ABOVE PHOTO: Tim and Charlie (Surfrider Oregon Field Coordinator) testing the first sample at the new lab.
Last week, Charlie and I headed to Astoria to meet Tim Roth, director of our new water quality lab located in Astoria. Tim is a high school teacher and plans to use water quality monitoring in his lesson plans to connect the environment of where his students live with the dangers facing it. The Portland Chapter of Surfrider will fund and oversee the lab, and by fall we'll begin to get data on surf breaks from the Columbia south to Garibaldi. Once we get a bit of data over time, we'll begin to disseminate that information to surfers and ocean users on the North Coast. Surfrider's commitment to clean oceans begins with water quality monitoring and is an integral part of our mission to educate and activate.
For anyone interested in water sampling (this will be done on a volunteer basis), we'll be providing test kits through Cold Water Surf shop in Astoria, and hopefully a few others south. Finger at Cold Water Surf Shopt in Astoria has agreed to be a drop off site for samples. Thanks Finger and Tim for helping us get the lab off the ground! If you're interested in sampling for us, please look at the contact email to the right of this post!!!