The water main break on 10th Street has caused increased turbidity — the cloudiness of water due to excess particles — in Campus River, Holly McLauchlin, the communications director for City of Bloomington Utilities, said.
Campus River is a stream that flows over two miles across campus, from its source near Hilltop Gardens to Dunn Meadow and continuing underground through a culvert on Indiana Avenue. The area affected by the main break drains into the river, which is why it is abnormally cloudy and muddy.
McLauchlin explained that when the 12-inch diameter pipe beneath 10th Street broke, high-pressure water began to spew out, stirring up rock and mud from underneath the street. Before the water could be turned off, it flowed into the Campus River near Dunn Meadow, which is part of Bloomington’s stormwater system that includes things like ditches and streams alongside the stormwater pipes.
According to IU Executive Director of Media Relations Mark Bode, the river should clear up on its own. The section of 10th Street closed due to the break — between Fee Lane and Eagleson Avenue — is expected to remain closed until 10 p.m., according to IU Police and Public Safety.
