Death Across The River
UOP has a thriving student body and that is reflected in our campus. As you cross from North to South campus you might walk over the bridge across Calaveras River. Unfortunately, our beautiful Calaveras River has recently been taken over by invasive water hyacinth. This leafy green plant may look like a sign of a healthy river; but it actually uses up the oxygen in the water and suffocates the native plants and animals.
This plant problem has been noticed by many across campus but one group has started to take action. The Environmental Conservation Club (ECC) has been working hard to publicize this issue and brainstorm solutions. The issue was discussed at their weekly meeting on 9/16/2022.
ECC president Ronald Rossi, ’24, opened the meeting by welcoming the attendees and mentioning that his team had worked on the water hyacinth slideshow they were to present all week.
Their club size is growing almost as fast as the water hyacinth, the club might have to meet up in a bigger room next time. Two senators from ASUOP’s Sustainability Committee are also present to discuss a collaboration with the ECC.
The meeting starts off with introductions. It is clear just how much the Calaveras River means to this group of students and staff. Everyone has the same reason to be present and the energy is palatable. Then the real problem, the water hyacinth, is discussed.
According to Rossi “Water hyacinth is an aquatic plant native to South America but has been introduced to many other parts of the world, including the Calaveras River that runs through our campus. This invasive plant can grow up to two feet and produce large, purple flowers.” He also mentions that it can double in size in just two weeks.
Rossi makes it clear that the water hyacinth doesn’t just harm the native plants and animals that live in the river but that “by altering the river's flow, the plant also provides a perfect breeding ground for mosquitoes, which can carry diseases like the West Nile virus” which has huge potential to harm the humans (or specifically students in this case) that live near the river.
You can see the increase in water hyacinth in the photos that the ECC have been taking almost weekly of the river. It just keeps growing.
Unfortunately, there are no perfect solutions to this problem. The best removal methods involve physically taking the water hyacinth out of the water. This seems like a simple concept but it is actually very costly and labor intensive. The ECC simply does not have the money to fund this kind of a project and the University is simply not interested. UOP boasts about their Sustainability Project Investment Fund (SPIF) that funds student ideas to increase sustainability. However, this project was created to increase the university’s silver star rating from the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education (AASHE). If a project, like removing the water hyacinth, does not immediately and measurably increase the University’s “stars” then it will not get funding. Shouldn’t the university care about more than just its “stars”?
There is no way to fix this problem right now without extremely large amounts of money. Students, staff, and faculty can help join the fight by joining the ECC which meets on Fridays from 6:00pm-7:00pm in DUC 214. They can also support sustainability and conservation missions around campus to show the administration that they care about the environment more than they care about any kind of “rating.” Lastly, everyone can vote for local politicians who understand this need for conservation in our community.
The world we live in is worth it and the health of students is worth it.
Citations:
https://reports.aashe.org/institutions/university-of-the-pacific-ca/report/2017-03-03/
Estimated costs of mechanical control of water hyacinths by Michael J.Mara
https://law.pacific.edu/pacific-newsroom/applications-being-accepted-sustainability-projects
Cover photo from https://plantright.org/invasive/eichhornia-crassipes/