Contact: University Relations (517) 355-2281, or hodack@msu.edu

9/27/2000

EAST LANSING, Mich. - Michigan State University's new, collaborative trans-college effort to identify and solve pollution problems that plague Michigan's rivers will serve not only the campus, but communities worldwide wrestling with concerns about pollutants, the university announced today.

Using the parklike MSU campus, particularly the Red Cedar River, as a living laboratory, university faculty, staff and students will study the types and sources of contamination, determine ways to prevent or solve the problems and work with communities along the Red Cedar watershed to help them wrestle with pollution problems of their own. The goal: to develop a series of solutions that can be adopted by other communities across the state, the nation and the world - and a cleaner Red Cedar River.

The proactive program, known as MSU-WATER - an acronym for Watershed Action Through Education and Research - will involve faculty, staff and students from across the university in assessing physical, chemical, biological and human factors affecting the river, then determining the most pressing issues and how they can be managed. Those involved will work with communities along the watershed, helping them identify and solve issues in their communities that affect river quality.

The university is supporting the four-year initiative with $1.4 million in funding.

"This establishes a premier teaching, outreach and research site on the East Lansing campus, focused on the Red Cedar River," said Fred Poston, MSU vice president for finance and operations and treasurer. "The potential for impact extends far beyond the region, however. MSU, which has long had a reputation for excellence in the research and study of water quality, will bring together some of the best minds in the world around these issues, with the Red Cedar a true living laboratory.

"This kind of collaborative effort - between agricultural scientists and social scientists, between those who study at the cellular level and those who assess public attitudes, between the campus and the communities and between those who study surface water and those who study groundwater - is an innovative approach to problem-solving that is absolutely consistent with MSU's land-grant mission and heritage."

MSU-WATER will be consistent with the requirements of Phase II of the federal Clean Water Act, which requires communities with populations of 50,000 or more to take steps to protect their surface water, including separation of storm sewer systems from sanitary systems. Connected systems allow the spillage of bacteria into rivers after heavy rainfalls; such spills have been common in the Grand River and the Red Cedar River locally, as well as throughout Michigan and the United States.

The Environmental Protection Agency also is requiring that communities undertake programs to control other sources of contamination or pollution, such as construction site runoff, and that they provide public education to residents about these issues.

The program is based on work begun in September 1998, when the MSU Academic Council established the University Committee for a Sustainable Campus (UCSC). The committee, a standing committee of the academic governance system, is charged with increasing awareness of the university's environmental impact, conserving natural resources for future generations and establishing MSU as a working model for creating a sustainable community.

Several research projects and classes already are under way to provide baseline information. MSU-WATER will include ways for the public to get information and participate in discussions, including Web pages and information exchanges.

"This really is a project built on connections," said Scott Witter, acting chair of resource development at MSU and one of the project leaders. "There are institutional connections between the four colleges, 15 departments and hundreds of students, faculty and staff involved.

"There are connections with the public; some of our students already are engaged in discussing issues of concerns with residents along the river. And there's the connection between groundwater and surface water concerns - and MSU has some of the world's top experts in both areas."