science for a changing world NATIONAL WATER-QUALITY ASSESSMENT PROGRAM Upper Illinois River Basin WHAT is THE NATIONAL WATER-QUALITY ASSESSMENT MAJOR WATER-QUALITY ISSUES PROGRAM? IN THE UPPER ILLINOIS RIVER BASIN During the past 25 years, industry and government made large financial investments that resulted in better water quality across the Nation; however, many water-quality The Upper Illinois River Basin National Water- concerns remain. Following a 1986 pilot project, the U.S. Geological Survey began imple­ Quality Assessment (NAWQA) study will increase mentation of the National Water-Quality Assessment (NAWQA) Program in 1991. This the scientific understanding of surface- and program differs from other national water-quality assessment studies in that the NAWQA ground-water quality and the factors that affect integrates monitoring of surface- and ground-water quality with the study of aquatic water quality in the basin. The study also will ecosystems. The goals of the NAWQA Program are to (1) describe current water-quality provide information needed by water-resource conditions for a large part of the Nation's freshwater streams and aquifers (water-bearing managers to implement effective water-quality sediments and rocks), (2) describe how water quality is changing over time, and management actions and evaluate long-term (3) improve our understanding of the primary natural and human factors affecting water changes in water quality. quality. Chicago is the largest city in the upper Illinois River Basin. Construction in developing EXPLANATION suburbs may I I National Water-Quality affect biodiver­ Assessment Study Unit sity, habitat, and Upper Illinois River Basin Study Unit water quality. Assessing the quality of water in every location of the Nation would not be practical; therefore, NAWQA Program studies are conducted within areas called study units. These study units comprise 59 important river and aquifer systems that represent the diverse geog­ raphy, water resources, and land and water uses of the Nation. The upper Illinois River Basin is one such study unit designed to include (1) many important river systems; Over the past half century, water-quality (2) unconsolidated and bedrock aquifer systems; and (3) a mixture of agricultural, urban, improvements in the basin were numerous because industrial, and rapidly urbanizing areas. Study activities in the upper Illinois River Basin of advances in municipal and industrial waste began in 1997. treatment. The effects of industrialization and urbanization on the quality of rivers and ground- Protection Plan, and Conservation 2000. The following is a list of some major water- water resources, however, remain a primary quality issues that currently face water-resource managers in the upper Illinois River concern to water-resource managers; planners; Basin: Federal. State and local governments; and citizen Atmospheric deposition of pesticides Recovery of water levels in bedrock groups. Many of these issues relate to point and and trace metals and its effect on aquifers and its potential effect on water nonpoint pollution sources and are the subject of aquatic biota; quality; ongoing research and management programs. Examples of these programs include State and Endocrine disrupting compounds in Surface-water sampling strategies for Federally funded projects like the Tunnel And Res­ surface and ground water; computing total maximum daily loads; ervoir Project in the Chicago metropolitan area and Effectiveness of Federal pollution- Occurrence, transport, and fate of program-related initiatives, such as Total Maxi­ control projects on water quality; pesticides, trace elements, and volatile mum Daily Loads, Best Management Practices, Restoration of the Grand Kankakee organic compounds in surface and ground and Wetland Restoration; and State and local Marsh and its effect on hydrology and water; programs, such as Ambient Water-Quality water quality; Effects of urbanization on biodiversity, Monitoring, Illinois Wellhead Protection, Side Nutrient enrichment of surface and habitat, and water quality. Stream Elevated Pool Aeration. Pesticide Manage­ ground waters; ment and Monitoring, Wisconsin Watershed U.S. Department of the Interior USGS Fact Sheet FS-072-98 U.S. Geological Survey June 1998 STUDY UNIT DESCRIPTION Although land use in the Des Plaines and Fox the unsaturated zone. In the saturated zone, water River Subbasins are best characterized as mixed and dissolved compounds flow horizontally, verti­ Physiography and Climate. The upper urban-agricultural, land use in the Kankakee cally upward discharging to streams and irrigation Illinois River Basin lies within the Central River Subbasin is predominantly agricultural systems (ditches and/or tiles) and/or vertically Lowland Provinfce and includes the Great Lakes (table 1). About 91 percent of the Kankakee River downward recharging the Silurian-Devonian bed­ and the Till Plajns sections. Landforms in these Subbasin is devoted to growing corn and soy­ rock. Ultimately, the total volume of stored physiographic