Week of July 14th

This week was a busy week. I did the Lake Michigan route all week which I enjoyed. Its the prettiest route I think. On Monday I took a volunteer out and showed him how we sample the water and put all he data in. I felt bad because my route starts at 5 am and he did not seem to thrilled to be up at that time.  But after a hour or so of being up he didn't seem to mind to much. We haven't had much rain this week which was nice because when it came to  resampling beaches we only had one or two. One of the days after my Lake Michigan route I went out with my boss and did something I haven't done yet. At one of our beaches we have had really high bacteria counts so we started monitoring it everyday instead of once a week and we noticed we were still seeing the bacteria levels were very high. So my boss and I walk all around this river that flows out into the beach area where we are getting high numbers and we walked all around testing different areas of water looking to see  if there is high conductivity. We used a machine that once you covered the bottom it would read the conductivity if the number was above 2 it means it has high counts so we would take samples at these places that had high numbers. One of the places we sampled we found one of the houses washer was hooked up to flow out into the river so that can defiantly account to high numbers and then we fallowed a long stretch going up stream of high numbers and once we got to the end of the river we walked up to  the road and realized there was construction going on the other side of the road. We think there many be sediment drifting into the stream. At this point we contact the city officials to go look into the problem and then if we still have problems we would go back out and keep testing varies areas in the river and try to find a new reason why we are having high levels. When walking all along the river I had to be careful not to get poison ivy on me luckily I didn't get any. But I did get stuck in a hip high mud hole that I needed help getting out of. But over all this week was great I learned new things and got a glimpse of  what I could be doing in my future and I love it. Im constantly learning new things and go out and not doing the same old job. I am so lucky to be apart of such a great internship program!

Water Sampling

I can not believe that its already July my internship is already half way done.  I have learned so much in this pas month Im excited to see what this month will be like. This week I did my big inland route and it seem to take for ever the night before it rained like crazy so when I was doing my route it was so humid all day and muggie. With all the rain it caused us to have many resamples the next day I think we had to do the Lake Michigan route and then go out and do the resamples. This week has been a long one in terms of resamples. I was mainly on the Chain O Lakes doing water quality samples.  With that we go different parts of the lake and test the water and different depth and then take samples and then text it for stuff like how much sulfur and other things that are in the water. This week I was taught to drive the boat and learned to use the water GPS which is very tricky. I also was able to hold and lower down some of our most expensive equipment and with that I lower it at different depth and read off the reading we get then I record them down and then later we enter them into a data base. Once we get all the samples we need we go back to the lab and filter all the water out and then have it sent out to be texted for various things in the water. I also run water through a filter then once the water can not go through the filter anymore I take the filter off the filtration system and wrap it up and label it and set it aside to be sent out. Most of the time the filter is pea green color from the water. Next week Im doing the Lake Michigan route and that's always interesting so we will see how that goes.

Week of the 4th of July

So this week is a short week for us because the fourth. But all week we have really bad storms coming through and getting large amounts of rain in such a short amount of time. So this week was full of resampling beaches and closing them for high bacteria counts. A lot of the home associations are made because they wanted to use the beaches for the week of the fourth. So my work has been going back everyday to the beaches that keep having a high count and resampling. One of the beaches I even had to look for pipe that connects this pond to the lake and see if maybe that was causing the high counts. Also with this crazy weather we have had its make Lake Michigan much colder in the North part of the route today I was sampling that route and my feet got so cold in the short amount of time they were in the water. The reason why is the water 48 degrees in some parts. Also a beach that has been under construction for my entire time at my internship just reopened. Its really nice big and great area for swimming the only bad part they all ready have a lot of seagulls gathering on the beach. That can later cause closers if they have to many on the beach. Next week everything goes back to normal I will be doing my long route so Im sure ill have stories to tell after that. Have a good fourth!
Casey

