20
Water Action Volunteers – Level 2 Manual
Updated January 2016
Oakton Acorn pH Meter Monitoring Procedure
Before going out to your stream site to monitor pH (or any parameter), please remember to fill
out the top portion of the monitoring datasheet with
your name (s)
, the
station name
, and the
station ID #
, as well as the
date and time of the monitoring event
.
To measure pH in the stream:
1. Connect any electrodes to the pH meter and turn the meter on by pushing the On/Off
button on the face of the meter.
a. The meter does not have to be left on following the calibration process.
2. Remove the electrode from the electrode soaker bottle.
a. Place the electrode soaker bottle to the side.
3. Rinse off the electrode with distilled water and shake off any excess water.
4. Wade into the middle of the stream from a safe access location
a. Walk upstream from the access point (downstream of monitoring location) as to
not disturb the bottom substrate.
5. Place pH and temperature probes into the stream and gently stir the probes.
6. Wait 2-3 minutes for pH reading to stabilize.
7. Record the
pH reading
on the monitoring datasheet.
8. Rinse the electrode with distilled water and shake off the excess water.
9. Place the electrode back in the electrode soaker bottle.
a. Refresh storage solution if necessary.
10. Turn the meter off using the On/Off button on the face of the meter.
11. Disconnect the electrodes from the meter and store the meter and electrodes in the
carrying case until the next monitoring event.
A refresher video for how to monitor pH with the Oakton Acorn pH meter is available on the
WAV website (
http://watermonitoring.uwex.edu/wav/monitoring/video.html
). Please contact
your local coordinator or the WAV coordinator if you have any questions!
