Eurofins-ELS Sampling Service - Swale and Basin Sampling Update
Eurofins staff sample from many different environments all around New Zealand. One of the newest types of sampling we perform is amongst the many modern housing subdivisions that are springing up.
Stormwater swales and Stormwater basins are used in modern urban design to capture and divert stormwater runoff away from surface waters such as creeks and rivers.
Swales are seen as a low lying channel next to a road or street. These streets do not have curbs allowing the rainwater to flow directly into the swale and down towards a stormwater basin.
A stormwater basin is a large grassy area at the end of the swale network where the stormwater is filtered through soil. The soil in the swales and basin traps sediment, heavy metals and hydrocarbons.
Eurofins-ELS is IANZ accredited for sampling the soil in the swale and basin and the process requires the removal of the grass and the collection of the soil layer beneath at the depth required by the local authority Resource Consent. It is usual for two to three samples to be collected from around the swale/basin and composited into a single sample for analysis.
Some networks also have monitoring bores which are sampled as per the consent.
