News
News Releases Safe water: LANL flotilla sets off down Rio Grande
Lab, San Ildefonso Pueblo cooperate on water stewardship
Rafts set off from the banks of the Rio Grande for LANL's annual springs sampling trip.
September 29, 2010—Mist rose from the Rio Grande early Monday morning, as crews prepared a dozen inflatable rafts for LANL’s annual four-day float trip to sample remote springs which emerge near the river.
The 25 or so springs from the Otowi Bridge to Cochiti Lake come from the same groundwater that flows under the Lab.
Valuable data
“From a data gathering standpoint, they’re like monitoring wells for us,” said LANL program manager Danny Katzman.
Many of the springs discharge near the river, but in some cases, getting to the springs requires a hike through several miles of back country.
Sampling crews from subcontractor Terranear PMC had to bring along 300 pounds of ice and dry ice to preserve samples at temperatures no greater than 39 degrees Fahrenheit, to prevent spoilage.
A large undertaking
“And we’re expecting hotter than normal temperatures this year,” said longtime trip organizer Max Maes. “This is a very large undertaking,” he said, as crews piled tents, sleeping bags, coolers, and other gear into the waiting rafts.
The flotilla puts on at the Otowi Bridge and floats through a stretch of the Rio that has San Ildefonso land on both sides. That requires special permission, and cooperation with the pueblo’s environment department—cooperation the governor of San Ildefonso says is vital.
"Water is paramount"
“We hold a significance to every life within our boundaries,” said San Ildefonso Governor Perry Martinez. “From the game that we hunt to the dirt we use for our clay and pottery. But water is paramount. Without water you don’t have any life.”
Data from the springs are posted to a public Web site called RACER and included in the Lab’s annual Environmental Surveillance Report.
LANL's Tim Goering (right) prepares to board a raft while the boatman gets ready to launch.
Mist rises from the Rio Grande as crews load rafts.
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