The Lower Susquehanna Riverkeeper is rightly concerned about polluted runoff from construction sites, but the keeper’s web video on the topic Mud in the Run, is going to leave a lot of viewers scratching their heads instead of demanding more stringent enforcement.

Of course it’s perfectly clear to you and me why the riverkeeper made this film and what’s he’s mad about. But here’s why it’s not clear outside of the college-educated green elite:

• Few ordinary citizens realize that mud (sediment) is a form of pollution that smothers stream habitat
• Shockingly large numbers see stormdrains on the side of the road and don’t realize they drain to the nearest creek. Most have simply never given this matter any thought at all.
• Probably only a few people living in the area even know that the creek he mentions — Codorus Creek — is a tributary to the Susquehanna River.

Add all that ignorance up, and here’s what you get: A video that has to explain too much and hits no emotional hot buttons. I suspect that most viewers will lose the thread and click away before the video is over, wondering why the riverkeeper is tromping around a muddy construction site with a video camera instead of cruising around in his boat doing his job.

This could be a perfectly fine video with some improvements to the narration. Here’s a nudge in the right direction:

Developers are accountable to Pennsylvania’s nature protection laws that require them to take steps to avoid polluting nearby streams or burying them in mud. But developers and other corporations have more than a legal responsibility, they have a moral responsibility to balance their profits with the needs of future generations and wildlife for clean water.

Compare this “muddy” messaging to Clean Ocean Action’s clear, compelling web video on the same subject.