Installing a micro water-quality sampler in high water

Micro-samplers are sophisticated instruments that collect small "sips" of water at designated intervals.  Installing one during high water conditions is a tricky business.  The samples, collected every few hours, provide a picture of how rapidly water quality can change over time.  These samples were analyzed for a suite of hundreds of pesticides.  In 2013, the USGS Regional Stream Quality Assessment (RSQA) investigated the effects of land use, stream quality, and other stressors on the ecological health of 100 streams in the Midwest.