Water Samples

This week has been such a busy one, but it has also been a very educating one to add as well. At the beginning of the week I completed my south inland route which is around  40 beaches that I need to go to and collect water samples.  The next day I was told by my supervisor that I needed to go resample 13 of the beaches because they all had a high count for bacteria. As the week went on the number of beaches that needed to be sampled became smaller and smaller. Now we are currently at 3 beaches. What caused such a large number beach closers and resampling is all of the rain we have in the last week and then the hot temps have not helped much. I also experienced plant sampling this week. So we go around to different lakes and go to different spots all along the lake and throw a rack out and drag it then we pull the rack up and from there are able to identify plants. Then from there we are able to create a plant map that will better help us see what kind of plants are growing in the area and to have for future references. I am learning so much with this internship and I am so grateful for all of the opportunities I get to experience .

Beach Sampling

Another week done. So this last week I have been going and doing a lot of resampling's lately due to all the rain we have had. When we get rain and it changes the direction of waves flowing in Lake Michigan we seem to have a spike in high levels of bacteria that makes it up safe for people to swim. So I go out and resample  beaches that have high levels and we always like to resample it twice just to make sure. I also have had to close down 5 beaches already. With the inland beaches when theres high bacteria levels its due to smaller amount of water and warm temp. so its a great place for bacteria to start growing. Swim cast was last weekend and it was kind of tricky to use but I soon got the hang of it the next day the only down side was I was using a computer that looked like it was from the 90's and it ran like it to. Very Slow! The swim cast gives us so much data like water temp and wind speed and direction and how much sun light we get and when its cloudy and I enter all the data in and it will give me a projection and with that projection it will read out numbers letting me know if its safe for people to swim in. Cant wait to see what next week brings.

Week 3

Another week has gone by. Im really enjoying the internship. I am learning so much in such a little amount of time lately, but I love it! This last week I have been battling bad weather. The weather has made it difficult to sample in and is also making the results on many beaches along Lake Michigan very high for bacteria. Most beaches are on advisory's or have been closed till the levels drop. I have also been switching up what I have been doing the last week we new routines. I have been going out and sampling along the Chain O Lakes with a fellow co-worker. What we do out on the chain is take samples from three different locations on the water and take different samples from different water levels some are right at the top of the water level or some are at the bottom. Let me tell you the bottom of a lake smells bad. It reminds me of the sulfur from hot springs. But the last two days were good the only bad thing was it was raining the entire time. My new project I start is also going through a check list of proto call that each beach should have. For examples regulations posted and life rings around the beach. So its my job to go through the list to make sure each beach is up to code with everything they need to have a safe beach and meet all the state requirements. This weekend I will be downloading data from our two swim cast and updating the local web site. Wish me luck on that Im nervous but I think I will be able to get the hang of it. Ill let you know how it goes in nexts weeks post. Have a good weekend everyone.
Casey Mullett

Week 2 of Beach Sampling

Hey guys my second week has already gone by. There is still a lot to learn. But this last week I mainly sampled beaches on the Lake Michigan route. This route doesn't have as many beaches compared to the some of the inland routes. But what I really enjoy about this route is that the water is much cleaner then some of the inland beaches. But much colder so on the early 5 AM mornings its pretty cold to walk into to get my water samples. I a good thing about being up this early is the amazing sun rises that I get to see. I had to do a resample for one of the inland beaches today. This beach is really well known for being shut down. Its so small and doesn't have any moving water. This is a good example of a lake/ pound that has a better chance of being shut down for bacteria. When I first walk up to the beach I couldn't help but notice all the green alga. But the water was a really blue color. When I brought the samples into the lab I asked the lab tecs. and they said its because some lakes are died a blue color to make them look more inviting. I couldn't believe it. Lake associations go out of there way to make there lakes looks nicer to get more people to go into them. I just found it very interesting because they are probably polluting the lake more then it needs to be. Ill let you guys know how my third week goes. I have to down load the swim cast this weekend or the next and I will let you guys know how that goes.
Casey Mullett