indiana.edu
Water Quality
Indiana University – Bloomington is considered one of the most beautiful campuses in the nation, thanks in part to the small creeks that lazily wind their way through campus – the Jordan River and Griffy Creek. Recognizing that we are a part of the larger community of the White River Watershed, the university prides itself on maintaining a high degree of water quality in this natural resource through environmental policies and state compliance programs. The three programs that comprise our water quality efforts involve Spill Prevention Control and Countermeasures (SPCC) requirements, Storm Water Management and management of our National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permitted discharge site.
The general purpose of the SPCC rule is to identify and eliminate the unlikely potential for any petroleum spill to reach surface waters. Efforts on the IUB campus include special training for employees, maintenance of tanks, drums and transformers to avoid releases, and planning for responses and cleanups for spills that may occur. Complete information can be found in our Plan.
Storm water runoff has the potential to carry contamination associated with construction activities, facilities maintenance, accidental spills and illegal dumping. The university is developing a management program to address the causes of this contamination. The most visible component of this effort has been the marking of all storm drains on campus. Never dump trash or chemical products into storm drains! Many of the drains on campus lead directly to the Jordan River.