In The Market For A Better Bucket

An acquaintance asked me what I was going to do tonight.  I told her I would monitor a creek, go the gym, monitor a river and go home to relax.  She asked about monitoring the streams.  I told her I check the clarity of the water, the temperature of the water, the recreational suitability and whether the stream was low, normal or high in volume.  She asked why and I responded that I did this for the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency.  She asked why again and I explained that we want to monitor if the water is polluted or not because pollution makes it harder for the fish, frogs, turtles, birds, and people who use the river.  If the pollution is worse, we want to know that so we can take steps to improve the water quality.  If the pollution is better we want to know that too so we can continue to keep up the good work.  So when I went to monitor Coon Creek this afternoon, I had good intentions.  I threw my metal bucket over the edge of the bridge to collect enough water to fill my secchi tube.  When I pulled the rope back I got very little resistance.  I thought, "Oh, oh."  I pulled up my rope and saw that only the handle to my metal bucket was attached.  I walked to the other side of the bridge and saw my bucket bobbing along in the water.  I thought about crossing the bridge, trespassing in someone's yard, pushing my way through the brush and tall forbs down to the river bank, stepping into the creek, and retrieving my bucket. I considered my options. Yeah, no.  I'm dressed in my work clothes.  I'm wearing expensive shoes.  I'm probably not fast enough to catch up to that bucket. The stream was high because of all the rain that has fallen lately.  I watched it float away thinking, "Great, I've contributed to the pollution of this creek and the river it goes into.  I've added a metal bucket to all the other trash.  How ironic.  While volunteering for the Pollution Control Agency, I polluted."  Well, I had good intentions.  I meant well.  Better to loose a metal bucket than a plastic bucket (I think).  I'm in the market for a better bucket.