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Bottle and Pak Poles

Water Sampling in Cold or Rough Water

Blue Water Task Force (BWTF) labs across North America sample at a variety of locations including rivers, lakes, ponds, storm drains and, of course, ocean beaches. But, during storms or high swell periods the water can be rough, and during the winter the water can be very cold. In these circumstances, having a sampling pole to help collect samples can make it both easier and safer for our volunteers to collect samples year-round, in all weather conditions.

Sampling Poles for Purchase

If you collect samples using bottles, the sampling pole below is available for purchase:

Nasco Swing Sampler for Sampling Bottles ** If purchasing the Swing Sampler, please check the size of your sample collection bottles as you may have to purchase a separate smaller “snapper attachment” to accommodate your bottles. 

Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Sampling Poles

A few of our chapters have created their own DIY sampling poles for both whirl-pak bags and sampling bottles. DIY sampling poles are a great option if your lab is on a tight budget. See some examples from our chapters below.

A closeup view of the whirl-pak pole

Space Coast chapter whirl-pak sampling pole

The Space Coast and Huntington Beach chapters both altered golf ball retriever poles to use them with whirl-pak bags. The Space Coast chapter simply added metal clips to keep the whirl-pak bags fastened into place.

A closeup view of the whirl-pak pole

Huntington Beach chapter whirl-pak sampling pole

The Huntington Beach chapter drilled a couple of holes in their golf ball retriever pole for the whirl-pak wire ties to go through, which keeps the whirl-pak bag secure in the water.

A closeup view of the whirl-pak pole

Ventura County chapter whirl-pak sampling pole

The Ventura County chapter created a whirl-pak sampling pole to use while sampling from a kayak. These materials can easily be found at your local hardware store.

To create this sampling pole, your chapter will need:

  1. Shovel or rake dowel

  2. Flagging tape

  3. S-Clips

The flagging tape was used to attach the S-clips to the shovel dowel, so the whirl-pak bag tabs could be held in place with the clips. 

No Brammer Method

Here is an up-close photo of the No-Brammer final product.

Lary Brammer from Oregon's Depoe Bay BWTF program designed a sampling pole using a fishing rod to hold bottles. He named this method the “No-Brammer” method.

Below are two videos that go over the No-Brammer method and how to use the rod.

Close up view of a PVC sampling pole

North Coast chapter sampling pole for bottles

Jesse from the Oregon’s North Coast BWTF lab also created a custom-made sampling pole to hold bottles.

To create this sampling pole, your chapter will need:

  1. Roughly 7' PVC pipe
  2. 2” no hub coupler (like this) to put the bottle in.

Some tips from the chapter:

Instead of using a screw to attach the coupler, you can use a PVC tee and put the hose clamp through the tee to attach it. Another suggestion is to get threaded PVC so you don't have to use glue, and the parts can be replaced.

For the pole itself, PVC, fiberglass, and aluminum are the cheapest options that are ocean-worthy. There are telescoping options out there for folks with small cars or who are walking/biking. Since these are getting dipped into the ocean, all of the metal components should ideally be stainless steel. 

If sampling conditions remain dangerous even with a sampling pole, please do not continue sampling. Volunteer safety always holds higher priority than collecting water samples!

If you have any questions regarding options for sampling poles, or if your lab has come up with an innovative way to sample in cold or rough conditions, please reach out to Michelle at mparkerortiz@surfrider.org.