Facilities and Instrumentation

The Small Adjustable-Slope Flume is 76 mm wide, 250 mm deep and 2.5 m long with a discharge capacity of approximately 2.0 L/s (two parallel pumps). A jacking system allows the slope of the channel bed to be adjusted between -1% and +3%. It is instrumented with two-point gauges accurate to +/-0.1 mm and an insertion electromagnetic flow meter with an accuracy of 1.0%. It is also equipped with an upstream sediment injector and a sluice gate for downstream flow control.

The Adjustable-Slope Flow Table, located in the Hydraulics Lab of the WATER Institute is used for simulating open channel flow processes.

This instrument measures 3.7 m long, 1.5 m wide, 0.15 m deep and has a discharge capacity of 1.5 L/s.  Both the lateral and longitudinal slope of the flume can be adjusted.  The flume includes melamine plastic particles with three different sizes and colors for simulating sediment movement and a dye injection system for visualizing streamflow patterns.  It is instrumented with a point gage accurate to +/-0.001 ft and an insertion electromagnetic flow meter with an accuracy of 1%.

Teledyne RD RiverPro 1200 HZ Acoustic Doppler Current Profiler (ADCP) with a Hemisphere GNSS S321 Smart Antenna Real Time Kinetic (RTK) GPS Rover. This system is for field data collection of river velocity profiles, discharges and bathymetry.

The WinRiver II software is installed on the field laptop to set up the system and collect data. Equipment for data collection using a tagline or kayak is also available from the WATER Institute. The inflatable kayak can be pumped manually at field sites, providing access to samples and in situ measurements in the middle of water bodies.

The Laser In-Situ Scattering and Transmissometry (LISST-200X) Laser-diffraction Particle Size Analyzer collects field measurements of sediment size distributions and sediment concentrations in river flow.

The particle-size range for the equipment is 1.00-500 μm with a 600-m depth rating. Software LISST-SOP200X is installed on the field laptop to set up the system and collect data.

The Leica ScanStation 2 LiDAR Scanner is used for measuring topography in the laboratory. The instrument has a surface precision of 2 mm.

The Johnson 40-6557 Rotary Laser Level is used for measuring water-surface elevations in the laboratory. The level has an accuracy of ±1.5 mm/30 m and an electronic self-leveling horizontal and vertical rotary system.

The Canon EOS 5D Mark III DSLR Digital Camera with an EF 24-70 mm f/4L IS USM lens can be used for recording videos of bedload sediment transport in the laboratory which is used for particle image velocimetry (PIV) processing. The camera has a 22.3 MP sensor, full HD 1080/30p and 720/60p formats and 61-point high density autofocus.

The Waters Quadrupole Time-of-flight Mass Spectrometer (QToF-MS) features ion mobility, QuanTof, Fast DDA and MSE technologies, PDA Detector, FTN Sample Manager, Quaternary Solvent Manager and ESI/APCI/ESCi Lockspray, which enable qualitative and quantitative analysis of complex organic compounds such as cyanotoxins. Paired with the licensed software Waters UNIFITM, a detection limit as low as 1 ppb can be achieved for some compounds.

The Shimadzu Prominence-i LC-2030 Liquid Chromatograph system includes a parallel-type double plunger pump with purge flow rate ranging from 0.1 to 10 mL/min, gradient from 0 to 100%, in 0.1% steps, an autosampler with injection volume accuracy ±1% (50 µL, N=10) and maximum setting range from 50 to 2000 µL, column oven temperature ranging from 0.1 to 1.0°C, fan speed ranging from 2500 to 4500 rpm. PDA detector wavelength ranging from 190 to 800 nm, noise level less than or equal to ±3×10-6 AU. Paired with the software LabSolutions™ LCGC which is installed on a bench top computer.

The DR6000 UV-VIS split beam Laboratory Spectrophotometer scans across the UV and visible spectra (wavelengths ranging from 190 nm to 1100 nm), and comes with over 250 pre-programmed methods, which provide qualitative and quantitative analyses for a wide-range of water testing efforts such as chemical oxygen demand, chlorine, nitrate and ammonia. With optional accessories allowing for high volume testing via a carousel sample changer and increased accuracy with a sample delivery system which eliminates optical difference errors. This spectrophotometer is paired with drinking water analysis application software.

The Laboratory Laser Turbidimeter (EPA Version) employs a patented optical design that delivers low level precision and sensitivity while maximizing consistency from test to test. Range minimum is 0 NTU. The accuracy is ± 2% of reading plus stray light, which is less than or equal to 0.02 NTU.

The Six-Paddle Stirrer is used to determine the exact amount of alum or polymer necessary to trigger flocculation. The stirrer design is based on method D 2035 (Standard Practice for Coagulation - Flocculation Jar Test of Water) in the ASTM Standards: Section 11, Water and Environmental Technology (volume 11.02). The stirrer includes six square 2-L B-Ker2® beakers that stir up to six samples simultaneously with a stirrer speed ranges from 0 to 300 rpm. A built-in LED floc illuminator provides diffused lighting of samples.

The Dustless Fume Hood is a self-contained, filtered laboratory enclosure that removes hazardous fumes, vapors and particles from the laboratory, thus providing dustless operational environment for biological experiments. It also protects the operators from touching or inhaling harmful chemicals.

The Hach Model HRI3P Low Temperature Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) Incubator is used analyzing sewage and wastewater as well as other low temperature applications. It is thermoelectric cooled, eliminating the need for a refrigeration compressor. The incubator includes a mechanical convection system, digital temperature set controller, over temperature limit control and a temperature display. The instrument includes 35-lb capacity shelves and two one-amp-interior outlets which allow the use of shakers, stirrers, roller bottles or two BOD Trak apparatus.

