Prepared in cooperation with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater and the Chicago Department of Transportation Hydrologic Monitoring for Chicago’s Sustainable Streetscapes Program

The Chicago Department of Transportation’s Sustainable Streetscapes Program is an innovative program that strives to convert Chicago’s neighborhood commercial areas, riverwalks, and bicycle facilities into active, attractive places for Chicagoans to live, work, and play. The objective of each project is to create flourishing public places while improving the ability of infrastructure to support dense urban living. The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), in cooperation with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago (MWRDGC), and the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT), is monitoring the pre- and postconstruction hydrologic characteristics of an urban corridor on the south side of Chicago (fig. 1) that is being renovated using sustainable streetscapes technology. The CDOT Sustainable Streetscapes Program utilizes urban stormwater best-management practices (BMPs) to reduce the storm runoff to the local combined sewer system. The urban stormwater BMPs include permeable pavement, bioswales, infiltration basins, and planters (figs. 2, 3, 4). The urban stormwater BMPs are designed to capture the first flush of storm runoff through features that enhance the infiltration of stormwater runoff to shallow groundwater.

87°41' 87°40'30" 87°40' 87°39'30" 87°39'

SOUTH HALSTEDSOUTSOUTH STREET

SOUTH ASHLAND AVENUE

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41°51'30" WEST 18TH STREET

SOUTH THRTHROOPSTREET

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SOUTH PAULINA STREET

SOUTH OAKLEY AVENUE

SOUTH LEAVITT STREET SOUTH DAMEN AVENUE

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PZ3DPZ3D–JH–JH WEST PZ3SPZ3S–JH–JH SMHSMH–2–2 PZ4PZ4–CC–CC PZ2–CEPZ2–CE SOUTH SMHSMH–3–3 (Paulina) (Throop) 90

41°51' 94

SMH–1SMH–1 SOUTH al an (Leavitt) C Study area ip h S Map area PZ1PZ1–BI–BI nd o a ag Sa ry hic n it a C 55 ILLINOIS EXPLANATION Bubbly Well (piezometer) 41°50'30" Creek Sewer-flow monitoring station Raingage Catch basin Direction of flow

Base data digitized from 0 0.5 1 MILE Google Map street map view 0 0.5 1 KILOMETER

Figure 1. The project study area is a 2-mile reach of West Cermak Road and South Blue Island Avenue between South Halsted Street on the east and South Western Avenue on the west. Preconstruction monitoring began in 2009 and is planned to continue through postconstruction in 2015.

U.S. Department of the Interior ISSN 2327-6916 (print) ISSN 2327-6932 (online) Fact Sheet 2016–3014 U.S. Geological Survey http://dx.doi.org/10.3133/fs20163014 MARCH 2016 Figure 2. Chicago Department of Transportation illustration of a typical bioswale layout.

Figure 4. Permeable pavement and bioswale planter implementation along South Blue Island Avenue. (Photo by J. Duncker).

Figure 3. Bioswale implementation along West Cermak Road. (Photo by J. Duncker.) 2 Hydrologic Monitoring

The hydrology of the Sustainable Streetscapes Program area is being monitored to evaluate the impacts and effectiveness of the urban stormwater BMP’s. Continuous monitoring of rainfall, sewer flows, stormwater runoff, soil moisture, and groundwater levels will give engineers and scientists measured data to define baseline pre- and postconstruction conditions for the evaluation of the BMPs (fig. 5).

A. Sewer-flow monitoring station SMH−1 1.4 0.00

1.2 0.05

1.0 0.10

0.8 0.15

0.6 0.20

0.4 0.25 Precipitation, in inches 0.2 0.30

Discharge, in cubic feet per second 0.0 0.35 B. Well PZ3S−JH 3.8 2,500 4.0 2,400 4.2 2,300 4.4 2,200 4.6 4.8 2,100 5.0 2,000 5.2 1,900 5.4

Depth to water, in feet Depth to water, 1,800 5.6 per centimeter at 25°C 1,700 5.8 6.0 1,600

20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 Specific conductance, in microsiemens May 2011 June 2011 Figure 5. Response from precipitation events on A, sewerflow monitoring station SMH-1 and on B, groundwater levels and specific conductance at well PZ3S-JH between May 20 and June 2, 2011.

Rainfall

Three tipping-bucket rain 2.50 3.50 gages are located along the project corridor. The data 3.00 provide information on 2.00 the intensity and volume of rainfall. Rainfall can be 2.50 highly variable even over a small area like the project 1.50 corridor (fig. 6). 2.00

1.50 1.00 Water level, in feet in level, Water

Daily rainfall, in inches in rainfall, Daily

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Figure 6. Rainfall and sewer 0.50 water levels in the Streetscapes 0.50 Corridor from June through September, 2014. (Photo by J. Duncker.) 0.00 0.00 June July August September 2014 3 Sewer Flow

Continuous recording meters are located at specific locations in the combined sewers to record water level and flow during both dry weather (mostly sanitary flow) and wet weather conditions (stormwater runoff in addition to the sanitary flow) (figs. 7 and 8). Sanitary flow is the largest source of flow in the combined sewers during dry weather, and stormwater runoff and sanitary flow combine during wet weather. The sewer flow data allow engineers and scientists to calculate total runoff volume for selected storm events (fig. 9).

