July 21, Monday,sunshine, raining and cloudy

I took water samples from Taylor Creek with Grainne and Helena this afternoon.

It's a special day for Toronto. Rains drop down in the sunshine, just like the weather in South China.

Helena and Grainne are members of a local environmental group. They are citizens who have their own job, but keep watching the environmental situation in local area. They worry about the water quality  of Don River and it's branches such as Taylor-Massey Creek. So they took water samples of Taylor-Massey Creek last year and brought to the lab to test/analyze them. They declared the analyze result to local politician and media, to push government  doing more job to clean the river. Now they sample the Taylor Creek at the same places as they did last year, and I take part in the action as volunteers from China.

The lab is independent, they provide service to the public and government.  But the service is not free, Grainne and Helena need to pay 150 dollars for testing five water samples.

Taylor-Massey Creek crosses the east part of Toronto, about 16 kilometers long, covered by forests. It was named after two famous families in Toronto, Taylor and Creek, they were two richest/wealthiest families in Toronto. " Most of the lands have ever belonged to their families, but they donated to the city later. Here the rich people usually will donate their wealth to charity after they died." Grainne told me.

In my eyes, the Creek and the forest are beautiful, It's like a field trip for us to take the samples, except the foul odors at some outlets .