Recent study points to
sanitary Wabash
By Rachael Conley
Assistant
Campus Editor
Recent tests show that the only things polluting
the Wabash River are the rumors surrounding it.
The American Fishery Society tested the river's
water on Jan. 19 near Tapawingo Park as a part of the Hoosier River
Watch.
Jennifer Simon, a junior in the School of Agriculture,
said the Wabash proved to be in the average range for most rivers.
"As far as the test that we have done, I think
it looks pretty good," she said. "It's within the typical range."
The tests the society performed were to mainly
check four of the river's characteristics.
The amount of hydrogen ions, the level of dissolved
oxygen, the amount of temperature change and the level of nitrate, said
Simon. On each of the four tests, the Wabash proved to be within the
average range if not the optimum range.
"The Wabash is looking good," said Simon. "We're
right in the optimum range for organisms to live."
The results of the test were surprising to some,
especially to Purdue Crew, who row on the river many times throughout
the season.
"We always make jokes about how polluted it is
and how we're going to be mutated," said Nathan Walker, a junior in
the School of Liberal Arts.
Another member of the crew agreed and said that
the river looks and smells like it is the target of pollution.
"It smells like they dump sewage right into the
river, and I wouldn't doubt it," said Tim Field, a junior in the Schools
of Engineering. "The water's like brown and all the sudden you
get foam that's brown too, and that's not cool. You usually don't have
bubbles turning brown unless there's something wrong with the water."
Simon said the ideas about the Wabash come from
the look of it.
"I think the negative impression comes from the
turbidity of the Wabash because it looks brown," she said.
Wade Lovell, a sophomore in the Schools of Engineering,
agrees with Simon.
"It just looks dirty and it smells bad," he said.
The river's brown color is a result of its turbidity
level, said Simon. Turbidity is the amount of sediment that is stirred
up in the river, it makes the water look brown.
The only thing directly affected by turbidity,
other than the way the river looks, is plant growth and that is yet
to be tested in the Wabash.
Walker said he is happy with the society's findings
and Field agreed.
"(We) won't have to worry about it as much now,"
Field said.
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