Sewer Flow Monitoring Station

Datalogger and automatic sampler

Auto- sampler

Curb Street Manhole cover Flowmeter data cable Conduit for tubing and cables Manhole Sampler tubing

Flow Sewer Flowmeter Flow

Figure 7. The flowmeter within the sewer is connected to a datalogger and an automatic sampler in huts above ground that automatically withdraw water from the sewer during storm events.

Figure 8. Sewer-flow monitoring station at South Leavitt Street and South Blue Island Avenue prior to installation of stormwater BMPs. (Photo by J. Duncker.)

2.75

2.5 EXPLANATION Sewer-flow monitoring station 2.25 SMH−3 (Throop) SMH−1 (Leavitt) 2 SMH−2 (Paulina)

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1.25 Figure 9. Water level data from the three sewer-flow 1 Gage height, in feet monitoring locations in the Streetscapes study area. 0.75 A delayed receding limb of the hydrograph at the 0.5 Throop Street location is caused by extensive amounts 0.25 of sediment in the local 0 combined sewer. 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19

May 2011 June 2011 4 Groundwater Levels

Wells are located within the project corridor to record water levels and help determine the direction of movement of groundwater in response to rainfall and snowmelt (figs. 10–12). In urban settings with aging sewer systems, groundwater can seep into the sewers or combined sewage can seep from the sewers into the local groundwater system. The groundwater data are also important in evaluating the overall impacts of increased infiltration resulting from BMPs.

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Groundwater elevation, in feet EXPLANATION PZ4−CC (Infiltration Basin Well) 582 PZ3S−JH (High School shallow well) PZ3D−JH (High School deep well) PZ2−CE (east well) 581 Dec. Jan. Feb. March April May June July Aug. Sept. 2012 2013 Figure 11. Shallow groundwater levels are continuously monitored using dataloggers. (Photo by J. Duncker.) Figure 10. Groundwater level data from the wells in the project corridor for December 2012 through September 2013. Water levels in the area of the bioswale are at a higher elevation in general.

FEET Data from wells show the 595 relative water levels of SMH−1 SMH−2 Leavitt Paulina shallow groundwater, water PZ1−BI levels in the combined sewer system, and nearby PZ3s−JH PZ3−JH 590 SMH−3 PZ4−CC surface-water channels Throop (Infiltration PZ2−CE Basin) within the project corridor (fig. 12). In some aging urban sewer systems, the local combined sewer 585 system lies below the water table and receives substantial amounts of groundwater inflow, which 580 can significantly reduce the amount of additional EXPLANATION Top of well or sewer Bubbly Creek water the sewer system can Fill accept. Water level Material below fill 575 Top of screen Bottom of screen Figure 12. Water levels in the Sewer shaft combined sewers, groundwater wells and Bubbly Creek collected Sewer pipe on September 23, 2009. 570

5 Bioswale

The bioswale along the south side of West Cermak Road near South Throop Street functions to infiltrate stormwater runoff from the road. Stormwater on the road surface initially drains to the curb and then flows along the curb until it reaches a curb cut-out (fig. 13). Materials within the bioswale allow stormwater to infiltrate and reduce the load to the combined sewer (fig. 14).

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1.5 1.4

2 Infiltration Basin Well 1.2 2.5

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4 0.8 Throop Sewer

4.5 Gage height, in feet

5 0.6 Depth below land surface, in feet 5.5 0.4 6

6.5 0.25 Dec. Jan. Feb. March April May June 2012 2013 Figure 13. A curb cut-out with storm-water runoff draining into Figure 14. Water level in the well PZ4-CC (blue) and water level in the sewer- the bioswale along West Cermak Road. (Photo by J. Duncker.) flow monitoring station SMH-3Throop Street (red). Note that water levels in the combined sewer did not exceed 2.0 feet during the April 18, 2013 storm event when approximately 4 inches of rain fell in the project study area.

Catch Basins

A common feature in urban areas are curbside catch basins that collect stormwater runoff from paved streets. Stormwater drains first to the curb and then flows along the curb to the catch basin. Lateral sewer pipe connects the catch basin to the combined sewer beneath the street. The use of permeable pavers along the curbs in the project study reach let stormwater infiltrate before it reaches the curb, thus reducing the amount of stormwater draining to the combined sewers (fig. 15). Water-level data from catch basins in the project study area show the effects of permeable pavers in reducing the stormwater drainage to the combined sewers (figs. 15 and 16).

6.2 Figure 15 (left). Water-level data from two catch basins (South Paulina Street with permeable pavers and South Leavitt Street without permeable 6.0 pavers) show the effects that permeable pavers have on stormwater runoff. 5.8

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415047087405201 Sewer (SMH-1) 5.2 at Blue Island Ave and Leavitt St

Gage height, in feet 5.0

4.8 415107087400101 Sewer (SMH-2) at Blue Island Ave and Paulina St 4.6

4.4 December January February March Figure 16. Installing monitoring equipment at West Blue Island 2012 2013 Avenue near South Leavitt Street. (Photo by J. Duncker.)

By James J. Dunker and William S. Morrow U.S. Geological Survey / Illinois Water Science Center For more information about the hydrologic monitoring of urban stormwater 405 N. Goodwin Ave. best-management practices and the Chicago Sustainable Streetscapes Program, Urbana, IL 61801 contact: 217.328.8747