Salt Lake County is about to make another run at cleaning up the Jordan River. Transforming the river from sewer to limpid sanctuary will not be easy or inexpensive, but it's a goal worth pursuing.
    Imagine, if you will, a waterway alive with canoes, ducks, fish and other wildlife, bordered by intermittent parks and nature preserves. That's a far cry from what the river represents in most people's minds today, which probably runs to images of gray water, garbage and crime.
    Yet there are oases along the river that give a glimpse of what the Jordan could be. There are bike paths and parks. The challenge is to bring this incipient potential to reality on more stretches of the 44 miles of river that link Utah Lake to the Great Salt Lake in three Wasatch Front counties.
    To that end, Salt Lake County has engaged Envision Utah to re-envision the Jordan. It will conduct a series of community workshops in May to gather ideas on how to transform the river. They begin May 6 at Sandy City Hall and conclude May 15 in Saratoga Springs. For a complete schedule, visit www.blueprint.slco.org.
    Thirty-seven years have passed since the completion of the last comprehensive plan for the Jordan. Local governments - there are 15 along the river's banks - have made plans for open space, land use and trails. There have been environmental studies of the entire river.
    The point of the workshops,
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according to Envision Utah, is to compare and coordinate these different plans, identify inconsistencies and address them to ensure that all the various efforts work together.
    The aim of the process, called Blueprint Jordan River, is to make the Jordan a regional amenity that draws "residents and visitors to accessible outdoor recreation, natural beauty, wildlife, and interesting places to work, shop, and live."
    Other great cities make their rivers environmental and civic focal points. The Jordan is a modest stream, and it may never be a gem among the nation's rivers. But there is something innately beautiful about a living body of water. By contrast, a polluted, degraded stream is inherently depressing.
    The people of Salt Lake County must decide which they want for their communities. We think the answer should be obvious.