Do you ever wonder how much more we can know about the water that we depend on? This year two students were involved in a Student Engagement Fellowship with the U-M Library on the Huron River named A River Runs Through Us. They have each written a reflection on their experience.
The Huron River Watershed, which serves as a vital resource for our community and the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, is currently facing a multitude of challenges, including but not limited to a creeping dioxane plume and regular wastewater releases, making it ever more essential for us to become more informed about these issues and take action to protect this important river. Undoubtedly, the health and sustainability of the watersheds surrounding us directly affect not only our own lives, but also the lives of the various beings and organisms that inhabit our environment. For this reason, our goal for the project is to highlight these issues as well as resources and local activists that have been doing great work to protect the river and the watershed.
For the project, my project partner Cody and I created biweekly newsletters that were sent out to the Michigan library community. The newsletters covered various topics related to the Huron River, ranging from its geological origins to present-day issues, with volumes on PFAS, Dioxane, and the Hexavalent Chromium spill. In these newsletters, not only did we discuss the historical timeline, current state, and future implications of the problem, but also action items people can do as citizens to help mitigate negative effects. In many of these newsletters, we’ve also included a special community spotlight section, where we introduced our audience to a community member that has been leading efforts towards helping the river, whether that is conducting research, securing funding for clean-up, or informing decision makers on policy.
As part of amplifying contributions of community members, Cody and I along with our project leaders also conducted two interviews, one with Roger Rayle and one with Phillis Engelbert. We decided to interview Roger Rayle for one of our because he is an expert on the 1,4 dioxane plume that is contaminating the groundwater under Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County. Rayle is the chair for two community organizations: Scio Residents for Safe Water and the Coalition for Action on Remediation of Dioxane. In the interview we had with him, he told us all about the dioxane plume issue and showed us digital models with data he has been compiling over the years. For the interview with Phillis, we were awed by her tenacity and determination since her master's thesis on the dioxane plume and her team's efforts to inform the authorities raised awareness around the condition of the river long before pollution became a well-explored topic like nowadays. Both of these interviews were incredibly informative and inspiring. Through this process, not only did I gain the skills to prepare for and conduct quality interviews, but I also truly came to understand the significance of persistence in the environmental field.
We have a website (https://sites.google.com/umich.edu/arrtu/newsletters) where we house a compilation of all newsletters. The site contains events, media and other resources such as local organizations that contribute to the conservation of the river. The videos for both interviews are also included on the site.
Throughout this process, our project leaders Ariel Ojibway and Denise Leyton played integral roles – not only in offering support on the newsletters and interviews themselves, but also as amazing mentors in and outside of work. They were always available to answer our questions, provide feedback on our work, and offer resources to help us improve while also giving us constant creative freedom to create the impact we want from this project. I especially appreciated their understanding and responsible approach towards me and Cody as both students and writers. As the semester started to draw to a close, I fell ill frequently and was unable to accomplish as much for the newsletters as I had hoped. However, the leaders were always understanding towards my situation and collaborated with me to develop new strategies moving forward. Always passionate and encouraging of new ideas, Ariel and Denise’s guidance and patience were invaluable throughout the entire project, and I am really grateful for the opportunity to have worked with them.
We were able to receive a lot of quality feedback from the Michigan library community, from scientific knowledge to newsletter formatting. I want to give a special thank-you to Diana Perpich for giving us advice on how to make our website more accessible and easily discoverable through search. All of these constructive suggestions and contributions from the library community ensured that we were well-informed about the topics we were writing about and allowed us to be even more mindful of the potential impact our work could have.
The next step for our project is to create one more special edition newsletter, which will be released around Earth Day. We are also working on a set of slide presentations about the project and newsletters that will be displayed on the first floor of the Shapiro Undergraduate Library. The website and previous issues will also be accessible online, with updates shall any significant resources or developments show up. This experience with A River Runs Through Us has been incredibly educational for me. Throughout researching for the newsletters, I gained a deeper understanding of the Huron River's history, the challenges it faces, and especially the proximal and tangible impact it has on our homes. Learning about the pollution issues and the efforts to address them also made me more aware of my own actions and how they can affect the river's health on a daily basis. We hope that through this project, we will also be able to increase the awareness about the Huron River Watershed and its issues, and spark more passion in helping improve water health within our community.
Cody Quiroz
The project I worked on is called A River Runs Through Us, and it focuses on the Huron River Watershed. The Project Leaders are the incredible Ariel Ojibway and Denise Leyton. A River Runs Through Us has been an amazing experience, and I have learned so much from it. For this project, I worked with my project partner, Anne Cao, to write a biweekly newsletter that was sent out to the Michigan library community. Each newsletter focused on a different aspect of the Huron River Watershed. These topics included the history of the Huron River spanning from its geologic beginnings to present day and different pollution issues the river is facing. To write these newsletters every other week, we spent hours researching. We dug through the library’s digital archives, various websites, and even spoke to people who had first-hand knowledge on a specific topic. After we wrote out our newsletters, we submitted them for review and uploaded them onto a website we created to house them long term and be available to a broader audience. The goal of these newsletters was to inform the community about the issues the Huron River Watershed is facing and how they can get involved to protect our waters.
The Student Engagement Fellowship allowed me to develop new skills and sharpen my existing skills. Through this experience, we were able to interview community activists to ask questions about the work they have done. Prior to this, I had never conducted an interview, but with the help of resources from Ariel and Denise, I was able to feel comfortable trying something new. While my interviewing skills are far from perfect, this project allowed me to plant the seeds for developing this new skill. Additionally, I had never written a newsletter before, and I had no idea where to start. But with the help of the library community members, Anne and I were able to create interesting and informative newsletters for everyone. We were able to publish a total of 8 newsletters over the course of the school year that were effective and that we were proud of. Because we were so happy with the results, they will continue to be housed on the website we created.
Our website was another part of our project that we spent a lot of time on and were proud of. The website contains everything we’ve worked on and more. There is a section with every newsletter we’ve written, a section with local organizations doing work to protect the Huron River, and a section with volunteer opportunities and other ways to get involved. Also included on the website are the interviews we conducted with community activists which we were very excited to have.
Our first interview was with Roger Rayle, an expert on the 1,4 dioxane plume that is contaminating the groundwater under Ann Arbor and Washtenaw County. Rayle is the chair for two community organizations: Scio Residents for Safe Water and the Coalition for Action on Remediation of Dioxane. In the interview we had with him, he told us all about the dioxane plume issue and showed us digital models with data he has been compiling over the years. Our second interview was with Phillis Engelbert. Engelbert wrote her masters thesis on the dioxane plume in 1988. Today, she is still an activist and the owner of iconic Ann Arbor businesses Detroit Street Filling Station, the Lunch Room, and North Star Lounge. In our interview, she detailed the story of how her thesis came to be and what she has been working on as of late. Both of these interviews were enriching and exciting. We learned a lot about the dioxane plume, but we also were able to have warm conversations with community members about their work and passions. Having the opportunity to speak with such incredible people was a very special moment for me during the project, and I am grateful to have done it. I also enjoyed having Ariel and Denise as project leaders for guidance during the experience.