Students clean, beautify Jordan River

Walking through the leaf-strewn woods on campus, volunteers picked up trash Saturday in an effort to keep the Jordan River looking clean and natural. \nWith garbage bags, gloves and metal trash grabbers, 29 volunteers worked for two hours to remove various forms of debris littering the area. They found everything from plastic cups and paper to a chair and several 10-foot pipes. \nThe event was a kickoff for the group Volunteers in Sustainability, whose goal is to help restore the Jordan River to its natural state by removing trash and eventually the large pieces of limestone sitting in the stream. \n“It’s the Jordan River and everyone can recognize (it),” graduate student Nancy Arazan said. “It’s an easy event to get a lot of people involved in at once.” \nThe day wasn’t all work, though. Volunteers found time to make jokes about the equipment and the pieces of \ntrash found.\n“This thing is made for pestering people,” Elliot Hayden, an IU Sustainability Task Force member, said while examining his trash tongs. \nBesides picking up trash, Bloomington’s environmental commissioner Kriste Lindberg showed volunteers how to check water quality in the river using pH levels and creatures living in the water. \nDifferent invertebrates can live in different amounts of pollution, Lindberg said. Those that are categorized as being able to live in highly polluted water can also live in clean water, but the reverse is not true. \nLindberg found both a mayfly nymph and a water penny larva in the Jordan River, which are both intolerant \nof pollution. \nThe pH level of the river was 7.58, which is a little high because of the limestone in the water, but is still considered in the range of what is best for sustaining life, Lindberg said. \nShe said that pH levels between three and four are the same consistency as those found in Coca Cola or acid rain. However, if the pH rises to 10.5 or higher, fish begin \nto die. \nVolunteers also learned about the Sustainability Task Force’s future plans. \nThe group wants to work to keep the river from eroding \ntoo fast. \nThe erosion can cause damage to surrounding infrastructures, such as the walking bridge behind Woodburn Hall, which was broken several months ago by shifting banks. \nThe quick erosion is attributed to the fast flowing water that happens after storms, Lindberg said. In some places, the banks will have to be rebuilt; but in others, the goal is only to slow the process. \nFor Saturday though, picking up trash was enough.