Every Tuesday at 7 a.m., two vans leave the Science Building for the Alvara Main Canal. By noon, twelve bottles of canal water are back in the lab.
The students are in Biology 340, a field course taught by Tomas Arrieta, associate professor of environmental science. They test each sample for nitrate, phosphate, dissolved oxygen and temperature.
The results go to the Alvara Irrigation District the same week. The district tests its own water monthly. The students add three more readings a month at sites the district does not sample.
They see the canal change week to week. You cannot get that from a textbook.
Tomas Arrieta, associate professor of environmental science
What the course covers
Students write a sampling plan, calibrate the meters and keep a field notebook. Each team presents its data to district staff at the end of the term.
- Twelve sites along 30 miles of canal
- Open to biology and environmental science majors
- Offered fall and spring; the data set carries over
Arrieta plans to publish the first full year of readings in spring 2027, with the students who collected them as co-authors.