The Hach Automatic Titrator includes two burettes, two pumps and two measurement inputs, which improves accuracy and reliability of the measurements and enhances lab throughput. It can be paired with any of the Hach Application Packs, including pH, Alkalinity and Hardness in water; pH, Total Acidity and Chlorides in Food and Beverage; and pH, Total Acidity and Free and Total SO₂ in Wine. Each application pack includes a pre-programmed application that runs on the instrument as well as a set of accessories necessary to perform the titrations.

The Digital ultrasonic cleaner is built with ultrasonic transducers with 600 W total power combined with 800 W of heating power to easily sanitize lab materials. The device contains a stainless-steel tank with 30-L capacity and dimensions of 20" × 12" × 8". The temperature settings range 40-60℃.

The A2Z Multipurpose MP-8000 Ozone Generator is equipped with an optional oxygen feed hook up. It has the option to set up the timer (15-min to 4-hour range) for duration of the ozone generation. The maximum ozone output is 8 g/hour, with concentration range 0-45 g/m3.

The Thermo Scientific Dionex Integrion High Performance Ion Chromatograph is an analytical technique used for water chemistry analysis.

It is equipped with Dionex AG18 Guard (4×50 mm) Column, AS18 Analytical (4×250 mm) Column, EGC-KOH II Cartridge and Anion Self-Regenerating Suppressor. The instrument can measure concentrations of major anions, such as fluoride, chloride, nitrate, nitrite and sulfate in the parts-per-billion (ppb) range. Software Chromeleon (7.2.10) is installed on the bench top computer to operate the instrument and collect data.

The Picarro L2130-i Cavity Ringdown Spectrometer Isotopic Water Analyzer is used to measure water stable isotopes for applications such as hydrology, oceanography and paleoclimatology.

δ18O and δ2H high-precision measurements can be made with water samples from liquids, vapor and solids using a variety of Picarro peripherals including an autosampler with the SGE syringes and a high-precision vaporization module. The throughput for standard mode is 6 injections 54 minutes per sample, and for express mode, 10 injections 29 minutes per sample. Precision with a liquid sample is 0.025/0.1‰ for δ18O/δD, and drift, over 24 hours, is 0.2/0.8‰ for δ18O/δD. Vapor specifications include a measurement range from 1,000 to 50,000 ppm, with precision at 2,500 ppm of 0.250/0.080‰ and 1.600/0.500‰, and at 12,500 ppm of 0.120/0.040‰ and 0.300/0.100‰ for δ18O (for 10/100 sec) and δ2H (for 10/100 sec), respectively. Software Picarro CRDS (g2000_win7-1.5.0-26) is installed on the bench top computer to operate the instrument and collect data.

The EuroEA High Temperature Pyrolysis Elemental Analyzer Unit transforms solid and liquid samples into simple gases such as CO2, N2, CO, SO2 and H2, which can be admitted into the IsoPrime mass spectrometer.

It includes a combustion reactor that is held at 1020-1100°C depending on the elemental species of interest. A reduction reactor containing copper granules is maintained at 650°C, then a Mg (ClO4)2 filter is used to remove water. The instrument includes a short chromatographic column and a thermal conductivity detector for basic qualitative and quantitative analysis. Two configurations are possible: 1) NC configuration, used for the analysis of N alone, C alone and sequential NC, or 2) S configuration, used for the analysis of S alone. Software MassLynx (Sept 25, 2003) is installed on the bench top computer to operate the instrument and collect data. It has passed the preliminary leak test and temperature test but failed the valve test.

The New Brunswick Scientific Excella E25 Incubator Shaker features heavy-duty counterbalanced drive, viewing window and internal light with the ability to shake while maintaining optimal conditions (temperature, speed and running time) for incubating various microbes or DNA replications for biological experiments.

It utilizes a UniCentric single eccentric counterbalanced drive to provide horizontal plane rotary motion in a 2.54 cm circular orbit. The proportional/integral (PI) microprocessor controller with instantaneous digital feedback controls the speed over a range of 50-400 rpm. The E-25R provides temperature control over a range of 15℃ below ambient temperature (minimum 4℃) to 60℃. The shaker also features a timed mode via a programmable timer for shaking periods of 0.1-99.9 h.

The YSI EXO2 and 6-Series Multiparameter Water Quality Sondes are long-term deployment instruments that collect water quality data in situ continuously.

The sonde collects data with up to seven user-replaceable sensors and an integral pressure transducer. Each sensor measures a specific parameter such as temperature, conductivity, pH, turbidity, dissolved O2 and Cl- via a variety of electrochemical, optical or physical detection methods. Depending on user-defined settings, the sonde will collect data and store it, transfer the data to a data collection platform, or relay it to a user’s PC or handheld device via Bluetooth connection. The KorEXO Software is installed on the field laptop to conduct calibration and data exportation.

The YSI Professional Series Handheld Multiparameter Meters measure water quality data on site. It collects data with up to four user-replaceable sensors; each measures a specific parameter including temperature/conductivity, pH, dissolved O2 and Cl-.

In addition to the major equipment detailed above, the laboratory maintains an extensive array of instruments, including:

• Millipore Milli-Q Water Purification System
• Mettler Toledo Analytical Balances

In addition to the instruments detailed above, the laboratory maintains an extensive array of field equipment including:

• YSI Professional Series Handheld Multiparameter Meters
• AquaFluor Handheld Fluorometer
• Hach 2100Q Portable Turbidimeter
• Solinst water level loggers
• ISCO 3700 and 6712 automated water samplers