sections are the result of glaciation beans. Large areas of crops are irrigated in the ground water depends on spatial and temporal and typically have less than 300 feet (ft) of relief. Indiana part of the Kankakee River Subbasin, variations in the evapotranspiration, pumpage, The Great Lakes section is further subdivided into where sandier soils, low relief, and suitable and streamflow, whereas the types of dissolved the Chicago Lake Plain and Wheaton Morainal ground-water resources are present. The largest compounds present depend on the land use. subsections, and the Till Plains section is further urban area in the Kankakee River Subbasin is subdivided into the Kankakee Plain and Bloom- Kankakee, Illinois. The population of Kankakee In areas where the Cambrian-Ordovician ington Ridged Plain subsections. and surrounding suburbs was about 96,255 in aquifer is confined by the Maquoketa shale, A large part of metropolitan Chicago is within 1990. urbanization and/or agricultural production prob­ the Chicago Lake Plain subsection. Surface ably does not directly affect water quality; how­ drainage in this area is toward the middle third of Table 1. Land use in the upper Illinois ever, the total withdrawals from wells in the the Des Plaines River and the Chicago Sanitary River Basin in 1990 Chicago area have raised concern because these and Ship Canal. Surface drainage in the Wheaton Subbasin (percent) withdrawals may be greater than the natural Morainal subsection is toward the Kankakee, recharge to the aquifer. As many public water sup­ Land use Des Fox Illinois Kankakee Des Plaines, and Fox Rivers. In the Kankakee Plaines pliers in the Chicago area convened from ground subsection, surface drainage is toward the Urban 58.7 15.7 3.5 3.1 water to Lake Michigan water, water Kankakee, Iroquois, and Mazon Rivers, whereas Agricultural 33.2 70.9 88.8 90.9 Forest 5. 7. 4.6 4.4 levels in this aquifer recovered as much as 260 ft. drainage in the Bloomington Ridged Plain Wetland .7 2.1 .4 .8 More recently, the increased demand for water subsection is toward the lower Fox River and the Water 1. 2.4 1. .5 because of continued suburbanization, coupled Barren 1.5 1.8 1.8 .3 upper Iroquois Rivers. with Federal restrictions on providing additional The climate of the upper Illinois River Basin Lake Michigan water, has caused local water- Surface Water. Approximately 91 percent is classified as humid continental. In general, resource managers to develop new supplies in the (9,964 mi2) of the upper Illinois River Basin summers are hot and humid, and the winters are surficial sand and gravel deposits and/or reacti­ cold with an average annual temperature of 9°C. (10,949 mi2) is drained by three principal rivers: the Kankakee, the Des Plaines, and the Fox. The vate available wells open to the bedrock aquifer The average annual precipitation for 1951-80 for supplemental or peak water supply. ranged from 32 inches (in.) in the north at the Kankakee and Des Plaines Rivers join near Morris. Illinois, to form the Illinois River. The headwaters of the Des Plaines and Fox Rivers Surface-Water/Ground-Water Fox River discharges to the Illinois River at the to 40 in. in the east at the headwaters of the Interaction. In many places, surface water and southwestern basin boundary at Ottawa, Illinois. Kankakee River. ground water are hydraulically connected; that is, The largest part of the basin (5,165 mi2, or streams, wetlands, and lakes receive water and Population and Land Use. About 47.2 percent) is drained by the Kankakee River. dissolved compounds from (discharge), or 6 million people, or 86 percent of the 7.6 million The Des Plaines River drains 2,111 mi2 and provide to (recharge), the subsurface. In some people in the upper Illinois River Basin, live in includes 673 mi2 that originally drained to Lake urban streams, the apparent ground-water urban areas. The Northeastern Illinois Planning Michigan through the Chicago and Calumet discharge is actually water from Lake Michigan Commission estimates that the Chicago popula­ Rivers. The Illinois River, lower Des Plaines tion (about 3 million) grew by 4 percent from River, and two canal systems in the Chicago diversions and/or wastewater treatment returns; in 1970 to 1990, whereas the amount of urban land metropolitan area provide a navigable link this case, water recharges the subsurface. In other expanded by 51 percent more than 563 square between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi flat-lying areas composed of sand and gravel, miles (mi2). At present, the most rapid Chicago River. ground water discharges to the surface over broad areas creating biogeochemically important wet­ metropolitan expansion is west and northwest Ground Water. In the upper Illinois River toward the Fox River. Basin, aquifers are associated with the Quater­ lands. In many cases, the ground-water discharge to these wetlands, such as the former 500,000 Land use in the upper Illinois River Basin is nary, Silurian-Devonian, and Cambrian-Ordovi- typical of large agricultural and urban areas in the cian systems.