Stream Study Equipment
There are many excellent science and environmental equipment vendors in the market today. While for some types of equipment the difference between products is slight, for others there can be substantial differences. Please always read the safety hazards and protocols for each piece of measurement equipment so you know the potential hazards BEFORE going out into the stream with students. This is particularly important in regards to the chemistry kits needed to assess certain water quality parameters.
A fun and challenging option to consider is having students make their own stream monitoring equipment. This integrates an engineering component into
the unit of study as well as allowing students to adapt the equipment according
to their needs. 
Click here to make your own monitoring equipment.
Nets
Seine nets
D-frame aquatic dip nets:
More streamside equipment
Macroinvertebrate identification
- A Guide to Freshwater Invertebrates of North America. Voshell,Jr., J. Reese. McDonald & Woodward Publishing Co. Blacksburg, VA. 2002. ISBN 0-939923-87-4.
- Flash Cards of Common Freshwater Invertebrates of North America. Voshell,Jr., J. Reese. McDonald & Woodward Publishing Co. Blacksburg, VA. 2009. ISBN 0-939923-26-2.
Sieve or wash buckets
Insect Viewers
Roll-up Table
Make your own Equipment
Water Quality Test Kits
LaMotte Environmental Science Education Products www.lamotte.com
- DO – Winkler kit
- pH – Octa-Slide 2 Comparator
- Phosphates – Octa-Slide 2 Comparator
- Nitrates – Octa-Slide 2 Comparator
- Turbidity – Turbidimetric, or Secchi Disk
- Salinity – Direct Reading Titrator
- Multi-parameter – Water Quality Test Kit, or GREEN Low Cost Kit
- DO – Kit
- pH – Kit, Color Cube, or test strips
- Phosphates – Kit or test strips
- Nitrates – Kit, Color Cube, or test strips
- Chloride – QuanTab® Test Strips 30-600 mg/L
- Multi-parameter Stream Survey Test Kit
- DO – Vacu-vials, or CHEMets Kit K-7512
- pH – pH meter
- Phosphates – Kit, or Kit K-8510
- Nitrates – CHEMets Kit
- Turbidity – Meter
- Conductivity – TDS Meter
- Chloride – Chloride Titrets Kit 250-2500 ppm (#K-2051)
- Phosphates – Snap Vial
- Nitrates – Snap Vial
- DO – CHEMets kit
- Phosphates – CHEMets kit
- Nitrates – CHEMets kit
- Conductivity – Conductivity/ TDS/ Salinity Meter
- Temperature – 6” Enviro-Safe® “Easy Read” Armor Case Thermometers
- Multi-parameter – F.I.E.L.D. Kit®, or YSI Photometer
- Salinity – Salinity Hydrometer
- Multi-parameter – Stream Ecology Test Kit
- Multi-parameter – Global Rivers - Introductory Water Quality Monitoring Kit, or Comprehensive Water Quality Monitoring Kit P489C0
- Transparency – transparency tube