Are You Ready For Sampling Your Nearest River?
Before you go out to explore, first make sure you have all of the below:
Be Safe!!!
There are many animals in the river like snakes and crocodiles and in some deep waters there are hippos!
Make sure you are wearing protective shoes before you go in the river. There are many sharp rocks under the water.
miniSASS does not measure whether the water is fit to drink. A good miniSASS score means that the river has environmentally healthy water. Do not drink the water.
Check on this List:
Life jacket (Especially if you cannot swim or when sampling from rivers with a strong current)
Soap / Hand wash
Cap/Hat/Sunscreen
Gumboots/Waders/Wellingtons
Net / Sieve (See Below for how to make your own)
Pencil/Pen
Timer (Remember you can only sample for 5 min)
Magnifying glass
Ice cream Container / white tray
How to Make Your Own Net
- Take any piece of wire, for example an old clothes hanger, and bend it into the shape of a net. Then tie the netting (which can be any porous material) to the wire with a piece of string. And you have a net like the one below.
- You can use yoghurt containers and ice cream tray. Poke some holes in the bottom and you are good to go!
You can get the full miniSASS kit from GroundTruth. GroundTruth supplies miniSASS field equipment as individual items or as a kit.
The following items can be supplied:
- miniSASS net - A cost effective but robust version of the SASS5 net developed and tested by GroundTruth.
- miniSASS tray
- loupe/magnifying glass
- tweezers and pipette
- assortment of sample bottles
for more information on GroundTruth and miniSASS equipment
With all of that in hand have a fun and safe miniSASS river analysis!!!
