Kudos to researchers in the MSU-WATER program, or Watershed Action Through Education and Research. The four-year, $1.4 million program designed to develop a watershed management program for the Red Cedar River, is an important effort to undertake, and it is only fitting that it originated at MSU.

With the Red Cedar River as one of the foremost landmarks of MSU’s campus, it is important for the university to lead the charge to clean up the historic body of water whose banks it calls home.

MSU’s efforts also can lead to broader, statewide strategies to improve water quality. It’s a shame that a state known for its vast water resources has pollution running rampant.

Michigan plays a role in the quality of fresh water for a number of surrounding states. The Great Lakes truly are a magnificent resource, but the lakes aren’t as great as they used to be, with unsafe levels of PCBs, E. coli and other chemicals polluting some waters.

The WATER program also is working in accordance with an April state report calling for rivers to be cleansed of pollutants by 2011, which is an exciting prospect.

Imagine, a clean Red Cedar River that students won’t have to be afraid to be in.

And it’s exciting that MSU’s program could play such a significant role to help in clean-up efforts throughout the state.

Only in its second year, MSU-WATER hasn’t yet produced any real answers to the Red Cedar’s problems.

But we hope it will soon yield results everybody can look at, which would be far better than whatever’s in the water.