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Volunteer Spotlight: IUPUI Earth Sciences Department
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 This month, ROW highlights the Indiana University-Purdue University Department of Earth Sciences contributions to the Pogue's Run Waterway. In December, IUPUI Hydrology students presented their findings on the effectiveness of collective stream restoration work to the Pogue's Run Waterway Committee.
ROW's decade-long partnership with the Department began with Director of Urban Health, and former ROW-Steering Committee Co-Chair, Gabe Filippelli. While projects like Greening Pleasant Run Waterway and a three-year National Science Foundation grant to study stream health of Pogue's Run have concluded, ROW's Metric Manager, Kelly Brown, continues to lead Hydrology students in stream habitat and water quality assessments to measure the impacts of stream bank habitat restorations.
These stream assessments help inform the neighbors and future projects about the impact of volunteer work completed by waterway volunteers alongside partners like Cummins Inc., Indy Land Stewardship, and Keep Indianapolis Beautiful, Inc. The Pogue's Run Committee was glad to hear that habitat restoration work at Spades Park has lead to an improvement of the natural ecology of the Run, including an increase in the stream's capacity to remove heavy metal pollutants, like lead, and withstand events like excessive nutrient loads in rainstorms.
ROW and its communities have greatly benefited and learned from the partnership with IUPUI Department of Earth Sciences over the past decade. If you would like to participate in a stream assessment, our Pogue's Run Committee is organizing a waterway-wide assessment in March. Email kelly@ourwaterways.org on how to get involved. |
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'Waterways for All' Is Building ROW's Equity Efforts
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Because no matter who we are or where we come from, we're all entitled to the basic human rights of clean air to breathe, clean water to drink, and healthy land to call home
- Martin Luther King III
ROW's Racial Equity Subcommittee has worked hard to challenge the ROW Collective to reckon with the historical and modern injustices Indianapolis neighbors face. Read more about ROW's journey to become an anti-racist organization and some of the recommended training to help others on their path at our 'Waterways for All' page.
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Free Lead Screening Kits Now Available
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IUPUI's Center for Urban Health is teaming up with community organizations to distribute free, anonymous lead screening kits for Indianapolis residents.
The goal of this project is to provide residents with the tools they need to understand the risks of household lead contamination. Each screening kit comes with materials to test the air, water, and soil quality for lead contamination. The kits can be identified by a sticker on the box, keeping the samples anonymous. The kits data will also contribute to anonymous public health data on Map My Environment.
Because environmental injustices have created greater inequities in some Indianapolis neighborhoods, testing efforts have focused on homes in downtown Indianapolis between Boulevard and Meridian Street, from 16th to 38th. IUPUI has paired with community partners, including Groundwork Indy, Flanner House, Kheprw Institute, and the Indianapolis Public Library to distribute and collect kits.
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