole thing. It was too difficult to reach down and sample the water here - but I took a GPS reading of N 42 58.691/W082 24.422.

- the pipe outlet was approximately 500 metres south from the beach at Centennial Park.

I then drove further south -past the petro-chemical and refinery plants.Wow - huge consumption of the waterfront! For kilometres these plants take up space and air. Hundreds of tank farms, huge stacks belching smoke, and plenty of odour - always changing smells as I made my way. At the end of the plants - I pulled over on the side of the road - went to the rivers edge and got a sample. N 42 55.869/W082 26.889 - sample marked S-4 LOK, MM, JUly 28/03 2:05.

- Drove to Kitchener - and arrived at 5:45 - placed samples in refrigerator at 57 Roy St. Walked around KW - went to Waterloo behind the old railway station . Noticed the creek that rruns NE - under King Street - appears over ground in the parking lot. The water in the creek appeared brown with an oily slick. Counted over 40 ducks sitting in the creek at this point.

Tuesday - July 29, 03 - it was sunny 20C - with no rain last night or yesterday. I went back to the creek in Waterloo- finding it was Laurel Creek from the maps I had with me.

I took a sample at the falls in the parking lot - and lots of pictues. N 43 27.868/W 80 31.171 W-1, LOK, July 29/03, 9:00.

Drove along the creek in and out of neighbourhoods. Went onto Marshall Street to a small neigbourjhood called Village on the Green. Took pictures and sampled at N 43 28.585/ W 80 30.935 W-2, mm, LOK, July 29, 03 - 9:08.

- I then followed the creek to its mouth just before it runs into the Grand River at Bridgeport road. There is a waterworks building - sponsored by the MOE - and it looks like sampling is done here. I took a sample - W-3 N 43 28.984? W 80 28.913 - MM, LOK, JUly 29/03, 9:25. - took lots of pictures. -Noticed the algae forming at the mouth of the river where the creek flows in.

- went over to other side of the Grand River - took an upstream sample before the creek enters the river aat N 43 28.942 /W80 28.813 - W-4, LOK, MM, JUly 29/03, 9:35.

Then walked up tom take pictures of where the AWaterloo sewage treatment plant has its outlet pipe. I could not get across the river in my waders so I went across the bridge to the other side. I sample dthe discharge at N43 28.772/ W 80 28.897 - W-5 MM, LOK, July 29/03, 9:45

- went down to the Grand River near the freeport bridge at N43 25.244/W80 24.561and sampled - W-6, LOK, mm, July 29/03, 11:00.

- I then drove directly to Zenon - dropped off the bottles and signed the chain of custoy - at 12:00.

-- Mark Mattson